NEW BRUNSWICK – State Sen. President Steve Sweeney (D-3) said the Democratic mapmakers have no plans to pit any Democratic lawmakers against themselves.
“I want to see my 24 come back,” he said, of his upper chamber majority. “I’m not in favor of hurting my incumbents. I want to protect my incumbents. All of them.”
Sweeney blamed Republicans for leaking false information about the Democratic map, even though PolitickerNJ had Democratic sources close to the negotiations also confirm the recent reports.
He couldn’t speak about particulars of any maps because of a confidentiality agreement, but Sweeney told reporters at The Heldrich that he has no intentions of interparty fistfights.
“The Republicans wanted to get information out there to spook our members,” he said. “You create confusion. You create the anxiety with everybody.”
He said this map leak – like Gov. Chris Christie swooping in on Sunday – is another sign that Republicans think their footing with tiebreaker Prof. Alan Rosenthal is slipping.
“Senators were called by Republicans,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot going on with this. The 11th member is dictating certain things in this…This is version what of what?”
