TRENTON – In an atmosphere that sources with two decades in the legislature describe as the worst they have experienced, Republican caucus members roamed the chamber at will while their Democratic counterparts apparently warred with each other behind closed doors.

Devilish grins played on the faces of Republicans on the sunlit carpet as Dems crucified one another in caucus.

Others took the opportunity to opine on the coming session, now almost two hours delayed as Democrats pow-wowed.

“In honesty, it’s not on the board list, and I haven’t even seen the comments,” veteran Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25) told InsiderNJ, when asked about the Horizon restructuring bill that has his Democratic colleagues log-jammed. “I don’t see the urgency, to go from Joe Vitale’s imagination to law in a week. It’s not the Gov’s bill, leaves the surplus alone [at least until the next gov], and would probably have the effect of lowering premiums so as to ensure against Trenton adventurism, with reserves.

“If it were posted this instant, I’d probably be a no, because I don’t think we’ve had sufficient time to consider a bill of this magnitude, when speed does not seem to serve any purpose,” Carroll added.

Amid ongoing rumblings about a leadership swing out, with Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) made to dangle, one Democratic source said, “I think they considered trying, strongly, but are away from that now.”