DNC

Most of New Jersey's Democratic party leadership backed Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination: Getty Images Photo
Democratic National Committeewoman Christine “Roz” Samuels said today that she was dumped from the New Jersey delegation last night because she flipped her support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama back in February.

Samuels said she was called yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m. by Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, who told her that Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen wanted her off the ticket.

“One day notice,” she said. “They called me yesterday morning and told me I was off the ticket. And I said ‘You mean for what I did way in February? This is retaliation for February?’”

Samuels said that she was told she was thrown off the ticket because of her switch. Samuels officially switched to Obama on February 14th – less than one week before two South Jersey super delegates switched – but long before most north Jersey party leaders left the Clinton camp.

Samuels’s replacement will be former Assemblywoman Stephanie Bush-Baskette, who’s also from Essex County.

“I really have to find out what is the time limitation for pulling someone off a ticket. You can’t tell someone that morning the morning of the meeting. Usually you give a two week notice to someone if you’re going to fire them from the job,” she said, adding that she has run two recent successful Obama events in Montclair. “It’s just a vindictive thing because I had a couple good meetings, and I think (Thigpen) feels that way because he didn’t do it first.”

Superdelegate Roz Samuels, who switched from Clinton to Obama, lost re-election as a Democratic National Committeewoman tonight
A Democratic National Committeewoman who was one of the first superdelegates to switch from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama was defeated for re-election tonight. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee replaced Christine "Roz" Samuels with Stephanie Bush-Baskette, a former Assemblywoman from Essex County.

A Democratic official says that Samuels' defeat was unrelated to her defection to Obama in a state where most of the party leadership lined up behind Clinton. Sources say that the DNC seat traditionally goes to Essex, and Democratic County Chairman Phil Thigpen decided today to replace Samuels with Bush-Baskette.

Citing comments former President Bill Clinton made about Obama, Samuels dropped her support of Clinton just after she won the February 5 New Jersey primary. A week later, she endorsed Obama. Samuels, a state NAACP Executive Board member, is a former Newark Teachers' Union, Local 481 official.

Another Clinton supporter, attorney Joseph DeCotiis, did not seek reelection as a National Committeeman. He was replaced by Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), who had endorsed Clinton. Two other incumbents who backed Clinton, June Fisher and Tonio Burgos, were re-elected.