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Donald Norcross double-crosses the voters

When the voters of New Jersey's 5^th Assembly District went to the polls this past November they thought they were electing Donald Norcross (D-Voorhees) to represent them in the legislature's lower house.

Alas, his brother, South Jersey power broker George Norcross had other plans.

A scant 4 days after being sworn in as a State Assemblyman, Donald Norcross is being "promoted" to the State Senate. How is this possible? Because the voters are merely an inconvenience to a guy like George Norcross. The current occupant of the State Senate seat, newly inaugurated Camden Mayor Dana Redd has "suddenly" decided that she cannot handle both jobs simultaneously. Hence she has "resigned" from the State Senate.

The Democratic Committee members from the 5^th District will meet on January 16^th to choose Redd's successor. Who heads up that committee? Who do you think? George Norcross! The 100 or so members of the committee dare not cross him. They're lining up behing Donald like medieval knights swearing fealty to their king. And just like that George's baby brother gets a promotion. Pretty convenient, eh?

Taking Donald's place in the Assembly will be Camden Councilman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson. I guess unlike the mayor, a councilman can quite easily handle two elective positions. Snicker.

Unfortunately these sorts of backroom deals are par for the course in New Jersey. By circumventing the voters George Norcross cements his power in the State Senate. He engineered the elevation of his hand-picked candidate, Steve Sweeney, to replace Dick Codey as Senate President. The Senate Presidency is a very powerful post, so to remind Sweeney who's boss, George Norcross is putting his baby brother in as Sweeney's right hand man. Now that he's a senator too, Donald can make sure Sweeney doesn't wander too far off the reservation.

Donald's State Senate seat is up for election this November. I hope Stepfanie Velez-Gentry takes another crack at him. She ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly seat he vacated after 4 days. Perhaps she might have done better with the voters if they'd have known Donald wasn't going to stick around for very long. In fact, she should make his abdication an issue in her campaign by promising that if she's elected, she'll actually serve her full term.

Posted at 14:51 by Chris Wysocki   [/election]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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