This column originally appeared on January 16, 2021.
In recent months, we have all followed the whispers and rumors about the Senate Majority Leader retiring from elective politics. Well, sometimes a Trenton rumor actually comes true.
I have always maintained, and written on multiple occasions, that in politics you need to know when it is time to move on. Apparently, for Senator Weinberg, that time is now.
I am not going to run down the laundry list of legislative successes, or major public policy accomplishments, of Senator Weinberg. I leave that for others. I just want to wish the Majority Leader well and congratulate her for being a role model for us all.
Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg—job well done!!
We spent nearly a decade together in the Senate, and I served on a few committees with the Majority Leader. I recall a time or two (or 150) that I battled with Senator Weinberg on the Senate floor, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and of course, during the Committee to review Bridgegate. More times than not, I was opposing her motions, bills, or politics. I learned quickly that Senator Weinberg was not easily trifled with. While often an adversary, I found Senator Weinberg to be fair, decent, well versed on issues, and open to conversation.
I do recall on the Oversight Committee in 2014, when subpoenaed documents were leaked to the press, the Senator scolded a member of her own party (think Assemblyman from Sayreville) for such a blatant breach.
Loretta was an unabashedly proud Democrat who tried to move the rest of us as far to the left as possible – not an easy thing to do. She worked the media and her caucus and paved the way for a better New Jersey, sometimes light years ahead of the rest of us.
Senator Weinberg was a serious and accomplished advocate. I can honestly say that Senator Weinberg was the most politically savvy (don’t buy that grandmotherly routine), brilliant, strategic, media conscience legislator that I met in my 22 years in the Legislature.
Although I would have never predicated it, especially given our contentious decade-long relationship, Loretta and I came together as I was leaving the Senate. Following a tough grilling about my intentions to serve on the Port Authority, we have worked extraordinarily closely on many transportation issues. Loretta is the main reason that the Bus Terminal is a priority at the Port and is being rebuilt.
I know that I can say with certainty that this will NOT be the last we hear of Loretta Weinberg. Someone who has devoted the majority of their adult life to serve the public, doesn’t just disappear – that’s not in Loretta’s DNA, and we will all be better off because of it.
Loretta, I just want to thank you for your amazing and unparalleled public service. You have served as a phenomenal role model for current members of the legislature, future generations of leaders, and to my daughter and women like her.