David Brown

From left: Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, and inventor David Brown of South Brunswick

The gubernatorial candidacy of inventor David Brown is over.

“The official word came in from the Secretary of State’s Office today that I will not be on the ballot,” Brown told PolitickerNJ.com. “I didn’t have a problem with Steve Lonegan doing what he did. My problem was how he went about it.”

Brown of South Brunswick said only under oath in an administrative law judge’s hearing room was he able to ascertain the alliance that attorney Michael Daily had with the movement conservative gubernatorial candidate.

Daily had challenged the validity of Brown’s and Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine’s petition signatures. 

School budgets passed in the hometowns of every major candidate for Governor but the incumbent.  In Hoboken, where Gov. Jon Corzine lives, voters rejected the proposed school budget by 111 votes (52%-48%). 

In Mendham Township, the hometown of two Republican candidates, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and Assemblyman Rick Merkt, the school budget passed 482-393, 55%-45%.  In Bogota, where Steven Lonegan served three terms as Mayor, voters passed the budget by 37 votes, 54%-46%. 

Glen Ridge, the hometown of Corzine's Democratic primary challenger, former Mayor Carl Bergmanson, approved their school budget by a 65%-35% margin, 252 votes.   In Franklin Township, where Republican Brian Levine is Mayor, the budget passed by 1,385 votes, 65%-35%.

Brown: candidacy in the balance

Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine is awaiting word from Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson regarding whether he will be able to stay on the Republican Primary ballot as a candidate for governor.

“I received a letter yesterday from Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, notifying me that her office was remanding the case back to the administrative law judge and I have not yet received word,” Levine told PolitickerNJ.com as he fulfilled his annual Election Day duty of delivering Munchkins to poll workers.

Inventor David Brown, who like Levine received a petition signature challenge from an ally of rival gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan and an oral judgment by the judge that he lacked an adequate number of signatures to get on the ballot, also awaits his candidacy’s fate.

Without mentioning gubernatorial rival Steve Lonegan by name, the Chris Christie campaign chastised him for removing three lesser-known Republican candidates from the primary ballot.  

Lonegan successfully challenged the petition signatures of Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine, inventor David Brown and corrections officer Christian Keller.

“They worked hard, brought diverse ideas to the table and added to the debate over the last few months,” said Christie Campaign Manager Bill Stepien.  “It's a shame that some saw fit to spend taxpayer dollars trying to knock good candidates off of the ballot.”

Franklin Mayor Brian D. Levine

TRENTON – The gubernatorial candidacy of Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine appeared close to an end tonight as the Republican left an administrative law judge’s court room in New Brunswick facing the prospect of several hundred of his petition signatures not meeting muster with the Board of Elections.

F. Michael Daly, an attorney from Camden, admitted under oath that the campaign of Steve Lonegan paid him to challenge many of Levine’s 1,325 submitted signatures.

Today, a judge rendered close to a hundred of Levine’s signatures invalid, with another 300-400 questionable heading into another session tomorrow. Many of the signatures were of people who are either registered as Democrats or unregistered.

A dip below the 1,000 threshold would knock Levine out of the contest.

Fellow long-shot candidate David Brown of South Brunswick also hangs in the balance on a similar challenge put to his signatures by Lonegan ally Daly.

New Jersey will have contested primaries for Governor, for two State Senate seats, and in 23 districts for the State Assembly.

Gov. Jon Corzine will face three opponents in the Democratic primary as he seeks a second term as Governor - the first incumbent to have a primary challenge since Brendan Byrne ran for re-election in 1977.  Corzine faces former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, Phillipsburg businessman Roger Bacon, and Jeffrey Boss, who ran for President in 2008 saying that he witnessed the U.S. government planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Five Republicans filed to run for Governor: former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Mayor Brian Levine, and David Brown, an inventor from South Brunswick.  Newark businessman Dennis Knight and Morris County Freeholder James Murray, mentioned as potential gubernatorial candidates, did not submit nominating petitions.

Two Republicans filed to challenge State Sen. James Beach (D-Voorhees) in a special election in the sixth district:  former Magnolia Mayor Joseph Adolf, who ran and lost two years ago, and Joseph Welsh of Haddonfield, who will run on a Lonegan slate.   Beach won a special election convention in January to replace John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who was elected to Congress.

