The resignation of Union County Democratic Chairman Jerry Green makes Vice Chair Colleen Mahr the acting chair, for now. Under party by-laws, Mahr is obligated to call a special election of the full County Committee within thirty days.
Both sides in the race for county chairman have already begun counting County Committee votes. With about 800 members, a simple majority is necessary. And one certainty is that both State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden) and Mahr’s ally, State Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union) know how to count insider votes.
With Scutari’s quick emergence into the race, backed up by a rapid list of key endorsements, the next step is to see if Mahr or anyone else becomes a candidate for county chairman. That’s the most obvious sign of whether Cryan’s count has Scutari under the 50% plus one needed to win.
Green is not giving up his Assembly seat yet. That could be used as a bargaining chip if Scutari’s internal count is not enough for a clear win – but it’s more likely that the Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp is already in possession of that chip.