Bill Baroni

Senator Joe Pennacchio, a member of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement after he questioned an official at budget hearings yesterday about NJBest, a so-called 529 plan created by the state for parents trying to save so they can afford the ever increasing cost of a college education for their children. Morningstar rated New Jersey's 529 plan as among the worst five in the nation.

The release of an internal campaign poll by Steven Lonegan that shows him running dead even with his Republican gubernatorial opponent, Christopher Christie, is meant to create the impression of a surging grassroots campaign, not unlike the one run by former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler in 2001.

Back then, Schundler, who like Lonegan is a staunch conservative, ran an insurgent campaign that defeated former U.S. Rep. Bob Franks in the GOP primary.  Franks, like Christie, was the establishment favorite and had the overwhelming organizational support.

Now Schundler has endorsed Christie to win the job he twice sought.

State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), who was the counsel for the Franks campaign and is now a co-chairman of the Christie campaign, said that he did not have enough information to comment on the accuracy of the Lonegan poll.  But he sees two key differences between the two races.

For one, Franks was not the establishment pick from the beginning.  Instead, he was tapped to replace Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco who dropped out after several ethics controversies damaged his bid - a maneuver that involved passing legislation to move the primary back three weeks, extending DiFrancesco's committee on vacancies deadline to pick his successor.  That annoyed primary voters.

"People just thought it was distasteful.  And I don't think the Franks campaign caught that until it was too late," Baroni said.

And while Lonegan may argue to the contrary, Christie, unlike Franks, claims to be pro-life.  His endorsement by the vocally pro-life U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), said Baroni, is enough to assuage conservative doubts on that front.

"Don't underestimate the importance of the fact that Chris is pro-life, where Bob is not," he said.

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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Gov. Jon Corzine and Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro)

Amid fullblown intrigue elsewhere, Nutley businessman Carmen Pio Costa and Carlstadt School Board member Don Diorio will formally announce their Republican candidacies in Rutherford Thursday evening, and few doubt the battleground, gauntlet-down implications of their challenge to Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley).

But if the 36th Legislative District remains a decided field of contention this cycle (as is the 1st District in New Jersey’s deep south), two other districts – the 2nd and the 14th – early identified by operatives in both parties as potential battlegrounds in their own right,  at least for the moment do not appear to be marquee headline races.

Certainly that opens up the possibility for North Country Democrats and Republicans to expend more resources in the 36th, where Democrats enjoy a 2-1 edge but where the Dems must run with an unpopular leading man in Gov. Jon Corzine. 

Yet it could also open up other regions, other terrain, formerly classified as green zones. Arguably chief among these, particularly given its bordering proximity to the 14th, is the 12th District, where Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Colts Neck) seek reelection, and last night double-teamed at a town hall meeting in Manalapan.

Senators Joseph Pennacchio and Bill Baroni are drafting legislation that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the state's handling of its depleted $59 billion pension system and come up with a plan to restore it to solvency. The Senate Resolution would create a bipartisan panel of senators with the power to issue subpoenas.

HAMILTON -- Mercer County Republicans endorsed restaurant owner Rob Calabro as their candidate in the 14th Legislative District at their convention tonight.

Calabro, a Hamilton resident who ran unsuccessfully for freeholder in 2007, did not attend tonight’s event, opting instead to stay home with his pregnant wife and two young children.  He was nominated by Hamilton Republican Municipal Chairman Frank Ragazzo and introduced by state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer).  He fills the spot in which Republicans hoped to have Hamilton Council President Kelly Yaede, who flirted with a run but decided against it, leaving the local GOP scrambling to find a suitable replacement.  

Calabro’s name was the only one entered for the party’s endorsement to run against incumbents Wayne DeAngelo (D-Mercer) and Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex).

Baroni said that Calabro, who owns Porfirio’s Market and Café, will not merely be a placeholder until the party can find someone higher profile. 

From the Democratic side, there is no shortage of snickering at the ineptitude of Mercer County Republicans who have been unable to find State Assembly candidates in one of the few districts where Democrats admit their incumbents are vulnerable.  The Mercer GOP is holding their convention tonight and the Middlesex GOP will pick their candidates on Saturday.  With just hours to go before the balloting begins, Republicans have no one to take on incumbents Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).

Less than a week ago, Republicans had their ticket: Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede and former Cranbury Councilman Wayne Wittman.  Both have subsequently changed their minds.  Yaede apparently decided to run more than a week ago, but held off notifying party leaders.  Her withdrawal comes two weeks after she was introduced as a candidate at an Assembly Republican fundraiser and met with gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie.  Sources say that Yaede has been flip-flopping about an Assembly bid for the last two months, being in the race one day and out the next.  She has Hamilton Republicans so angry that there is speculation that the local GOP might dump her from their ticket in 2011.

If Governor Corzine's calls for concessions from state workers are a political liability this year for Democratic Assembly members Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), then Greenstein thinks former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie's comments about laying off state workers may have made the race much more difficult for whomever the Republicans run.

"It is true that Chris Christie seems to me, in a couple spots, to be taking a very anti-union approach, and I do believe the very people who will be running under him will be in a difficult position," said Greenstein.

Christie made the comments, subsequently reported by the Associated Press, on Friday morning's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.

Greenstein and DeAngelo, a freshman, sit in a district that is at the top of Republicans' target list this election cycle -- an area next to Trenton where state workers' unions and private sector organized labor members make up a large and extremely influential portion of the electorate.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany)

UPDATED 

TRENTON – It looked like bedlam, but closer inspection revealed a perfect fault line.

The governor’s speech ended and that great mass of lawmakers spilled into the aisles and into the well of the chamber amid a crowd of reporters who heard them to a man or to a woman either applaud (if they were Democrats) or denounce (if they were Republicans) the 2010 budget speech.

“I think he did an admirable job,” said Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark). “We’re still going to be lower than the highest tax rate in New York. Only those that are making over $500,000 a year are getting a tax increase.”

“A three-quarters of one percent tax increase,” put in Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair).

“We’re trying to spread the pain as much as possible in the midst of a global recession,” said Continuo. “But we are dedicated to preserving programs for the underserved.” 

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has won endorsements from nine of thirteen Republican municipal chairmen in Mercer County, as well as the backing of GOP County Chairman Roy Wesley and all four of the county's Republican mayors.

Christie was also endorsed by former Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti.  As U.S. Attorney, Christie prosecuted Prunetti's Chief of Staff, Harry Parkin.  Parkin's 7 ½ year prison sentence was the longest of any of the more than 100 public officials Christie sent to jail.

Other Mercer County Republican leaders supporting Christie include: U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo, Ewing Mayor Jack Ball, Robbinsville Mayor David Fried, and Hightstown Mayor Robert Patten.

"Chris Christie and I share a commitment to protecting the most vulnerable in society including victims of human trafficking, pornography, forced labor and other crimes and horrific human rights abuses," said Smith.  He is a strong and innovative leader and as Governor, Chris Christie will fight for what is just and right for the people of New Jersey."