
Former Philadelphia Eagles star Jon Runyan will formally kick off his bid for Congress on March 18 at the Mount Laurel Westin. Runyan is the leading candidate to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) in a traditionally Republican district that Adler won 52%-48% in 2008.
“The professional politicians created the problems our country and state are facing and we can’t trust them to fix it,” said the 36-year-old Runyan, who retired from the NFL earlier this year after a fourteen year career. “I will proudly run this race as a fiscal conservative who believes America’s greatness lies not with its government, but with its people. Reckless government spending won’t create jobs and revitalize our economy, putting money back into the pockets of hardworking Americans will. As a Congressman, I will make it happen.”
Runyan said his campaign will portray Adler as a tax and spend big government insider whose votes as a state senator and congressman contributed to the state’s economic problems.
The State Senate will meet at 2PM to consider the following bills:
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet at 10 AM to consider Gov. Christopher Christie’s nominations of Thomas Considine as Commissioner of Banking and Insurance and Raymond Martinez to head the state Motor Vehicle Commission.
Prospective 12th Congressional District Republican challengers to U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell Twp.) faced the Middlesex County Republican Organization's screening committee last night, and at the end of the their respective presentations, Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre earned 22 committee votes to Princeton venture capitalist Scott Sipprelle's 14 votes.
A two-thirds vote of support from the screening committee would have all but assured Halfacre the support of the organization as a whole, which meets later this month to award the line to one of the two Republican candidates.
Sipprelle already has an advantage in having the backing of Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge), the party's next county chairman, but Halfacre's allies last night read the screening committee's verdict as an important victory.

Seventh Congressional District candidate Ed Potosnak won the backing of the Union County Democrats' screening committee Wednesday night, and secured the support of businessman Zenon Christodoulou, who removed his name from the running.
"I am honored to have Mr. Christodoulou's support and I look forward to working with him," said Potosnak.
In obtaining the backing of the Union Couty Democratic Organization, the former Bridgewater High School teacher and aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Ca.) chalked up his second straight endorsement from a county screening committee, having already notched Hunterdon.
“Earning the support of the Union County Democrats is a proud moment for me and our campaign," said Potosnak, who recently moved to North Plainfield. "I am honored to have the confidence of Chairman DeFilippo and the other esteemed public officials and members of the Committee including Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Majority Leader Joseph Cryan."
Union represents the largest concentration of Democratic Party voters of the four counties in the 7th District, where Potosnak is running for his party's nomination to face U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the general election.
Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) has scheduled a quorum call for 1 PM.
The Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee will meet at 10 AM, and the Assembly Human Services Committee has a 2 PM meeting.
The committee agendas:

Jim Leonard is leaving his post as the chief lobbyist for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to join the Christie administration. He’ll be a policy advisor to the governor, concentrating on economic development issues. Leonard, a Councilman in Branchburg, is a former regional political director for the American Medical Association, and was the Executive Director of the Eastern Regional Office of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
Ingle: Can you hear him now? Looks like the folks at the Delaware River and Bay Authority didn’t pay attention when Gov. Christie said enough of the open ended and unspecified pending commitments. So he vetoed their minutes, killing their plans. That was his second veto of the DRPA’s minutes...
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“To their credit, public officials today are very sensitive to concerns among the citizenry toward their accepting gifts. They want to avoid even the appearance of being influenced.” -- ELEC Executive Director Jeffrey Brindle, who announced yesterday that benefit spending by lobbyists on legislatros has dropped from $163,375 in 1992 to $9,728 in 2009.
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