Joseph DiVincenzo

Three women widely viewed as rising stars in the Democratic Party are likely to receive consideration for Lt. Governor next year when Jon Corzine picks a running mate: State Sens. Dana Redd (D-Camden) and Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), and Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz. 

An important message from Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, according to a press release issued today: due to inclement weather forecasts for Saturday, the Essex County Canine Halloween Costume Parade has been rescheduled to Saturday, November 1.

Fairleigh Dickinson University's The Public Mind polling center released a poll today that offered statewide favorable and unfavorable ratings of several possible candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor in 2009. 

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DENVER - State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) hopes to help her team belt the GOP out of the ballpark on Nov. 4th, but so far Democrats remain uncomfortable in their own dugout.

Ruiz, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Chief of Staff Phil Alagia all took turns at the plate at Coors Field on Tuesday, with DiVincenzo sending a couple of the pitches deep into the outfield, according to Ruiz and Alagia.

"I'm giving up my career in politics to try out for the Colorado Rockies," DiVincenzo said. State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) works on her batting technique with Dodger legend Steve Garvey.: Courtesy of Phil Alagia

The race for the 2009 Democratic gubernatorial nomination has begun, with Congressman Bill Pascrell and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo saying that they would consider running if the incumbent, Jon Corzine, decides not to seek re-election to a second term.   

If Corzine were to leave office early, Senate President Richard Codey would succeed to the governorship.  Codey served as Governor when James E. McGreevey resigned, and then backed down from a bid for a full-term when Corzine, willing to self-fund his campaign, secured the endorsement of key county Democratic organizations.  Codey, his friends say, is unlikely to back down again.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo: Politicker photo

NEWARK - Joseph DiVincenzo knows the joke is coming, and he fields it with a grin - the one broadcaster Steve Adubato, Jr., has delivered for years about how DiVincenzo tried out for more than a half dozen NFL teams and got cut by every one of them.

The fact that Brett Favre is now taking snaps for the Jets sets up Adubato’s new punch line.

"He’s even older than Joe D," Adubato cracks and the roomful of politicians at the Breakers laughs, and DiVincenzo a moment later stands at the microphone, giving a nod to Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen, who’s out there in the audience somewhere.

"I’m with Phil Thigpen, not Steve Adubato," DiVincenzo says, a playful poke at his leader, the junior Adubato’s father, who tried to oust Thigpen as chairman earlier this year but ran into a public objection by DiVincenzo, who wanted Thigpen to remain as chair.

DiVincenzo prevailed.

Gov. Jon Corzine, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and Senate President Richard Codey: Politicker photo

NEWARK - On a ridiculously hot day in which many other public speakers might have sent the brow-mopping audience on a premature beeline for the nearest watering hole, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne regaled his willing audience with charm and one-liners.

"Everything else I asked for, but I didn’t ask for this," said Byrne, before officially accepting the honor bestowed by the Essex County Freeholders and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, and before he pulled the American flag off a stone fixture in a plaza named after him.

"When my kids used to visit me here, I used to put them in jail, and that taught them to stay on the straight and narrow," he cracked.

Assemblywoman Grace Spencer (D-Newark): Politicker photo 

Assemblywoman Grace Spencer (D-Newark) officially opened her district office on Hawthorne Avenue in the South Ward on Friday in a well-attended event.

U.S. Rep. William Payne (D-Newark), Essex county Party chairman Phil Thigpen, Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair), Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark), Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), and local elected officials were among the 150 people who joined Spencer for the kick-off.

"I plan to have a larger event in September," said Spencer.

The office opening comes in the wake of a suggestion by former Assemblyman William Payne (D-Newark) that he wouldn't rule out a primary run against Spencer. Although he bucked the system last year and ran off the line, Payne remains in a powerful inner sanctum. He serves as deputy chief of staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a job title shared by Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, who in 2007 topped the ticket with Spencer. 

State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex).: Politicker photo 

Nothing’s ever rock solid in politics, but the top of the Trenton power heap may contain more potential for movement than usual in the lead-up to Statehouse reorganization come January.

Two possible factors include Speaker Joseph Roberts’s (D-Camden) imminent departure from the Assembly, and the possibility that a newly crowned Obama administration would haul former Wall Street guru Gov. Jon Corzine out of New Jersey to crunch numbers in Washington.

In the thicket of this political drama, it’s difficult not to identify Senate President and former Governor Richard Codey (D-Essex) as a protagonist.

"I’m just a kid from Orange," Codey told a packed auditorium in his native Essex County town last month - but he’s also a former governor, who by all appearances liked the job and enjoyed great popularity.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo will announce a proposal today to name the promenade between the Essex County Veterans Courthouse and the jurors parking lot as the Governor Brendan T. Byrne Plaza – a tribute to the 84-year-old former Governor, Essex County Prosecutor and Superior Court Judge.  Byrne also has a state forest named after him in the Pinelands, but no sports arena:  his name was taken off the arena in 1994, after the Republicans reclaimed control of state government.