Edward Patten Archives - New Jersey Globe

William J. Hamilton, former Assembly Speaker, dies at 86

October 12, 2019 4:28 pmOctober 13, 2019 3:11 pm

Former Assembly Speaker William J. Hamilton, Jr., a skilled legislator with a reputation for integrity and independence, died on Thursday. He was 86. A product of John A. Lynch, Sr.’s New Brunswick political organization, Hamilton served six years in the...

Bob Dole turns 96

July 22, 2019 9:02 pmJuly 22, 2019 10:11 pm

Bob Dole, who turned 96 today, served with 27 New Jerseyans during his 35 years in Congress — five in the Senate, where he represented Kansas from 1969 to 1996, and 22 in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he...

The time an assemblyman won off the line

June 1, 2019 9:12 pm

It’s not uncommon for legislators to be dumped from the organization line and those who fight back hardly ever win. One of the most memorable examples of an assemblyman winning without party support was in 1979, when the Middlesex Democratic...

Smith: Middlesex County should get its own congressional district

December 3, 2018 2:49 pmDecember 3, 2018 3:23 pm

State Sen. Bob Smith thinks it’s time for Middlesex County to get its own congressional district. “It’s 875,000 people. Congressional districts are bout 640,000, 630,000. It could easily be a congressional district,” Smith said. “Now, when I say that, it...

The story of Ed Patten

June 25, 2018 5:10 amJune 26, 2018 3:17 pm

There was a time when Perth Amboy was the epicenter of power in Middlesex County politics and the hometown of Edward Patten, one of the state’s most colorful and influential politicians for nearly fifty years. The gregarious, boisterous, joke-telling Patten...

How Rodney’s father got to Congress

February 2, 2018 8:22 pm

It’s a revival of an old play that opened in 1952: Congressman Charles Eaton (R-Watching) decided to retire and gave Republicans less than four months to find a candidate for his safe seat: all of Somerset and Morris, and northern...