Ailish Hambel

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) said today that a poll by gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan that shows him running ahead of GOP rival Christopher Christie in DeCroce and Christie's backyard of Morris County is "totally wrong."

"Absolutely not.  Half of everything he's been coming out with we have found out to be untruths in the largest way.  Certainly this poll is totally wrong. We know for a fact that he's way out of line," said DeCroce in response to a question from PolitickerNJ.com.

DeCroce, who has faced intense criticism by the Lonegan campaign, is facing a Lonegan-sponsored primary challenge from construction company owner Lou Signorino.  Earlier this week, Lonegan strategist Rick Shaftan said that DeCroce himself could be in trouble in the primary, since his own poll showed Lonegan leading Christie by seventeen points in Morris County.

All eight countywide elected officials from Sussex County today endorsed Christopher Christie for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, along with Sussex GOP Chair Ailish Hambel and former County Chairman Richard Zeoli.  But Christie has not yet scored a Sussex sweep, with U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage), State Sen. Steven Oroho (R-Franklin), Assemblywoman Alison McHose (R-Franklin), Assemblyman Gary Chiusano (R-Frankford), former State Sen. Robert Littell, and former GOP State Chair Virginia Littell still uncommitted in the Republican primary for Governor.

Former Sparta Mayor Ailish Hambel was elected Sussex County Republican Chairman today, succeeding Richard Zeoli.  Zeoli resigned on February 1 to seek the GOP nomination for Freeholder.

Richard Zeoli, the author of The 7 Principles of Public Speaking, is giving up the Sussex GOP Chairman post to run for Freeholder.

Former Sparta Mayor Ailish Hambel has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Richard Zeoli as Sussex County Republican Chairman when County Committee members hold a special election on February 7.  Zeoli, the Chairman since 2003, is resigning on Saturday to focus on his campaign for the GOP Freeholder nomination.

Hambel was Acting County Chairman briefly in 2003. As Vice Chair, she took over when David Mortimer resigned to run for the State Assembly after Scott Garrett won a seat in Congress.  Jill Space, the current Vice Chair, will be Acting County Chairman for the week between Zeoli's resignation and the election of his successor.

Zeoli, a former aide to Garrett and Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, is seeking the seat of Glen Vetrano, who is not a candidate for re-election. 

The text of Zeoli's letter to the County Committee follows: