WINNERS
Lou Stellato
The former Lyndhurst mayor stands poised to be the next chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Organization. A thankless job? Very probably. Stellato isn’t exactly stepping into an organizational upswing here after back-to-back election losses. But the veteran political animal likes the inside game and seems tailor made to make the Machiavellian chess moves that should enable the organization to at least get back in the game after two very troubled years.
Building and Trades
Workers crammed that half finished casino on the boardwalk earlier this week, overjoyed by Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement that the Revel project would kick-start again next week. Union leaders estimate the project will put about 3,000 building trades people to work.
Morgan-Stanley
The casino bigshot backer received a $261 million shot in the arm from the State of New Jersey to reboot work next week on this 53-story gaming extravaganza, which would be the biggest building of its kind in Atlantic City.
Hispanics
This week’s census numbers show Latinos to be the largest minority group on the rise. Of course, that info in and of itself might not mean much. The group could still get screwed royally during the redistricting process. White male Democrats in districts with Hispanic populations will ruthlessly attempt to hold onto power, of course, and long-comfortable suburban Republicans will hypocritically present their own token candidates with the argument that it’s time to think about the people’s struggle. But in any event, however it ends up, Hispanics will not be ignored.
Barbara Buono and Loretta Weinberg
The senators’ “Martin O’Shea Open Public Records Act” came out of committee this week, designed to increase public access to government records.
Kim Guadagno
Out of the state today, Gov. Chris Christie handed his LG the keys to the Camaro and by all appearances, Guadagno didn’t dent it in her first – or one of her only – press avails at the Newark Marriott this am.
LOSERS
Roy Wesley
The Donner Pass nightmare that was the Mercer County Republican Organization of the past few months came to an end this week for one Roy Wesley, the former party chairman who ended up on the wrong side of Princeton businessman Scott Sipprelle. Sipprelle’s failed candidacy for Congress in the 12th District promptly put Wesley in his sights as a prime scapegoat, ad after weeks of unraveling, the embattled Wesley surrendered on Tuesday.
Lorenzo Langford
The mayor found himself on the sheer glass outskirts of power this past week, when Gov. Chris Christie didn’t personally return phone calls in the lead-up, then planted a podium near the boardwalk announcing a transformational Atlantic City project without the mayor at his side. We get the politics of this, ok. Langford wasn’t happy about the specs for the gaming district and wasn’t convinced that the local population is invested in a casino project where almost exclusively white building and trades workers stand to gain. Fair enough. But the local population at that point needed a bullhorn counter-presence at the press conference, and Langford landed a couple of blows from afar but finally looked like an irrelevant bystander as the SUV power convoy rolled into his city with tinted windows.
Anthony Ardis, Kevin Keogh, and Chester Mazza
Sources say the body count of Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission employees either booted, forced to resign or swaddled in legal troubles is up to 70 now. But Ardis, Keogh and Mazza were the most visible casualties this week as all three PVSC employees were arrested on charges of official misconduct. Bail for each was set at $75,000.
Bill Pascrell
The aging Democratic warhorse felt the sting of longtime political allies from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission getting arrested, in any given year maybe not a significant political blow. But the 8th District congressman may face redistricting hurdles this year and any little tremor in that kind of terrain threatens to give other self-serving politicians an excuse not to sympathize.
Bryan Christiansen
The former Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission director looked like he could have retired in the Cayman Islands after pulling in a $300,000-plus salary and resigning before the public tide of trouble at PVSC, but now the arrests have sources speculating that Christiansen may be caught in an undertow for a long and uncomfortable haul as law enforcement untangles the commission.
