James Wallwork

September 30, 2008 - 8:37am

The curse of the New Jersey Legislature

The New Jersey Legislature is often the breeding ground for gubernatorial candidates, but by 2009 it will have been 81 years since a sitting state legislator has been elected Governor -- the last time was in 1928, when Morgan Larson, a Republican State Senator from Middlesex County, won.

Over the last fifty years, only four incumbent legislators -- State Senators Malcom Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) -- have won gubernatorial primaries, and all four have lost their general elections.

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August 27, 2008 - 7:56pm

The Mendham primary

If Rick Merkt and Chris Christie both wind up in the race for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, it will be the first time in 28 years that two former running mates and two candidates from the same small town compete in a statewide primary.  Merkt and Christie, who live in Mendham, ran as a team in the 1995 State Assembly primary in District 25; they lost to incumbent Anthony Bucco and newcomer Michael Patrick Carroll, who was seeking the open seat of retiring Assemblyman Arthur Albohn.   Merkt went to the Assembly two years later when Bucco ran for the State Senate.

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June 14, 2007 - 12:50pm

In an emergency, Rabner can use the Jacobson plan

In the end, if he has to, Stuart Rabner can get around the senatorial courtesy thing.

Back in 1981, Governor Brendan Byrne appointed labor leader Joel Jacobson to the Casino Control Commission.  The nomination of the South Orange resident was blocked for months by James Wallwork, a Republican State Senator from Essex County.  Wallwork exercised senatorial courtesy because none of the five casino commissioners came from South Jersey. 

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