Ken Zisa

If Connie Wagner is successful in her bid for the State Assembly, there will be no shortage of potential candidates to replace her in January.  A short list includes: Bergen County Improvement Authority Commissioner Cid Wilson, who was seeking an Assembly seat in the 37th district earlier this year, but withdrew when the party united behind the incumbents; Fort Lee Council President (and Acting Mayor) Ila Kasofsky; Rev. Vernon Walton, a former Englewood Councilman; Little Ferry Councilman Thomas Sarlo, the brother of State Senator Paul Sarlo; Bergen County Improvement Authority Chairman Ronald O'Malley, and former Assemblyman (and Hackensack Police Chief) Ken Zisa.  

During a 34-year career in the New Jersey Legislature, Byron Baer had six Democratic running mates that served with him in Trenton: Albert Burstein, a former Assembly Majority Leader who served from 1972 to 1982; Bennett Mazur, who served from Burstein's retirement until his resignation, due to illness, in 1992; Loretta Weinberg, who had been Mazur's legislative aide, from 1992 until 2005; Charles "Ken" Zisa, who went to the Assembly when Baer moved up to the Senate in 1993 and served until he ran for Bergen County Sheriff in 2001; and Gordon Johnson, who replaced Zisa. During Baer's 22 years as an Assemblyman, he served with State Senator Matthew Feldman, who defeated GOP Senator Joseph Woodcock in 1973.

Unless the Bergen County Democratic Civil War ends before spring, look for a massive amount of money to be spent in the 37th district primary. County Chairman Joseph Ferriero has privately pledged to spend considerable funds to oust three incumbent legislators running off the line in June, and his Senate candidate, uber-ambitious Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, is a fairly amazing fundraiser in his own right. He raised nearly $600k for his mayoral re-election bid (with nearly $200k remaining), and has nearly $500k cash-on-hand in a federal campaign account he formed just in case the ninth district House seat opens up.

Ken Zisa, a former Assemblyman who will run with Wildes on Ferriero's ticket, has more than $100k in his account.

Incumbent State Senator Loretta Weinberg has about $150k in her warchest. Her running mates have modest amounts of cash-on-hand: Assemblyman Gordon Johnson has about $24k, while Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri-Huttle has $18k.

The three leading candidates to challenge incumbents Gordon Johnson and Valerie Vainieri Huttle for the Democratic State Assembly nomination in the 37th district are former Assemblyman Ken Zisa, Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes, and Bergen County Improvement Authority Commissioner Cid Wilson, the President of the Dominican American National Roundtable. Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero has endorsed Loretta Weinberg for re-election to the State Senate, but not Johnson and Huttle.

If the Assembly incumbents lose a vote at a Democratic convention, Weinberg has the choice of running on the Democratic line, or rejecting it and running on a slate with Johnson and Huttle. That could mean a primary for Sheriff Leo McGuire and Freeholders Elizabeth Calabrese, Tomas Padilla and James Carroll.

The prospects of a contentious Democratic primary in Bergen County this June could be especially troublesome for Corzine -- especially if he weighs in again and supports a Weinberg slate. Corzine already has problems with Democratic legislators in South Jersey and Hudson County, and a battle with Ferriero, who has considerable influence in the 36th and 38th districts -- could make the passage of a state budget increasingly more difficult.

Zisa served four terms in the Assembly before giving up his seat to run unsuccessfully for Bergen County Sheriff in 2001. He won a September 2005 Special Election Convention for State Senate by just four votes, but after a Superior Court Judge ruled that five disputed votes should be counted, Weinberg wound up winning by one vote, 115-114. Zisa had Ferriero's support, while Weinberg was endorsed by Jon Corzine.

The uber-ambitious Wildes, who has an on-again, off-again, relationship with Ferriero, lost a Special Election Convention for Weinberg's Assembly seat to Huttle. He has nearly $460,000 in a federal campaign account, in case Congressman Steven Rothman does not seek re-election.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle has no plans to seek re-election to the Bergen County Board of Freeholders or run for Bergen County Executive in 2006. Huttle, elected to the Assembly last November, will serve out the remainder of her term. But a Democrat close to Huttle says that "how hard she publicly campaigns for her fellow county Democratic candidates will depend upon the attitude and actions of the county organization leaders," adding that if Bergen Democratic leaders continue to encourage former Assemblyman Ken Zisa to challenge State Senator Loretta Weinberg in the 2007 primary, "all bets are off" regarding Huttle's decision not to challenge Dennis McNerney in the 2006 primary.

