Gary Schaer

SCALERA/SCHAER HELP IMMERSE NUTLEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Legislators Hosted Members of the Republican and Democratic Clubs During Latest Voting Session

(TRENTON) - Assemblymen Fred Scalera and Gary S. Schaer (both D-Bergen/Essex/Passaic) today released a multimedia package highlighting their efforts to educate high school students on the legislative process.

Speculation persists in Republican circles that Rutherford Mayor John Hipp would make a good assembly candidate, but Hipp has not been privy to it.

In September, Hipp told PolitickerNJ that he would only consider running if party leaders asked him to. That hasn’t changed.

“I haven’t said no because obviously if I’m asked to help out the party I want to do everything I can,” he said.

All eighty seats in the New Jersey General Assembly are up next year, with Democrats in strong shape to keep their majority under a legislative map that creates relatively few competitive races.

Republicans feel that they have a good chance to go on the offensive this year, even if taking control of the Assembly, where Democrats have a 48-32 majority, is an unlikely prospect. Assembly Republican Executive Director Rick Wright thinks the gubernatorial candidacy of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, one of four Republicans actively exploring a statewide bid, would boost his party’s chances to pick up Assembly seats.

“It all depends on who our gubernatorial candidate is. I know there’s a lot of excitement out there about Chris Christie. If and when he makes his decision, that will help us in our recruiting. We have people out there sitting and saying I want to see what Chris Christie does,” Wright said. “A lot of county chairmen think we have a much better chance of success in gubernatorial and legislative races if Chris Christie is at the top of the ticket.”

Schaer campaigns for Blanco on Election Day

PASSAIC – Yesterday’s mayoral victory by physician Alex Blanco in a 62 percent turnout election depended heavily on the endorsement of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

The city is split in half, with the 3rd and 2nd wards on the south side of town and 4th and 1st wards to the north.

In the heart of Schaer’s Orthodox Jewish community, Ward 3 totals show that Blanco earned 1,965 of his 3,859 total votes, according to the Passaic City Clerk’s Office.

That’s where nearly a third of the city’s total 25,543 registered voters are concentrated.

Rivals: School Board President Vincent Capuana, left, and Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic)

PASSAIC – Opposing forces converge on School No. 3 in the Third Ward, the local political base of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer.

Schaer and his ally, mayoral candidate Dr. Alex Blanco, greet people in front of the school as they head in to vote.

A car door slams and a slender man jumps the curb.

It’s School Board President Vincent Capuana, one of Blanco’s rivals in the mayors’ contest.

“We’ve been here in Gary’s base since this morning,” confides one of Capuana’s backers. “He moves, we move.”

Dr. Alex Blanco

PASSAIC – It’s bleak on Monday.  The sky never disgorges the rain and people stand around in the streets and talk about what’s going to go down here tomorrow.

There’s one day left in this five-man race for a seat left vacant by a man in federal prison, and most have a good idea about who’s wearing wires and where the money’s coming from, but no one knows who’s going to win.

Not if they’re telling the truth.

Campaign headquarters are almost up to full strength several hours before real estate developer Jose Sandoval, physician Alex Blanco, code enforcement inspector/School Board President Vinny Capuana, bail bondsman Carl Ellen and landlord/City Councilman Joe Garcia head to the local Baptist Church for a final collective prayer on the eve of Election Day.

By this time tomorrow, Jose Sandoval will either be one of the New Jersey GOP’s rising stars or a three-time loser.  The real estate developer is a contender in a non-partisan special election for Mayor of Passaic, a job that opened up after Sammy Rivera’s criminal conviction.  If Sandoval wins – and keeps his pledge to end corruption in city government and keep local property taxes in line – he could emerge as a candidate for higher office.  Some Republicans today said that Sandoval could even emerge as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2009, especially if the GOP gubernatorial candidate thinks they can make a play for Hispanic votes in the general election.

PASSAIC - On the day the Herald News endorses real estate developer Jose Sandoval  in the mayor’s race, four of the five candidates sit at the front of a big room hugging highway 21 at a warehouse district debate sponsored by an alliance of community groups.

A fifth chair stands empty.

“I had other commitments and I had to make those commitments,” Councilman Joe Garcia explains later.

Garcia’s absence at the last debate forum before Tuesday’s special election fans rumors that either one of the campaigns of Dr. Alex Blanco or city super Vinny Capuana broke through and secured backing from the councilman’s supporters, thereby shutting down his campaign.

Marcellus Jackson, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing, stumps for Passaic mayoral candidate Vinny Capuana last night

PASSAIC – A crowd packed the VFW Hall on Thursday night as former Councilman Marcellus Jackson, who pled guilty last year to corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing, seized a microphone and launched into a raise-the-roof speech in favor of Vinny Capuana for mayor and Barack Obama for president.

“Vinny’s done a lot for us and I’m doing all I can to help him in spite of my present troubles,” Jackson told PolitickerNJ.com.

Busted for taking $26,000 in bribes from federal agents posing as members of an insurance agency as part of Operation Broken Boards, Jackson, in the role of emcee, praised Capuana as a loyal man of the people who backed him in tough times.

ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS REACT TO VOTING SESSION FOCUSED ON PROTECTING RESIDENTS FROM ECONOMIC MELTDOWN

Assembly Passes Nearly 30 Bills Designed to Jumpstart State Economy & Help Insulate Residents, Businesses from Global Recession

(TRENTON) - Assembly Democrats today issued the following multimedia package following an Assembly voting session that considered nearly 30 bills to jumpstart the state's economy and help protect residents and businesses from the continuing global economic meltdown.