While the most significant thing that will likely occur as a result of the 2011 redistricting will be the loss of a New Jersey seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a 10-person commission will determine the political landscape for state legislative seats over the next 10 years. The commission is charged with redrawing the 40 state legislative districts after the release of the new census data. A separate body will determine the redistricting of U.S. House of Representative seats during this same period.
It is more than a little ironic that the sole representative from Hudson County on the State Legislative Apportionment Commission is Republican Irene Kim Asbury, who will serve as vice chair, determining the geographic boundaries of all the state legislative and congressional districts.
Republican Assemblyman Jay Webber is serving as the commission’s chairman, with Republican State Sen. Kevin O’Toole, Bill Pallatucci – the New Jersey representative on the Republican National Committee and former legal partner to Gov. Christopher Christie – and Ocean County Republican chairman George Gilmore as the other Republican members.
“I nominated Asbury because I thought she would do a good and fair job on that commission,” said Jose Arango, chairman of the Hudson County Republican Party.
Asbury impressed Arango as a hard worker when she ran unsuccessfully for state Assembly in the 31st District in 2009.
“She did something most other assembly candidates don’t do,” Arango said. “She went door to door from January until November.”
While the commission membership also has five very prominent Democrats that include Assemblyman and Democratic State Chairman John Wisniewski, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, Assembly Majority Leader Joe Cryan, Sen. Paul Sarlo, and Nilsa Cruz-Perez, a former assemblywoman from Camden, none are from Hudson County.
When the commission redraws the 40 districts, the state chairperson for each political party is supposed to take into account the geographical makeup of the state so that all portions of the state are represented.
Arango noted that the Democratic members of the commission are largely what he calls “party bosses,” while the Republicans, he said, are mostly representatives from local political organizations from around the state.
Since this 10-member body has always split along party lines, Arango said this year the matter will likely be decided by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, who has in the past named an 11th member as a tie breaker.
This year is more curious because Stuart Rabner, a Democrat, is the current Chief Justice, but also worked with Republican Gov. Christie when Christie served as the U.S. attorney for the state of New Jersey. Who Rabner appoints could determine the political future of many local legislators.
But most local officials agree that it is unlikely that this commission will choose to redistrict in a way that would put state senators Nicholas Sacco and Brian Stack in the same district.
As is his habit each year, Stack, through his civic association, gave away turkeys for Thanksgiving – 15,000 of them, to be exact. This pretty much covers his entire voter base in Union City. What differed this year from the past was the shortage of cash that required the civic association to sell tickets around the county so that supporters could donate money for the drive.
Fistfight in Atlantic City was only a rumor
Never lacking for political entertainment, the League of Municipalities Convention – held a week before Thanksgiving this year – had its own special tales to tell, as a nasty rumor spread throughout the political elite thatCarl Czaplicki, director of Jersey City’s Housing, Economic Development and Commerce department decked Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop at a Democratic function.
Fulop flatly denied the rumor, suggesting there wasn’t even a basis in fact for it – or for the half dozen other versions of the rumor that soon emerged.
“I’m an ex-Marine,” Fulop said. “If there was any truth to the rumor, the outcome would have been the other way.”
But witnesses said Czaplicki and Fulop did have a verbal exchange over the possible outcome of the 2013 Jersey City mayoral election for which Fulop has already declared his candidacy.
“The two of them were bragging about which candidate was going to beat the other one,” said one observer.
Czaplicki is a strong supporter of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and while Healy has not officially declared himself as a candidate, several people very close to Healy said he is running or considering it.
Roman may not be able to run at large in Jersey City
Jersey City Fire Director Armando Roman’s viability as an at-large City Council candidate (something he’s talked about with his closest allies) took a big hit last week when his hand-picked successor for the Puerto Rican Parade presidency won by just 58 votes, despite Roman’s working the phones and and buttonholing residents of Villa Borinquen housing, where he was stationed in the hallway the entire day. Roman anticipated widespread Latino support for a run in November.
“He took it on the chin last night and seemed to age 10 years in five hours,” said one observer a day after the parade.