Dean Gallo's ex-foe running for U.S. Senate
By Wally EdgeFourteen years after he mounted a self-financed primary challenge against Congressman Dean Gallo, who was dying of cancer, “Jersey Joe” Pennacchio will announce today that he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator. Since his ’94 race, which featured a harsh attack on Gallo – Pennacchio says he didn’t know the incumbent was sick – Pennacchio courted establishment Republicans in Morris County and became popular enough to win special election conventions for Freeholder and State Assembly with the support of some of Gallo’s closest friends. When the State Senate seat in District 26 opened up, Pennacchio won the GOP nomination by acclamation.
Pennacchio has been thinking about the U.S. Senate for the last few years, and nearly entered the contest for the GOP nomination to run against Bob Menendez in 2006. Now he faces two other Republicans for the chance to take on 84-year-old Frank Lautenberg: Anne Evans Estabrook, a millionaire developer and former New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Chairman; and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin, a frequent statewide candidate who heads Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in New Jersey.
Estabrook, with $1.7 million in the bank – 94% of it her own – has secured endorsements from enough GOP County Chairs to make her the front runner. And with Sabrin in the race, Pennacchio must now compete for conservative primary voters.
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