Gizzi on Politics

One-Time Grover Guy Now Big-Spending Dem

With the recent decision of New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine to appoint Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez to the Senate seat Corzine held before assuming the statehouse last month, the Hudson County-based U.S. House district that Menendez has held since 1992 is now vacant. According to a ruling by the non-partisan New Jersey Office of Legislative Services last week, there is no statutory requirement for the governor to call a special election in the now-open 13th District. The Hudson County Democratic organization did not want a special election. Had there been one this year and the heavily Democratic district been carried by the long-presumed front-runner, Democratic Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, the organization would have been forced to spend money on the resulting extra elections to fill the vacancies Sires would have created by resigning from his dual offices of assemblyman from the 33rd District and mayor of West New York, NJ.

Thus, less than two weeks after Corzine told the Newark (NJ.) Star Ledger, "I don't really like, just on a common-sense basis, that the people in that district are not represented, that we lost what we would hope is another vote for sanity in Congress," the governor has decided to leave the 13th District vacant for the rest of the year and thus deny House Democrats what he considers that "vote for sanity."

For close Corzine ally Sires (who himself did not want the special election), what this probably means is that he will have to wait only a few months longer to move to Washington. With more than $350,000 in his campaign kitty and the support of the Hudson County Democra' tic organization, the 54-year-old Sires is the overwhelming favorite in the all-important Democratic primary in June over Joseph Vas, a fellow state assemblyman who doubles as mayor of Perth Amboy (and who very much wanted a special election).

By itself, the succession of one liberal Cuban-American Democrat by another in Congress in a slam-dunk Democratic district is not much of a story. But there is one intriguing aside to the Sires saga: The likely Democratic congressman started his political career as a conservative Republican and sought office with the strong support of nationally known conservative leader Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)

In 1986, Middlebury College graduate and political newcomer Sires accepted the seemingly worthless Republican nomination for Congress in the 13th District against entrenched Democratic Rep. (1978-92) Frank Guarini. Among those who campaigned for Sires was Norquist, who told me, "1986 was the first year of our taxpayers' pledge [in which the signer vowed in writing to oppose new or increased taxes]. ... More than 100 incumbents signed the pledge that year, and Sires was one of the first challenger candidates to do so. Not only did he sign the taxpayers' pledge, but he asked me to come up and do a campaign event with him, which I did."

Sires lost badly to Guarini. He later switched to the Democratic Party and won the mayoralty of West New York in 1995. He won his assembly seat in 2001 as fellow Democrat James McGreevey was winning the governorship and Democrats were winning control of the Garden State Assembly with a 45-to-25 seat margin. With McGreevey's support, newly minted legislator Sires was elected assembly speaker in a four-candidate race. His Republican background and association with Norquist notwithstanding, Sires has been a reliable supporter of McGreevey's bigspending proposals as the most powerful assemblyman in Trenton.

"It's sad when ideas and principles are stepping stones rather than guidelines," mused Norquist about Sires, "He's had a descent and fall that's been very rapid. He not only switched sides and joined the bad guys-he rose to become Lucifer."

Virginia Reel

The tapping of Virginia's newly inaugurated Gov. Timothy Kaine to deliver the Democratic response to President Bush's State of the Union Address last week, was not the only interesting political development in the Old Dominion.

Trifecta in Loudon: In effect, the victory last month of Democrat Mark Herring in the special election to replace Republican State Sen. Bill Mims (who had resigned to become deputy state attorney general) completed the Democratic Party's "trifecta" in the populous Northern Virginia county. Two months after Loudon was carried by all three Democratic candidates for statewide office and a Democrat unseated Republican Delegate Dick Black, Herring defeated conservative GOPer Mick Staton, Jr. with 61% of the vote.

Attorney Herring, stepson of former Democratic State Sen. Charles Waddell, raised more than $61,000 to Staton's $35,000 and had the strong editorial endorsement of the Washington Post and the apparent popularity of Gov. Kaine on his side. In addition, Herring hit hard at County Supervisor Staton's being the son-in-law of former legislator Black, an

outspoken conservative. At one point,- Staton backers charged, the Herring campaign sent out a brochure highlighting a newspaper interview in which Staton said he learned everything about politics from "my father-in-law." In fact, he had said that he learned everything about politics from "my father,"-former Republican Rep. (1980-82) Mick Staton of West Virginia, also a solid conservative but in no way as controversial a figure in the district as Black was.

The 35-year-old Staton's defeat came just over a quarter-century after his father lost a special election for Congress, but came back to win that November. Young Staton has not said whether he will seek a rematch with Herring in 2007.

Line of Succession

Prior to the Loudon County election, Republicans won two other special elections in Virginia. With Republican Bill Boiling resigning from the senate to become lieutenant governor last month, his Hanover-area district was won handily by a fellow conservative Republican, State Delegate Ryan McDougle, Jr. The 97th District seat formerly held by McDougle was then won by Christopher Peace, lobbyist and son of late Hanover County Supervisor Nina K. Peace. In a closer-than-usual race, young Peace won by 222 votes over Democrat John Montgomery, a U.S. Army Ranger who served in Desert Storm.

The makeup of the state assembly is now 57 Republicans, 40 Democrats, and three independents.

No 'Crack Potts'

Three months after he bolted the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent, liberal GOP State Sen. Russell Potts last week survived an attempt to strip him of his chairmanship of the Senate Education Committee. By a vote of 20 to 19, a proposal to depose Potts failed. All Democrats, along with Potts and three other Republicans (John Chichester, Frederick Quayle, and Charles R. Hawkins), voted to keep Potts in the chair. Leading the charge against the renegade Republican was conservative swashbuckler State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Northern Virginia.

Recalling Potts' support of Democratic Gov. (2001-2005) Mark Warner's proposed tax increases, anti-tax crusader Norquist told me: "It's not just the tax issue, but so many other issues when Russell Potts took a walk from his party-including, of course, his run for governor against his own party's nominee. At what point do you not punish treason?"

Mr. Gizzi, political editor of HUMAN EVENTS, welcomes political intelligence from subscribers on campaigns and issues at the local and state level. Though he cannot reply to all correspondents, he appreciates your contributions.

Write: One Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001

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jgizzi@eaglepub.com

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Feb 6, 2006
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