The election of Benjie Wimberly to the New Jersey State Senate last night means even more reshuffling in the New Jersey State Assembly, as the total number of resignations this month to three.
Herb Conaway, Jr. (D-Delran) resigned to take his seat in Congress, and Pamela Lampitt stepped down following her election as Camden County Clerk.
Wimberly’s departure leaves the Assembly without a Speaker Pro-Tempore, a leadership post that includes a place in the gubernatorial line of succession: if Phil Murphy, Tahesha Way, Nicholas Scutari, Craig Coughlin, Matt Platkin, Fran O’Connor, and Shirley Turner are all out of state at the same time, the Speaker Pro-Tempore becomes acting governor.
The last time that happened was in December 1976 when Speaker Pro-Tempore Ronald Owens (D-Newark) was called upon to serve. Gov. Brendan Byrne was in Lake Tahoe, and others ahead of him were unavailable.
Owens, the second person of color to serve as acting governor, told a group of junior high school students in Hamilton Township that they would see a Black governor in their lifetimes. That was 48 years ago.
Coughlin will need to pick Wimberly’s replacement on his leadership team, along with his other assignments:
* There are two vacant seats on the Assembly Budget Committee: Wimberly and Conaway. Their departure leaves Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton) as the only Black member of the panel. Wimberly’s vice chairmanship is also available.
* Wimberly was the co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity.
* He had seats on the Higher Education and Housing committees and Joint Committee on the Public Schools.