One of the victims of the state budget cuts two weeks ago was that New Jersey’s presidential primary is moving back to June.
Four years ago, the state changed from June to February in order to become more relevant in the primary cycle, but the $15 million estimated cost of holding the special primary was just too much for legislators to stomach in a year when Gov. Christopher Christie vetoed budget items that would have aided the poorest people in the state as well as many of the disabled.
Many Democrats were appalled at the vetoed items, partly because the state will have a $600 million surplus this year.
State Sen. Steve Sweeney and state Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver have been screaming like banshees over the vetoes. This comes only two weeks after they were kissing and hugging Christie over the union pension and health care deal which swung Democratic votes to support Christie’s agenda.
The latest salvo of bad words aimed at Christie from Sweeney and Oliver suggests that Christie backed out of some deal with them after he got what he wanted from the Democratic leadership.
Prez primary change will affect local elections
Meanwhile some local Democrats actually see the change of primary to June as a significant advantage, especially in Hoboken where members of the “Real Democrats” recently took control of the Democratic Committee from reformers backed by Mayor Dawn Zimmer.
Although almost a year away, next June’s primary is critical for financing of the May 2013 municipal elections – if the elections for mayor and at-large seats actually take place in May.
The Zimmer-controlled City Council is seeking to move the election to November, claiming the May election is a waste of taxpayer money and results in lower turnout. Most critics of the move claim Zimmer is simply changing the election so that she can run at the same time as Gov. Christie. The question remains – does the City Council have the power to give Zimmer a seven-month increase in her term of office?
It probably does, but it may require some action from the state legislature. This should not be a problem for Zimmer since she is connected to state Sen. Ray Lesniak, one of the most powerful political brokers in the state.
Lesniak helped former Mayor Dennis Elwell change the terms of office from two to four years in the same year Elwell was running unopposed, so it is presumed Lesniak has clout to help Zimmer.
Democrats in Hudson County and elsewhere should be thrilled at the change of the primary since it means that those towns with committee seat battles will have their candidates running on the same ballot line as President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, and their local Democratic congressman.
Hoboken ‘Real Democrats’ take the pledge
While nobody should hold their breath – for fear of suffocating – apparently potential anti-Zimmer candidates for mayor have agreed that none of them will announce their candidacy for mayor until after the June 2012 primaries.
This is an effort to show discipline and allow the combined forces that helped people like Councilman Tim Occhipinti get elected last November to work to keep control of the Democratic Committee in Hoboken.
How long can this last? Like any other pledge, expect it to be broken by the first candidate who gets drunk on the idea of power.
Anti-wheeling may be out of locals’ hands
Anti-“wheeling” laws in Hoboken may lead to a lawsuit for several reasons.
First, municipalities may not be allowed to supersede state laws and create tighter restrictions than the state imposes.
More importantly, at least two council members have said in the past that one of the two laws being proposed was designed to stop something Councilwoman Beth Mason did.
Mason apparently self-funded a Political Action Committee when she donated to Councilman Tim Occhipinti, which allowed her to exceed the usual limits on donations to other candidates.
A candidate may expend as much as he or she wants on her own campaign, but state laws limit contributions to other candidates except when they come from a PAC – which is assumed to be a number of contributors, not just one. By funding her own PAC, Mason found a loophole in the law that some members of the Hoboken council would like to shut down. But making a law against one person is an invitation to a lawsuit.
Another type of abuse the council is seeking to stop is “wheeling,” in which candidates disguise their contributors through various means. One of the most popular ways is that a candidate encourages one of his supporters to contribute to a campaign elsewhere in the state while the candidate elsewhere encourages his contributor to contribute to a campaign here. This makes it virtually impossible to track support for candidates and to determine if vendors doing business with the city might be indirectly supporting local candidates without anyone knowing about it.
There are other variations on wheeling. The legislation proposed by the Hoboken council would restrict to $500 any individual or PAC contribution coming from out of town.
It actually makes sense, except that election contributions are governed by state election law, and to limit a person’s ability to contribute may unconstitutional – as recent US Supreme Court rulings have indicated.