Assemblyman Michael Venezia (D-Bloomfield) has moved into Assembly leadership as the new Majority Whip – a clear signal that his predecessor, Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel), will remain as chair of the powerful Assembly Health Committee.
And another sophomore lawmaker, Gabriel Rodriguez (D-West New York), has become the Democratic constituent outreach chair, a leadership post. He succeeds Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton), who is widely expected to retain the influential chair of the Assembly Education Committee.
Rather than reshuffling committees last January, Speaker Craig Coughlin filled two vacancies with members of his leadership team: Murphy succeeded Herb Conaway, Jr. (D-Delran) at Health after he resigned to take his seat in Congress; and Reynolds-Jackson replaced Pamela Lampitt (D-Cherry Hill), who had been elected Camden County Clerk.
Venezia, a former Bloomfield mayor, survived a closer-than-expected Democratic primary challenge; he defeated former East Orange Councilwoman Brittany Claybrooks by 863 votes in his first primary without a county organization line.
Reynolds-Jackson is seeking the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th district, where Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) is not seeking re-election. (Something to watch: does Reynolds-Jackson sacrifice roughly two days a week of campaign time in March, April and, May to retain her seat on the Assembly Budget Committee?)
The election of Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson) to the Senate last year triggered some changes: Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth) replaced Wimberly as Speaker Pro Tempore, and Linda Carter (D-Plainfield) took Quijano’s post as Majority Conference Leader.
Carter has opted to remain in leadership, creating an opening for a new Higher Education Committee chair.
Coughlin went with one less deputy majority leader, opting not to replace Reginald Atkins (D-Roselle), who did not seek re-election. It shouldn’t be assumed that Coughlin has finished placing people in leadership roles.
New committee assignments in the Assembly have not yet been announced, and while some committee chairs are open, it’s not immediately clear if Coughlin will reduce, add, or reconstitute committees.
Right now, there is an opening on the Community Development and Women’s Affairs Committee following the retirement of the previous chair, Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson). Yvonne Lopez (D-Perth Amboy) already chairs the Housing Committee, and the other two Democrats on the panel lost their re-election bids. Atkins chaired the Oversight, Reform, and Federal Relations Committee.
On the Republican side, Brian Rumpf (R-Little Egg Harbor), an assemblyman for over 22 years, is the new minority budget officer. He replaces Nancy Muñoz (R-Summit), who lost her re-election bid after more than sixteen years in the legislature.
Vicki Flynn (R-Holmdel) replaces Rumpf as minority parliamentarian; she had been deputy minority conference leader.
The minority leader, John DiMaio, has not replaced Flynn or two other leadership positions in a Republican caucus that dropped from 28 to 23 after the last election. Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence) and Christian Barranco (R-Jefferson), both assistant minority conference leaders, have not been replaced.
