Newsday 10/3: Judge's Ruling Favors Assemblywoman for Open State Senate Seat

As reported on the Newsday web site, Judge Peter Doyne has ruled that the five previously uncounted ballots in the September 15th vote to replace Senator Byron Baer's open seat should be opened and included. As all five are believed to have been cast for Teaneck Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg, this may put her into that seat over Ken Zisa, barring appeals to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Click on http://tinyurl.com/7ovd3 for the complete text of the article at the http://www.Newsday.com web site.

Judge's ruling favors Assemblywoman for open state Senate seat By ANGELA DELLI SANTI Associated Press Writer October 3, 2005, 4:28 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- A 70-year-old grandmother appeared to be victorious Monday after a bitter intraparty quabble over who will assume a state Senate seat vacated earlier this month.

A Superior Court judge capped weeks of fighting among Bergen County Democrats by ruling Monday that five uncounted ballots in a special party organization election for senator should be opened, which likely will give the seat to Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg over Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa. However, Judge Peter E. Doyne stayed his ruling for 24 hours to allow the Bergen Democratic Committee time to appeal.

"I am happy and relieved," Weinberg said Monday.

Weinberg and Zisa's names were floated almost immediately as likely successors to Sen. Byron Baer, who served in the Legislature for decades before stepping down Sept. 8 due to declining health. Two years remain in his term.

The open seat set off a showdown between influential Bergen County Democratic Party boss Joseph Ferriero, who supported Zisa, and U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, who backed Weinberg.

Ferriero accused Corzine of meddling in county politics after the Democratic nominee for governor championed Weinberg's bid, citing her 14 years experience in the Legislature and her underrepresented gender. With just 19 women in the 120-member Legislature, New Jersey has one of the worst records in the country of electing women to state offices.

"Hopefully I will be replaced by a woman, and that will be a net increase of one in the number of women in the Legislature," Weinberg said.

Corzine also reacted favorably to news of the ruling.

"Sen. Corzine has from the beginning spoken about the importance of the inclusion of women in politics and public life and the necessity of counting votes. He certainly is glad the court agrees with the need to count all the votes," his spokeswoman, Ivette Mendez, said Monday.

Lawyers for Zisa and the Bergen County Democratic Organization are expected to appeal directly to the state Supreme Court. Dennis Oury, who represents the group, did not return a message to his law office Monday.

Doyne ordered the uncounted votes of five members of the Tenafly Democratic municipal committee to be counted Tuesday, and ordered county Democrats to plan a special session Oct. 6 to pick Weinberg's successor in the Assembly, should she emerge victorious in the Senate squabble.

"The final irony would be that they voted for Kenny Zisa," Weinberg said. "But that's hard to imagine. They all claim to be supporters of mine or they wouldn't have gone this far."

The matter has bounced through state courts for nearly three weeks, starting when Weinberg challenged Zisa's one-vote win in a county Democratic organization vote on Sept. 15. The ballots of five Tenafly representatives were disqualified on a technicality.

There is some urgency to resolve the matter. With 36 days left until Election Day, ballots for the 37th District Assembly race must be printed, either with Weinberg's name or that of her unnamed successor.

Weinberg said she won't be on hand Tuesday when the secret ballots are opened because she'll be in synagogue for Rosh Hashanah.

Alan Sohn NEW: Now available in convenient blog format at http://TEANECK.blogspot.com See http://www.TeaneckInfo.com for the complete Teaneck Community Calendar. Send your event to mailto:Events@TeaneckInfo.com for inclusion on the site. "Scientia Est Potentia"