Who’s Up This Week in NJ Politics

Eddie Donnelly

The NJ State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association leader won renewed respect when Governor Phil Murphy backed away from a proposal to put $33 million from the state firefighter fund into the general fund.

Sue Altman

Forged by former State Director Analilia Mejia into a significant progressive organization, the Working Families Alliance this week selected the leadership board member from the South Jersey Women for Progressive Change (SJWPC) to serve as Mejia’s replacement.

Hector Lora

Governor Phil Murphy this week nominated the Passaic Mayor to replace Ken Lucianin as a member of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.

Alicia D’Alessandro 

The veteran Democratic Party operative is leaving the office of Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco for a gig in the office of Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

Peter Murphy

The Passaic County GOP Chairman could thump his chest over the news about the governor nominating Peter Murphy’s son, Brendan, to replace Scott M. Heck on the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.

Christopher Columbus

The Glen Rock Borough Council on Wednesday night unanimously rejected a request to rename Columbus Day “Indigenous Peoples Day.”

Who’s Down This Week in NJ Politics

Matthew Calicchio

The veteran Democratic Party operative this week pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini in Newark federal court to an information charging him with using the mails to promote voter bribery from 2013 to 2015 in municipal elections in Hoboken.

George Norcross III

A lot of people in the political establishment agree with the South Jersey Democratic Party power broker’s assessment of the sitting governor, but Norcross’ gratuitous shot at First Lady Tammy Murphy revealed a less than fully controlled line of attack. It was sufficiently unsporting at the time for Norcross to go after Dick Codey the way he did with abusive public remarks in 2013, but to launch an ad hominem attack against the state’s first lady seems inappropriate and lacking in decorum.

Phil Murphy

It’s gutsy, to be sure, going after the state’s last-standing big league political boss. And the results of an investigation could prove that it was necessary. Particularly after Governor Chris Christie, moreover, New Jersey is overdue for a leader who challenges power and doesn’t simply acquiesce to it. Is Murphy that guy? Maybe. But that’s the long game. In the short term, this governor stands at the head of a divided and dysfunctional party, and appears up against a budget season, which (if it can be believed) may prove worse than last year. There’s already considerable shutdown buzz. The senate president is talking primary. And Norcross in some ways crassly said what others crassly feel. As fragmented as Democrats are right now, Murphy, at the very least in the immediate context of his budget, has put his ambitious agenda in serious jeopardy.

Recreational Pot

In case, you haven’t heard, it’s dead. At least this budget cycle.

Cory Booker

The junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey appears to be doing just as poorly in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary as he is in national polling of the 2020 presidential field. A Monmouth University Poll today showed him at 2%.

Christopher Fox

The mayor of West Wildwood irritated residents when the town hired his daughter as a cop. According to The Press of Atlantic City: “a resolution that was not initially on the agenda was passed during the borough commissioner’s meeting to approve the hiring of two new officers, to the dismay of residents at the meeting.”