Bill Baroni

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.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, left, is greeted in the Golden Dawn by owner Chris Kurnellas.

HAMILTON – The floorboards of the Golden Dawn Diner are worn with the scuffling soles of many a politician on the move in Mercer County, and some of them are here today as a black bus with the words “Strong Leadership Now” emblazoned on its side, pulls into the parking lot and GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie descends to street level amid a wave of cheers. 

“He’s the right man at the right time,” Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo says in the glass-enclosed entranceway. “He’s tough, and he knows government.” 

Christie has his family with him as he plunges into a hoard of cameras and reporters intermingled with well-wishers and he drags them all with him as he trots up the diner’s front steps hearing the other cries come louder now from the sign-shaking Laborers International Union of North America protesters on Mercerville-Whitehorse Road: “Christie equals Bush! Christie equals Bush! Christie equals Bush!”

West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hseuh, left, faces Councilman Charles Morgan in the May non-partisan election. Former Hamilton Councilman Jack Lacy, right, has aplogized for a racial slur sent in an e-mail last week.

Democrats say that West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, an independent, has agreed not to endorse Republican candidates outside of local politics in exchange for no Democratic opposition in his re-election campaign in May.  His deal helps him avoid a three-way race and leaves him with one opponent, Councilman Charles Morgan, a Republican. 

Hsueh has annoyed Democrats in recent years with his support of Republican Bill Baroni in races for the Senate and Assembly.  He has reportedly agreed to support Democratic incumbents Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo in their Assembly bid next year, and not to endorse Baroni in 2011.  Four years ago, Baroni backed Hsueh's re-election bid, while Greenstein helped then-Councilwoman Allison Miller.

Hamilton Township Councilman Tom Goodwin sent out a release today announcing he intends to seek re-election to the Hamilton Township Council in 2009, and therefore will not pursue another run for the Assembly in the 14th Legislative District. 

“It has been both flattering and humbling to have received sincere encouragement from present and former elected officials, state political leaders and so many friends and colleagues,” said Goodwin. “But four years ago we set out on a mission to improve Hamilton government and restore stability in our municipal business and that job is not yet completed. 

Goodwin ran on a Republican Assembly ticket with Jamesburg software engineer Adam Goodwin. Both men lost to the Democratic team of Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Monroe) and former Hamilton Councilman Wayne DeAngelo. At the top of the ticket, Goodwin and Bushman’s running mate, state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) defeated former ratepayer advocate Seema Singh. 

Beaten last year in the 14th District Assembly race, Jamesburg software engineer Adam Bushman told PolitickerNJ.com that he is very likely to sit out a 2009 challenge of Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Monroe) and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).

“I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said Bushman, who ran on a Republican ticket with state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) and Hamilton Councilman Tom Goodwin in one of the state’s Clean Elections districts, in which candidates raised $10 per donor to qualify for the same amount of state money.

“I’m going to focus on finishing my PhD (in IT management) at this point,” said the former candidate, who has young children.

Lawyers will be the minority on the 2009 State Senate Judiciary Committee headed by engineer Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge)

For the first time since the new State Constitution was approved in 1947, a majority of members of the 2009 New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee -- six of eleven -- are not lawyers.  Chairman Paul Sarlo and Vice Chairman John Girgenti are not attorneys, as is fellow Democrat Loretta Weinberg.  Among the Republicans, Gerald Cardinale (who serves as the unofficial ranking Republican), Joseph Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck are not attorneys.

The lawyers on the Judiciary Committee are Democrats Raymond Lesniak, Nicholas Scutari, Robert Smith and Nia Gill, and Republican Bill Baroni. 

Senate President Richard Codey, who is responsible for the non-lawyer a majority -- a move some pols are applauding -- is one of a few non-lawyers to serve as Senate President.

Senator Bill Baroni, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement today regarding a state appeals court ruling prohibiting convicted former State Senator Wayne Bryant from using his campaign funds for legal defense:

Hamilton Township Web site

Hamilton Councilman Tom Goodwin, who just narrowly lost a bid for the State Assembly in 2007, says he's considering running again next year

Hamilton Councilman Tom Goodwin, having narrowly lost his assembly race last year to Democrat Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), has not ruled out another run next year.

“I would have to sit down and analyze the situation now and going forward. I haven’t made up my mind yes or no,” said Goodwin. “I have to sit down and think about it. So right now I don’t have any decision.”

District 14, which encompasses the Trenton suburbs and is dominated by the working-class swing town of Hamilton, is one of the few split districts in the state, with Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) in the state senate and DeAngelo and Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) in the assembly. It is likely to be one of the top Republican targets in next year’s assembly election, although Greenstein, a long-time incumbent, appears a lot less vulnerable than the first-term DeAngelo.

PolitickerNJ.com File Photo

Gov. Jon Corzine campaigning for Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) in 2005. Could Corzine's proposals for public employee givebacks and layoffs jeopardize Greenstein's 2009 re-election?

Governor Jon Corzine might help himself get re-elected by taking on state employees with a call to give back a 3.5% raise next year and possibly face substantial layoffs, but one place his proposal probably won't be well received is in the 14th legislative district, where a huge number of public sector employees reside.  That could be bad news for incumbents Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo, if state employees head to the polls next year angry with the top of the ticket.  The Mercer/Middlesex district is one of the most politically competitive in the state, and Greenstein and DeAngelo risk losing their State Assembly seats if their party is viewed as anti-state worker.

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow and Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt are both potential candidates for Leonard Lance's 23rd district State Senate seat

Assemblyman Michael Doherty seems to be playing out of the Bill Baroni playbook: Doherty is rapidly rolling out endorsements to scare the Assemblywoman from his district out of a race for an open State Senate seat.  Two weeks after Leonard Lance won a seat in Congress, the Doherty for Senate campaign is in high gear, and Marcia Karrow has a deer-in-headlights thing going on as she mulls her own chances to move up to the Senate. 

Karrow, according to Republican leaders that have spoken with her, believed her Hunterdon County base would propel her to victory in a special election convention where the voters as GOP County Committee members.  But Karrow is reportedly frightened to give up her Assembly seat and move up to the Senate, just to be taken out by Doherty in a Republican primary, where the conservative Warren County legislator might have an advantage.  If Karrow passes on the race (she may have to now that she's lost two crucial weeks in a short campaign -- Doherty is now the strong front runner to succeed Lance), it is because of her fear of being out of a job after just one year in the State Senate.

One possible miscalculation by Karrow: Doherty is a blinker who has already passed up a number of chances to run for higher office, including a primary challenge against Lance last year and a race for the U.S. Senate.  Had Karrow been the incumbent Senator, it's possible that Doherty would have blinked and not given up his Assemblys seat to run for Senator.