State Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney, a Gloucester County Democrat, said yesterday that he has the votes to become Senate president, putting him in position to become the public face of South Jersey's political power.
The announcement is likely a knockout blow in a leadership battle with Senate President Richard J. Codey (D., Essex), who has been Senate president or co-president since 2002.
Codey yesterday refused to concede, but the odds are now publicly stacked against him.
"This isn't about" Codey, said Sweeney, who is also Gloucester County's freeholder director and a close friend of Democratic power broker George Norcross. "What you have is a caucus that's changing. . . . Instead of dividing the state into different sections, it's trying to bring us together as one state."
Sweeney, a burly, aggressive lawmaker who became majority leader in 2008, issued a news release saying he had secured the backing of 13 Democratic senators. Along with his own vote, that gives Sweeney 14 of the Senate majority's 23 Democrats.
If Sweeney took over the Senate presidency - and if Gov. Corzine failed in his reelection bid - he would become Trenton's highest-ranking Democrat. He also would hold the most power of any South Jersey official.
The endorsements came as part of a broad Democratic deal involving key insiders from northern, central and southern New Jersey that is expected to put in place an entirely new legislative leadership next year.
The arrangement saw South Jersey's Assembly delegation endorse Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver for Assembly speaker. Oliver, like Codey, is from Essex County, and is the front-runner for the speaker's seat should Democrats hold onto the Assembly, as is widely expected.
Putting Oliver in place assured potential Codey supporters that North Jersey would not be shut out.
Democrats tried to play down regional differences yesterday, but if Oliver and Sweeney win their leadership tussles, it will amount to north and south essentially swapping leadership of the two chambers but installing new faces.
Several Democrats said they saw Sweeney as a more aggressive leader who is more likely than Codey to bring change to Trenton.
The formal votes are expected to be taken after the Nov. 3 election. The new leaders will take their seats when the new Legislature is sworn in in January.
After the governor, the Senate and Assembly leaders hold the two most powerful seats in government. They have platforms with which to push new initiatives, the power to make key committee appointments, and the ability to block bills - for either policy reasons or plain leverage.
Sen. Barbara Buono, a Middlesex County Democrat who has sided with Sweeney on several key political and policy votes, is expected to become majority leader. Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, a Union County Democrat who also heads the state party, is considered the front-runner to become majority leader in that house.
In recent years, Democrats have split the leadership of the Senate and Assembly between North and South Jersey officials, ensuring balance and, often, tension.
The leadership shake-up is the fallout of a historic change in 2007 that saw many Trenton veterans retire, opening doors for a younger group to advance. "It's just a natural consequence of generational change," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union), a key Senate figure who backs Sweeney.
Codey, who has survived coup attempts in the past, did not return a call seeking comment yesterday but issued a statement suggesting he had not given up the fight.
"My focus and energies are on reelecting Jon Corzine as governor and helping Assembly candidates throughout the state," Codey said in the release. "Everyone knows leadership battles are a fluid and ever-changing process - and what is today is not tomorrow."
If he cannot muster a Democratic majority, Codey could try to pull support from Senate Republicans. Lesniak said it would be like "treason" for either Codey or Sweeney to secure the Senate presidency by relying on Republican votes over their fellow Democrats' wishes.
It may have just been a coincidence, but the photo of Codey that hangs outside the Senate majority caucus room was missing from its normal place yesterday afternoon.
Sweeney, a business representative for the ironworkers' union, was first elected to the Senate in 2001. He grabbed attention in Trenton while criticizing public employee unions over benefits. He has been seen as a likely challenger to Codey since his fight to become majority leader, in which he beat out Codey's pick for the spot.
The political machinations heated up after Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden) announced this summer that he would not seek reelection this year, opening up the speaker's seat and leaving South Jersey without a representative at the table when the big three - the governor, speaker, and Senate president - meet on the state's top issues.
Lesniak said many Democrats would have preferred that they save their intramural fight until after the gubernatorial election. But that was not going to happen, and Democrats chose instead to try to put an end to the wrangling.
"Once Roberts announced his retirement, the cat was out of the bag and there was no way to slow it down," Lesniak said.
Codey became one of the state's most popular politicians when he replaced disgraced Gov. James E. McGreevey, but his long tenure atop the Senate has blocked others from advancing, frustrating some Democrats.
Sweeney said leaders in each house usually step down after four years. He noted that Roberts announced his resignation after four years as speaker.
Oliver, of East Orange, is relatively little-known. She has been in office since 2003 and won reelection twice.
She is an Essex County administrator, working for County Executive and Codey rival Joseph DiVincenzo.
Contact staff writer Jonathan Tamari at 609-989-9016 or jtamari@phillynews.com.
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