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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

King George's hand is evident in South Jersey politics
George E. Norcross III is the South Jersey Democratic Party leader behind most of the movement of players to varying elected offices.

Amid last week’s odes to the outgoing speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, state Sen. Stephen Sweeney was quoted as gushing: “It’s impossible to replace a Joe Roberts.”

But you wouldn’t have known it from the way he and other South Jersey Democrats instantly agreed on the man who would, in fact, replace Joe Roberts.
 
A party press release Wednesday afternoon proclaimed that, in the 90 or so minutes that had elapsed since Roberts (D., Camden) had announced he would not seek reelection, the organization had managed to “coalesce” around a “candidate” for his seat. (Give them credit for having the wherewithal to throw in some of that democratic-sounding mumbo jumbo.)
 
That candidate turned out to be union official Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey’s top Democratic power broker, George Norcross.
 
It was reminiscent of New Jersey’s days as a proprietary colony — back when the queen would just pick an underachieving relative to run the place. Given the timing of Roberts’ announcement, well after the June primary, party leaders can nominate King George’s brother without facing anything so messy as an election. And the composition of the district virtually ensures the Democratic candidate will be crowned the next legislator.
 
There are unsurprising reports that the agreed-upon line of succession extends much further — for example, to who will assume Dana Redd’s Senate seat after she vacates it for the Camden mayoralty (which she is expected to win easily in November), and who will take whatever office that person vacates, and so on.
 
Plotting so many moves ahead is possible only in the utter absence of dissent and independence. And last week’s quick endorsement of an heir apparent suggested exactly that: Five legislators, five mayors, two county party chairmen, and a congressman were among those publicly signing on to it.
 
The congressman, Rob Andrews, may be remembered from another ridiculous round of musical offices. Last year, his wife accepted the Democratic nomination for his congressional seat while he made a long-shot run for U.S. Senate.
 
Camille Andrews moved aside when her husband lost the Senate bid and — directly contradicting his promises to the contrary — decided he would settle for reelection to the House. It was embarrassing. But the machine seems to be well beyond embarrassment — as evidenced by this encore performance one short year later.
 
Roberts’ own statements suggest he had been at least thinking about leaving the Assembly at this point, if not planning on it, for four years — that is, two election cycles.
 
So why did he wait until now to let the voters in on his deliberations? Because, he explained, a pre-primary announcement would have been a “distraction” not only from the state budget, but also from running this year’s Assembly campaigns.
 
In other words, electioneering had to proceed without the distraction of — an election.
It’s not the sort of farewell that befits a democrat. But we have no reason to expect anything else from these Democrats.
Posted by Inquirer Editorial Board @ 2:00 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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