Clifton

Incumbent Republican Freeholder Robert Clifton's partner in fundraising committee will be sentenced on felony charges Tuesday. Clifton and his partner used the fundraising committee to take money those tied to “Operation Bid Rig.” Their contributors included principals in a company that laundered $350,000 in cash.

POU STATEMENT AT BENEFITS REFORM PANEL'S FIRST PUBLIC HEARING

(TRENTON) - Below are remarks prepared for delivery this evening by Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (D-Passaic), co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Public Employee Benefits Reform:

The contest for Passaic County Republican Chairman extended into five municipalities in Tuesday's primary with contested races for County Committee seats. According to a Passaic GOP source, unofficial tallies without absentee battlots give a significant edge to Wayne Mayor Scott Rumana, who is expected to battle a coalition backed by incumbent County Chairman Michael Mecca and former County Chairman Peter Murphy. The Rumana faction appears to have won 57 of 76 seats in Paterson, 70 of 90 in Clifton, 24 of 26 in West Milford, 20 of 60 in Passaic, and 78 of 82 in Wayne.

It seems to bother Passaic County GOP Chairman Michael Mecca that his friend-turned-rival, Wayne Mayor Scott Rumana, has forged a political alliance with Clifton Republican Municipal Chairman John Traier. Here's what Mecca had to say in a letter to County Committee members: "Political marriage of Scott Rumana and John Traier. As the old political adage goes, "politics sure does makes strange bedfellows." John Traier is the municipal leader of Clifton. In 1997, when Rumana ran for Freeholder, Scott and I started to walk door to door on January 20, 1997. Every night and weekend, we knocked on doors for over nine months. Not once did John Traier help Scott Rumana in his quest for Freeholder. Most night in 1997 and 2000, Scott and I ate dinner at my house which my wife Susan prepared for us. Personally, I should have written Scott off as a dependent on my tax return. John Traier was nowhere to be found in the campaigns of 1997 or 2000. In return in 2003 when Traier was the candidate for Freeholder, Rumana did not help Traier at all. What great political bedfellows."

WISNIEWSKI/HACKETT/SCALERA BILL REQUIRING COLLEGES TO
PURCHASE FIRE-RESISTANT FURNITURE ADVANCESA

(TRENTON) -- Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee today released legislation Assemblymen John S. Wisniewski, Mims Hackett, and Fred Scalera sponsored to require private and state colleges and universities to purchase fire-resistant furniture for all dormitories and classrooms.

Perhaps the biggest upset of Tuesday's non-partisan municipal elections was in Gloucester Township, where Republican Cindy Rau-Hatton was elected Mayor in a close contest against a candidate backed by the Camden County Democratic machine. The incumbent, Sandra Love, did not seek re-election. Two Council candidates allied with Rau-Hatton won, including Dan Hutchison, a Republican who ran for Congress against Rob Andrews in 2004.

With a population of 64,350, Gloucteser Township is the largest town in the fourth legislative district, which was dominated by Republicans from 1991 until 2003. Rau-Hutton and Hucthison immediately become potential future candidates for the Legislature. The only municipality in the state with a Republican Mayor that is larger than Gloucester Township is Clifton (population 78,682), where James Anzaldi was re-elected yesterday.

OLIVER APPOINTED TO ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP POST
Assemblywoman also to Serve as Vice Chair of Human Services Committee,
Member of Higher Ed, Labor Panels

PoliticsNJ.com's Top Ten Swing Towns might be the real battleground in the race for Governor: Clifton, Egg Harbor Township, Evesham, Hamilton Township, Manalapan, Marlboro, Old Bridge, Paramus, Sayreville and Washington Township.

George W. Bush carried six of these towns in 2004, while Frank Lautenberg won nine of them in his 2002 U.S. Senate race against this year's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Doug Forrester.

In 2000, Al Gore won all ten towns against Bush, but GOP Senate candidate Bob Franks won six of the towns against Jon Corzine.

James E. McGreevey won all ten towns against Bret Schundler in 2001, but only four of them against Christie Whitman in 1997.

Washington Township backed George Geist against Fred Madden in 2003, 54%-46%. In Clifton, McGreevey won 56% of the vote while Republican State Senator Norman Robertson won 58% in his unsuccessful 2001 re-election campaign against Democrat Nia Gill. Bill Gormley and Martha Bark took 61% in Egg Harbor Township and Evesham, respectively, in 2003. Peter Inverso won 60% of the vote against Skip Cimino in Hamilton, where both candidates reside.

Manalapan and Marlboro played a key role in the defeat of Co-Senate President John Bennett in 2003; Ellen Karcher won each town with more than 60% of the vote. In 2001, Bennett won them both. Joseph Kyrillos lost Old Bridge in 2003 to Bill Flynn, a former Old Bridge Mayor and Assemblyman. Two years earlier, Kyrillos won Old Bridge by over 2,000 votes -- about the same showing as McGreevey.

New Jersey's Top Ten Swing Towns