Leonard Lance

Former Hillsborough Mayor Joseph Tricarico, a dentist who works for the state Department of Health, is mulling a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress against freshman U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the seventh district.  Tricarico briefly considered running in 2006 against then-U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, but dropped out to support Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood).  

Two Republicans seeking to unseat Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) thought it was an April fool's day joke when they heard she won a seat on the Assembly Appropriations Committee.   This marks the fourth consecutive year Republicans are running a campaign that calls the incumbent "Stender the Spender."  Stender is 1-2 in those races.

Stender lost a close race for Congress in 2006 against incumbent Michael Ferguson, losing by just one percentage point.  She was re-elected to the Assembly in 2007, comfortably but not impressively.  When Ferguson retired in 2008, she was the favorite to win his House seat, but she wound up losing to Republican Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) by seven points.

PolitickerNJ.com has prepared a Casualty List for the New Jersey Legislature for each year since 2001.

Fourteen-term Republican John Rooney, the senior member of the State Assembly, becomes the fifth legislator not seeking re-election in 2009.  Three Assemblymen are seeking another office: Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) is running for Governor; Michael Doherty (R-Washington) is seeking State Senate seat; and L. Harvey Smith (D-Jersey City) is a candidate for Mayor. Assemblywoman Sandra Love (D-Gloucester Township) is retiring. And Eric Munoz (R-Summit) passed away earlier this month at the age of 61.

Former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and newcomer Bo Vastine are seeking State Assembly seats in a district that trends Democratic. But they must smell an opportunity because they've hired Jamestown Associates, a GOP political consulting firm, which has made something of a cottage industry out of beating up Linda Stender.  Stender, a four-term Assemblywoman, came close to beating U.S. Rep. Michael Ferguson in 2006 when Jamestown labeled her as “Stender the Spender” and helped Ferguson eke out a one percent victory.  Last year, Jamestown (working for Leonard Lance), beat Stender by nine points, despite being outspent by a 3-1 margin.

In District 23, the Republican State Senate primary between incumbent Marcia Karrow and Assemblyman Michael Doherty is official. Both candidates have filed nominating petitions with the state Division of Elections.  Doherty’s slogans: Hunterdon County Republican Organization and Warren County Republican Organization.

U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) was the only member of the New Jersey congressional delegation to vote against legislation to pass a 90% tax on bonuses over $250,000 at financial institutions that received federal bailout money.   The House passed the measure 328-93, with U.S. Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding), Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), Frank LoBiondo (R-Ventnor) and Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton) among the 85 Republican Congressmen who backed the measure.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) with her running mate, Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield).

EDISON – Short of giving a name for lieutenant governor, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) told PolitickerNJ.com she would like to see Gov. Jon Corzine select a woman for the job. 

“Women are 52% of the population in New Jersey and when we voted on the lieutenant governor’s position I did so with the idea that this would create an opportunity for women,” Stender said.

The Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO) tonight nominated Stender and her 22nd District running mate Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield) for reelection.

U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton)

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) threw an early tomahawk at freshman U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) this week when it added his name to its so-called Republican Hypocrisy Hall of Fame, a move Lance laughed off today as woefully off-the-mark.

After Lance identified the Green Brook Flood Control Project as a “shovel ready” endeavor worthy of $15 to $20 million for completion under the provisions of the $819 billion federal stimulus package spearheaded by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, the DCCC jumped on the apparent contradiction of Lance’s “no” vote on the federal stimulus bill. 

“It’s no surprise that House Republicans are betting on failure, while President Obama and Democrats are investing in success,” said DCCC Communications Director Jennifer Crider, citing the GOP’s opposition to a man in the U.S. Congress of the federal stimulus package.

Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson, Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio, and Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt

CLINTON TWP. – Undeterred by a hotel bar television set in the next room that jars the chandeliers with each apparent dramatic upswing, 50 people pack the chairs in the Holiday Inn ballroom here on the outskirts of downtown as three Republicans make their respective cases for why they should be the next assemblyman from the 23rd Legislative District.

It’s a comparatively quiet drama – quiet but intense.

Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt, Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson, and Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio have spent the last six weeks relentlessly crisscrossing the Warren-Hunterdon county line and engaging members of the GOP committees of these two rural and expansive west New Jersey counties.

They recognize faces in the crowd tonight, including that of Hunterdon County Republican Party Chairman Henry Kuhl, who impassively says to a visitor, “Welcome to God’s country,” to the question of who’s going to win the contest.

Sponsored by the Clinton Township Republican Club, this is the same brook and hamlet part of the state that launched the political career of U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), a political moderate whose 7th Congressional District victory last year gave the GOP something to savor in an otherwise frigid political year for Republicans - but also left the harder right wing of the party agonizing about its future.

Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.)

WHITE - After approaching the Warren County Freeholders at their meeting last week, Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) plans to sit down with the freeholders this afternoon to try to convince them to pass a resolution banning borrowing at the county level without voter approval. 

It’s no declaration of political war, insists Doherty – simply a good government broadside and timely exclamation point on a crusade he launched a year ago.

“Voters approved the Lance Amendment (forbidding borrowing without voter approval at the state level), but there remains a huge loophole that needs to be closed for counties and municipalities,” said Doherty, a former freeholder who is pursuing an off-the-line run against state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.) in the 23rd District.