Oliver is expected to easily win reelection to Assembly, but some Democrats are quietly gauging support to replace her as Speaker
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver on the dais during a voting session at the Statehouse in a 2010 file photo. Oliver today urged her supporters to give her another term as speaker.NEWARK — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver came out full throttle today against members of her own party seeking to topple her as leader of the lower house.
"We are engaged not in an ideology about our party. We are engaged in a fight and a battle about political control," Oliver said at a press conference at the Robert Treat Hotel in downtown Newark. "I am a focused problem-solving leader. I am not a ‘Go in the back door, close the door, light up a cigar and let’s make a deal’ kind of leader."
It was an unusually fiery speech for the typically placid Oliver (D-Essex), whose first two-year term as speaker has been beset by deep divisions within her party that threatened to boil over when they passed landmark legislation overhauling public sector benefits four months ago.
Surrounded by supporters that included Essex County Democrats and black ministers, Oliver did not name her opponents but compared them to political bosses of decades past.
"Our party is not for sale. Handing out checks in the backroom isn’t going to make anybody the speaker of the New Jersey general assembly," she said. "I will never, ever engage in the kind of subversive, clandestine, back door manipulation."
While Oliver faces no trouble getting re-elected to her Assembly seat on Tuesday, her real challenge comes when the incoming class of Assembly Democrats chooses its leaders.
At least two members — Joseph Cryan (D-Union), the majority leader, and Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) — are jockeying for her job. Other names have been floated over the last few months for leadership roles, including Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), John McKeon (D-Essex), Jason O’Donnell (D-Hudson) and Lou Greenwald (D-Camden).
Cryan had a meeting Monday afternoon with three fellow Assembly Democrats — John McKeon (D-Essex), Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) and Jason O’Donnell (D-Hudson) — to discuss his possible run, according to two Democrats with knowledge of the meeting. Cryan declined to comment, while the others either would not comment or did not return calls. The sources wished to remain anonymous because of the fluid and sensitive nature of the situation.
State Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) — Prieto’s mentor — has recently met at least once with Norcross, who controls a large bloc of South Jersey votes.
Oliver is the first African-American woman to serve as speaker. While the issue of race was barely mentioned at the news conference, the subtext was clear. It was emceed by Rev. Reginald Jackson, executive director of the New Jersey black ministers caucus, who stood with several other African-American clergy in front of a mostly black crowd.
"There’s some who throw off what we’re trying to talk about. They say we’re throwing out the race card," said Pastor Ron Christian. "I do not stand today for Sheila Oliver because she is an African-American. I stand behind her because she is the best, most qualified person, who happens to be African-American."
The supporters at today’s news conference included Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, as well as four of eight Democratic Assembly members from Essex County who are expected have a vote on the next speaker were there. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Essex), who was considered a vote for Oliver, was absent for personal reasons but said he has not committed to anyone for speaker. "I think that’s something each individual member has to make a decision on," he said. "To get this to the point where others are making it appear they’re making our decisions for us, I don’t like it."
Oliver herself ascended to the speakership as part of a deal reached between DiVincenzo, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Camden County insurance executive George Norcross, one of the most powerful Democrats in New Jersey. The Assembly speaker is the state’s third most powerful elected official, behind the governor and senate president.