Democrats want D'Amato and Blee to run for Assembly
By Wally EdgeSouth Jersey Democrats are actively courting two former Republican legislators to challenge freshmen GOP Assemblyman John Amodeo and Vincent Polistina in the Atlantic County-based second district next year: Paul D'Amato, a former Linwood Mayor who served in the Assembly from 2002 to 2003, and Frank Blee, who retired last year after seven terms in the Assembly. D'Amato left the Legislature after feuding with then-State Sen. Bill Gormley, and switched parties in 2006. Blee broke with local Republicans in 2007 after losing a special election convention for State Senate to Sonny McCullough and backed Democrat James Whelan in the general election.
Damon Tyner, a Pleasantville attorney who ran for the Assembly in 2005, is also a possible candidate. So is Alissa Beth Cooper, a former Republican who is now seeking re-election to a second term as an Atlantic County Freeholder.
District 2 voters split their ticket in 2007, with Whelan ousting McCullough by 6,900 votes while Amodeo (26,214) and Polistina (24,603) defeated Democrats Joe Wilkins (21,699) and Blondell Spellman (19,260).
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Party Switchers Are Never Trusted
For elected officials, witching a party is like switching a vote - flip flop.
People view you as being more opportunist and less public servant.
And once you lose, and most do, you become a joke and a has-been.
Just look at 8th District's Fran Bodine - he never lost an election, always won by huge margins. When he was passed over for a Senate run, he switched parties from R to D. After spending millions on his senate run, he lost handidly.
He thought he would win because he was "Fran Bodine" - turns out, no one trusts a person that switches parties just so they can continue to wield power.
My advice for Blee and D'Amato is to call their former colleague Bodine and ask how he feels about his choice - would he do it all over again or would he have preferred to just sail into the sunset and become a senior statesman for his area?
conceding district 2 so soon?
Blee would probably enjoy playing with all that Norcross money but he probably doesn't hate his former Caucus in the least bit to pull that switch. If the Senate were up he would no doubt relish running against any number of local Republicans who sandbagged him last time, but just coming back to the Assembly isn't worth the effort. D'Amato is just plain loco. Democrats might want to think twice about that ambulance chaser. Check with Conover. Maybe his taxes are all up to date now.
Blee
I agree, Blee jobbed out big with his position at AtlantiCare...generally hospitals dont warm up to chiropracters (Not mkaing a judgment call just stating the obvious). Whelan has been such a Norcross tool that I would hope Blee would wait and run against him...actually I would rather Bill Gormley come out of retirment and stomp on Whelan. I used to respect Whelan, but his boss is so obvious. I saw campiagn mail the other day that lists Whelan's campaign headquaters in Blackwood...at least pretend their not your boss James.