Arthur Albohn

Chris Christie, who began his political career running for Morris County Freeholder in 1994, is expected to seek the GOP nomination for Governor in 2009.

His 1995 swearing-in ceremony marked an auspicious beginning for Freeholder Christopher J. Christie, who raised his right hand to take the oath of office at the prompting of former Gov. Thomas Kean.*

If Christie was still relatively unknown in Morris County Republican politics, the considerable presence of Kean at the reorganization meeting six months after the young comer ousted incumbent Cecilia Laureys in the GOP primary turned some heads.

Soon more people would know the freshman freeholder, although to hear observers tell the story – thirteen years removed from the initial pomp of the Kean triumphal – Christie didn’t exactly overwhelm the Morris County Republican organization. It wasn’t that he didn’t get government or arrived at freeholder meetings unprepared

That wasn’t it at all.

He just appeared unusually ambitious, particularly when, just two months into his first term as a freeholder, he announced his intentions to run for the State Assembly.  He said he’d accomplished all he needed to at the county level and that it was time to move on to Trenton.

His colleagues saw that as a particularly audacious move.

If Rick Merkt and Chris Christie both wind up in the race for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, it will be the first time in 28 years that two former running mates and two candidates from the same small town compete in a statewide primary.  Merkt and Christie, who live in Mendham, ran as a team in the 1995 State Assembly primary in District 25; they lost to incumbent Anthony Bucco and newcomer Michael Patrick Carroll, who was seeking the open seat of retiring Assemblyman Arthur Albohn.   Merkt went to the Assembly two years later when Bucco ran for the State Senate.

ROBERTS STATEMENT ON PASSING
OF ASSEMBLYMAN ARTHUR ALBOHN

"Assemblyman Albohn proved that soaring rhetoric and flashiness are unnecessary to be a capable, diligent, and respected public servant."

Arthur Albohn, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 86, was the last person to defeat an incumbent member of the State Assembly in a Morris County general election.  He did it in 1979, when he ousted Democrat Rosemarie Totaro by 3,088 votes.  (The last person to defeat an incumbent State Senator in Morris County was Anthony Bucco, who unseated Gordon MacInnes in 1997.  MacInnes had beaten John Dorsey four years earlier. 

Former Assemblyman Arthur Albohn, a Morris County Republican who spent sixteen years in the Legislature, died on Sunday.  He was 86.
Albohn was elected to the State Assembly in 1979, defeating Democratic incumbent Rosemarie Totaro in the general election.  He went on to win seven more terms.  Albohn began his political career when he won   seat on the Hanover Township Committee in 1955.  He served as mayor five times during his 26-year career in local government. 

"Art Albohn was a model legislator and leading member of the Republican caucus during the 1980s and 1990s who always asked the questions that needed to be asked," said Assemblyman Richard Merkt, his former legislative aide.  "He served New Jersey and his constituents with integrity and rigor and was one of the most dedicated public officials I have ever known."