Booker

PAYNE, CODEY, BOOKER ANNOUNCE COUNTYWIDE ESSEX SUPPORT FOR LAUTENBERG

            NEWARK, NJ – U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, State Senate President Dick Codey and Newark Mayor Cory Booker today announced a lengthy list of local, county and state officials from Essex County that are throwing their support behind U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s re-election bid.  The growing list of democrats that gave their endorsement today includes local mayors and council members, county freeholders, and state legislators.

CODEY PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR CRACK DOWN ON GUN VIOLENCE, PRAISES CHIEF JUSTICE’S INVESTIGATION

   TRENTON  –  Senate President Richard J. Codey (D-Essex) praised the comprehensive approach unveiled in Newark today to combat the rising tide of gun violence and pledged his support to help eviscerate guns from New Jersey’s streets.

Conscious of Thomas Jefferson’s exhortation that there should be a revolution every 20 years, Newark Councilman Ron Rice, Jr., nonetheless says he’s supporting his father, Sen. Ronald Rice, for re-election in District 28.

The younger Rice came into office last year in the west ward on a wave of new blood, along with Cory Booker, who defeated Rice’s father to become mayor.

The revolution goes on, says the councilman, but so does family -- and so does the larger context of Newark, which includes the older guys still grumbling but still undeniably possessing wisdom, in his view.

And while mayor is one office, Rice, Jr. said this week, State Senate is another.

NEWARK - Gov. Jon S. Corzine today said Rep. Donald M. Payne, who is serving his tenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, has his unflagging support now, and in 2008.

State Sen. Ronald Rice and his primary opponent, Freeholder Bilal Beasley

By MAX PIZARRO
PoliticsNJ.com

Coming off last year’s losing mayoral campaign, State Sen. Ronald L. Rice must now confront a candidate endorsed by the man who just beat him.

It wouldn’t be that bad, says Rice, if he didn’t feel so neglected.

Since Mayor Cory Booker vanquished him at the ballot box with 72% of the vote, Rice claims Booker hasn’t had time for him. They’ll bump into each other at a ribbon cutting or a political rally. Rice will approach Booker and tell the mayor he needs to talk to him. The mayor will agree.

“Then he’ll never call,� Rice complains. “He never calls.�

Booker’s man, Bilal Beasley, laughs that off.

While Democrats seem to be focused on Linda Stender’s rematch with Mike Ferguson, the most vulnerable incumbent in New Jersey’s thirteen-member congressional delegation could be Donald Payne.

The ten-term Congressman remains politically estranged from the most powerful man in his district, Newark Mayor Cory Booker.  His brother is challenging Booker’s candidate for State Senate in the 29th district, and his nephew is running on an opposition slate for Assemblyman in the 28th district.

If Booker decides he wants to new Congressman representing Newark, the 72-year-old Payne could have a problem in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Cory Booker was off the campaign trail after taking office as Mayor of Newark last July.  But with high approvals -- a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University poll rated Booker as the most popular Democrat in the state -- it appears that the rising star will begin to spread his political wings.  He will headline the Burlington County Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Day Dinner on April 13, and a $1,000-per-person private pre-dinner event at the home of former Florio Chief Counsel Andrew Weber. 

By Max Pizzaro
PoliticsNJ.com

NEWARK, March 14 - Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. says he would definitely support Rep. Donald M. Payne for re-election in 2008, but Newark Mayor Cory Booker stopped short of giving the ten-term incumbent his unconditional endorsement.

Booker and DiVincenzo Wednesday endorsed Teresa Ruiz for the Democratic State Senate nomination in the 29th district. The congressman’s brother, Assemblyman William D. Payne, says he will run for the same seat.

State Senate candidate Teresa Ruiz, with Newark Mayor Cory Booker

By MAX PIZARRO
PoliticsNJ.com

NEWARK, March 14 - Opposing State Senate primary candidates in Newark’s 29th district have a subtly different but ultimately connected sensibility when it comes to politics, which in this city, they say, leads back to the neighborhood, the block, the family.

“Politics can be about bringing good things into the neighborhood,� says 32-year-old Teresa Ruiz, whose career is just beginning.

Then there is the veteran’s perception, which is that politics at some point must have an end.

“There is politics,� muses Assemblyman William D. Payne, “And there is beyond politics. There is the way you were raised.�

It was a stunning declaration by Payne Wednesday, who pointed out he wasn’t reared in a Democratic Party that disrespects a senior member of a key legislative district, which he is, and which he serves.