The retirement of state Sen. Peter Inverso has both parties scrambling to fill his seat, and two Assembly seats on the ballot.
By: Hank Kalet
When Assemblyman Bill Baroni announced last week that he was seeking re-election, it appeared that the status quo would apply in the 14th Legislative District, which includes Cranbury, Jamesburg and Monroe.
Both Mr. Baroni, a Republican, and Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, a Democrat, were planning to seek and likely to win re-election, having done so by large margins two years ago.
State Sen. Peter Inverso, a Republican, also seemed a lock, having won the district by a 2-1 margin in his last election four years ago.
That all changed on Monday, when Sen. Inverso announced his retirement after almost 16 years in the upper house.
"This was not an easy decision for me to make," said Sen. Inverso, the president and CEO of Roma Federal Savings Bank, in a written statement. "The increasing demands of leading an outstanding community bank with public ownership into an exciting period of expansion and opportunity, and my desire to devote more time to my wonderful wife and growing family, have converged and convinced me that, after nearly a quarter of a century of public service, this is the right decision for my family, my employer and me."
I’ve not been a huge fan of the senator he has been too conservative for my tastes on too many issues but there is no doubt that he was a formidable figure. He carried six of seven towns in the district in 2003, winning re-election in a landslide and there was no reason to believe he couldn’t have done so again this year.
And while there had been speculation that Sen. Inverso would retire, no one took it all that seriously which is why his announcement on Monday just hours before the Mercer County Republican convention came as a surprise and tossed this year’s 14th District race into turmoil. Mercer County Republicans had been expected to endorse his candidacy and the Assembly candidacies of Mr. Baroni and former Jamesburg Councilman Adam Bushman at the convention. Instead, the party was left to scramble to fill its slate.
Sen. Inverso has endorsed Mr. Baroni as his replacement, opening up an Assembly slot on the ticket that the Mercer Republicans have yet to fill (traditionally, one Assembly slot goes to Middlesex County and one to Mercer).
It also may scramble the Democrats’ plans. The party already was searching for a Mercer County Democrat to run alongside Ms. Greenstein for Assembly, after both the Mercer and Middlesex organizations endorsed Ms. Greenstein for Assembly and South Brunswick resident Seema Singh for Senate.
All three spots could now be in flux, however, with Ms. Greenstein considering a Senate run. Ms. Greenstein told us Tuesday that both candidates, because of the speculation about Sen. Inverso, had circulated petitions for both seats at the conventions. She said she is considering the Senate run and would be talking with Ms. Singh, who has served as state ratepayer advocate since 2002. If Ms. Greenstein ends up as the Senate candidate, Ms. Singh would run for Assembly. A decision should be made by early next week, she said.
There also is speculation, according to the political Web site Politics NJ, "that a Hamiltonian with experience in elected office and deep community roots" could be drafted for the Senate candidacy to "provide exactly the kind of gravitas transfusion at the top of the ticket that could propel the Dems to victory in November."
"Gravitas transfusion"? It seems to me without prejudging the candidates that turning back the clock at a time when fresh thinking and new ideas are needed is just callous and cynical, a strategy that turns politics from a discussion of policy into the kind of blood sport that has turned off a lot of voters.
What are needed are candidates with new ideas on how to put the state back on solid fiscal footing and whether it is time to consider an expanded state income tax, for instance, or how to keep special interest money from influencing policy or buying public jobs.
The four party-endorsed candidates bring a lot to the table in terms of energy and intelligence. Mr. Baroni and Ms. Greenstein have been the state’s leading advocates on behalf of publicly financed elections and both have been pushing for stronger and more expansive tax reforms. Ms. Singh was a strong defender of consumers as ratepayer advocate and has been a major supporter of the growing Asian-Indian community as president of the Asian-Indian Chamber of Commerce, while Mr. Bushman’s experience on the council in the cash-strapped borough of Jamesburg could be an asset for a cash-strapped state government.
Let’s hope the two parties fill out their tickets with candidates of equal energy and freshness.
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. He can be e-mailed by clicking here and his blog, Channel Surfing, can be found at www.kaletblog.com.

