Democrats Vow to Fight, But Who’s the Boss?

Buoyed by Election Day victories, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) yesterday vowed to stand up to Republican Gov. Chris Christie, but found themselves answering questions about whether they would be answering to South Jersey power broker George Norcross II and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.

Two days after retaining 24-16 control of the Senate and gaining one seat for a 48-22 majority in the Assembly, Sweeney and Oliver pledged to push a Democratic agenda that would include job creation programs; higher taxes for millionaires; and healthcare, education and environmental initiatives.

They bristled when the first question asked at their joint press conference was why anyone should believe that the two Democratic leaders would stand up to Christie over the next two years, when Norcross and DiVincenzo – the powers behind their thrones – are good friends with the Republican governor and see eye-to-eye with him on the most controversial issues.

“I think you really demean the members of the legislature when you as the media continue to press that there are outside external influences that drive the agenda in these respective houses,” Oliver scolded the assembled media. “The members of both caucuses of the legislature are perfectly capable of identifying a legislative agenda, moving it through their respective chambers, and it has nothing to do with anyone and any external influence,”

“You give way too much credit to people who aren’t in the room,” Sweeney complained.

Despite Oliver’s and Sweeney’s protestations, it was Norcross and DiVincenzo who cut the deal two years ago to put Sweeney, Norcross’ childhood friend, and the unknown Oliver, who works for DiVincenzo as an administrator, into the two most powerful positions in the Legislature.

It was the Norcross-Sweeney duo in South Jersey and DiVincenzo-Oliver in Essex who provided the Democratic votes needed to team with Christie’s unanimous Republican voting bloc to pass a hotly contested bill that required public employees to pay more for their pensions and health benefits, and stripped public employees of the right to bargain on health care benefits for four years.

And when DiVincenzo couldn’t come up with enough votes out of Essex, it was Norcross who cut the key deal with powerful Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson), under which Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) dropped his challenge to Oliver in exchange for the chairmanship of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The reason Oliver almost lost her speaker’s post was because she posted the controversial pension and health benefits bill against the wishes of a majority of the Assembly Democratic caucus last June. Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) and 12 other Assembly Democrats who had opposed Oliver’s reelection met with Oliver yesterday morning and extracted a promise from her not to post any bills that did not have the support of 41 of the 48 Assembly Democrats for passage, McKeon said. Just how ironclad that pledge is could be tested soon on a controversial issue like tenure reform.

Nevertheless, the leadership moves orchestrated by Norcross, DiVincenzo and Sacco in support of Sweeney and Oliver consolidated legislative power in the hands of the Democrats who worked most closely with Christie on the pension and healthcare bill – the “Christie-crats,” as they were dubbed by liberals and public employee union leaders.

As part of the Prieto deal, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union), an opponent of the pension and healthcare bill who had been angling to replace Oliver for months, was ousted from his leadership post in favor of former Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden). Greenwald’s elevation puts another Norcross protégé in line for Assembly speaker in case Sweeney runs for governor and the power brokers decide to have a North Jersey Democrat take his place.

The realignment also ousted Senate Majority Leader Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) from her leadership post. Buono criticized Sweeney publicly over his sponsorship of the pension and healthcare bill and has been considering running for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2013. Buono’s demotion relegates her to the back bench -- a boost to Sweeney or whomever Norcross and DiVincenzo decide to back in 2013.

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