Bill Gormley

Atlantic County Sheriff James McGettigan is giving serious consideration to running for County Executive in 2007. McGettigan has told some Democratic insiders that he might take on GOP incumbent Dennis Levinson, who is expected to seek re-election to a third term. Most insiders expect hotly contested races for County Executive and for the State Senate for longtime Republican incumbent William Gormley's seat, with freshman Democratic Assemblyman (and former Atlantic City Mayor) James Whelan the most likely candidate.

NEW JERSEY LEGISLATURE

June 9, 2006

Honorable Senator Stephen M. Sweeney
Kingsway Commons
935 Kings Highway Suite 400
Thorofare, New Jersey 08086

Dear Senator Sweeney:

During the past four years the interests of taxpayers have been ignored while state spending has surged 25 percent. The Republican members of the Senate and General Assembly are ready to join with you and other like-minded members to swiftly bring about legislative action on pension reform.

For the last several years, we have been pushing for comprehensive non-partisan reforms in how the people’s business is conducted. We have offered several proposals to combat abuses in the state public employee pension system and make the benefits offered to government workers more closely mirror those offered to private sector employees. Among our proposals are a cap on sick leave payouts and an analysis of converting to a defined contribution plan for new employees.

We hope that by joining together and making this a bipartisan effort, the Legislature can take immediate action. Given that there is no end in sight to New Jersey’s budget predicament – Governor Corzine anticipates a $1.6 billion budget shortfall next year even if all of his $2 billion in tax increases are enacted – there should be no delay in repairing the state’s fiscal health.

Middle class New Jersey families face an affordability recession. We have a duty to pursue any opportunity to ease our state’s spiraling tax burden.

Very truly yours,

William Gormley Walter Kavanaugh Anthony Bucco

Martha Bark Robert Littell Gerald Cardinale

Jennifer Beck Alison McHose Amy Handlin

Kevin OToole Joseph Kyrillos

SENATE REPUBLICANS URGE THOROUGH REVIEW OF ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE ZULIMA FARBER

Senate Republican leader Leonard Lance, (R-23), and Senator William Gormley, (R-2), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee issued the following joint statement regarding the nomination of Zulima Farber to be New Jersey’s next Attorney General.

If you are a New Jersey State Senator, you are more likely to die in office than to win higher elective office. Under the current State Constitution, 44 sitting State Senators have asked voters to promote them to a new office, but only nine have won.

Nearly half of the State Senators seeking higher office have run for Governor and all 21 have lost: Malcolm Forbes (1957), Wayne Dumont (1965), Raymond Bateman (1977) and James E. McGreevey (1997) won major party nominations but list the general election -- each time to an incumbent; William Schluter ran as an Independent in 2001; and Walter Jones (1961), Charles Sandman (1965), William Kelly (1969), Frank McDermott (1969), William Ozzard (1969), Harry Sears (1969), Ralph DeRose (1973), Raymond Garramone (1977), Frank Dodd (1981), William Hamilton (1981), Joseph Merlino (1981), James Wallwork (1981), Bill Gormley (1989) and Gerald Cardinale (1989).

Edward Crabiel gave up his Senate seat to run in 1973 but withdrew when some party leaders decided to back Brendan Byrne. In 2001, Donald DiFrancesco dropped his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

All five State Senators who have run for the United States Senate have lost: Frank Guarini, in 1970 Democratic primary against Harrison Williams; Dick LaRossa (1996), Bill Gormley (2000), Diane Allen (2002) and John Matheussen (2002).

Nine of the fourteen sitting State Senators who have run for Congress have won: John Hunt (1966), Edwin Forsythe (1970), Joseph Maraziti (1972), Matthew Rinaldo (1992), Bernard Dwyer (1980), James Saxton (1984), Frank Pallone (1988), Richard Zimmer (1990), and Robert Menendez (1992). Five have lost House bids: Richard Stout (1968), Joseph Kyrillos (1992), Gormley (1994), John Bennett (1996), and Cardinale (2002).

Three incumbent State Senators have unsuccessfully sought office in Bergen County: Matthew Feldman (1986) and Hank McNamara (2002) ran for County Executive, and Harold Hollenbeck (1973) ran for Freeholder. Three Senators have lost bids for Mayor of Newark: Alexander Matturi (1970), Anthony Imperiale (1974), and Ronald Rice (1998). Frank Graves was elected Mayor of Paterson in 1982, a post he had previously held from 1961 to 1966.

Thirteen Senators have died in office -- three more than the number who have won higher office: Raymond Bowkley, John Caufield, Robert Crane, Glenn Cunningham, John Dimon, Walter Foran, Garrett Hagedorn, William Haines, Joseph Hirkala, Christopher Jackman, Wynona Lipman, Edward Sisco and Howard Sharp.

Editor's Note: Gormley is counted once, although he has sought higher office three times; Cardinale, who ran twice, is also counted once. Senators who sought re-election to posts they had held prior to running for the Senate are not counted at all.

The potential Senate Race of the Century between Bill Gormley and Jim Whelan isn't the only race to watch for in 2007: look for newly-elected Atlantic County Freeholder Alissa Cooper to challenge County Executive Dennis Levinson.

The outcome of several of today's Assembly races could create some interesting State Senate races in 2007: Nelson Albano vs. Nicholas Asselta in the 1st district; Jim Whelan vs. Bill Gormley (or Frank Blee, if Gormley retires) in the 2nd; Matt Doherty vs. Sean Kean for Joe Palaia's 11th district seat; Jennifer Beck vs. Ellen Karcher in the 12th; and Bill Baroni vs. Linda Greenstein in the 14th, if Peter Inverso does not run again.

A PRESS CONFERENCE IS THE PERFECT TIME TO ANSWER THE TOUGH QUESTIONS
Will Forrester, Gormley, or Conover Seize the Opportunity To Come Clean with Voters?
We're Not Holding Our Breath.

Calls for Open Disclosure of Contracts