By Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron
NJ Today
Barbara Buono spent a leisurely 45 minutes at a diner in Elizabeth this morning, then defended her selection of Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell of Bayonne to be the next state Democratic chairman.
“Jason is a great pick. He is a leader. He will be someone who will bring energy, commitment to the Democratic Party,” Buono said.
Senate President Steve Sweeney, among others, is critical of the selection of someone from the party’s liberal wing.
“I think it was a horrible pick. It was basically putting Joe Cryan back in charge of the state party,” Sweeney said yesterday.
Asked to respond, Buono said it’s “inside baseball.”
“I’m focused on those issues that New Jerseyans care about. And I don’t think they care a whit about what’s going on in this inside politics,” Buono said.
Was she trying to assert herself as the party’s new leader?
“This is who I am, Michael. I’m very deliberative. I think about things, I consider things, I talk to people and then when I make a decision I stick to it,” Buono said.
She’s confident the 121-member Democratic State Committee will coalesce around her choice.
“Down at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City a few days ago, we met with folks and people seemed really enthused about Jason. He’s already out there doing the job that he’s
going to be ratified to do in a few short weeks,” Buono said.
Assemblywoman Annette Quijano attended the diner event.
When asked how she thought Buono’s campaign is going, Quijano said, “It’s going. We’ll be picking it up. More and more people are signing on to help, and they’re realizing that there is no choice. She is the only choice.”
Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, was in Paterson late this afternoon, getting endorsed by the Democratic city council president.
“Paterson needs help,” Paterson City Council President Anthony Davis said. “So I’m asking and letting you all know we need to stand with our governor and put him back to a four-year course because we need that relationship down in Trenton.”
“I have lots of friends in the Democratic side of the aisle,” Christie said. “The fact is for us to make progress in New Jersey. Republicans, Democrats and Independents all have to work together to help to solve the problems that we have and to help to give us a better chance at making New Jersey an even greater state than it is already.”
Buono was endorsed today by a retail workers union local and a teachers local.
And while the Christie juggernaut rolls on, Buono has a message for Democrats who may be losing hope.
“I have always been underestimated in this field. When I first ran against the Middlesex County bosses for the Assembly, people said I’d never win, and I won. People said I’d never win in the general that year. I won. People said I’d never become the first woman budget chair, and I did it. Same thing with majority leader,” Buono said.
Her TV ad campaign starts next week.