Dorsey had served in the Assembly on the Taxation Committee and was an opponent of the state income tax bill that Wiley had supported.
[2] Both DiFrancesco and Dorsey had actively lobbied candidates running for office, making contributions and offers of committee chairmanships to individuals who might provide support in the race for majority leader.
[3] Dorsey made efforts in 1993 to block Governor of New Jersey James Florio's reappointment of Judge Marianne Espinosa Murphy of the Family Court.
[4] Dorsey indicated that he had received complaints about Judge Murphy that she "giggles and throws pencils on the desk during testimony", though she was viewed as a model judge by an advocacy group for custodial parents who said that she would actively enforce judgments against deadbeat parents and was endorsed by the New Jersey State Bar Association, which had had a longstanding objection to the use of senatorial courtesy.
[4] In the 1993 elections, Dorsey was originally being challenged in the Republican primary by political newcomer and attorney Chris Christie.