Carla Katz

Three of the seven Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court voted against hearing the case that would require Gov. Jon Corzine to release his personal e-mails to Carla Katz, a labor leader and his former girlfriend.  Justices Jaynee LaVecchia and Helen Hoens, both Republicans, and Justice Barry Albin, a Democrat, denied GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson's petition for an appeal.  Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, and Justices Virginia Long, John Wallace and Roberto Rivera-Soto did not participate. Two Appellate Court Judges, Edwin Stern and Ariel Rodriguez, voted with LaVecchia, Hoens and Albin.  When a Justice is absent, a senior Appellate Court Judge often participates in his or her place.

Tom Wilson's best chance at keeping his job may be for Brian Levine to win the Republican nomination for Governor.  Sources close to the two leading candidates, Christopher Christie and Steven Lonegan, say that Wilson is a goner with no hope of holding on as GOP State Chairman after the June primary.  Another candidate, Richard Merkt, called for Wilson's ouster last year.  By tradition, the winner of the gubernatorial primary gets to pick the new state party chairman.

The Associated Press is reporting that the New Jersey Supreme Court has decided against hearing a case seeking the release of Gov. Jon Corzine's e-mails with his former girlfriend, labor leader Carla Katz.  The case had been filed by Tom Wilson, the Republican State Chairman.

Rocco Riccio wants to write a book about the relationship between Gov. Jon Corzine and his estranged sister-in-law, labor leader Carla Katz, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  "I will also detail the secret issues all the New Jersey voters have been speculating. Why did Corzine give his ex-girlfriend all the gifts he did?"  So far, no publishers have signed Riccio, a former state employee and a Republican, who would like to see the book published before Election Day.

Mark Sheridan is the Counsel to the Republican State Committee, and to Chris Christie's campaign for Governor.

Chris Christie won't be talking about the public release of e-mails between Governor Jon Corzine and his former girlfriend, CWA President Carla Katz.

"You won't hear anything about Carla Katz and e-mails out of me and or out of my campaign," Christie told The Record's Charles Stile in a ‘back-of-his campaign bus interview last week.' "There are too many important issues to be discussing than to be discussing that ... it's the governor's issue. If there is anybody that should be talking about it, it should be him, if he wants to. If he doesn't, that's his business. I'm not going to bring it up."

If Christie keeps to his word and won't let him campaign talk about the Corzine/Katz e-mails, how will that affect Mark Sheridan, who is the counsel to the Christie for Governor campaign?  Sheridan is also the lawyer for the Republican State Committee and GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson, the plaintiff in the legal battle to release the e-mails.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), left, introduces former U.S. Attorney Chris Chrisite, with wife Mary Pat.

LINCROFT – On the second day of his two-day campaign kickoff, Chris Christie has sharpened his Wednesday speech into a few short bursts, and in front of a packed house at the Lincroft Inn in this one-time horse farm country turned box store sprawl zone, he toughens his anti-COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) rhetoric.

“If I am governor, I will gut COAH and I will put an end to it,” says Christie, an edited version of underdog gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Richard Merkt’s (R-Mendham) “If I am governor, I will drive a stake into COAH’s heart, bury it, and make sure it never rises again” mantra.  

The comment gets a raise-the-roof response. 

“You just won the election,” Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian Burry tells the candidate.  

She’s standing behind him and facing the crowd along with other Republican elected officials, including state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Red Bank), state Sen. Sean Kean (R-Wall), Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, and Middletown Mayor Pam Brightbill.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg is trying to help Paul Fishman become the next U.S. Attorney from New Jersey.

Paul Fishman was fairy close to becoming New Jersey's U.S. Attorney in 1999, and as Democrats prepare for their first opportunity to fill the post since then, there is increasing speculation that 2009 may be his year. 

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg pushed hard for Fishman to get the U.S. Attorney post when Faith Hochberg was nominated to a federal judgeship in 1999.  But Fishman got in the middle of a rather extraordinary public feud between Lautenberg and U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli.  The Clinton administration sided with Torricelli, and when Hochberg resigned to take her seat on the bench (after a lengthy delay in the confirmation process), Attorney General Janet Reno elevated Torricelli's preferred choice, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary, as New Jersey's interim federal prosecutor.  Cleary served until George W. Bush's nominee, Christopher Christie, took office in January 2002.

PolitickerNJ.com reported last October that Fishman would be Lautenberg's top choice if Barack Obama won the presidency.  With other potential contenders asking not to be considered, including attorney Joseph Hayden and Attorney General Anne Milgram, Fishman has moved to the top of the list in a campaign that essentially needs just two votes: Lautenberg and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez. 

And the Oscar goes to…

Getty Images Photo

Attorney General Anne Milgram, who may have helped save Gov. Jon Corzine's political career, with then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, who may be the Republican nominee for Governor this fall.

One of the winners of the week has got to be Attorney General Anne Milgram, who took a risk and personally argued Gov. Jon Corzine's case against the release of his personal e-mails before a panel of appellate court judges and won.  Overturning a Superior Court Judge's ruling that Corzine should make e-mail correspondence with former girlfriend/union leader Carla Katz public could play a pivotal role in the Governor's bid for a second term. 

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone has emerged as Chris Christie's leading critic on the Democratic side.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) says that if GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie is really interested in transparency, he'll release his public and private schedules during his seven years as the U.S. Attorney from New Jersey.

After a state appellate court ruled yesterday that Gov. Jon Corzine does not have to release his personal e-mails with his former girlfriend, union leader Carla Katz, Christie said that Corzine should release them anyway "in the interest of transparency."

"For the last five months, I have urged Chris Christie to release his public and private schedules so that the people of New Jersey can determine for themselves if he engaged in any improper political activities while serving as U.S. attorney," Pallone said in a statement released this morning.  "If Christie is truly interested in transparency, he should release his schedules and should stop hiding behind the Justice Department as to his role in questionable deferred prosecution agreements."