Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack will not support freshman Assemblyman Julio Marenco (D-West New York) for re-election next year in Hudson County’s 33rd district as part of a rapidly escalating fight with North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.

Marenco faces a tough battle for a second term in the legislature without the support of Stack, who is also the state senator from the same district.

Two sources with direct knowledge of Stack’s plans confirmed that Marenco is a non-starter for Stack in 2025.

When a new legislative map was approved in 2022, Stack and Sacco found themselves in the same legislative district.  A week later, Sacco announced that he would not seek re-election after 30 years in the Senate and endorsed Stack.  The relationship between the two, never good, has bottomed out over the last year.

Part of the redistricting deal was that Marenco, a North Bergen commissioner and longtime Sacco running mate, would get one of the Assembly seats. The other went to West New York Stacks’ choice, West New York Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez; Rodriguez knocked out six-term incumbent Angelica Jimenez (D-West New York), a Sacco ally.  Marenco replaced Assemblyman Pedro Mejia (D-Secaucus).

One possible challenger to Marenco is Larry Wainstein, a businessman and fierce Sacco critic whose parents were born in South America.

Wainstein has run against Sacco in North Bergen three times, each with essentially the same result each time: a 65%-35% loss in 2015, a 68%-32% loss in 2019, and now an even bigger 71%-29% loss last year.   But Wainstein can pump serious money into his campaign – he loaned $600,000 to his 2023 campaign – and could win a third of the vote in North Bergen, along with Stack’s ability to deliver massive pluralities in Union City, West New York, and Weehawken.

Still, Stack won’t be on the ballot next year, so his running mates won’t have the benefit of his direct coattails.

Marenco was listed as one of four Hudson County assemblymembers who would run using Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s slogan next year; Stack, Hudson County Executive/Democratic County Chairman Craig Guy, West New York Mayor Albio Sires, and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner have announced their intention to back Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) for governor if he runs in 2025.

Two more Democrats have joined the race for State Assembly in South Jersey on a slate with gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop: Brian Everett, an assistant dean at Rutgers University-Camden in the 4th district, and Rasham Prailow, a former White House intern in the Obama administration in the 5th.

“I’m excited about the candidacy of both Brian and Rashan and I’m looking forward to helping both of them get the resources and guidance they will need to run successful races in 2025,” Fulop stated.  “The only way to bring change to New Jersey is to make our elections more competitive so the party bosses can no longer handpick legislators. There is no question that primaries are healthy for both the party and for the candidates, and I believe both Brian and Rashan will demonstrate that.”

Everett, a member of URA-AFT Local 1766 and Gloucester Township resident, will take on freshmen Daniel Hutchison (D-Gloucester Township) and Cody Miller (D-Monroe) in the Democratic primary.

“New Jersey needs fresh ideas and new perspectives in state government to confront the major challenges facing our communities, and I’m so excited to run for State Assembly alongside a truly inspiring leader in Steve Fulop who is fighting to deliver the change we need,” Everett said. “As an educator, a union member, and someone dedicated to solutions I’m ready to share my vision with the people of the 4th district.”

Prailow worked for Capital One and Deloitte Consulting and now chairs Lead-Free NJ, a non-profit working to protect New Jerseyans from lead exposure.  He’s a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown Business School.

He’ll face incumbents William Spearman (D-Camden) and William Moen (D-Bellmawr).

“I’ve always been guided by a belief in the power of public service and a desire to give back to my community, so the opportunity to run for State Assembly alongside a leader who shares those values in Steven Fulop is something I could not pass up,” said Prailow. “I look forward to sharing my vision for a more equitable state government with my neighbors in Camden and throughout the 5th Legislative District.”

Fulop began recruiting Assembly candidates in April, and has pledged to spend $10 million to recruit candidates who would be independent of party leaders.

Earlier this week, he announced that Evesham Councilman Eddie Freeman III would run with him in the 8th district, which is currently represented by one Democrat and one Republican.  The 8th is among the most politically competitive districts in the state.

The Fulop team could still add running mates for Everett and Prailow.

The last real Democratic primary in South Jersey legislative races was in 1979 when Rep. Jim Florio (D-Runnemede) wanted to take control of the Camden Democratic organization from Angelo Errichetti, a state senator and the mayor of Camen.

The fight between the two had been brewing for several years.  In 1978, Errichetti backed former State Treasurer Richard Leone for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, while Florio endorsed retired New York Knicks star Bill Bradley.  Bradley carried Camden County by a 65%-27% margin, an embarrassing loss for Errichetti.

Errichetti was at the height of his political power and the fight with Florio was vicious and very personal.    His slate ran on the Camden County Democratic organization line; the off-the-line candidates ran as the “Florio Democratic Team.”

Both factions ran full slates of candidates in three legislative districts and for the Camden County Board of Freeholders.  Florio had the backing of the Camden County Democratic Chairman Michael Keating and Cherry Hill Democratic Municipal Chairman Lewis Katz.  Errichetti had the support of State Sen. Joseph Maressa (D-Waterford), powerful Freeholder William Simon, and former Democratic County Chairman James Joyce.

