New Jersey politics post election. Eddie Rivera. MJoTA 2013 v7n2 p1120
Now that the dust has been cleared and Governor Chris
Christie is up for another term. However, he may not serve a second full term.
The 2016 presidential election is looming and the governor is poised to be the
odds on favorite. Should he run for the highest office in the land, he would
have to give up his governorship. Then who will replace him? That would be
Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.
Before Christie was governor and the state of
New Jersey established the lieutenant governor position, it was the Senate
President who was second in command. When Governor Christine Whitman resigned
in 2001 to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under US President
George W. Bush, Senate President Donald DiFrancesco became acting governor
until Jim McGreevy was elected that same year.
Three years later when McGreevy
resigned after announcing his extramarital homosexual affair, Senate President Richard Codey
became acting governor until US Senator Jon Corzine was elected governor the
following year. Not that this Lieutenant Governor position is created to
prevent the Senate President form obtaining this temporary duel power, how will
Guadagno do in her role once Christie goes for a national office?
The year after 2016, should Christie become president, is
the 2017 gubernatorial elections in New Jersey. This is where Guadagno will
have to run for her first full term. It looks like she’ll be the nominee for
the Republicans. And will the Democrats
rally for against her? My pick will be current Senate President Stephen
Sweeney.
Why not? Senator Sweeney has a whole lot of power and influence not
just in the Senate chamber but across the state. Where else could a high school
graduate from Pennsauken, which is Sweeney’s highest degree sought, could reach
the dream that Senator Barbara Buono couldn’t do and become governor for the
Garden State. With Sweeney’s name recognition, this would
rectify the wrongs the Democratic Party did in 2013 by bringing in someone with
much stoke to ensure the governorship becomes blue once again. Sure Sweeney
would have to give up his senate seat but he seems ready to gain that upper
hand.
