Levine drops out of governor's race

Levine drops out of governor's race

By Max Pizarro | April 29th, 2009 - 1:31pm
| More

FRANKLIN TWP. – Mayor Brian D. Levine today formally ended his race for the Republican nomination for governor, bemoaning rival candidate Steve Lonegan's retreat from what Levine called the "battle of ideas."

Levine last night received a fax from Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells informing him of her decision to accept the recommendation of an administrative law judge, which showed Levine under the threshold of 1,000 signatures he needed to remain on the ballot.

“I will take a day or two to think about endorsing a candidate for governor,” said the 50-year old Levine, who has two years remaining in his current term as mayor. “I have to decide where I will go with it, but I would like to be involved in some way.

“Even though I believe I have sufficient grounds for a successful appeal, I cannot justify more of the public money be wasted on this challenge of my candidacy,” Levine said. 

Of the Lonegan campaign's efforts to force Levine off the ballot on a technicality,  “I am sorry that some candidates feel the battle of ideas in the public forum is a frightening prospect," the mayor added. "If an office-seeker is confident in himself and his message, then he is proud to put forth those ideas in the light of public scrutiny. Though recent polls have shown me in a statistical dead heat with Governor Corzine, and my campaign continued to climb, I feel it is best for the Republican Party and New Jersey to cease pursuing the office of governor presently, so the debate over issues can be heard, and not the debate over egos.”

Levine admitted it was hard to drop out of a contest where he had tried to compete in all 21 counties yet failed to gain traction, both with county committees and in the polls. 

But he resigned himself to the fax from the Secretary of State’s Office.

“In the beginning, I took it to heart when the Lonegan campaign challenged my signatures,” he said, “but it’s been going on for a couple of weeks now and I’ve had time to get some distance on the situation. I did feel that I had a rapport with the Lonegan campaign. The campaign did lie to me and told me they didn’t know what was going on, when it turned out they did know (that a paid ally had challenged Levine’s petition signatures).”

In any case, he won't endorse Lonegan.

“When the economy is bad, it is fiscal folly to force government to spend tens of thousands of dollars for personal reasons, as has been done here by the challengers to the petition,” Levine said.  “As a fiscal conservative, I cannot continue this waste of taxpayer money.  It is not about me; it is about bringing ideas to the people. If we further appeal, we are also holding up the entire process and increasing the costs of printing of ballots for the entire state.  We cannot justify further waste of money at taxpayer expense.”

Any campaign mulling he does now will be over whether he backs former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie or Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham).  

Levine said his work as a certified public accountant and as mayor made it difficult to compete for governor the way he would have wanted.

“I raised a few thousand bucks, but after the petitions that was going to be the next big focus of mine – fundraising,” he said. “I would consider running (for governor) again, or running for other such offices – Assembly. I have no plans now. I got some ideas got into the mix. Some of them were picked up. On a personal level, I got to see things working around the state.”

Having defected from his campaign last month, Levine’s former campaign manager, Pastor Shannon Wright, is now an independent candidate for governor.

Give me a break ...

This has nothing to do with the "battle of ideas." The law says you have to have 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot, and Levine couldn't do that so he doesn't deserve to be on the ballot.

If you aren't organized enough to find 1,000 Republicans willing to sign a petition for you, then you aren't organized enough to be governor.

Levine

Levine has no one but himself to blame for his failure to collect 1,000 valid signatures. I will, however, think of him fondly in one respect. He gave me one of the biggest laughs I've ever gotten from a candidate's speech. In an event in Somerset County, Levine meant to say "we've had a lot of success in Franklin Township... but instead said,"we've had a lot of sex in Franklin Township."

Levine

Levine’s campaign was a loser as soon as he picked “Pastor” Wright as his campaign manager. All she wanted was her own power grab…what a joke! She sabotaged his entire campaign, which is why he had too many democratic signatures on his petitions. The only she wanted was to be Lt Governor or even Governor herself. She never wanted him to succeed. Even if you disagree with his ideas or don’t like him personally, at least he tried to move away from the status quo. Without people like him, we end up with idiots who use their own money to buy their way in like Corslime. The Republicans are going tear each other apart in this primary and pave a path for King Jon to bribe his way in again. Mr. Lonegan, be careful what you wish for…you get four more years of the dems' financial idiocy

one less rino

one less rino

Brian's timing sucked

This race is strictly an establishment/anti-establishment year. No middle ground is allowed.

Moaning

A judge made this decision based on the law. Stop blaming Lonegan for expecting the law to be followed. If Levine doesn't like that idea, he doesn't deserve any consderation

Brian Levine is a good man

Many of you do not know that Mayor Levine heads a Town Council with only one other Republican ally. However, he continues to win elections there because he is not "bought and paid for" by special interests. For those of you who remember, Franklin Twp. successfully recalled a Democratic Councilwoman who was part of a nasty pay for play agreement with a local developer. She met "privately" with enough Planning Board members to ensure that they would approve a development plan that many local residents opposed. People met and signed petitions against this plan and yet Franklin's bought and paid for political officeholders decided to ignore the will of their residents. Well, you see, that politician forgot that there were enough people to sign the petition to recall her and then Franklin elected a Republican candidate to replace her. Search "Recall Ritchie" and read about it. The bottom line is that Brian Levine understands the deomcratic process and he has remained in office because registered voters appreciate his service. Lets hope that Mayor Levine finds support whenever he offers his candidacy for an office. NJ needs more people like Mayor Levine. Mayor Levine was part of a successful effort to show the rest of NJ how to correct corruption.

