Read PolitickerNJ.com's Year End Review

MOST INSIGNIFICANT
STORY OF 2009
The race for Lt. Governor was a lot
like a Seinfeld episode: it was a
campaign about nothing. For months,
insiders speculated about who would
be selected to run for the new post.
Kim Guadagno and Loretta Weinberg
did well as running mates, but their
presence had little effect on the
outcome of the election.
THE NEW MATH
Until 2009, no Republican had ever
won a statewide election without
carrying Bergen County. But Chris
Christie won Ocean and Monmouth by
larger pluralities than Jon Corzine’s
margins in Hudson and Essex, and
Bergen (won narrowly by the
Democrats) didn’t matter as much.
DYNASTY OF THE YEAR
Frank Huttle, a partner at one of New
Jersey’s most powerful law firms, is
the new Mayor of Englewood. That
means the new First Lady of
Englewood is Valerie Vainieri Huttle, a
three-term Assemblywoman.
BRUSH OFF OF THE YEAR
It’s no secret that Chris Christie and
Rick Merkt, running mates in a 1995
State Assembly primary, don’t get
along. After Merkt decided to
challenge Christie for the GOP
gubernatorial nomination, he ran into
the former U.S. Attorney at a party
event and asked him to pose for a
picture. Christie declined: “I’m here
to talk to people not pose for pictures
with you.”
IT SUCKS TO BE JOHN
MURPHY
An impressive third place finish in the
2005 GOP primary for governor made
John Murphy a rising star in state
politics, but the election of his nemesis
Chris Christie won’t help advance his
career beyond his current Freeholder
post.
AND YOU WANTED TO BE
MY LATEX SALESMAN
When it involves their own money,
Carl Goldberg (Roseland Properties),
Orin Kramer (First Boston), Jon
Corzine (Goldman Sachs) have made
billions, but public money is another
story. Under Goldberg’s stewardship,
the New Jersey Sports and Exposition
Authority is in dire financial straits,
Kramer’s State Investment Council
lost $25 billion in pension funds, and
Corzine got booted out of office, in
part because voters didn’t like how he
managed the state’s fiscal affairs.
FLIP FLOPPER OF THE YEAR
Pastor Shannon Wright, who started
the ‘09 cycle as campaign manager for
GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian
Levine, then quit to launch to her own
independent campaign for governor,
then dropped out of the race, and
then tried, unsuccessfully, to run for
Lt. Governor with another third party
candidate.
FAMILY FEUD OF THE YEAR
Anthony M. Bucco defeated his
brother-in-law, Douglas Cabana, in the
Republican primary for State Assembly
in District 25. Bucco now joins his
father, State Sen. Anthony R. Bucco,
in the Legislature.
ANOTHER JOE
After Joseph Ferriero resigned as
Bergen County Democratic Chairman,
one potential candidate was labor
leader Richard “Buzz” Dressel, who
told a reporter that “everybody is
afraid of getting another Joe in there.”
While the job went to Ferriero’s pick,
Michael Kasparian, Democrats didn’t
get another Joe – they lost two
Freeholder seats.
HOW MUCH?
Jon Corzine spent $130 million
running for office in two campaigns for
governor and one for the U.S. Senate.
“Corzine’s willingness to buy public
office ― along with his less-thanstellar
record as an elected official ―
does not impress us. The possibility of
him injecting additional tens of
millions in to the economy, however,
we would welcome,” the Courier-Post
said in an editorial.
From The Record’s Charles Stile:
“Corzine’s clutch of high-paid
campaign advisers might consider this
radical idea: Run a reelection
campaign without the checkbook.
Keep your loot locked up in your blind
trust. Try running without greasing
every county chairman’s palm with
$37,000 donations or funneling cash
to church foundations.”
THE GENERAL SHERMAN
AWARD
Mike Doherty on challenging Marcia
Karrow in a State Senate primary,
after he lost to her at a special
election convention: “Wild horses
couldn’t prevent me from running
in that primary,” “Put it in stone. I’d
rather die than not run in that
primary.”