Asbury Park Press

McHOSE: ATTEMPT TO COVER-UP MISMANAGEMENT
OF BPU'S CLEAN ENERGY PROGRAM IS
COSTLY TO TAXPAYERS
BPU REFUSED AUDIT BEFORE VOTING ON $309 MILLION BUDGET

Richard Gannon, a former Clinton White House aide who also worked for Frank Lautenberg, Bill Bradley and Jim Florio, lost his bid for re-election to a seat on the Spring Lake Heights Borough Council. Gannon, the state Director of the Clinton/Gore '92 campaign and now a lobbyist in the Washington office of Winning Strategies, lost the Democratic primary largely because he lost the support of the popular Mayor, Elwood Malick. The Asbury Park Press had reported during the campaign that Malick was opposing Gannon's re-election because he was confrontational and difficult to work with. Gannon lost by 78 votes -- 297-218.

PENNACCHIO: ADMINISTRATION SENDING WRONG MESSAGE TO SCHOOL AND LOCAL OFFICIALS ON SPENDING CUTS

DOHERTY SAYS LEGISLATURE MUST ACT ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ISSUE
ASSEMBLYMAN RESPONDS TO STATE SUPREME COURT RULING ALLOWING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TO SEEK COMPENSATION FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED IN CAR ACCIDENT

Responding to yesterday's ruling by the state Supreme Court which said an illegal immigrant who was injured in a motor vehicle accident is eligible to seek compensation from a fund for victims of uninsured motorists, Assemblyman Michael Doherty said the court's outlandish ruling is a slap in the face to all of New Jersey's law-abiding residents.

TOWN COMMITTEE KEEPS RESIDENTS IN THE DARK ABOUT COMMUNITY PROJECTS

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP (MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ): According to Middletown Democrat for Township Committee Patrick Short, the planned West Front Street Bridge and Middletown-Lincroft Sports Complex have something in common: "In neither case was the public given all of the facts regarding these plans."

Already experiencing trouble among party leaders, Monmouth County Republican Chairman Frederick Niemannn took a huge hit last Friday when the Asbury Park Press reported that he and his Finance Chaiman, Josh Elkes, set up political action committees in municipalities throughout Monmouth County to accept contributions from county vendors that could not contribute directly to the county organization under newly passed pay-to-play restrictions. Such PAC's may be legal, but campaign finance experts suggest some technical problems with Niemann's PAC's, including the use of the same Treasurer that Niemann already uses for his Chairman's PAC. The Treasurer is an accountant at Holman & Frenia -- which operates out of the same Toms River office building as Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore's law firm.

The same day Niemann denied knowledge of the PAC's, sources say he strongly supported in an address to the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club -- comparing GOP County Committee members who have questioned his stewardship to al-Qaida when interviewed by the press. This has resulted in public calls for his resignation by several local party chairs and elected officials.

So Far, two challengers have emerged to challenge Niemann when he seeks re-election to a second term as Chairman in June: former Freeholder Edward Stominski, who was dumped by party leaders when he sought re-election in 2004, and Mel Hood, an African American activist from Neptune. Sources say that other candidates are waiting until after the April 8th convention, when the Monmouth GOP picks candidates to replace retiring Freeholder Theodore Narozanick, and possibly Surrogate Marie Muhler.

In the Freeholder race -- which has recently been overshadowed by Niemann’s headlines -- Ocean Township Deputy Mayor David Hiers has withdrawn and endorsed Howell Mayor Joseph DiBella. DiBella lost a February Special Election Convention to Anna Little to fill the Freeholder seat of Assemblywoman Amy Handlin. Marlboro Mayor Robert Kleinberg, Holmdel Committeeman Terence Wall, Manalapan Committeeman Andrew Lucas and Asbury Park attorney Thomas DeSeno are also running.

Party insiders are expecting Muhler to retire, but she has still not made her intentions clear. Longtime Middletown Committeewoman (and former Mayor) Rosemarie Peters is already in the race, and Little Silver Councilman Rick DeNoia, who is close to Niemann, has begun to seek votes in the event that the incumbent backs out.

McMorrow, Inzerillo Call for State
Investigation into GOP Fundraising Scheme

Democratic Freeholder candidates Barbara J. McMorrow and Leonard Inzerillo today asked for an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office into a Republican fundraising scheme designed to circumvent state pay-to-play laws and campaign contribution limits.

Two Democrats who came extraordinarily close to winning elections in Monmouth County over the last few years will run again in 2006: former Freehold Borough Councilwoman Barbara McMorrow and former Middletown Board of Education member Leonard Inzerillo have been picked by Democrats to run for Freeholder. McMorrow lost her bid for Freeholder in 2005 by 1,792 votes in a race that saw a Green Party candidate endorsed by the Asbury Park Press win more than18,000 votes. Inzerillo came within 244 votes of upsetting GOP Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina in 2003. Beverly Bova Scarano, who lost a bid for the Middletown Township Committee in 2003, will be the Democratic candidate for Surrogate.

John Bennett first went to Trenton in 1979, when he won a State Assembly seat against Walter Kozkowski, a young three-term Democrat with serious health issues (he died three weeks after Bennett defeated him.) Over the next 24 years, Bennett won four more terms in the Assembly and then five terms in the State Senate with relative ease. If not for ethical questions raised after the Asbury Park Press discovered that he had overbilled the Township of Marlboro $4,000 in legal fees, Bennett would have been secure in his bid for re-election in 2003. Some observers believe that had Bennett not been forced to spend $1 million defending his own seat, the money would have helped George Geist overcome a 63 vote deficit against Democrat Frederick Madden in the fourth district -- keeping the Senate split at 20-20 for the next four years. When James E. McGreevey announced that his resignation the following summer, Bennett and Richard Codey would both have been in line to become Acting Governor.

If you take Jon Corzine's transition office at their word, Assistant Commissioner of Community Affairs DeAnna Minus-Vincent won't be asked back when the new administration takes office in January. A spokeswoman for the department told Gannett reporter Sandy McClure earlier this month that free tickets to Sesame Street Live at the Continental Arena earmarked for needy children went to DCA employees, including Minus-Vincent, who took her daughter and members of her family. Minus-Vincent apparently used four special backsage passes. Codes of ethical standards used by the state prohibit the acceptance of gifts from firms or organizations their department does business with.

Last year, Minus-Vincent got in trouble for expediting "a $10,000 government grant for her father's organization and was directly involved in two grants totaling $55,000 for a nonprofit organization where her sister is an officer," according to another McClure story.

An Asbury Park Press editorial today calls on Corzine to "put an end to this nonsense." Corzine's transition director, Richard Leone, says that applicants for state positions will face "intensive vetting and should be prepared to serve an administration with 'zero tolerance' for placing private interests above the public good."