Raymond J. Zane, who served in the New Jersey State Senate for 28 years as a maverick before switching parties and losing to Democrat Steve Sweeney, died Monday. He was 84.
Zane was a 34-year-old Democratic freeholder from Gloucester County when he won the third legislative Senate seat under bizarre circumstances: the Republican incumbent had been convicted of planting drugs in the home of a Democratic assemblyman but had refused to get off the ballot.
For much of his political career, he was the most conservative member of the Democratic caucus but remained an exceptionally strong vote-getter in his Gloucester-Salem district. His tenure ended in 2001 after he had fallen out of favor with Democratic party leaders. Rather than fight Sweeney in a Democratic primary, he became a Republican and sought a ninth term in the Senate.
As a lawmaker, Zane was a zealous advocate for South Jersey farmers and sponsored legislation that preserved farmland.
A career in politics wasn’t Zane’s original aspiration. A standout pitcher for his high school baseball team in Woodbury, Zane was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, an early shoulder injury ended his plans to play professional baseball; instead, he became an accountant and went to law school.
Democrats recruited Zane to run for freeholder in 1971 when the GOP had a 7-0 majority. In Gov. William Cahill’s midterm election, Zane and his running mate, Donald Wagner, unseated Republican incumbent James Lough, and his running mate, former Franklin Mayor Albert Maton. Zane was the top vote-getter, running over 2,000 votes ahead of Lough.
Two years later, Zane decided to run for the Senate against freshman Republican James Turner (R-Woodbury).
Turner got in trouble after being convicted of planting drugs in the car and garage of a hated political rival, Democratic Assemblyman Kenneth Gewertz (D-Deptford). The tactic went badly after the police detective sensed that the tip he received from Turner might not be entirely altruistic. An investigation led to Turner’s arrest on charges that he hired three known criminals to plant a large amount of amphetamines in the Gewertz home. A jury convicted the 44-year-old Turner in less than two hours.
After he was sentenced to five years in prison and removed from the Senate in 1973, Turner refused to drop his re-election bid in the newly-drawn 3rd district. Since he was appealing his conviction, a judge ruled that Turner could remain in the race.
Republicans, not realizing the magnitude of the anti-GOP Watergate wave that was about to hit, tried to hold onto the seat by running popular Gloucester County Sheriff Walter Fish as a write-in candidate. Boosted by the scandal and the wave election that sent 29 Democrats to the State Senate, Zane defeated Fish, 64%-20%, with 16% of the voters still wanting Turner as their senator.
He won re-election seven times, never getting less than 61% of the vote in a Gloucester-Salem district that was considered competitive.
In 1986, Zane refused to support the renomination of Robert Wilentz, a Democrat and the controversial chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Wilentz received a tenured appointment with the bare minimum of 21 votes.
Democrats became angry over Zane’s refusal to back the Democratic candidate for Assembly in his district, Paulsboro Mayor John Burzichelli, against the Republican incumbents in 1999. An informal non-aggression pact existed between Zane, Assembly Speaker Jack Collins, and Assemblyman Gary Stuhltrager for years. Zane didn’t get involved in the Assembly race, and Collins and Stuhltrager didn’t try to move up to the Senate.
(Burzichelli took the oath of office for Zane’s old Senate seat on Tuesday.)
In retaliation for Zane’s actions – and because Angelini thought the Senator was too greedy – Gloucester County government entities stripped Zane of more than $175,000 worth of legal work, and Zane’s son, Freeholder Raymond Zane II lost his position as deputy director of the freeholder board.
The split between Zane and the Democrats widened in 2000 when Zane attempted to switch local party organizations from supporting former Gov. Jim Florio for U.S. Senate to Jon Corzine. Salem County Democratic Chairman Tom Pankok went public with allegations that Zane offered campaign contributions to Salem Democrats on behalf of Corzine in exchange for dropping their support of Florio.
Zane tried to go to war with Angelini, criticizing Angelini’s alliance with South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross and bringing boss-style politics to Gloucester. Angelini threatened Zane with a primary challenge in 2001, and Sweeney acknowledged in May 2000 that he was likely to be the candidate. (PoliticsNJ, then a three-month old political news site, first reported that story._
Greenwich Democratic Municipal Chairman Anthony Velahos and East Greenwich Democratic Municipal Chairman Jeffrey Malinoski , both Zane allies, were stripped of their membership on the Democratic screening committee by Angelini after they endorsed Corzine for the U.S. Senate.
Zane ran two candidates for freeholder in the 2000 Democratic primary, recruiting East Greenwich Mayor Dalyn Currey and former Monroe school board member Willie Carter (on a slate with Corzine) to challenge incumbents Bob Damminger and Bill Krebs. Zane’s candidates got destroyed – losing by more than 40 points. Angelini’s sheriff candidate, Gilbert Miller, won 74% of the vote against Zane’s candidate, Peter Villegas.
In early 2001, Zane’s son showed up at his freeholder office to find that the freeholder director, Sweeney, had moved his office to one about one-third of the size. A few weeks later, Zane announced that he was switching parties and would seek re-election as a Republican.
Zane accused Sweeney of offering paid legal jobs to Zane to get him to drop out of the race, but Sweeney denied that.
With Norcross’ help, Sweeney set the record for the most money spent in a legislative race in New Jersey history up to that point: he raised $1.9 million, plus another $457,000 for a joint campaign account with Burzichelli and Douglas Fisher. Zane raised $625,000. Sweeney was on Philadelphia television and did an estimated 30 direct mail pieces.
Zane carried Salem County, but by just 474 votes. Sweeney won Gloucester by 1,152 votes and carried the Cumberland portion of the district by 1,057 votes. That gave Sweeney a 1,735-vote win – 51.5% to 48.5%.
George and Donald Norcross joined Sweeney at the podium when he gave his victory speech.
In those days, Sweeney was a right-of-center Democrat. The National Rifle Association backed him for re-election in 2003 and contributed to his campaign – and $10,500 total since Sweeney has been in the Senate.
In 2003, Zane sought a rematch with Sweeney. After the primary, after an ethics complaint was filed against him and following a series of bad news stories about the legal fees he made from local governments during his years as a Senator, Zane dropped out of the race. Sweeney won re-election by 4,353 votes, 54%-46%, against replacement candidate Phil Rhudy.
In later years, Zane repaired his relationships with many of his old Democratic friends and eventually rejoined the Democratic Party.