NJ political civil war could get worse
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
By: Phil Gregory
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The decision by Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts to leave the New Jersey legislature in January is likely to re-ignite the longstanding political civil war among Jersey's Democratric leaders.
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Political analysts say if the new Speaker is not from South Jersey there could also be a battle for the leadership spot in the State Senate to maintain the balance of power between the northern and southern parts of the state. Alan Rosenthal is a public policy professor at the Eagleton Institute of Politics.
He says Democratic power brokers George Norcross of South Jersey and Steve Adubato Senior of North Jersey will have some influence but won't call all the shots.
Rosenthal: I don't think the bosses are going to tell the members what to do. The bosses and the members are pretty much in agreement in what they'd like to see happen. But I think everybody is going to be involved in negotiating something or another.
Rosenthal says he's not sure how it will all shake out but would bet on current Senate President Dick Codey of Essex County to hold onto that leadership job.