NJ Election - The Party Bosses Won

NJ Election - The Party Bosses Won
Carol A. Hoernlein P.E.
11/7/2013
Updated:
11/7/2013

The day after the General elections in New Jersey are like Christmas morning to political junkies here.  We wake up and unwrap the newspaper to see what the electorate brought our towns.  Is it a shiny new Mayor? Or a lump of coal – the same old corrupt politician?

In a NJ election, you never know what you will get because we are notoriously fickle and will vote instead of straight down ticket, all across the ballot. We Leave holes here to teach party operatives a lesson, or switch parties altogether. We split tickets with abandon.  Maybe it is being in the most densely populated state – even though there are a lot of us – it is easy to know your neighbor – be they Republican or Democrat.  It is hard to demonize a person you meet face to face.  This election was no exception.  While the rest of the country often experiences sweeps of the legislature along with the Governor, in New Jersey, we reelected Chris Christie and kept both houses blue.  You have to really be an expert to glean meaning from it that makes any sort of sense.

NJ results are never a statewide reflection of one ideology or another. Our state is too diverse, too loud, too unpredictable and un-homogenous. As former Governor Tom Kean once said  - New Jersey is like America – only smaller. 

While the rest of the country tries to make sense of why we would reelect Republican Christie by 22 points and reelect the Democratic Senate Majority Leader Weinberg by 37 points in the same election, one theme not being covered is that of the corruption angle.  In the Bergen County Freeholder race, the lone Republican against pay to play corruption won the most votes. Both Chris Christie and Loretta Weinberg gained fame by fighting corruption in the Sopranos state.  For years, Loretta Weinberg battled corruption in her own party – winning the respect of Republicans and Democrats.  Christie, during his first gubernatorial election ran on indicting powerful party bosses – including the very one Weinberg fought, Joe Ferriero. Christie, during his first election for Governor, appeared like the new sheriff in town who came to clean out all the bad guys.  His directness was taken for honesty in a state weary of smoke-filled backroom deals.  

Sadly, Christie’s recent campaign has been oddly silent about fighting corruption. Now he is touting his close ties to powerful  Democratic Party Bosses as “bipartisanship”.  

In NJ, party bosses get out the vote. Or don’t.  Corzine’s money did not help him win in NJ last time, because Corzine angered the party bosses by publicly coming out against Pay to Play.  The bosses left him hanging. He had money but no boots on the ground.  One usually helps you win the other.  This time, Christie’s opponent had a real reputation from trying to fight the Democratic Party bosses, but Christie was still basking in the perception of being a corruption buster even if he had stopped doing that.  His campaign painted Buono’s honest union support as if it was Boss corruption at the same time Christie befriended the most powerful Democratic bosses left in the state – like George Norcross (which was pointed out by local reporters and ignored by the national media in debate). Perception was reality election night as the candidate most closely aligned with the party bosses but perceived to be against them, won.  Which is why Barbara Buono chose to use her pulpit election night during her concession speech to publicly call out the Democratic party bosses who helped Christie.

It is unfortunate that questions about Christie’s vetting under Mitt Romney only came out in book form on election day (Double Down). Perhaps it would have helped the electorate make a more informed decision before the election.  Questions now abound as to how the Sandy relief money was actually spent by Christie’s Administration and many new ones will be asked in future days as the details from the latest book about the vetting of Gov. Christie during the 2012 election unfold. 

Sadly, the 2013 election made plain that Christie learned an awful lot from the Democratic Party Bosses as US Attorney.  For example, how to use them for his own political advantage.  

Carol Hoernlein is a licensed Water Resources Civil Engineer practicing in Northern NJ. In 2007, she became known statewide in N.J. as an elected official/political blogger by raising awareness of N.J. political corruption not being covered by the local press. Before switching careers, Ms. Hoernlein studied Food Science and Agricultural Engineering at Rutgers and worked as a Research & Development food process engineer.
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