Bo Sullivan

Morris County Freeholder James Murray is thinking about running for Governor.

If 70-year-old Freeholder James Murray enters the race for Governor, it would bring the number of Morris County Republicans to three.  Murray, who raised just $5,000 on his upset primary win over incumbent John Inglesino in 2007, is hardly a first-tier statewide candidate.  But he could siphon off Morris County votes from former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie - as could another Morris candidate, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham).

Inglesino is part of Christie's political inner circle and has been attending Christie for Governor campaign meetings for more than a year.  He has played a leading role in the reform of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where his law firm (he is former federal Judge and U.S. Attorney Herbert Stern's law partner) had been awarded a lucrative federal monitor job by Christie.  

John Crowley, the bio tech millionaire from Princeton who spent several hours – twice – as a candidate for the 2008 GOP nomination for United States Senator, wants to use the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis next month to introduce himself to party leaders and opinion leaders.  Crowley is reportedly considering a run for Governor in 2009.  He has scheduled a posh party on a boat trip down the Mississippi River for Monday morning, the first day of the convention. The problem for Crowley is that his boat trip now conflicts with a scheduled convention session, which means that the key people he wanted to spend time bonding with won’t be available. 

The Acting U.S. Secretary of Transportation began her political career as an operative working on a New Jersey gubernatorial campaign. Maria Cino, who has been running the Department of Transportation since Norman Mineta left a few weeks ago, was the Assistant Research Director for Joseph "Bo" Sullivan, a millionaire businessman who sought the Republican nomination for Governor in 1981. Sullivan, who self-financed his campaign, finished third in a field of eight candidates, losing to Thomas Kean, Sr. Among Cino's responsibilities on the Sullivan campaign was researching Kean's record during his ten years in the State Assembly.

After the '81 primary, returned to Washington as a staffer for the Republican National Committee. She held numerous posts at the RNC and at the National Republican Congressional Committee, as National Political Director George W. Bush's campaign in 2000, and has been Deputy Transportation Secretary since 2005.

Published reports list Cino as being on the short list of permanent candidates for Mineta's post.