Perth Amboy Councilman Ken Balut

Promising to run a feisty grassroots campaign against Gov. Jon Corzine, Perth Amboy Councilman Ken Balut released a crossing-the-Rubicon email this morning requesting support in gathering signatures and small dollar donations for his Democratic Primary showdown with the vastly better-known and better-financed incumbent. 

Balut said others may be afraid of trying to stand up to the millionaire governor, but he won’t be intimidated. 

“I do not believe Mr. Corzine’s obscene wealth, nor his flagrant use of that Wall Street money to buy the support of special interests and power brokers, should be a primary topic of this campaign,” wrote Balut, a retired police officer and former president of PBA Local 13.  

“What New Jersey needs to know is how we turn around the economy for millions of middle-class working people; when we are going to do the right thing by fully funding public education; and who has the courage to stand up against organized crime and power brokers that have intruded on our public resources and robbed our tax dollars,” the candidate added. 

Balut is in his first year as a Perth Amboy councilman, having run on a slate with Mayor Wilda Diaz. 

Earlier on Thursday, former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson  indicated that he too wants to Corzine and told PolitickerNJ.com he expects to enter the race within the next few weeks.