John Wisniewski. | AP Photo/Mel Evans Wisniewski speaks out about being booted from DNC

Assemblyman John Wisniewski bucked the trend when he endorsed Bernie Sanders’ candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

On Saturday, New Jersey Democrats bucked Wisniewski.


Without warning Wisniewski, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee at its meeting in East Brunswick voted to boot the assemblyman — a former state Democratic chairman — from the New Jersey delegation of the Democratic National Committee. The party also voted to remove Reni Erdos, another Sanders supporter and Democratic National Committee member.

The move riled Sanders supporters, one of whom, Blue Jersey editor Rosie Efthim, took to the blog to denounce the decision.

Wisniewski said the current chairman, John Currie, has a right to name who he sees fit for the post as long as it’s ratified by the committee. But he said he wasn’t notified that the list of Democratic National Committee members was going to be voted on, and was actually told by senior staff that it wasn’t going to be.

Wisniewski said the decision was ironic, since just a little while before the Democratic State Committee vote, at the meeting of Democratic National Convention delegates at the same location, party leaders had been talking about unity between Sanders and Clinton supporters.

“Am I disappointed? Sure. Do I recognize the chairman has that prerogative? Absolutely,” Wisniewski said. “I wish the process was better and that there was a conversation beforehand, which there wasn’t. The fact that I was assured this was not on the agenda, when in fact it was, is certainly troubling.”

Wisniewski and Erdos were replaced by two Clinton supporters: Insurance executive John Graham, a major fundraiser, and former Bergen County Freeholder Bernadette McPherson.

“It’s an interesting dichotomy between the philosophy of Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton,” Wisniewski said. “They replace somebody who has grassroots support with someone who’s a big fundraiser.”

Currie defended his decision.

“These are prized positions, because when it comes to the national committee, it’s only six people,” he said. “I probably have 10 to 20, if not 100 people, who would love to serve in this position. We have many good Democrats and the two people who I appointed have been longtime outstanding Democrats for decades.”

Wisniewski said he started on the committee in 2008. He became chairman in 2011 and stayed until 2013. Wisniewski said he had an arrangement with Paul Bontempo, a Democratic lobbyist. When Wisniewski became chairman and automatically became a DNC member, Bontempo filled his seat. When Wisniewski finished as chairman, Bontempo resigned and he chose his seat.

Wisniewski had also named Erdos to the Democratic National Committee, replacing longtime DNC member June Fischer. Union said that was at the request of then-Union County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo.

Wisniewski and Erdos will remain in the DNC until after the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

