Chris Christie

Mayoral candidate Carl Ellen: Politicker file photo 

PASSAIC - Mayoral candidate Carl Ellen received a subpoena today from the office of U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to answer questions about a bribe he told the Herald News someone offered him if he would get out of the race, the candidate this evening confirmed to PolitickerNJ.com.

Ellen said he is scheduled to appear in Christie’s office tomorrow. The subpoena came following Ellen’s refusal to answers questions when pressed by local police authorities about who offered him $25,000 to withdraw from the contest.

A local bailbondsman, Ellen is running against city super Vinny Capuana, Dr. Alex Blanco, real estate developer Jose Sandoval and City Councilman Joe Garcia to succeed jailed former Mayor Sammy Rivera.

They may face each other in a gubernatorial primary election next year, but for now Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) wants U.S. Attorney Chris Christie activated for a common purpose.

Tired of lobbying state channels and getting no results, Merkt today called on Christie to investigate a grant program that appears to have been "nothing more than a political pork slush fund for certain Democratic legislators," in Merkt’s words.

"We need to know what legislators, in addition to (former state Sen. Wayne Bryant D-Camden) had control of these funds, where they directed those funds, and whether they benefitted from the recipients," said Merkt, who’s probing a run for governor next year. "The U.S. Attorney now needs to look into the entire scope of this program to see whether there is wrongdoing that extends beyond Mr. Bryant’s actions."

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie: Politicker file photoSubpoena activity in Paterson on the day Gov. Jon Corzine pulled the cape off of a sweeping new piece of ethics reform provided an ample reminder of another presence on the political landscape.

U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

As some Democratic Party strongmen fume quietly about Corzine’s efforts to weaken the fundraising capacities of leadership committees in the third year of his gubernatorial tour of duty, his potential Republican opponent in 2009 is going through his own "anything you can do, I can do better" ritual, to hear the back-chatter in the state right now.

At worst, Corzine’s ethics package is a quick prep phase for what Democrats are certain will be another autumn appearance by Christie, who last year in early September decimated a statewide corruption ring and left the Democrats in a shambles trying to defend their recent ethics legislation. Gov. Jon Corzine: Politicker file photo

At best - to the most cynical - the newest ethics package signals what state Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Hudson) calls some "better political thinking," which he would like to see practiced by the Corzine administration.

After all, Christie’s record suggests he’s coming with something.

The question is whether this time the U.S. attorney’s quarry will be the remnants of Operation Broken Boards, which felled 11 officials, but left some loose ends that many observers feel Christie will now resolve in short order - prior to the Nov. 4th election.

Or will it be bigger, on the order of more big fish reel-ins in Bergen County, for example?

Howard Schoor, who founded one of New Jersey’s most politically powerful engineering firms, pleaded guilty today in federal court to bribing two former Ocean Township officials in exchange for contracts. 

Schoor admitted paying $15,000 to former Mayor Terrence Weldon and former Township of Ocean Sewerage Authority (TOSA)chairman Stephen Kessler, who in exchange delivered contracts to Schoor’s company, Schoor DePalma.

Kessler pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a then-unnamed representative of an engineering firm back in 2005, for which he and Weldon – who at the time of the payments both sat on the TOSA’s board – rewarded the firm with contracts relating to a sewer-line project and the renovation of the authority’s sewerage treatment plant.

Republican Dick Zimmer trails U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg by 8 points in a new poll for The Record
A poll released today by the Bergen Record shows incumbent Sen. Fran Lautenberg with an eight point lead over his challenger, former Rep. Dick Zimmer, while a hypothetical head-to-head 2009 gubernatorial match-up between Gov. Jon Corzine and U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is in a statistical dead heat.

Lautenberg is still one point short of that important 50% support mark, leading Zimmer 49% to 41%, although 51% of respondents felt that the 84-year-old Lautenberg was too old to serve another term. Lautenberg and Zimmer are nearly tied among men, though Lautenberg holds a 15% advantage with women.

Meanwhile, Gov. Corzine holds a two point lead against Christie – 43% to 41%.  That’s well within the poll’s plus or minus 4% margin of error.  When put up against Princeton biotech executive John Crowley, who’s said to be mulling a gubernatorial run, Corzine gets 48% to Crowley’s 24%, which according to columnist Herb Jackson is” a possible sign that Christie’s support is based on more than just anti-Corzine sentiment.”

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone doesn’t buy state Sen. Jen Beck’s explanation that she didn’t discuss the upcoming gubernatorial race with U.S. Attorney Chris Christie when the two met over the summer.

But even taking her at her word, Pallone said that it makes him wonder why Christie can meet with Beck, a Republican state legislator, and not him, a Democratic Congressman. Or, for that matter, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), who also pushed for a meeting.

“To me it’s abusurd. Because I’m sure they are talking about politics and his gubernatorial ambitions. But even if I take them at their word, I say that if you can talk amongst yourselves about what’s going on in your office with regard to Monmouth county and Marlboro, he can talk to us,” said Pallone.

State Sen. Jennifer Beck acknowledged meeting with U.S. Attorney Chris Christie over the summer, but denied that they talked about the upcoming gubernatorial race or anything else political.

PolitickerNJ’s inside edge reported last week that the two discussed the prospect of Beck as Christie’s running mate for Lieutenant Governor.

“I talk to him fairly regularly and get together with him once in a while, and obviously we don’t have any conversations about political stuff. It’s about Marlboro and Monmouth County and what’s going on there,” she said.

Senate President Dick Codey is New Jersey's most popular politician, according to an FDU poll released today
New Jersey voters’ feelings about Gov. Jon Corzine remain tepid, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released today. 

Survey respondents are split on whether they approve of Governor Corzine’s performance, with 41% approving and 43% disapproving.  16% had mixed feelings or didn’t know. 

31% of New Jersey voters think Gov. Corzine is doing an “excellent” or “good job,” while 41% rate his performance as “only fair.”  25% think that he’s done a “poor” job in office.  Those numbers are basically the same as they were in an FDU poll conducted in June.

Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) hits his stride in his hometown.: Politicker photo 

MENDHAM - Despite the corruption headlines and the vaunted presence of the man most believe will be the GOP frontrunner in next year’s gubernatorial primary, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) charged out on the campaign trail today in this high-end leafy burgh where both he and U.S. Attorney Chris Christie reside.

"My plan is to hit a couple of towns each day I go out and just talk to people," said Merkt, 59, attired in jogging gear and hitting a good stride on Cold Hill Lane on the eastern edge of Mendham.

The self-described New Jersey nationalist started in front of St. Joseph’s Church on Main Street. "You just missed him," Mendham Mayor Neil J. Henry, Jr., had said of Merkt. "But if you go now, you might be able to catch him, he’s headed for Brookside."

Half a mile away, the determined figure of the 11-year veteran assemblyman was spied as he headed into a shady straightaway.

"My purpose is threefold," the corporate attorney candidate told PoltiickerNJ.com. "I want to get to know people, I want people to get to know me, and I want to get in shape. If I can get in shape, it proves I can get the state in shape."

NEWARK - He says it every time, and he said it again this time: until larger numbers of people get involved in civic life and engage the democratic process, public corruption by a few will continue to dominate.

"The only thing that ultimately holds people to account is the ballot box," U.S. Attorney Chris Christie said on the day he announced the indictment of Bergenfield Attorney Dennis Oury and Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero.

"I’ve said that for years," Christie added. "That’s the only way it gets fixed."