Andrew Ciesla

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a former GOP State Chairman, will serve as chairman of Chris Christie's campaign for Governor.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos will serve as Chairman of Christopher Christie's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor, and four of the five Republicans in the state congressional delegation will serve as Co-Chairmen.

U.S. Reps. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), Frank LoBiondo (R-Vineland), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) and Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) are also part of Christie's statewide leadership team.

"I am honored to stand with Chris Christie in his noble fight to bring genuine reform to New Jersey," said Kyrillos, who served as GOP State Chairman from 2001 to 2004.   "There is no doubt that Chris Christie will unify not only our party, but all New Jerseyans.  This team speaks to his regional and ideological appeal all across the state." 

Smith called Christie "a man of honor, integrity, and backbone."

"He has the skills and ability to lead our state during this time of turmoil and economic struggle," said Smith, a Congressman since 1981.

When Marcia Karrow literally takes her seat in the State Senate, it will be in the back row of the chamber.  The seat set aside for her (Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., who decides where Republicans sit can change his mind) is between two Ocean County Republicans, Christopher Connors and Andrew Ciesla, according to a seating chart provided by the Office of Legislative Services.  

One of the prime seats in the chamber, the aisle desk in the second row, behind Kean, has now been assigned to Robert Singer, a six-term Ocean County Republican who is the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.  That's the seat Leonard Lance, the former Minority Leader and the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, occupied before his election to Congress.

There is considerable speculation in Ocean County that Andrew Ciesla, a six-term Republican State Senator from Brick, will not seek re-election in 2011 – and some GOP sources say they wouldn’t be surprised if Ciesla stepped down before the expiration of his current term.  Apparently Ciesla, who turns 55 next week, is burnt out after nearly seventeen years in the Senate.

Although three Ocean County state Senators had already thrown their support behind state Sen. Joe Pennacchio prior to Anne Evans Estabrook’s departure from the U.S. Senate race, the county’s Republican chairman, George Gilmore, has not yet committed to a candidate.

“We’re going to wait for the smoke to clear, see who the potential viable candidates are, then have our screening process,” said Gilmore.

The county committee will hold its nominating convention on March 27th. 

State Sen. Joe Pennacchio has won some important Ocean County endorsements for his U.S. Senate race.

Pennacchio today announced the support of State Senators Andrew Ciesla, Robert Singer and Chris Connors -- all three of whom represent Ocean County.

The Republican Party on Thursday united behind state Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr., as its new Senate Minority Leader, while state Sen. Leonard Lance stepped aside in the face of a torrent of young blood.

Descendent of the state's first governor, son of a former two-term governor, and with a failed U.S. Senate run behind him and still only in his late 30s, Kean sees last Tuesday's election results as a rejection of Democratic leadership over the course of the last six years.

"Today there are more Republicans in the State Legislature, more Republican freeholders than before, more mayors than there were and more council seats," says Kean.

The Ocean County Observer has endorsed the three Republican incumbents in the 10th district. READ

RANSPORTATION TRUST FUND PLAN NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
Emphasis On Borrowing Will Leave Our Children Paying The Bill

Senator Leonard Lance, (R-23) Senator Andrew Ciesla, (R-10), and Senator Henry McNamara, (R-40), issued the following statement regarding Governor Jon Corzine’s announcement of a Transportation Trust Fund reauthorization plan.

CIESLA UNVEILS ‘NO TAX’ TTF FIX
$700 Million in New Money without Higher Taxes

Senator Andrew Ciesla, (R-10), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Transportation Committee today unveiled a proposal which would resuscitate the ailing Transportation Trust Fund, (TTF), without raising any taxes.