CHARLOTTE DEFILIPPO

Joe Cryan calls Jim Devine "a sleaze ball, the worst in politics."In December 2007, James Devine, a Union County political operative/newspaper publisher, was arrested for owing $20,000 in child support and alimony.

It was the latest fall from grace for Devine, a former Union County Democratic insider. Devine had been, as recently as a few years ago, a somewhat important operative in local political circles, running three weekly newspapers in Union County that depended heavily on financing from county advertisements and legal notices. But when that revenue stream abruptly ended, Devine was out of business and out of luck - a turn of events he blames on Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, a former political ally who he had a falling out with in the early 1990s.

Now he's working to beat Bollwage, who is seeking re-election in the June 3 Democratic primary.

But Devine's detractors hold nothing but venom for a man they characterize as a charlatan who has mucked up the political scene in Union County for decades, and who recently had his bank account frozen for owing tens of thousands in back taxes - something Devine blames on bad legal advice and child support payments.

Some public officials who are used to choosing their words carefully don't hesitate to go on the record slamming Devine.

"He's a sleaze ball, the worst in politics," said Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, who also represents Union County in the State Assembly. "If they pay him anything, I hope he used it towards his child support."

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews’ campaign manager from his 1997 run for governor today said if Andrews were to challenge U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg he would need the line in two northern counties.

“In the gubernatorial campaign, we had the line in seven southern counties and Hudson, and it was just not quite enough,” said Pat Politano, reflecting on Andrews’s loss to Jim McGreevey.

Frank Lautenberg, who at age 84 will seek a fifth term as a United States Senator from New Jersey. If he wins, he’d become the oldest and longest-serving Senator in state history. But a sudden retirement could turn New Jersey politics upside-down.

Common Sense America Executive Director

John Adler, the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman who is seeking to become the first Democratic Congressman from Jim Saxton’s district since 1994. And watch Frank LoBiondo, if Jeff Van Drew decides he wants to be a Congressman

Kate Whitman

Charlotte DeFilippo, the veteran Union County Democratic Chair, had her records as Executive Director of the Union County Improvement Authority subpoenaed by the state Attorney General’s office.

Matthew Boxer,

Troy Singleton

The Group

Dennis Shulman

Two veteran New Jersey operatives get a chance to manage in the major leagues:

Two of the state’s leading young Hispanic politicians are

New Jersey AFL-CIO President

Anne Milgram has been a strong political ally of Governor Jon Corzine, serving as his Counsel when Corzine was in the United States Senate, and then as his First Assistant Attorney General.  Picking her as his third Attorney General in less than two years became an easy decision for Corzine.  But now, after less than five months on the job, sources close to Corzine say Milgram is “off the reservation.”  The front office does not have the same relationship it enjoyed with Zulima Farber and Stuart Rabner, and Corzine has been taking considerable heat from Democratic insiders over a subpoena served just before Election Day on the Union County Improvement Authority, where Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo is the Executive Director.

Either the Star Ledger’s sources have dried up along with leaks by prosecutors or the editors made a decision to sit on the news about the Union County subpoenas until after Election Day.

Let’s consider what we know.

The Ledger has broken the news about nearly every ongoing federal or state probe and subpoena issued over the last year.