Christine Todd Whitman

New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Virginia Long has four years left before she reaches the mandatory retirement age of seventy, but there is some speculation in higher echelon political circles that she will retire early – opening up another Supreme Court appointment for Gov. Jon Corzine before he seeks re-election in November 2009.  Long turns 70 in March 2012.

Insiders say that there are three leading candidates for Somerset County Democratic Chairman: Michael Ceponis, who was the last Democrat to win election to the Somerset County Board of Freeholders (Christie Whitman unseated him in 1982); former Warren Township Board of Education Rebecca Perkins, who ran a close race for Freeholder in 1999; and Margaret Schaffer, the Bedminster Democratic Municipal Chair.  The incumbent, Elia Pelios, is not seeking re-election.

Republican political consultant Tom Blakely died this morning after collapsing during a 5k run in Bordentown. He was 47.

Blakely was the President of Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based GOP consulting firm. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he served as an aide to Rep. Dick Zimmer and was Campaign Manager of Zimmer’s 1996 U.S. Senate bid against Robert Torricelli. He also ran County Executive campaigns for James Treffinger and Robert Prunetti, and was Director of Appointments for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

New Jersey, a blue state that has gone longer without electing a Republican to statewide office than any other state in the nation, has not re-elected a Democrat to statewide office in fourteen years.  The last Democrat to win re-election was Frank Lautenberg in 1994.  So technically, Republicans have re-elected an incumbent statewide official (Governor Christine Todd Whitman in 1997) more recently than the Democrats have.  The last Democratic Governor to win re-election was Brendan Byrne in 1977. 

Last September, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie announced that Zimmer Holdings, an Indiana-based medical device firm, had agreed to a $311 million settlement to end a federal investigation that they paid surgeons to use their products. Christie’s decision to hire former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to monitor the settlement – for a fee that could go as high as $52 million over the next eighteen months – has prompted the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary committees to question how the DOJ awards monitor contracts. Now it’s a national news story.

While based in Indiana, Zimmer has a strong connection to New Jersey: John L. McGoldrick, the Zimmer Chairman, is a Princeton resident with ties to key state political leaders. He spent six years as the Executive Vice President of Bristol Myers Squibb; before that, he was a senior partner and executive committee member at McCarter & English, a politically active Newark law firm. McGoldrick “served on several governmental reform commissions in New Jersey,” according to his company website, and served on the New Jersey Transit Board.

Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman says that her attendance at a bi-partisan meeting in Oklahoma this month should not be misinterpreted as playing a role in the founding of a third party or in urging New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to mount an independent bid for President this year.  Whitman, a PolitickerNJ.com columnist, said she would not leave the GOP.

Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov. Christie Whitman, is considering running for Congress.  But she wants the public to know that she does not feel any sense of entitlement.

"I don't think just because my last name is Whitman I'm entitled to anything.  I'll work just as hard if not harder than anyone else for this," said the 30-year-old Whitman, who has worked as a congressional staffer, for the U.S. Department of Labor, and the New Hampshire Republican Party.  She is the Executive Director of the Republican Leadership Council, which her mother co-chairs.

She said that her lack of experience as an elected official isn't necessarily detrimental.

Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, is expected to seek the Republican nomination for Congress in the seventh district.  Whitman, 30, a former  congressional aide, spent the weekend meeting with a number of fundraisers and officials who are supporting her candidacy.

Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Governor Christine Todd Whitman, is giving serious consideration to a bid for Congress and is speaking with Republican leaders and fundraisers about seeking the open seventh district seat of retiring GOP Rep. Mike Ferguson. GOP insiders say that Whitman could emerge as a formidable candidate for the seat – especially in a crowded primary field.