Steve DeMicco

Jeanne Fox doesn’t have the votes to win Senate confirmation for another term as President of the state Board of Public Utilities, according to Senate Democratic sources.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has no plans to post Fox’s nomination for a vote, leaving her in holdover status for now.  Gov. Jon Corzine nominated Fox in February.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Adler, a candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s third district, has said he won’t consider the Fox nomination until after the trial of whistle-blower who claims retaliation for reporting a potentially illegal an $80 million ratepayer-funded Clean Energy account established by the BPU President. 

In one way, Republican Dick Zimmer’s Senate campaign against Frank Lautenberg looks remarkably like Rob Andrews’s ill-fated Democratic primary challenge to the incumbent Senator.

For the second week in a row, Zimmer held a press conference to challenge Lautenberg to televised debates – including two this month.  This time, Zimmer stood with State Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., who engaged in two June debate with Sen. Bob Menendez during their race in 2006.

“If Senator Menendez could debate then, Senator. Lautenberg can certainly debate now,” said Kean.

But Zimmer’s campaign contrasts with Andrews’s in that Zimmer does not believe that Lautenberg’s age will prove to be his vulnerability.  When asked whether Lautenberg, 84, was too old to effectively serve another term in office, Zimmer said “No, not in terms of years.”

There seems to be a general consensus among political insiders as to who won the Democratic U.S. Senate debate: Steve DeMicco.  Frank Lautenberg was less than impressive – not even close to his performance in previous debates against Millicent Fenwick, Pete Dawkins, Chuck Haytaian and Doug Forrester – but the debate was at 8PM on a Friday night, so it didn’t really matter.  That’s why DeMicco, Lautenberg’s consultant, was the winner – his campaign took quite a few hits for not engaging Rob Andrews in network TV debates, but it appears that was the right call.

If Frank Lautenberg’s political consultant, Steve DeMicco, beats up on Rob Andrews – as he surely will – how will that affect the already controversial renomination of his DeMicco’s wife, Jeanne Fox, as President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities?  John Adler is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding Fox’s nomination until after the trial of whistle-blower who claims retaliation for reporting a potentially illegal an $80 million ratepayer-funded Clean Energy account established by Fox.  And South Jersey, Andrews’ base, has six Democratic Senators – which means if the GOP comes through with their pledge to oppose Fox, she can’t possibly get confirmed without the support of South Jersey Democrats.

Sometimes a little tone deaf to process issues, Governor Jon Corzine is not exactly the poster child for full disclosure. That’s something that began with his refusal to release his federal income tax returns during his 2000 U.S. Senate bid, and his initial failure to release a list of contributions his charitable foundation made as he launched his political career in 1999. An Op-Ed written last year by a member of his own administration alleged that “Jon Corzine has engaged in unprecedented secretive decision-making, without consulting community leaders, elected officials, legislators, government affairs professionals, or government agencies.”

Among the donors to Save Our State NJ, the issue-advocacy group essentially formed by Governor Jon Corzine to advocate his plan to raise tolls, is Public Service Electric & Gas. PSE&G has contributed $100,000 to the effort, according to sources familiar with the SOS group. That might explain Corzine’s reluctance to quickly release the list of SOS donors.

Editor's Note: The Inside Edge strongly stands behind our original report that PSE&G pledged $100,000 to Gov. Corzine's Save Our State NJ toll hike advocacy group, despite communications that seek to demonstrate otherwise and a release of their donors at the end of the day.

As Jeanne Fox prepares for her Senate confirmation hearings following her nomination to another term as President of the state Board of Public Utilities, it is interesting to note that her husband, Steve DeMicco, was the consultant on the 2007 campaigns against two Republicans who now serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  DeMicco worked for Ellen Karcher and Seema Singh, who lost to Jennifer Beck and Bill Baroni, respectively.