| Garden State Equality has scheduled 40 Holiday house parties in NJ's 40 legislative districts to occur simultaneously on Tuesday, December 5 at 7:00pm. I can't think of a better setting for our state legislators to publicly declare their support for marriage equality.
Meanwhile, those who miss this opportunity to stand up and be counted as supporters of marriage equality should expect to find themseleves being challenged in a contested primary, hopefully as soon as noon on the following day, Wednesday, September 6.
Mitch has already put LD18 on notice. I would like to do the same in LD22. Since Assemblywoman Linda Stender has been endorsed by Garden State Equality and Jerry Green has been honored by them, the only question mark in my district is State Senator Nick Scutari.
Since Stender will hopefully be in Washington next year, Green would be a fantastic alternative if Scutari is not willing to get on the marriage equality bandwagon. If Green isn't interested, this could be Jim McGreevey's best opportunity for a political comeback.
If there is going to be a major intraparty battle on this issue, my guess is that it will be in the State Senate because their margin of majority is so much narrower than in the Assembly and they will try to hide behind it as much as possible.
That said, even Ellen Karcher (LD12) and Fred Madden (LD4), two of the very few legislators in the state who can expect competitive races in November 2007, cannot use their districts as an excuse. If they haven't served their constituents well enough over the last four years that a yay vote on marriage equality would actally put their seats at risk, then they don't deserve to sit in them.
At the same time, it has been mentioned in numerous places that State Assemblyman and Union City Mayor, Brian Stack, is going to challenge Senate Majority Leader, Bernard Kenny (LD33), for his State Senate seat next year. I don't know anything about Stack and cannot say whether or not his announced co-authorship with Assemblymen Caraballo and Gusciora of the marriage equality legislation is ideologically or politically motivated and I honestly don't care.
But if Kenny is smart and doesn't want to find himself targeted by the progressive and LGBTI communities in NJ as well as nationally, he should use his Majority Leader's powers while he still has them to work with his good friend, Senate President Dick Codey, to deliver the State Senate. If he isn't, most likely he will be history.
The same could be true for Sharpe James (LD29). I don't know if Caraballo, Assembly Speaker Pro Tem, has State Senate ambitions of his own, but without the power of his Mayor's office at his disposal and being the focus of numerous federal investigations into his spending practices while Mayor of Newark, James is probably the most vulnerable incumbent in the State Senate. Taking on the progressive and LGBTI communities statewide and nationwide would be the final nail in his political coffin.
Progressives need to begin to familiarize themselves with the state legislature and start organizing immediately. The power of incumbency and the pay-to-play dollars that come with it will give most of our adversaries a natural advantage. However, without the benefit of a statewide candidate, the party line will not be nearly as meaningful in 2007 as it will be in 2009 when Jon Corzine is running for re-election and the State Senate is not. If there was ever a year when grass roots progressives could have a significant impact on policymaking in the state, 2007 will be that year.
The only silver lining in the SC decision is that it enables us to draw a line in the sand between true progressives and establishment party hacks. When this issue has been resolved one way or another, we will know who our friends truly are once and for all. |
