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Medford Mayor Chris Myers challenged his Democratic congressional opponent, State Sen. John Adler, to a debate over new affordable housing mandates today.

Myers has spent a good chunk of his campaign railing against a recently passed bill that bans regional community agreements, where suburban towns would offload their affordable housing requirements on other towns by paying them fees.

Adler backed the reforms in the legislature.

At-Large Councilmen Peter Cammarano, left, and Ruben Ramos: Politicker photo 

At-Large Councilman Ruben Ramos today responded to Second Ward Councilwoman Beth Mason in a letter in which he addressed the self-styled government watchdog as "Boss Mason."

"As a lifelong member of the Hoboken community, I am appalled that Ms. Mason thinks she can mask her intention to be a political boss, by having the audacity to call herself a reformer," Ramos said of the likely mayoral candidate.

Over the last decade, Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferrerio has consolidated power with help from a group of unlikely allies: The Bergen County Republican Organization.

Ferriero developed a fundraising machine and got most of his party in lock step behind him.  But bickering and internal disputes in the GOP hurt that party’s ability to provide a counterweight, as did anemic fundraising. 

Bob Yudin, who was elected as county chairman last month, hopes to change that. 

“Since the day I was elected, I have been reaching out,” said Yudin.  “In my acceptance speech and every day I reach out and try to counsel people.  We have to stop the fighting, we have to work together, and it has been effective to some degree already.” 

Former state Sen. Bill Gormley just had a building named after him.

At a ceremony last night, members of United Here Local 54 and the non-profit heatlh organization AtlantiCare renamed an Atlantic City facility the William L. Gormley AtlantiCare HealthPlex.   

The groups cited Gormley’s support for AtlantiCare’s Special Care Center. 

Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason: Politicker photo 

HOBOKEN - Taking a nod from Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, freshman Hoboken Councilwoman Beth Mason intends to introduce an amendment that would ban city elected officials from receiving more than one public salary or pension.

"I am sure that Councilman Fulop recognizes, as do I, how difficult it is to create a more responsive and responsible government when the primary interest of many elected officials lies in perpetuating a cumbersome, costly bureaucracy that rewards the few, at the expense of the many," Mason said.

Elected last year to fill a vacant seat in the city’s second ward, Mason - like Fulop in Jersey City - is a likely 2009 mayoral candidate.

Council President John SowellIRVINGTON - Council President John Sowell said he is not ruling out a mayoral run in 2010, however, he said he would not run against Mayor Wayne Smith if Smith decides to pursue a third term.

"I don’t rule out anything, two years out," Sowell told PolitickerNJ.com, "But I wouldn’t run against Wayne, that’s not my style."

Dr. David Rebovich, a leading political scientist in New Jersey, passed away last October.
The Rider Institute for New Jersey Politics will be renamed in honor of its late founder and managing director, David Rebovich.

Rebovich, a political scientist and prolific media commentator who wrote a column for PolitickerNJ.com, died suddenly of a heart attack in October.

The school also announced that the institute will be directed by veteran Democratic political operative Ben Dworkin, a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University. Dworkin has recently worked for several communications firms in New York and New Jersey, and started off his New Jersey political career as an aide and protégé of the late state Sen. Matthew Feldman.

Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop hasn’t announced his candidacy for mayor next year, but he’s already begun cobbling together a slate.

Former Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy today announced that he will join a ticket headed by the 31-year-old Fulop in next year’s election. Cassidy, 67, plans to run as a council candidate along with James Carroll, who hopes to run in Ward D.

Jersey City has nine council seats – six from different wards and three at-large. Cassidy has not yet determined whether he will run for an at-large seat or for the Ward A spot currently occupied by Michael Sottolano.

Prospective mayoral candidate Bret Schundler’s conservative record was raised last night in one of the first attacks of the developing Jersey City mayoral race.

At a rally touting the establishment of a task force to fight crime against Jersey City’s LGBT community last night, Walt Boraczek, founder of the Hudson Diversity Action Council and an ally of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, ripped into Schundler’s record on gay rights, both as mayor and as a gubernatorial candidate, calling him “homophobic.”

Schundler, who was mayor from 1992 until 2001, is considering running for mayor again. The city holds non-partisan elections, and Schundler was initially narrowly elected in a crowded field of candidates. He went on to form alliances with key Democrats on the council to hold the seat. Last night’s rally was a clear indication that Schundler’s rivals will use his conservative record against him in this Democrat dominated city, should he choose to run again.

The Star-Ledger reports that the feds’ investigation of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero has expanded, with subpoenas issued to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, where he’s chief counsel.

Two separate subpoenas were sent to the commission: one demanding all its records dealing with Ferriero’s law firm, Scarinci Hollenbeck, and one demanding records for a company Ferriero founded in 2001 called SVC consulting along with records related to the PR firm Vision Media.

In October, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Ferriero rival, denounced the amount of money spent by several county agencies, including the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, on consultants. Among the complaints about Vision Media was that a coloring book was the only evidence of its work for the commission.