It's part quid pro quo, part power brokering, part race card... and mostly stupid. She's got her head up her arse.

Ron Rice and Nia Gill pull isht because they live in protected districts. But Cunningham is a first-term black woman who serves Bayonne. Hmmmm.

Here, in Hudson County, Ms. Cunningham is supposed to look like she can get Dems to the polls for the UPCOMING STATEWIDE ELECTION to help Gov. Corzine, her state party head... not play-act as though she's something else. If Dems come out to support Corzine, he can move forward with her. She might think Bayonne agrees with her critique of Corzine, but to put it out there like that (by blocking the good-ole-boy Eye-talian?)... stupid.

If Hudson County doesn't get turnout, he's out and then her legislative agenda is hampered by Christie. Obviously, that's no good.

It's all about turnout, and we're the Dem stronghold. Somehow, Cunningham fails to appreciate her role in that. Oh: maybe because she's political newbie and has no business being in office!

Ethics??? Sense of responsibilty to the voters??? This is clearly Quid Pro Quo in its truest sense... typical NJ Politics... What can you do for me?

When Corzine nominated Stuart Rabner to the state Supreme Court, his nomination was blocked by two Essex Cty electeds: Ron Rice and Nia Gill. The objection was made out of the "senatorial courtesy" which they feel is owed to them when the nomination is either from or affecting their county. And here... we see the same petty, short-sighted, venal (not literally), and totally predictable behavior: that's our elected. From a Senate Democrats website: "The Courier Times describes her best by stating, "For Glenn was blessed to have met and married a woman whose class, sophistication and determination in her own right would continue the great deeds that she and her husband once planned.' " Yes, after several uneventful years in a position in which she has name recognition and minimal qualifications, Ms. Cunningham seeks to aggregate her power, drive her personal agenda, vendetta her city/ county/ state opponents within the party. She must have taken the advice from Ron Rice and Nia Gill. After many, many years in a protected district (no opposition candidate), Ron Rice is shameless and open about misconstrue a personal agenda as an agenda of affirmative action. Ms. Cunningham does not have the freedoms that Rice has. Half of her district: Bayonne. (Cue dramatic music). So, come out all you dyed-in-the-wool Cunningham supporters and Healy apparatchiks... you brainwashed kneejerkers... you love the (first term?) Senator who ran on the memory of her husband... the most perverse nepotism I've ever heard of, because the votes either don't know it's a different candidate, or don't care. Come out: support your machine and your party hacks. You love the combine, because you're do-ing the chew-ing.

Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham said she finds the governor a tough sell

by The Jersey Journal
Monday June 15, 2009, 7:05 PM

Sandra B. Cunningham celebrates her 2007 election to the state Senate at Puccini's Restaurant, Jersey City.

State Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Jersey City, confirmed to PolitickerNJ.com today what the Political Insider had revealed in a June 3 column -- she blocked Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise's appointment by Gov. Jon Corzine to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The senator said she was "irritated" that the governor did not personally call her about appointing DeGise. During the interview, she added that Corzine would be a hard sell in his re-election bid.

Corzine's marketability came out of a question about who she favors as a candidate for lieutenant governor on a ticket headed by the incumbent governor. When asked who she could sell in Jersey City for lieutenant governor, Cunningham said, "I haven't thought about LG. I will have a hard enough time selling the governor."

DeGise said he received a call from the governor's office that his nomination essentially died on the vine two weeks ago. When he was at the top of the list, DeGise said Corzine asked him if there was a possibilityof a problem. The county executive said two of the county's three state senators, Mayors Nick Sacco of North Bergen and Brian Stack of Union City wrote letters on DeGise's behalf. Cunningham said she had several other people in mind.
The Political Insider suggested that one of the possible nominees for a seat on the PANYNJ is Elizabeth Mayor Christopher Bollwage, and that another name has recently started to emerge, Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith. Corzine seems determined to appoint someone out of Hudson County and Smith is mayor of a large part of Cunningham's 31st Legislative District.

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Cunningham says Corzine will be a tough sell

By Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter

State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City), vice chair of the Senate Labor Committee.

TRENTON - State Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City) admitted today that she was irritated with Gov. Jon Corzine for not calling her personally to discuss Corzine's nomination of County Executive Tom DeGise to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"Let's just say I wasn't asked," Cunningham told PolitickerNJ.com moments after state Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) gaveled out today's Senate Labor Committee hearing.

Sources say DeGise discussed his nomination with Cunningham, but Cunningham allies say the senator wanted the governor to confer with her personally, which she says never happened.

Asked who she favors as a candidate for lieutenant governor on a ticket topped by the governor in his re-election bid, Cunningham said she has not considered the issue.

Asked who she could sell in Jersey City as a candidate, Cunningham said, "I haven't thought about LG. I will have a hard enough time selling the governor."

DeGise confirmed that his nomination died two weeks ago with a call from the Governor's Office.

Initially, earlier last month, "I got a call from governor saying he was ready to make the nomination and asked me if I anticipated a problem," DeGise said. "Neither Nick (Sacco) nor Brian (Stack) had a problem, and they had written letters on my behalf.

But "Sandy told me there were other people who were involved, who she wanted," DeGise added.

The Jersey City senator threatened to veto DeGise if Corzine's administration moved ahead with his nomination. She evidently wanted former state Sen Bernie Kenny(D-Hoboken) - or someone else - for the job.

Disappointed, DeGise nonetheless described himself as a strong Corzine supporter.

"It ain't his fault I got blocked," said the county executive. "I'll be out there stumping for the governor. I'm an executive, I understand. None of us asked to be an executive at a time of a severe economic recession. The governor is in a difficult situation. He's in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Bottom line: Jon Corzine cares about the urban areas. Anyone who thinks Chris Christie will sit in that governor's chair and be better for Hudson County is kidding themselves."

For her part, Cunningham's comments came a few days after state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark), who heads the Legislative Black Caucus, repeated his concern to PolitickerNJ.com that the governor and his allies had not lately floated names of African-Americans for the position of lieutenant governor.

Rice said he could comfortably campaign with either state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) or state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), two prospective LG candidates. But the veteran state senator is not convinced that the governor is seriously considering African-Americans for the job.

"I want more assurance from the goveernor that he is taking into account African-Americans and other minorities and our particular concerns," said Rice.

Rice's information contradicts what sources say was Corzine's recent comment to a former governor that he is indeed eyeballing African-American prospects with whom to run, despite buzz in recent days that Buono and Weinberg topped his list of contenders.

Corzine told reporters late last week that he is still "a couple of weeks away" from announcing his running mate.

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.
http://www.politickernj.com/max/30599 ... orzine-will-be-tough-sell