Dale Florio

Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire

BRIDGEWATER - Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire has dropped his freeholder bid, according to Somerset County GOP sources.

Caliguire had hoped to secure his party's backing to run for a seat vacated by retiring Freeholder Director Rick Fontana, but he told Somerset County Republican Chairman Dale Florio tonight that he does not intend to stay in the contest. 

That leaves the following candidates to screen before the GOP County Committee on April 2: Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter, former prosecutor Tom Roughneen, and Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione. 

Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione says he'll seek the Republican nomination for Somerset County Freeholder.

BRIDGEWATER – Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione earlier today talked to Dale Florio and notified the Somerset County Republican chair of his intentions to pursue a seat on the Freeholder Board.

“I’m a 12-year council veteran and I’m in the race,” Scaglione told PolitickerNJ.com tonight, at a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Bridgewater Republican Committee, where Scaglione and his fellow competitors made their respective cases.

Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire, Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter and former prosecutor Thomas Roughneen are also vying for the seat being vacated by retiring Freeholder Director Rick Fontana.

“The Democrats have made such a mess of the state budget, that our budgets are really hurting,” said Caliguire, who pledged if elected to examine greater shared and regional services.

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats now govern six of those counties, and only Gilmore and Florio remain in power.

In 1999, Bergen Republicans controlled the County Executive post (Schuber won re-election in '98), had a majority on the Freeholder Board, and had GOP State Senators in districts 38, 39 and 40.  Democrats won the County Executive office when Schuber retired in 2002, and now hold all seven Freeholder seats; County Clerk Kathleen Donovan is the lone Republican elected countywide.  And Gerald Cardinale is the lone Republican Senator from Bergen County.

Mark Caliguire

In a letter he sent today to Somerset County Republican Committee members, second-term Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire announced he intends to seek their support to replace retiring Freeholder Rick Fontana.

“The current financial crisis requires leaders with innovative solutions that lower taxes.  I’ve been on the front line of the effort to do that in Montgomery and I’m eager to add my energy, ideas and business experience to the considerable talents already assembled on our Freeholder Board,” said Caliguire, a former New Jersey deputy attorney general who owns a privately held specialty paper company with 100 employees.   

“In Montgomery, I implemented a groundbreaking program that incentivizes municipal employees to develop and present ideas that produce real and recurring savings,” he added.

Thomas Roughneen

Attorney and Iraq War veteran Thomas Roughneen says he'll seek the Republican nomination for an open seat on the Somerset County Freeholder Board.  

“I came to the decision on Monday and made some calls yesterday,” said Roughneen, who subsequently submitted a letter to the municipal party chairs and to Somerset County GOP Chairman Dale Florio.

“It would be a privilege to serve the people,” said the candidate, who is one of three Roughneen brothers who have either served or are serving in Iraq. 

Roughneen, a Watchung resident, is the first of last year’s unsuccessful 7th Congressional District GOP candidates to formally submit a letter of interest to party members. 

Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter

BRIDGEWATER – When Somerset County Freeholder Director Rick Fontana this week told party members he wouldn’t pursue reelection, Bernards Township Committeeman John Carpenter got out in front of the pack first.

At least as of last night, he remained the only person who has officially made his interest in the Fontana seat known to County GOP Chairman Dale Florio, while the party prepares for an April 2nd county committee screening to size-up any and all contenders for the position.

“I’ve got a great record of cutting taxes and cutting spending,” said Carpenter, 51, a Bayer Healthcare sales manager now in his second term in office, who last year served as mayor of Bernards.  “We’ve cut the municipal tax levy three years running. Our residents paid less last year than in 2005.”

Bridgewater Mayor Patricia Flannery

FRANKLIN - Bridgewater Mayor Patrica Flannery won't submit her name to the party to run for a vacated seat on the Somerset County Freeholder Board, she told PolitickerNJ.com tonight at a GOP Lincoln Day Dinner here featuring the Republican candidates for governor.

"I love being mayor of Bridgewater," said Flannery, whom party members initially tapped as a natural replacement for Freeholder Director Rick Fontana, who won't pursue reelection this year. 

Sources say Flannery got first dibs on the seat because of the Bridgewater connection. That’s Fontana’s hometown, and a vital GOP stronghold – home to the most registered Republican voters among all of Somerset County’s 21 towns at 6,757, and the second largest concentration of total voters (23,314) behind Franklin Twp.  (27,812).

Patti Nelson McGuire, who spent three years as Gov. Jon Corzine's Deputy Chief of Staff, has joined Princeton Public Affairs Group, one of the state's largest lobbying firms.

"We are excited to have Patti join our dedicated and successful government and public affairs team," said Dale Florio, a partner at PPAG and the Somerset County GOP Chairman.  "Her role at our firm will help strengthen our reach in the New Jersey political arena."

Republicans, who have not won a Freeholder race in Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex and Union counties since the 1990's, missed an opportunity to change the playing field when they failed to act on a proposal to create district Freeholder seats in those five counties. 

In 2000, then-Assemblyman Richard Bagger (R-Westfield) introduced legislation that would require those Democratic-controlled counties to move from electing At-Large Freeholders to an all-district format beginning in 2001.  At the time, New Jersey had a GOP Governor and Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature.

Bagger's bill was carefully crafted to include three restrictions: it applied only to the state's nine counties classified as second class, and to those that either had more than seven Freeholders or seven Freeholders and a geographical area of between 200 and 400 square miles. Union County was the only second-class county with nine Freeholders.  Republican-controlled Burlington County, with five Freeholders, was not included in the bill, nor was GOP-dominated Morris and Somerset. 

Passaic County, which is 192 square miles, was left off the Bagger bill at the urging of then-Republican County Chairman Peter Murphy, who opposed the District Freeholder Plan even though Republicans had lost Freeholder races in 1997, 1998 and 2000.  Any reasonable carving up of Passaic would have given Democrats three solid seats in Paterson and Passaic, and control of the Board of Freeholders might have rested with a Clifton-based seat.  Murphy, prior to his criminal conviction, believed he could put his winning machine back together and wasn't willing to look at a best case scenario of a 4-3 Republican majority.