ELIZABETH - His detractors say he has a single gear: fighting gear, a characterization Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-20) strenuously resists, preferring those storylines that reveal him to be more a careful maker of moves than blindly wind-milling political pug.

Tossed out of leadership two years ago, his statewide counterattack defused, Cryan fell back to Union County where he has quietly regenerated as a countywide force, tormented at times more by his powerful running mate than his running mate’s longtime local enemies – a situation that tonight has Cryan very carefully sizing up the terrain, sources say.

Cryan was primed for maneuver warfare as early as this year if need be, a plan that put everyone around him in the Union County Democratic Party organization on high alert.

Even after the party convention, no one appears any less rattled.

(2-20-13) Understanding the Power of the Veto - Gov. Chris Christie recently made headlines when he vetoed two bills. The Governor’s veto power is one of those ugly tools in the tool kit that is usually used more as a threat then in reality.

At one point during his 2009 Republican Primary run, movement conservative Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan confessed to PolitickerNJ.com that he didn’t know why he was bothering to go after the support of county committees obviously pre-arranged to back Lonegan’s rival, Chris Christie.

Lonegan would show up to an event, give a speech, and then hear a gavel drop ordaining Christie – the former U.S. Attorney – as the party nominee for governor.

Get it done, or else.

That's the message from Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) to Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34).

The ironworker Senate president who felt dissed by the Laborers wants Oliver to post his Project Labor Agreement (PLA) bill without amendments that would make the bill more favorable to the Laborers union; and if the members in Oliver's caucus don't want it, they can expect their legislation to die in the Senate.

Sources opposing the bill say Sweeney is blinded by his desire to punish Ray Pocino and the Laborers in response to their endorsement late last year of incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Christie. But others praise Sweeney for going on offense with a political maneuver that could put Christie in a labor rundown.

The most outspoken renegade in Hudson County politics, long time critic, conqueror and persistent rival of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), Union City Mayor/State Senator Brian P. Stack (D-33) last night sat alone in City Hall and tried to fight off the anger.

“This is not a job to me,” the mayor said. “This is what I do; government. Between my mayor’s and state senator’s salary and weddings, I make $85 000 a year, if I’m lucky. I love government. I really enjoy government more than politics.”

Hours earlier, the FBI had swarmed the fourth floor of City Hall to scour the records of the Community Development Agency as sources speculated about alleged bid-rigging involving a local mason contractor.

In the free market blogosphere, Governor Christie has been pilloried on two of the most read pro liberty websites for his support of price gouging laws—and rightfully so, while the Star-Ledger proudly cheers him on, citing his leadership during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

PERTH AMBOY - At yesterday's town hall, a Building Trades worker asked Gov. Chris Christie about his relationship with state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3).

The Republican governor supplied a fairly comprehensive answer...

Interpret it as you will: a Machiavellian political maneuver designed to send unity vibes through Morris County in anticipation of 2013, or a genuine Christian paean of forgiveness and magnanimity.

Gov. Chris Christie this afternoon bestowed the first Alex DeCroce Leadership Award on former local rival Freeholder John Murphy at the Morris County Chamber of Commerce Luncheon in Whippany.

The man who once threw a roadblock in front of a revved up Christie now bears the scars 15 years later of a brutal political brawl with the Buccos and the backroom wounds sustained in a party that statewide began to very keenly appreciate the control Christie later wielded as U.S. Attorney.

FORKED RIVER – Meeting head-on the attacks of Democrats politically charged by a moribund economy, a brawl-ready Gov. Chris Christie denied they can legitimately summon moral traction to attack him on anything.  

“I’ve been nice up to this point, but now I’m calling them out,” Christie told an appreciative crowd. “A little bit of hypocrisy is to be expected, but this is over the top.”

Christie’s amped counter attacks in an economic downturn with 9.9% unemployment in New Jersey and a Democratic Party revived by a successful national convention go to the heart of the Republican governor’s 2013 re-election strategy and to a targeted effort to play in key battleground districts for a larger GOP legislative presence.

As Newark Mayor Cory Booker went big picture in his speech to the New Jersey delegation this morning in Charlotte, Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, (D-6), Voorhees, struck at Gov. Chris Christie.

Having landed Tuesday in the Queen City, Greenwald is among those buzzed-about Democrats who could run against Christie next year.

He lacks the national name ID and the power projection of the platform committee commanded by Booker. He doesn't have the capacity to land a spot on the Jimmy Fallon show as Christie did Tuesday night. But Greenwald used this morning's Rutgers poll to slash surgically at the GOP governor even as Booker at the microphone worked with a palette of broad strokes.