Contested votes of five County Committee members from Tenafly delivered the 37th district State Senate seat to Loretta Weinberg, but now Democratic Municipal Chairman Michael Barnes says that Ken Zisa is a good guy too. Barnes mea culpa letter to the editor probably won't mean much to Zisa, or to County Chairman Joe Ferriero.

Ken Zisa, the winner of a State Senate seat less than three weeks ago, will return to Trenton if the New Jersey Supreme Court rules in his favor -- of if, for some reason, Tenafly turns out to have been Zisa Country. Zisa, according to several Democratic officials, is taking a pass on a race for the State Assembly seat his rival, Loretta Weinberg, is about to give up.

Weinberg's candidate to fill her seat in an election set -- for now -- to be held Thursday night is Bergen County Freeholder Valerie Vainieri Huttle. Huttle dropped her own Senate bid in exchange for Weinberg's support in a future Assembly race. Now another anti-organization Weinberg supporter has entered the Assembly race: Michael Wildes, the incredibly ambitious Mayor of Englewood.

Ironically, the competition for the safe Democratic seat might not even include a candidate from the Joe Ferriero wing of the Democratic party. Ferriero might be happier with the consolation prize: replacing Huttle on the Bergen County Board of Freeholders with a Democrat who won't annoy him.

Wildes was elected Mayor of Englewood in 2003 against Ferriero's wishes. Wildes was prepared to challenge incumbent Paul Fader (now Chief Counsel to Acting Governor Richard Codey, in the Democratic primary, and then beat aging State Senator Byron Baer in a vote of the Englewood Democratic County Committee. Last year, he opened a federal campaign account to prepare to run for Congress, if and/or when Steve Rothman runs for the U.S. Senate. A prolific fundraiser, he has over $100,000 in his warchest.

There is no great love between Wildes and Huttle. In 2003, Huttle threatened to challenge Wildes in the Democratic mayoral primary after she was asked to leave a fundraiser with Hillary Rodham Clinton at Wildes' home.

If the New Jersey Supreme Court declines to overturn Judge Peter Doyne's ruling in the 37th district State Senate race, a Special Democratic Convention will be held on Thursday to replace Loretta Weinberg as one of the Democratic candidates for State Assembly on the November general election ballot. Former Assemblyman Ken Zisa, who led Weinberg by one vote after the September 15th special election convention, is expected to be the Bergen County Democratic Organization's candidate. Weinberg is backing Freeholder Valierie Vainieri Huttle.

There is still some question as to whether a Special Election Convention will be held as well. Weinberg will withdraw from the Assembly race to run for Senate, but she does not necessarily need to resign her seat until she is sworn in as a State Senator. The Senate is not scheduled to meet again until after the election.

It won't come as a surprise to Bergen County politicians if one of the casualties of the Joe Ferriero vs. Jon Corzine war is Bergenfield Democratic Municipal Chairman Kevin Clancy. There was some fairly compelling evidence that the resignations of five County Committee members were forged in an unsuccessful attempt to increase votes for Clancy's candidate, Ken Zisa. Clancy, a former Mayor who was forced to leave office after a drunk driving arrest (and charges that he tried to bribe a police officer) might be just the type of small fish Attorney General Peter Harvey likes to go after, and there are unconfirmed reports that law enforcement officials have already made some inquiries.

If Loretta Weinberg emerges from the legal battles as the next State Senator from the 37th district, Democrats will need to hold another Special Election Convention to fill her Assembly seat, and a convention to fill her spot on the Democratic ticket this fall. Weinberg has already endorsed Bergen County Freeholder Valerie Vainieri Huttle to replace her in the lower house, but insiders expect her opponent to be the current Senator-elect, Ken Zisa.