In the 4th legislative district, four-term incumbents Kenneth Gewirtz (D-Sewell) and Francis Gorman (D-Gloucester City) lost their seats to Florio Team members Daniel Dalton and Dennis Riley by more than 4,000 votes.  Dalton was Florio’s top congressional staffer in New Jersey and Riley was an assistant county counsel in Gloucester.

Errichetti’s candidates, Assemblymen Ernest Schuck (D-Barrington) and Walter Rand (D-Camden) outdistanced the Florio-backed challengers, Camden City Councilman Daniel Ciechanowsi and Reno Domenico, a Camden city school official, by more than 2,000 votes in the 5th district, which include the city of Camden.

Next door in the Cherry Hill-based 6th district, a pair of three-term assemblywomen, Barbara Berman (D-Cherry Hill) and Mary Keating Croce (D-Pennsauken), ran with the Florio Team.  They defeated former Camden County Freeholder Director M. Allan Vogelson and Camden County Treasurer John Gasparre by nearly 7,000 votes.

In the race for three freeholder seats, the organization backed incumbents Michael Hayes and Hilliard Moore, along with Bellmawr Mayor Joseph Petruzzi.   A third incumbent, Edward Sayers, ran on the Florio team, along with Cherry Hill Mayor Maria Barnaby Greenwald, and Wayne Bryant, an attorney from Lawnside.

Greenwald was the top vote-getter, and the Florio Team won the freeholder primary by nearly 2-1.

The epilogue is better known: Errichetti was convicted on bribery and extortion charges stemming from the Abscam scandal and forfeited his mayoral post and Senate seat.  He was sentenced to six years in prison.  Florio spent fifteen years in Congress and four as governor.

Four Hudson lawmakers – Barbara McCann (D-Jersey City), John Allen (D-Hoboken), Jessica Ramirez (D-Jersey City), and Julio Marenco (D-North Bergen) – have committed to running with Fulop.

By Wayne Parry, The Associated Press

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — New Jersey officials are defending proposed building rules designed to limit damage from future storms and steadily rising seas in coastal areas, countering criticism that the state aims to force people away from the Jersey Shore by making it harder and more expensive to build or rebuild there.

Lawmakers from both parties held a hearing Thursday in Toms River, one of the hardest-hit communities by Superstorm Sandy, to discuss the state’s Protecting Against Climate Threats initiative and respond to criticism of the proposal from business interests.

Mandated by an 2020 executive order from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, the proposed rules are designed to account for rising seas and a changing climate in making land use decisions near the ocean, bays and rivers in an effort to limit damage from future storms.

The rules would extend the jurisdiction of flood control measures further inland, require buildings to be constructed five feet (1.5 meters) higher off the ground than current rules call for, and require elevating roadways in flood-prone areas.

They are to be published soon in the New Jersey Register, and subject to public comment before taking effect later this year.

Other states and cities are considering or doing similar climate-based updates to development rules or acquisition of flood-prone properties, including North Carolina, Massachusetts, Fort Worth, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Nick Angarone, New Jersey’s chief resilience officer, said proposed rules are necessary to “be clear-eyed about what is happening right before us.”

He said New Jersey ranks third in the nation in flooding claims paid by the federal government at $5.8 billion since 1978.

Angarone and others cited a Rutgers University study projecting that sea levels in New Jersey will rise by 2.1 feet (65 centimeters) by 2050 and 5.1 feet (1.5 meters) by the end of the century. By that time, he said, there is a 50% chance that Atlantic City will experience so-called “sunny-day flooding” every day.

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association pushed back hard against the rules and the study upon which they are based, warning that the initiative is the start of a much-debated “managed retreat” from the shoreline that some scientists say needs to happen but that is anathema to many business groups.

“It will significantly harm the economy of our shore and river communities, and is premised on the policy that people and businesses should be forced to retreat from the coast,” said Ray Cantor, an official with the group and a former advisor to the Department of Environmental Protection under Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

“We do believe that we need to consider sea level rise in our planning efforts,” he said. “However, this rule is based on flawed scientific assumptions and will force a retreat from the Jersey Shore and coastal communities.”

Rutgers defended its projections as consistent with 2021 sea-level projections for Atlantic City of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “a trusted, highly credible, heavily reviewed source of information for climate change.”

Cantor claimed the new rules will create “no-build zones” in parts of the shore where it will simply be too costly and onerous to comply with the new requirements.

State officials vehemently denied that claim, saying the rules aim only to lessen the amount of damage from future storms that residents and businesses must deal with. They created a website aimed at “myths” about the new rules, making clear that nothing would prevent the rebuilding of storm-damaged structures and that there would not be any “no-build zones.”

Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, said governments should start discouraging new construction in areas that repeatedly flood.

“We need to stop developing highly vulnerable areas,” he said. “We ought to take steps to keep those people out of harm’s way.”

Under its Blue Acres buyout program, New Jersey acquired and demolished hundreds of homes in areas along rivers and bays that repeatedly flood. But it has yet to buy a single home along the ocean.

Sen. Bob Smith, who chaired the hearing, said the measures called for by the proposed rules “are not a retreat.” He called opposition from the Business and Industry Association “silly.”

The association appeared unfazed by the criticism; it hired an advertising plane to fly a banner up and down the oceanfront on Thursday with words for the governor: “Don’t Force A Shore Retreat.”

Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC