Leonard Lance

New Jersey’s two new congressmen-elect – state Sens. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) and Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) -- will appear on On the Record this weekend with host Michael Aron, airing Sunday at 9a.m. and 11a.m., and Monday at 6:30a.m. on NJN. 

On Reporters Roundtable, Aron will host Star-Ledger columnist Mark DiOnno; WBGO-WHYY Radio reporter Mary Fuchs; Gannett’s Michael Symons and the Bergen Record’s John Reitmeyer.  They’ll discuss the Republican state budget lawsuit, the pension deferral bill and Bob Mulcahy. The show airs tonight at 7:00 and repeats on Sunday at 10a.m.

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington)

In the 23rd Legislative District, Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington) has won the support of the Hunterdon County Republican Executive Committee to move up to the state senate seat of outgoing Congressman-elect Leonard Lance (R-Clinton).

The 18-member committee chose to back Karrow over Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) and Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt "overwhelmingly," according to Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl.

The decision is not particularly surprising, as Karrow has been expected to win organizational support from her native county. But it reinforces a geographical advantage Karrow has over Doherty and Holt in a contest where Republican committee members from Hunterdon and the less populous Warren County will decide who gets to fill in for Lance until next January. As it has more residents, Hunterdon County has roughly 40 vote advantage over Warren County.

Although not all members will vote strictly along geographical lines, Kuhl said that the executive committee's support will probably have some influence.

"It has an influence, but I think what is also very important is [Karrow] had 14 Hunterdon mayors and eight Warren County mayors endorse her," said Kuhl.

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Warren County Freeholder Director John DiMaio today formally endorsed Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty (R-Washington Township) for the 23rd District state senate seat U.S. Rep.-elect Leonard Lance is vacating to go to Congress.

"I have worked side-by-side with Mike as a member of the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He has a strong work ethic and he has always taken the correct stand on difficult issues,” said DiMaio in a statement.

“Mike is a true friend of families and taxpayers as evidenced by his record as a Freeholder and Assemblyman. Mike Doherty is one of the most focused individuals that I have worked with in my 28 years of elected service,” the freeholder director added. “When the little guy needs a hand, Mike is always ready to help out. Mike has earned my respect and he will be a great asset to all of us in the 23rd District as our next Senator."

Hunterdon County Web site

Peterson being sworn in by Lance, his political mentor

In an otherwise tough year for Republicans, Congressman-elect Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) gave the party a much-needed victory in the Garden State.  Now, a year after being ousted from his post as state Senate minority leader, Lance has built up considerable political capital.

Which is good for Hunterdon County Freeholder Director Erik Peterson, a personal friend of Lance’s who’s considering running for the Assembly seat in the 23rd Legislative District.

“Leonard Lance is wildly popular in his district.  His big win in the congressional race was due largely to overwhelming support in the part of that congressional district that’s in his legislative district in Hunterdon County.  The Lance name is a force to reckoned with in Hunterdon County going back more than a century,” said Monmouth University professor and pollster Patrick Murray.  “That’s going to carry a lot of weight, particularly in Hunterdon County….  In the Hunterdon County part that’s the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.”

In the 23rd Legislative District’s battle of endorsements, assemblywoman and state senate candidate Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington) today announced the support of nine mayors from Warren County municipalities.

Karrow is competing with fellow Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) and Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt for the state senate seat being vacated by Congressman-elect Leonard Lance (R-Clinton).

The mayors are Robert Resker (Allamuchy Township), Bonnie Butler (Franklin Township), Thomas Charles (Frelinghuysen Township), Kevin Duffy (Township of Hardwick), Robert Giordano (Independence Township), John Inscho (Liberty Township), Ellen Nerback (Township of Mansfield), Harry Wyant, Jr. (Phillipsburg) and Marianne Van Deursen (Borough of Washington).

There are 22 municipalities in Warren County, 16 of which have partisan-elected Republican mayors.

Essex County Democratic Chairman Dennis Carey (left) and State Sen. Donal Fox (D-South Orange) in the early 1960's.

