House Editor David Wasserman writes: At press time, New Jersey’s bipartisan Congressional redistricting commission is in the final negotiating stages of a map that would pair Democratic Rep. Steve Rothman and Republican Rep. Scott Garrett in the northeastern corner of the state. Which one of them holds the upper hand, of course, depends on the final contours of the map. But Democrats should be given credit for realizing early in the game that tie-breaking independent commissioner John Farmer wouldn’t settle for a map that paired two Republicans, and for recognizing his desire to merge districts in the Northeast, where population growth has been the slowest.
While neither Rothman nor Garrett will be thrilled with the prospect of an all-out grudge match, there could have been much worse bipartisan mash-ups for Democrats. Garrett, who hails from rural Sussex County and was one of the original “mountain men” in the state legislature, is easily the most conservative member of the delegation and has had to work hard to win over more upscale Bergen County. Rothman, a Bergenite who has suddenly taken to
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