In District 23, State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) will face a primary challenge from Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford).  Karrow won the seat in a January special election convention, defeating Doherty for the seat of Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), who resigned to take his seat in Congress.

The Assembly primaries:

Roger Bacon, a 61-year-old Phillipsburg businessman, campaigning for the Democratic nomination for Congress in 2008. Bacon has filed petitions to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine in the 2009 Democratic primary.

Candidates seeking to run in the Democratic and Republican primaries for Governor, State Assembly, and county and local office must file nominating petitions by 4PM today.  There are also special elections for State Senate in districts 6 and 23.  Independent candidates have until 4PM on June 2 to file for the general election.

Filing to run against Gov. Jon Corzine in the Democratic primary are Roger Bacon and Jeff Boss.  Bacon, a Phillipsburg resident who runs a customized ceramic mug business, won 7% in the Democratic congressional primary in the fifth district last year.  A former Republican, he was the Libertarian candidate for Congress against Marge Roukema fourteen years ago.  Boss ran for President and U.S. Senate in 2008 and said he witnessed the U.S. government planning the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.  Corzine and another announced Democratic primary candidate, former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, had not filed their petitions as of Friday.

On the Republican side, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and David Brown, an inventor from South Brunswick, have filed petitions.  Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) and Franklin Mayor Brian Levine are also expected to file.  Newark businessman Dennis Knight had announced his candidacy late last year, but has not made any campaign appearances.

Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Executive Director Fred Hermann calls it "Selection Tuesday."

The commission, which requires all candidates who receive public campaign funds to participate in two debates, will farm out the hosting of the Republican gubernatorial primary debate to two applicants on Tuesday, April 7.

Three television stations that are partnered with newspapers, civic groups and a public university have applied for the two spots. 

In one corner are the ABC affiliates from New York and Philadelphia, who applied to host the debate along with the League of Women Voters of New Jersey.  In another is My9, whose reach is limited to the New York media market but has the added heft of being partnered with the state's two biggest dailies: The Star-Ledger and The Record, and William Paterson University.  Finally, there's NJN, working in collaboration with The Asbury Park Press and The Philadelphia Inquirer - which has hosted an ELEC gubernatorial debate each year since the commission started requiring them in 1989.

So far, it looks like only two candidates will be eligible to participate: former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.  The other three, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine and entrepreneur David Brown, are not likely to raise the $340,000 necessary to qualify for public financing, making them ineligible to participate.

Christie, who as the frontrunner in the race might stand to benefit by facing more candidates than just his closest rival, said that he would like to see the other three Republican candidates participate as well.

"I can tell you how difficult it is to raise money out there, and I don't think money should be involved in the decision at all," he said.  "I've watched Rick Merkt, Brian Levine and Dave Brown travel all over the state."

The ELEC commissioners will consider a number of factors in picking the two winners, according to Hermann: the networks' audience reach, pre-debate publicity, time slots, audience selection (if there is an audience) and geography.

The news out of the Somerset County Republican convention tonight was that Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) finished in third place, far ahead of favorite son Brian Levine, the Mayor of Franklin Township.  Merkt received 28 votes, and just ten votes were cast for Levine.   There are 94 County Committee seats in Franklin, though it was not reported how many seats are filled and how many attended tonight's convention.

Christie was endorsed today by Levine's home town GOP Municipal Chairman, Bob LaCorte.

At the end of this GOP convention cycle - a process that has been mostly public agony for those gubernatorial candidates not named Chris Christie - the Somerset County Republican Committee will back the former U.S. Attorney.

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan showed he has some legs left here as the candidates head beyond the county committee processes (with the sole convention of Hunterdon remaining next Tuesday) on their way to connect with voters prior to the June Primary. 

But Christie still dusted him.

At the organization's convention in Bridgewater tonight, Christie received 204 votes, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan received 56 votes, Assemblyman Richard Merkt got 28, Franklin Mayor Brian D. Levine 10, and inventor David Brown 1.

In a contested freeholder race, the committee will go to a second ballot vote to decide between Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter and Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione.

Either Carpenter or Scaglione will run with incumbent Freeholder Jack Ciattarelli. 

Former prosecutor Thomas Roughneen is out.