TRENTON, N.J. — Several political observers are suggesting there is a big rift among members of the Democratic Party in the states of New Jersey. The proof they say was seen at a State Senate hearing in November when Sue Altman, the leader of the left-leaning Working Families Alliance was singled out by New Jersey state troopers and forcibly removed her from the crowded State Senate hearing
on
corporate tax breaks.
The
New York Times
reported she was led past her main political rival,
George E. Norcross III
, a Democratic power broker who was at the hearing to testify in support of an $11 billion
economic incentive program
that Ms. Altman had criticized harshly and that is the subject of state investigations and subpoenas.
According to Times the imagery and its aftermath have roiled Trenton, exposing a generational and philosophical rift between progressive and mainstream Democrats that is mirrored nationwide
The clash thrust Ms. Altman into the limelight and offered a vivid example of how the grass-roots energy in New Jersey that helped Democrats
flip four seats in Congress
last year has spilled into the State House. Altman’s ejection from the November hearing is being reviewed by the attorney general, and it is coloring the discussion of a range of issues, including the renewal of the
corporate tax-break program
and the fight for control of the Democratic State Committee.
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