In a special election, Albio Sires has replaced Bob Menendez as New Jersey’s 13th district representative to the House of Representatives, winning yesterday’s special election. Sires also won the Democratic nomination for that position in November’s general election, beating out progressive Joe Vas in the Democratic primary.

Albio Sires is a guy who knows how to throw his weight around, and he has considerable weight. As Speaker in the New Jersey Assembly, Sires pressured Democratic committees from across the state to support his campaign, and snub Joe Vas. But, that wasn’t enough for Sires. Albio Sires ran a hard smear campaign against Joe Vas, using advertisements that began with emotionally provocative phrases like “A child molester should go to jail. A drug dealer should go to jail. Except a politician named Joe Vas used his clout to try and keep them on the street.”

Well, what did Joe Vas stand for in his campaign for Congress? Vas promoted an immediate end to the Iraq War. He supported women’s rights and reproductive choice. He supported stem cell research and stronger policies to protect the environment.

Albio Sires, on his own campaign web site, had nothing to say about such issues. On the issues, the Sires for Congress web site only had four old articles, written about New Jersey state politics. Three of those articles were from 2004. One was from 2002.

Sires says that he’s against the Iraq War. That’s swell, but Sires has not said what he means by that. There is no specific plan to end the Iraq War that Sires has given his support, so his so-called opposition to the war is little more than abstract talk.

The only thing that Albio Sires has consistently supported throughout his political career is himself. The Albio Sires for Congress campaign seems to have been about nothing so much as getting more power.

Sires is powerful, but it’s not at all clear that he has used his power for good purposes. The New York Times reports,

“Despite all the good will flowing in Trenton, Mr. Sires was criticized for not using his power to fix the state’s problem with pay-to-play — the widespread practice of public contractors bankrolling campaigns.

And he was guilty as charged. Over the years, Mr. Sires has accepted thousands of dollars in contributions from local companies that do business with West New York, a town of about 49,000, including Adamo Brothers Construction, Jai Architects, Royal Printing Services and countless others. One of his biggest recent contributors was Roseland Properties, the developer of much of West New York’s waterfront.

Mr. Sires also received thousands of dollars from men who would later go to jail for corruption.”

If I had to pick a politician to win the Most Likely to Emulate Congressman William Jefferson in Corruption Award, it would be Albio Sires. Sires loves to point out that he has never been convicted of anything, but surely, a member of the US Congress should satisfy a higher ethical standard than that.

The political history of Albio Sires also should cause a great deal of concern among the voters of New Jersey’s 13th congressional district. Sires has been a duplicitous flip-flopper, choosing his ideology of the moment according to whatever would help him advance his political career. Sires started his career as a Democrat, but in the 1980s switched to the Republican Party, where he stayed, supporting Republican candidates until the late 1990s, when he decided to try his luck as a Democrat again.

This double betrayal doesn’t seem to bother the leadership of the New Jersey Democratic Party. They’re supporting Sires, though they can’t really seem to come up with a good reason why. It certainly isn’t any ideals that Sires stands for. Former Governor of New Jersey Richard J. Codey, asked why he supports Albio Sires, said, “Most importantly, he’s a damn good golfer.”

It’s a shame to say it, but Democrat-Republican-Democrat Albio Sires starts his tenure in the US House of Representatives without having earned the trust of the voters. My advice to the people of New Jersey is to watch this guy – watch him like a hawk.