Carl Block

Ocean County Clerk Carl Block and his Democratic challenger, Jason Varano, headed into the offices of the Asbury Park Press editorial board last week in what Block figured would be a routine exercise in parry and thrust.

Truth be told, he hadn’t seen or heard much from Varano and hardly had the sense that his opponent was mounting an aggressive campaign against him.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when Varano unloaded on Block in the presence of the editors, a tactic that caused the first term incumbent to straighten in his chair and dismiss a charge the challenger repeated today in a press release, which Block again calls totally bogus.

Reiterating his call for an independent audit of a trust account maintained by Block, Varano suggested the clerk is making improper use of public funds.

TOMS RIVER - If you came to the Ocean County Republican convention hoping for a floor fight tonight for the party nod for U.S. Senate, you were disappointed.

In typical Ocean County Republican fashion, the party awarded its line with efficiency and brevity – easily selecting Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue as its choice for a U.S. Senate candidate. Unanue already had the backing of powerful Republican Chairman George Gilmore, and had won the hearts and minds of the screening committee from his vacation spot in Vail, Colo. via telephone conference.

The committee voted by voice, overwhelmingly ratifying the decision of the screening committee to endorse the man who’s come to be the establishment’s candidate over his two Republican rivals: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo Finance Professor Murray Sabrin.

Pennacchio and Sabrin did not attend.

Wesley K. Bell, one of New Jersey's most colorful political figures during more than thirty years in politics, died last night after falling from a billboard he owned in Atlantic County. Bell, who was an Independent candidate for Governor in 2005 and sought the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 1978, served several non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Stafford between 1972 and 1983. He was recalled in 1983 and lost numerous comeback bids to his successor, Carl Block. READ BELL'S OBITUARY.

An elevator-full of Rudy Giuliani supporters looked at the ceiling when confronted with today’s Monmouth University/Gannett poll numbers that show the former New York mayor in a statistical dead heat with Arizona Sen. John McCain in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.

They were riding down from the fourth floor of the Toms River law office of Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, who also serves as state chairman of Giuliani’s campaign in New Jersey.

Gilmore wasn’t in town today.

U.S. Congress candidate Jack KellyShortly after accepting the support of the Ocean County Republican Organization in his bid for U.S. Congress in the 3rd district, Freeholder Director Jack Kelly welcomed an unassuming man onto the platform to stand beside him in a display of GOP unity.

The man was Chris Myers, Kelly's primary election adversary from Burlington, who attended the event along with a small contingent of party operatives from across the county line.

"Despite any attempt of the press to make this a county versus county primary battle, I will do all in my power to make sure any primary challenge will be the one that seeks to elect the very best Republican countywide... because that is our common goal," said Kelly, a 56-year old former mayor of Eagleswood for 11 years and 15-year veteran of the freeholder board.

He yielded the microphone to Myers, 43, Medford Township's deputy mayor, a vice president at Lockheed Martin, and decorated combat veteran of the Gulf War, who kept the line of fire trained on next November's Democratic opponent, state Sen. John Adler of Cherry Hill.

The field of potential Republican candidates to replace Jim Saxton next year is still large, but a few of the names first floated have removed themselves from consideration.

Republican Jim Saxton won re-election to a 12th term with 58% of the vote in 2006 in a district that George W. Bush carried with 51% in 2004. The open seat could be competitive in 2008. The GOP has a huge field of potential candidates; the Democrats will run State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Adler, who had said in September that he would challenge Saxton.