For the First Time, Lakewood Not Represented on Globe’s Power List

For the first time since its inception, Lakewood, NJ has not been represented on the prestigious New Jersey Power List, published each year by the New Jersey Globe. The list ranks the top 100 most powerful unelected people in New Jersey, specifically leaving off anyone elected to public office.

The list debuted in 2018, and in each of the first three years, it included representation from Lakewood. Listing the “Lakewood Vaad Leader” in 75^th, 75^th, and 97^th place, respectively in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 lists, Globe Editor David Wildstein wrote that “the head of Lakewood’s Orthodox Jewish community can move thousands of votes when he wants to,” and that “only three people in New Jersey can, at the wave of their hand, produce 10,000 votes for a candidate of their choice.”

In the 2021 list released this week, no Lakewood residents were on the list. In an email to Matzav.com, Wildstein explained that “the decision of Lakewood voters to support Jack Ciattarelli over The Vaad’s preferred candidate, Governor Murphy, played heavily into [the] absence from the 2021 list.”

{Matzav.com}