Sticking it to a North Jersey party rival while giving an edge to a South Jersey regional ally, Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) today scheduled an Oct. 5th session is to swear-in senator-elects Kristin Corrado (R-40) and Colin Bell (D-2).

Seeking to replace retired Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-4) (now the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey), Corrado defeated Bergen County Republican Chairman Paul DiGaetano in the Republican Primary. After the death last month of state Senator Jim Whelan (D-2), LD2 Democrats affirmed Bell – already their candidate for senate – to fill the vacancy.

Dems hope that Bell gets a leg up on his tough contest with Assemblyman Chris Brown (R-2) from the chair of Trenton power.

But the real intrigue concerns Sweeney’s timing of the session.

The senate prez’s scheduling of the swearing-in ceremony for Corrado would appear to trip up Democratic State Committee Chairman John Currie, who had wanted to appear on the ballot this year to run for the clerk’s seat he had hoped Corrado would vacate before the Oct. 1st deadline.

She may yet step down by then, a source told InsiderNJ, and Currie has a good relationship with Corrado’s ally, Totowa GOP Party Leader Peter Murphy – but Sweeney has promised all kinds of committee enticements to the departing clerk, and she and Murphy are looking to maintain that developing relationship as well.

A source said if Currie can’t convince Murphy and Corrado to get her to step down by the Oct. 1st deadline and free up the seat, the party chairman would run for clerk next year.