James E. McGreevey

Charles Kuperus is expected to resign his cabinet post as New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture.  A Republican, he was serving as a Sussex County Freeholder when Democrat James E. McGreevey appointed him after the 2001 gubernatorial election.  Kuperus is the lone Republican in Gov. Jon Corzine's cabinet, and since Corzine pledged during his 2005 campaign that he would make bi-partisan cabinet appointments, its possible that he'll pick a Republican for Secretary of Agricuture, or to replace Lisa Jackson at the Department of Environmental Protection.  

For the record, Corzine doesn't actually appoint the Secretary of Agriculture.  In New Jersey, Governors make recommendations to the State Board of Agriculture, who actually votes on the cabinet post.

Former First Lady Dina Matos McGreevey, now known as Dina Matos, may have fared poorly in a Superior Court Judge's decision not to award her alimony, but it's likely that John Edwards' admission of an extramarital affair will get her some TV appearances anyway.

The New Jersey Legislature is often the breeding ground for gubernatorial candidates, but by 2009 it will have been 81 years since a sitting state legislator has been elected Governor -- the last time was in 1928, when Morgan Larson, a Republican State Senator from Middlesex County, won.

Over the last fifty years, only four incumbent legislators -- State Senators Malcom Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) -- have won gubernatorial primaries, and all four have lost their general elections.

Has anyone squandered public sympathy more thoroughly than Dina Matos?  She went from being Snow White to Imelda Marcos in a very short period of time.

Gov. Jon Corzine today nominated Amos Saunders, a 76-year-old retired Superior Court Judge from Passaic County, to serve as the new Republican member of the Election Law Enforcement Commission.   The Republican seat has been vacant since December 2006.  Corzine’s last attempt to fill it was in October 2007, when his nomination of Gabriella Morris was quickly withdrawn after realizing that Morris, who handles government affairs for Prudential, could not hold the post because ELEC also regulates lobbyists. 

Paul Aronsohn, the former press secretary to Gov. James E. McGreevey who lost a bid for Congress in 2006 by eleven percentage points, is now a Ridgewood Councilman-elect.  He was among three challengers who ousted two incumbents in Tuesday’s non-partisan municipal races.  Aronsohn’s election to public office makes it more likely that he’ll seek higher office again in the future; that could be as early as July, when the new five-member Council meets to elect a Mayor.

Ivan Zapien will leave his post as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Robert Menendez to accept a position in the private sector.  He will be replaced by Danny O’Brien, who served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Joseph Biden and as Political Director of Biden’s presidential campaign.  O’Brien served as Chief of Staff to U.S.  Senator Robert Torricelli, and was Co-Director of gubernatorial candidate James E. McGreevey’s coordinated campaign in 2001.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg defended Gov. Jon Corzine at a Mercer County Central Labor Council event tonight.  "He was dealt a dirty hand by his predecessors,” Lautenberg told the group, apparently forgetting that Corzine’s predecessors were Democrats Richard Codey and James E. McGreevey.