TRENTON — Senate President Donald T. DiFrancesco knows there are built-in advantages to his lofty legislative position. He not only sets the agenda in the upper house of the legislature, but he can often bring a majority of his colleagues in line to ensure results.
"When I was in the minority, I could say anything I wanted, but I could not make it happen," he said of his stint as Senate minority leader from 1982 to 1984. "But being Senate president, what you say you can make happen."
To many observers, DiFrancesco (R., Union) is taking full advantage of that critical difference in a healthy economy, with his aspirations of running next year to succeed Gov. Whitman becoming more obvious every day.
The last New Jersey lawmaker to run a legislative chamber while running for governor was Assembly Speaker Chuck Hardwick in 1989. Hardwick lost to Jim Courter in the Republican primary, in part because he placed too much stock in his leadership position and not enough in retail politics and forging alliances with other lawmakers, political observers say.
DiFrancesco clearly wants to avoid the same pitfall. He has come out aggressively and early. He enjoyed a wave of positive publicity during the last two weeks on key issues such as crime, health care and taxes.
While Whitman was on vacation, DiFrancesco used his status as acting governor to propose providing $400 million in property-tax relief to municipalities and to sign legislation preventing prisoners who faced the death penalty from being eligible for parole while serving life sentences instead.
Last week, he offered $140 million in health-care reforms during a news conference in Newark with Sens. Jack Sinagra (R., Middlesex), who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, and John Matheussen (R., Gloucester).
"With 14 months to go [before the election], he's saying, 'I want to lay out an agenda to let the world know who I am," ' said David Rebovich, who teaches political science at Rider University in Lawrenceville. "Going into the campaign season, hopefully he will put into New Jerseyans' minds that Republicans not only know how to oversee a successful economy, but are willing to address New Jerseyans' concerns about quality-of-life issues."
Others say DiFrancesco's loyalty to Whitman, from shepherding controversial nominees through the Senate to allying with her on key issues such as auto-insurance reform, school construction and, most recently, refinancing of the Transportation Trust Fund, will help him.
