Amy Handlin

The Asbury Park Press today endorsed four Republicans seeking re-election to the New Jersey State Assembly: Amy Handlin (R-Middletown) and Samuel Thompson (R-Old Bridge) in District 13, and Josepn Malone (R-Bordentown) and Ronald Dancer (R-Plumsted) in District 30.

Two Republican legislators are asking the state Ethics Commission to investigate an e-mail written by one of Gov. Jon Corzine's top aides asking cabinet members to come up with creative ways to spin the governor's record on job creation.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Middletown) wants to know if Mark Matzen, Corzine's Deputy Chief of Staff, violated state ethics laws by asking cabinet members to "be creative" in justifying the administration's accomplishments.  Handlin wrote the letter with another Monmouth County GOP legislator, David Rible (R-Wall)

"This revelation is disturbing on so many levels," Rible said. "Not only does it question whether the Governor and his staff adhere to the New Jersey's ethics laws, it suggests that the Governor and his staff are more concerned about their ‘message' than the fact that unemployment is approaching ten percent under their watch.

Handlin says that next month's election must be conducted "without a trace of impropriety."

"The public deserves the assurance that can only be provided by an independent ethical arbiter," Handlin wrote.

Assembly Minority Leader Alec DeCroce (R-Parsippany) says that a state Labor Department report that unemployment is now at 9.8% is evidence that Corzine's claim of creating new private sector jobs is bogus.

PARSIPPANY, NJ – Today, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin released the following statement regarding Governor Corzine’s request to move the ELEC debate date:

Legislation Would Strengthen Current Pay-to-Play Law

Senator Bill Baroni (R-Mercer, Middlesex) and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R- Monmouth, Middlesex) announced today that they are introducing legislation that would amend the current pay-to-play laws to include all federally-funded state contracts, that will stem from the recently passed stimulus package.

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Joseph Azzolina, 83, who served in the Legislature for parts of five decades before losing the 2005 GOP primary to Amy Handlin, has sold the bayshore area newspaper his family had owned for nearly 25 years.  One of the state's most venerable politicians, he ran for office a total of seventeen times, including four State Senate bids abnd one campaign for Congress.

Monmouth County had gone Democratic in 1964, giving Lyndon Johnson a 33,933 vote plurality (61%) over Barry Goldwater.  Largely on Johnson's coattails, three Democrats under the age of forty won upset victories:  James Howard, 37, an elementary school principal, won a Congressional seat the Republicans had held for 22 years; Eugene Bedell, a 36-year-old labor leader from Keansburg, won a Freeholder seat (by 629 votes); and 37-year-old  Patrick McGann, a lawyer and former Deputy State Attorney General, won a Special Election for the State Assembly (the seat was vacated by Republican Clarkson Fisher, who resigned to become a Judge) by 6,673 votes over Republican Louis Aikens.  In the 1960's, Assembly seats were elected in countywide elections.

A supermarket owner and World War II Navy veteran, Azzolina was the 39-year-old Middletown Republican Municipal Chairman in the Democratic year of 1965 when he unseated McGann by 1,606 votes. Azzolina's ran on a ticket with Alfred Beadleston, the incumbent Assembly Speaker who had been in the Assembly since 1952, and former Asbury Park Councilman James Coleman; they defeated Red Bank Mayor Benedict Nicosia and Freehold Councilman Samuel Sagotsky.  Incumbent Irving Keith did not seek re-election.  The three Republicans won despite a 5,586 vote margin in Monmouth for the Democratic Governor, Richard Hughes.

Keep an eye on the hotly contested race for Middletown Township Commission, since it is a precursor to the campaign for State Assembly in the 13th district next year.  If Democrats win the local race, they will be more inclined to fund challengers to Republican incumbents Samuel Thompson and Amy Handlin in 2009.  And if the GOP takes the Middletown race, state Democrats will be hesitant to fund a campaign in a district they haven't won since 1983. 

If Joseph Kyrillos doesn’t get picked to run for Lt. Governor in 2009, he’s likely to retire from the State Senate in 2011, according to a Monmouth GOP leader with knowledge of Kyrillos’ plans.  The six-term State Senator is actively seeking the LG nod, hoping to run on a ticket with his friend, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin would be the front runner to succeed Kyrillos in the Senate -- though not at all automatic on the GOP side -- if the 13th district seat remains intact after redistricting.  If the seat is open, mapmakers could move State Sen. Jennifer Beck into District 13; her hometown, Red Bank, borders on the 13th.  That could boost the chances for Democrats to recapture the 12th district, where former State Sen. Ellen Karcher and former Assemblyman Michael Panter are mulling comebacks.

As PolitickerNJ.com begins a subjective tournament to choose New Jersey's Smartest Legislator, state Sen. Leonard Lance could be the early front runner. Lance has faced some criticism from members of his own party for being more of a statesman than a politician, but several statehouse watchers and former legislators say he may be one of the brightest people in Trenton.

"Leonard Lance is the one guy who sits in the legislature today that could have sat in the Senate in the late 1960's and early 1970's," said lobbyist/public relations executive Alan Marcus, who served as Clerk of the General Assembly in 1969, at age 21. "Leonard is a throwback to that era of the noblesse oblige, of quiet brilliance -- of people who don't speak on every issue, but who become conversant on every issue."

Lance isn't the only name that comes up in discussions about smart legislators. In the Senate, the most repeated names were Raymond Lesniak, Nia Gill, Kevin O'Toole, Bill Baroni, John Adler, Dick Codey, and Barbara Buono.

In the Assembly, Joe Roberts, Michael Patrick Carroll, Joe Malone, David Russo, and John Wisniewski were frequently mentioned as among the brainiest.

The Asbury Park Press has endorsed incumbents Amy Handlin and Samuel Thompson for the two 13th district Assembly seats.  READ

Len Inzrerillo came within 244 votes of unseating a GOP Assemblyman in 2003. Now he's running against State Sen. Joe Kyrillos

Leonard Inzerillo can’t seem to catch a break.

He ran a close Assembly race in 2003, coming within 244 votes of ousting Joseph Azzolina, despite getting virtually no financial support from the state Democratic Party. But his quest for a rematch fell short in 2005, when he was denied the party line and came in a distant third in the Assembly primary. And after failing to file ELEC reports for parts of his 2003 and 2005 Assembly races, he dropped his bid for Monmouth County Freeholder under pressure from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.

But you won’t hear Inzerillo blame anyone for his losses. Reports of his criticism of Scudiery and other members of the party leadership for not giving him any help were overblown, he said. Besides, he added, nobody expected him to beat Azzolina.