If there was ever any doubt about the growing political influence of the Northeast Regional Council of Carpenters, consider the following:

John Ballantyne, the union’s executive treasurer-secretary, just got the chairmanship of the Sports and Exposition Authority.

Senator Troy Singleton, the assistant to the executive treasurer-secretary, just scored a committee chairmanship (Military and Veterans Affairs) three months into his term as a freshman senator.

Middlesex County Democratic Committee Chairman Kevin McCabe, president of the Carpenter Contractor Trust, landed a seat on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Lizette Delgado Polanco, the Carpenters’ Political Director, is the re-upped vice chair of the NJ Democratic State Committee.

The only political fistfight the Carpenters lost in the last handful of months was when Mercer County Freeholder Anthony Verrelli lost the LD15 Democratic Committee endorsement to Verlina Reynolds Jackson to succeed Liz Muoio in the Assembly.