Sen. Nick Scutari is the new chair of the Union County Democratic Committee. |
With 54% of the votes cast (412 to 341) at Wednesday's special Union County Democratic Committee convention in Clark, Sen. Nick Scutari was elected to succeed Jerry Green as chairman of the county organization.
The 753 certified committee members who voted represented a 90% turnout of a possible 844 -- very high indeed.
Acting Chair Colleen Mahr, who was in a head-to-head contest with Scutari, marred the event by throwing a representative of the media out (see story here).
Politics is about getting -- and using -- power.
Scutari has reached a peak that could only be dreamed of by predecessors such as Charlotte deFilippo (who was powerful, but only County chair) and Sen. Ray Lesniak (powerful too, but only a Senator).
Scutari now has the County and Linden chairmanships as well as his Senate seat (where he chairs the powerful Judiciary Committee), and has engineered his former chief of staff's selection as the new Union County manager, an enormous source of patronage jobs.
I would not be surprised if Sen. Scutari has his eye on the governor's chair eventually.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The 753 certified committee members who voted represented a 90% turnout of a possible 844 -- very high indeed.
Acting Chair Colleen Mahr, who was in a head-to-head contest with Scutari, marred the event by throwing a representative of the media out (see story here).
Politics is about getting -- and using -- power.
Scutari has reached a peak that could only be dreamed of by predecessors such as Charlotte deFilippo (who was powerful, but only County chair) and Sen. Ray Lesniak (powerful too, but only a Senator).
Scutari now has the County and Linden chairmanships as well as his Senate seat (where he chairs the powerful Judiciary Committee), and has engineered his former chief of staff's selection as the new Union County manager, an enormous source of patronage jobs.
I would not be surprised if Sen. Scutari has his eye on the governor's chair eventually.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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