Bob Martin

Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, under fire from Republican Senate candidates upset with their lack of financial support and political guidance from the Senate GOP, is giving some consideration to putting money into the fifteenth district, where three-term State Senator Shirley Turner is seeking re-election.

Lance seems infatuated with first-time candidate Bob Martin,

Ewing (August 9, 2007) -- Bob Martin, State Senate candidate in the 15th district, today called on Governor Corzine to provide emergency funding for Ewing Township. Ewing faces an $8 million budget shortfall, due to increased expenses and lost revenues. The increased funding will in part provide funding for five additional police officers. The $4 million asked for by Ewing Mayor Jack Ball, will help offset about h

Hopewell (July 27, 2007) –In the face of overwhelming corruption at all levels of New Jersey’s state government, Bob Martin, Republican State Senate candidate in the 15th district, announced his comprehensive anti-corruption plan today.

Hopewell (July 20, 2007) – Bob Martin, Republican State Senate candidate in New Jersey’s 15th district, announced his comprehensive anti-gang plan today. This plan comes at a critical moment for Trenton, Ewing, and their neighboring towns, as gang violence has become a primary concern for residents who have experienced its effects in recent weeks. Trenton’s homicide count is currently up 75% from this point last year, and the repeated shootings on Brenwal Avenue in Ewing have caused an exodus from that neighborhood.

Former Kinnelon Council President Larry Casha lost his bid for State Assembly yesterday -- it was his second loss; Joseph Pennacchio beat him in a 2001 Special Election Convention -- but he performed well enough in ultra-forgiving Morris County to remain on the short list for the next vacancy. 

Casha ran a strong campaign, with perhaps the best direct mail of the cycle, but could not compete with Webber, who had spent five years running for the Legislature and had a virtual lock on primary-voting conservatives.  By the time the next seat comes up -- Alex DeCroce turns 71 on Sunday -- Casha may be able to shed the liability of being Bob Martin's staffer and campaign aide.

Just three days out from the 26th district Republican primary between Jay Webber and Larry Casha, many Republicans say the race is too close to call. 

The two candidates are enmeshed in a heated battle for one of two one open assembly seat in the 26th District, trying to outdo each others’ conservative credentials.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce is up for reelection for the other seat, but he is considered the favorite and both other candidates claim to support him.  

Assembly candidate Larry Casha didn't get his facts straight on a recent direct mail piece to 26th district voters -- he accused rival Jay Webber of calling State Senator Robert Martin "Mr. Potato Head" during the 2003 Republican primary. Webber didn't say that, PoliticsNJ.com did. The reference to the classic Hasbro toy that changes faces to fit the situation was made after Martin moved decidedly to the right in order to win a hotly contested primary with Webber, a bonafide conservative. Casha knows Webber didn't say this -- he complained about the Mr. Potato Head moniker while serving as Martin's campaign coordinator -- but that didn't seem to stop him from making an unfair accusation this week.

Carol Murphy was never considered the sharpest knife in the drawer -- but intellectual superiority has never really been a prerequisite to a long and successful career in politics. Despite her limitations, she has won elections to the Township Committee, Board of Freeholders, and State Assembly -- and an appointment as a state Board of Public Utilities Commissioner -- in a political career that spanned more than 25 years.

WEBBER FOR ASSEMBLY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 13, 2006 CONTACT: (201) 602-4468

ON TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE, WILL CASHA EXPLAIN BREAK FROM MARTIN WING OF GOP?

Morris Plains, NJ - The Webber for Assembly campaign today released the following statement from campaign spokesman Tom Weisert.

As the dust settles on the Lewis v. Harris gay marriage decision, noteworthy are the obvious contradictions between Assembly candidate Larry Casha's purported opposition to the decision, and his long history of identifying himself with politicians who have affiliated themselves with the gay-rights movement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2006 CONTACT: (201) 602-4468

CASHA CONTINUES TO BEG QUESTIONS ON DOUBLE-DIPPING
Without answering them, candidate actually harms the cause of reform

Morris Plains, NJ – Responding to Assembly candidate Larry Casha’s statement yesterday on pension double-dipping, Webber for Assembly spokesman Tom Weisert released the following statement:

Larry Casha correctly emphasized the importance of the work of the Legislature’s joint committee on state worker benefits and the problem with pension double-dipping. Larry’s press release, however, continues to beg questions about his true commitment to pension reform.

Larry still has to explain why, if he finds the practice of public official double-dipping on public pensions so abhorrent, Larry has worked so hard on behalf of Senator Bob Martin as his Policy Director, Campaign Counsel, Campaign Coordinator, and Senate Advisory Committee member. Senator Martin, of course, was dubbed by The Star Ledger in September 2002 and March 2006 as one of the worst abusers of the public pension system, as he double-dips and tacks pension credits as both a State Legislator and a municipal attorney in Pompton Lakes. In fact, the March 2006 Star Ledger article situates Bob Martin right next to very same Sharpe James at whom Larry targeted his criticism yesterday. It was precisely that abuse by Senator Martin that Jay Webber stood up to when he challenged the Senator in 2003, and it was part of Senator Martin’s record that Larry worked so hard to defend.

Public pension excesses and the practice of double-dipping by part-time politicians are serious abuses that have strained the public’s trust in our State’s elected representatives. Because of that strain, credibility in candidates for office is paramount, now more than ever. While Webber for Assembly welcomes Larry’s statements on this issue, we believe that before anyone can take seriously Larry’s new-found position on double-dipping, he must answer the following questions that he has ignored since July 21st, when Webber for Assembly first asked them:

– Did Larry resign from his multiple positions with Senator Martin in protest over the Senator’s years-long pension abuses?

– Did Larry at least urge the Senator to change his abusive ways?

– Or did Larry just go along with the abuses, and only now, when he wants to be elected himself, is Larry taking a stand against double-dipping?

– If double-dipping is so wrong, why did Larry coordinate the campaign of Bob Martin and position the Senator to perpetuate the pension abuse?

Without a credible explanation of Larry’s blatantly inconsistent public positions on this issue, we fear that the electorate will only be further disillusioned, and view Larry’s statements as hollow campaign rhetoric. That, in turn, will do more harm than good for the cause of reform, because New Jersey cannot afford that kind of cynicism anymore.

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