JENNIFER BECK

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a former GOP State Chairman, will serve as chairman of Chris Christie's campaign for Governor.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos will serve as Chairman of Christopher Christie's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor, and four of the five Republicans in the state congressional delegation will serve as Co-Chairmen.

U.S. Reps. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), Frank LoBiondo (R-Vineland), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) and Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) are also part of Christie's statewide leadership team.

"I am honored to stand with Chris Christie in his noble fight to bring genuine reform to New Jersey," said Kyrillos, who served as GOP State Chairman from 2001 to 2004.   "There is no doubt that Chris Christie will unify not only our party, but all New Jerseyans.  This team speaks to his regional and ideological appeal all across the state." 

Smith called Christie "a man of honor, integrity, and backbone."

"He has the skills and ability to lead our state during this time of turmoil and economic struggle," said Smith, a Congressman since 1981.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), left, introduces former U.S. Attorney Chris Chrisite, with wife Mary Pat.

LINCROFT – On the second day of his two-day campaign kickoff, Chris Christie has sharpened his Wednesday speech into a few short bursts, and in front of a packed house at the Lincroft Inn in this one-time horse farm country turned box store sprawl zone, he toughens his anti-COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) rhetoric.

“If I am governor, I will gut COAH and I will put an end to it,” says Christie, an edited version of underdog gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Richard Merkt’s (R-Mendham) “If I am governor, I will drive a stake into COAH’s heart, bury it, and make sure it never rises again” mantra.  

The comment gets a raise-the-roof response. 

“You just won the election,” Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian Burry tells the candidate.  

She’s standing behind him and facing the crowd along with other Republican elected officials, including state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Red Bank), state Sen. Sean Kean (R-Wall), Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, and Middletown Mayor Pam Brightbill.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union)

TRENTON- State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) wants to change terms for members of the state Senate from four to five years, and when he opens the item up to discussion on the Senate State Government Committee, state Sen. Whip Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) goes in the opposite direction by broaching the issue of term limits.

“You can’t say New Jersey is a success story,” O’Toole says. “This committee has the opportunity to do something bold."

State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) doesn’t immediately align herself with O’Toole’s suggestion, but does question lengthening the terms of service of legislators.  She worries about creating even more insular elected offices.

“When you extend the term, you only let the incumbent continue that (natural incumbent) advantage,” Beck says.  “The way our districts are crafted now, it’s very difficult to overturn an incumbent. You have to have a safeguard that you’re not simply crafting a way for those in office to simply stay in office.”

Songwriter Red Mascara

TRENTON - In 1960, Gov. Robert Meyner complained that New Jersey didn’t have an official state song that bands could play when he appeared, so songwriter Red Mascara wrote “I’m from New Jersey,” he tells the Senate State Government Committee.

Mascara’s state song passed both houses of the Legislature in 1972, however, the governor never signed the measure into law and Mascara’s ode to the Garden State dangled into history.

Now, as the state senate committee considers the passage of four official state songs packaged in a bill sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May), an elderly Mascara fights for the inclusion of his song in the official canon.

State Sen. Jen Beck (D-Monmouth)

BRANCHBURG - State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) will receive this year's Millicent Fenwick Award from the Somerset County Federation of Republican Women, the organization's president, Janice Fields, told a breakfast gathering this morning.

Fields said the women's group would bestow the public service award on the Monmouth County senator in honor of the late congresswoman from Bernardsville at a ceremony on March 26, with details forthcoming.

Gov. Jon Corzine on today's Chamber of Commerce trip.

NORTHEAST CORRIDOR – The Chamber of Commerce “Walk to Washington” train lurches out of the station and it isn’t even past Newark before some of the old-timers are predicting – with a degree of sadness - that no one’s going to get thrown off the train.

There’s a sense among the Democrats that if they let it all hang out with booze and bad behavior in an economic downturn and gubernatorial election year, they will appear crass and out-of-touch.

The establishment Republicans who are here probably have in their minds a preposition-ending statement issued yesterday by the gubernatorial campaign of Republican frontrunner Chris Christie: "Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie wants to bring real change to Trenton and that comes with ending politics as usual, which this trip has become a symbol of," said spokesman Bill Stepien.

So they too are restrained as the 14-car train clears the South Ward and this rolling world of business and politics collides in happy but measured ceremony with the gubernatorial election and the economy hovering at the edges of every close-quarters conversation as the train heads for Washington, D.C.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Smithson is expected to rule on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Board of Public Utilities President Jeanne Fox today.  If the lawsuit, which alleges that a whistleblower was punished for reporting a potentially illegal an $80 million ratepayer-funded Clean Energy account established by Fox, is dismissed, look for the Senate Judiciary Committee to put her nomination for a second term on their agenda soon. 

Last July, Senate Judiciary Chairman John Adler, then a candidate for Congress, said the panel would not consider the Fox nomination until after the trial of whistleblower, which ended with a hung jury last September.

There will now be some pressure on the new Judiciary Chairman, Paul Sarlo, to allow the committee to consider her nomination.  The panel is scheduled to meet on Monday - the first under Sarlo's leadership.

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12) issued the following statement in response to the State of the State message delivered today by Governor Jon Corzine:

Encourage Corzine to Finally Embrace Three Specific Bipartisan Reforms

Senators Jenifer Beck, (R-Monmouth) and Kevin O'Toole (R-Bergen) urged Governor Corzine to stop playing politics, accept some of the responsibility for New Jersey's fiscal disaster, and correct past mistakes that are continuing to hold back New Jersey's recovery.

State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth), left, with Assemblywoman Alison McHose (R-Franklin).

Following a lead taken by state Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., (R-Union), State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) today called on Gov. Jon Corzine to detail what fund he intends to freeze to address a $1.2 billion revenue drop in this year's budget.  

"Time is of the essence if we are going to adequately address New Jersey's declining revenue," Beck said in a release. "Tough decisions inevitably must be made, but that is what governors and members of the legislature are elected to do. Governor Corzine should not keep stonewalling the release of these documents if they exist, which they should.” 

The governor’s office gave a “must be a slow news day” acknowledgement of Beck’s plea, noting that Corzine has already said he plans to release the budget details in the New Year.