A Rasmussen poll released

A Rasmussen poll released Thursday shows Republican Chris Christie opening up a 13 point lead, 51-38 percent, over Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor's race. Before the primary, it was Christie with 47 percent of the vote and Corzine with 38 percent.

thank you,
Girls Games

Wake-Up Call

Morning News Digest: March 16, 2010

Lt. Gov. Guadagno takes on red tape in N.J.  Gov. Christie Whitman declared New Jersey "open for business" in 1994 and appointed an ombudsman to lead entrepreneurs through "the expanding maze of regulation." Before her, an environmental commissioner under Gov. James Florio urged permit applicants to call him directly...

Wally Edge

''It's a Robin Hood in reverse.  'It taxes the poor to give to the rich.''  -- Assembly Speaker Alan Karcher, after Gov. Tom Kean’s first budget address in March 1982.
In New Jersey, where judges often baffle political insiders on election law matters, three state Appellate Court judges allowed a Tea Party group to move forward on their bid to force U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez into a recall election.  Judges...
The most irresponsible rhetoric of the day – so far, since it’s just 11 AM – comes from Democratic State Chairman John Wisniewski.  Wisniewski put out a press release blasting GOP congressional candidate Jon Runyan for locating his campaign in...
Spring Lake Councilwoman Janice Venables will seek the Democratic nomination for Monmouth County Freeholder, opposing Vincent Solomeno, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) for the Democratic nomination.  Republicans have a...
Veteran Cape May County Freeholder Gerald Thornton has lost party support for his re-election bid, according to a report from Atlantic City radio personality Harry Hurley.  A vote of the Cape May Regular Republican Organization gave Thornton 94...

Contributors

This is going to be a budget that is going to be unlike any other you’ve probably seen in NJ in at least the last 20 years and maybe... more »
Everybody needs to start a new job with a list of priorities and Chris Christie is no exception. There might be a thousand things that need to get done... more »
It's impossible to support consolidation of government services and also support COAH.S1 paints with a broad brush and thus will miss some fine points.  COAH paints with... more »
Governor Christie seems to have played the rotten fiscal cards he inherited fairly well. As reported by the Star-Ledger, he is proposing to cut school aid by more... more »
As part of his solution to New Jersey’s current budget deficit, Gov. Chris Christie announced that, effective yesterday, he will not allow any additional parents to enroll in FamilyCare,... more »
Let me get this straight.  The state has a “cap” or limit on how much municipalities can increase their annual budget every year—four percent.  The goal is to keep... more »
On Rebate Issue, Christie Will Win.  The leading New Jersey Sunday newspapers yesterday confirmed that Governor Chris Christie will propose in his FY2011 budget the... more »
You’ve got to hand it to Christie; he calls it as he sees it.  I don’t mean the newly crowned Governor, Chris Christie, but his nine-year-old son, Patrick.  ... more »
Anyone involved in governing and administrating a town or county in New Jersey understands the economic problems outlined in The Star-Ledger editorials of February 28 and March 1.  The... more »
It is widely anticipated that Gov. Chris Christie’s first budget message, to be delivered on March 16, will show the harsh reality of New Jersey’s bleak financial outlook. No... more »
In keeping with the commitment I made to you in the November election, I am looking at every possible way to cut wasteful government spending and relieve your tax... more »
Republican Playbook:  Fear, Scorn & Partisanship -- Instill fear.  Sow uncertainty.   Create doubt.  Demonize.   These tactics may be the unfortunate norm for campaigning, but they are bad – if not... more »
Our new Governor suffers from no lack of advice.  Much of it, contained in the transition reports, deserves prompt attention.  Obviously, economic prosperity benefits everyone, and – as... more »
I have to genuinely wonder if this legislature will go down as the most taxing legislature in the history of the state of New Jersey surpassing the legislative actions... more »
Now that  the dust has finally settled after the grueling campaign for governor, there are a number of lessons that we can draw from this election. First and... more »
March 14, 2010  Governor Christie Cuts The Day to Just 23 Hours   In yet another Executive Order sure to rile clock and calendar makers, Governor Chris Christie... more »
Sheriff Larkin must go:  no ifs ands or buts.According to published reports, Mercer County Sheriff Kevin Larkin entered the Political Science class of associate professor Michael Glass at Mercer... more »
New Jersey is in severe financial crisis because for years elected officials have been able to make irresponsible and short-sighted decisions without any restraint.  Future governors may... more »
On January 6, 2010, several newspapers published articles with titles like “no more aid for struggling cities”, “Christie will cut state aid” and the like; furthermore, in the body... more »
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, you target teachers. That’s not a positive note to start your tenure. You forget that the Teachers’ Union makes decisions on its own, such... more »
On the day of his inauguration, Governor Christopher Christie inherited a gaping $2 billion hole in the state’s budget and swiftly set about the people’s business in meeting our... more »