Leonard Lance offered a lesson in New Jersey political history during his farewell address to the State Senate on Monday - but unfortunately got one of his facts wrong. Lance spoke of his first memory of the Senate, going to Trenton in 1956, at age three and a half, when his father was the Senator from Hunterdon County and watching some Senators like Wayne Dumont (the Senate President), Frank "Hap" Farley and Mark Anton. While Lance's knowledge is always impressive, he got one thing wrong: Anton wasn't in the Senate in 1956; he lost re-election two months earlier.

Anton, the Chairman of the Suburban Propane Gas Corporation, was a half-term Republican from Essex County who was elected in a 1953 special election after Alfred Clapp, who had mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the GOP gubernatorial election, resigned to become a Superior Court Judge. When Anton sought a full term in 1955, he found himself in a feud with former U.S. Attorney William Tompkins, a former Assemblyman from Essex County who was at the time serving as the Assistant U.S. Attorney General. Anton and Tompkins were both interested in seeking the Republican nomination for Governor in 1957.

Tompkins, who considered challenging Anton himself (he ran for the Senate ten years later but lost to a Democratic slate headed by John Giblin), instead recruited Assembly Majority Leader William Barnes to run. Barnes attacked Anton for his support of night harness racing and his membership on a citizens committee formed to end a high profile strike on the New York pier, but lost the primary to Anton, 53%-47%.

Unable to unite the Essex GOP in the general election, Anton lost to Democrat Donal Fox. Fox, a former Assistant Essex County Prosecutor who had managed the nearly successful U.S. Senate campaign of Charles Howell in 1954 (Howell, a Democratic Congressman from Mercer County, lost the open Senate seat to Republican Clifford Case by an excruciatingly close 48.7%-48.5% margin), became the first Democrat to win the Essex Senate seat since 1908. He took office on the day Lance described as his first memory of visiting the Senate chamber.

Anyone who watched NJN on election night witnessed it: Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), who had been the favorite in the 7th District House race, choking back tears as she attempted to explain -- and no doubt understand -- why she lost to state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington).

It was a particularly bruising moment for Stender, who two years earlier had come within one point of ousting incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-Warren Twp).

"It was really a crushing defeat for me," Stender said today.

It was also a huge political comeback for Lance, who was seen by fellow Republicans during his time as Senate Minority Leader as not partisan or aggressive enough. Facing a potential challenge for that post last year by state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), Lance withdrew to become the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Six weeks after her loss, Stender is making the best of it, relishing her first holiday season in the last two election cycles during which she does not have to focus on raising money.

Today, Stender sought to dispel the notion that her campaign failed in large part because of internal divisions and pressure from outside groups to take on out-of-state staff and focus on less pertinent issues like birth control.

"That stuff is nonsense. It's concocting drama in the aftermath," said Stender, referring to contentions that EMILY's List officials had pressured her to put Washington, DC-based staffers in control of the campaign.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender says she has her party's support to seek another term

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) said today that she intends to run for re-election to the assembly in 2009.

“My immediate plan is to seek another term to the legislature, and I have great support from the state chair, my county chair, and I’ve got very good working relationships with my delegation members,” she said. “There’s a lot of important work to be done, we’re in a tough time in our economy and state and I’ll be looking forward to taking on those challenges.”

An Inside Edge report from just before the election said that a Union County Democratic official suggested that the party would try to get Stender to step aside if she lost the House race. But Stender said today that she has not felt any pressure to leave her seat.

Getty Images Photo

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (right) joins Linda Stender and former President Bill Clinton at a campaign rally the Saturday before the 2008 general election.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, the de facto leader of the Union County Democratic organization, says he viewed Republican Leonard Lance as the best candidate for Congress in the hotly contested seventh district race and wanted him to win over Democrat Linda Stender, a four-term Assemblywoman from Union County who had Lesniak’s endorsement. 

Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday on a resolution honoring Lance on his departure from the State Senate, Lesniak said: “Senator Lance knows I said to him before the election ‘I really want you to win, Senator.’  I didn’t want to lose him in this body, but he by far was not only the best candidate, but he’s earned it and he deserves it.” Lesniak’s statement, which could be explained as post-election courteousness, underscores some substantial criticism by Democrats of Stender and her campaign – and could be another signal that the Union Democratic organization will back a different candidate for the State Assembly if Stender seeks re-election in 2009.