With Democrats split, the new Assembly speaker in New Jersey was an unlikely candidate. And the new governor picked him.

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With Democrats split, the new Assembly speaker in New Jersey was an unlikely candidate. And the new governor picked him.

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Posted by GET NJ on July 10, 2004 at 12:36:50:

The Consensus Candidate
With Democrats split, the new Assembly speaker in New Jersey was an unlikely candidate. And the new governor picked him.

By Randy Diamond

State Legislatures Magazine
March 2002

Even in his wildest imagination, Albio Sires never thought he would become speaker of the New Jersey Assembly.

"I did not get a chance to even dream about this," he says. "No, never. I mean this happened too quickly."

A freshman backbencher in the chamber, his seat was closer to the door of the 80-member Assembly than to the speaker's podium.

He made only a few speeches and introduced only 19 bills in his first two years in office. His status as a member of the minority Democrats assured him that his legislation would die a quick death in a chamber where the speaker holds all the cards. There's a reason the Assembly speaker is called the third most powerful elected official in New Jersey, behind the governor and the Senate president.

The speaker decides which bills will live or die, determining which bills are referred to a committee for consideration and which are posted in the full Assembly for a vote.

"I quickly found that unless you are in the majority, it really doesn't matter what you say," Sires says. "You could have the best ideas in the world, and they are not going to go anywhere."

That all changed on Jan. 9 when Sires, an imposing figure at six feet four inches, stood for the first time behind the speaker's podium in the ornate Assembly chamber and got ready to pound the gavel.

But first he had to find the gavel. A nervous Sires wondered if former Republican Speaker Jack Collins had played a joke on him. But then he looked in the drawer and realized that Collins had left it. "I guess it's state property," he joked.

UNLIKELY CHOICE
Sires seemed an unlikely choice for speaker when Democrats took control of the Assembly last November for the first time in a decade.

Previous speakers had years of service in the Assembly. Albio Sires was just finishing his first two-year term.

Sires was virtually unknown outside the North Jersey city of West New York, where he has been mayor for the last five years.

He had also been a Republican for 13 of the last 15 years, switching his registration only two years ago.

When James McGreevey ran for governor the first time in 1997 against incumbent Republican Christine Todd Whitman, Sires supported Whitman.

But Sires's rise to power occurred because he fell into Governor-elect McGreevey's plan.

. . .

For the complete piece, please see the Link.

The Consensus Candidate

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Comments:
: The Consensus Candidate
: With Democrats split, the new Assembly speaker in New Jersey was an unlikely candidate. And the new governor picked him.

: By Randy Diamond

: State Legislatures Magazine
: March 2002

: Even in his wildest imagination, Albio Sires never thought he would become speaker of the New Jersey Assembly.

: "I did not get a chance to even dream about this," he says. "No, never. I mean this happened too quickly."

: A freshman backbencher in the chamber, his seat was closer to the door of the 80-member Assembly than to the speaker's podium.

: He made only a few speeches and introduced only 19 bills in his first two years in office. His status as a member of the minority Democrats assured him that his legislation would die a quick death in a chamber where the speaker holds all the cards. There's a reason the Assembly speaker is called the third most powerful elected official in New Jersey, behind the governor and the Senate president.

: The speaker decides which bills will live or die, determining which bills are referred to a committee for consideration and which are posted in the full Assembly for a vote.

: "I quickly found that unless you are in the majority, it really doesn't matter what you say," Sires says. "You could have the best ideas in the world, and they are not going to go anywhere."

: That all changed on Jan. 9 when Sires, an imposing figure at six feet four inches, stood for the first time behind the speaker's podium in the ornate Assembly chamber and got ready to pound the gavel.

: But first he had to find the gavel. A nervous Sires wondered if former Republican Speaker Jack Collins had played a joke on him. But then he looked in the drawer and realized that Collins had left it. "I guess it's state property," he joked.

: UNLIKELY CHOICE
: Sires seemed an unlikely choice for speaker when Democrats took control of the Assembly last November for the first time in a decade.

: Previous speakers had years of service in the Assembly. Albio Sires was just finishing his first two-year term.

: Sires was virtually unknown outside the North Jersey city of West New York, where he has been mayor for the last five years.

: He had also been a Republican for 13 of the last 15 years, switching his registration only two years ago.

: When James McGreevey ran for governor the first time in 1997 against incumbent Republican Christine Todd Whitman, Sires supported Whitman.

: But Sires's rise to power occurred because he fell into Governor-elect McGreevey's plan.

: . . .

: For the complete piece, please see the Link.

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