Dennis Levinson

“Corruption has swirled around Atlantic City for decades and honest government has been an elusive concept in the resort community. But a tough ordinance modeled on the Atlantic County pay-to-play ordinance is exactly what will deliver clean and good government to the taxpayers of Atlantic City. They deserve nothing less.”

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“Atlantic County under Republican Leadership has managed every taxpayer dollar with a prudence and efficiency that is second to none,” said Freeholder Chairman Jim Curcio. “A decade worth of perfect audits by four different auditing firms have now confirmed what we have already known for a very long time now…Atlantic County has the finest run county government in the State of New Jersey.”

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State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos will serve as Chairman of Christopher Christie's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor, and four of the five Republicans in the state congressional delegation will serve as Co-Chairmen.

U.S. Reps. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), Frank LoBiondo (R-Vineland), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) and Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) are also part of Christie's statewide leadership team.

"I am honored to stand with Chris Christie in his noble fight to bring genuine reform to New Jersey," said Kyrillos, who served as GOP State Chairman from 2001 to 2004.   "There is no doubt that Chris Christie will unify not only our party, but all New Jerseyans.  This team speaks to his regional and ideological appeal all across the state." 

Smith called Christie "a man of honor, integrity, and backbone."

"He has the skills and ability to lead our state during this time of turmoil and economic struggle," said Smith, a Congressman since 1981.

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In last year’s election for Atlantic County executive, Sheriff Jim McGettigan, a Democrat, lost to incumbent Republican Dennis Levinson by a margin of nearly 2-1. 

The race was largely seen as a disaster for McGettigan, who despite being well-funded by Democrats hoping to topple the state’s only Republican county executive, made one campaign misstep after another.  He wound up losing by a margin that he had won by in his five past sheriff’s races.

This year, Republicans are hoping that the unsuccessful county executive race took enough of a toll on McGettigan’s popularity to put his 15 year hold on the sheriff’s office to an end.  And they’ve fielded Pleasantville Administrative Captain Frank Balles, who’s never sought elected office before, to make it happen. 

“It definitely made him more vulnerable.  It exposed him,” said Balles, who started mulling the sheriff’s bid before McGettigan announced his county executive candidacy. “The problem is that the common citizen has no idea what the sheriff’s department actually does.”

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Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson will not run for U.S. Senate and will instead back Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue for the seat. 

“He’s a dynamic young man, wants to get involved,” said Levinson, who received a courtesy phone call from Unanue today.  “He comes forward without the political baggage that so many of our candidates have.  It’s exactly the way things should be.”

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The candidate the GOP establishment wanted -- Andy Unanue, a 40-year-old self-funding conservative millionaire Latino from Bergen County – began informing party leaders on Easter Sunday that he would enter the U.S. Senate race.  That gives those party leaders who were actively seeking an alternative to State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) and Ron Paul campaign leader Murray Sabrin a viable choice in the race to challenge Frank Lautenberg. 

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State Sen. Joe Pennacchio never had the enthusiastic support of most party leaders for his U.S. Senate candidacy. But just as it seemed like they had no option other than to coalesce around him instead of rival candidate Murray Sabrin, the latest turn in the campaign has caused several leaders to make one last push for a Senate candidate.

The reemergence of Pennacchio’s controversial 1991 booklet yesterday as a campaign issue has worried the party leaders who were already reluctant to get on board with Pennacchio, and they have renewed their efforts to find an alternate candidate. Although the existence of the book was known to many party leaders, many had not read it until Sabrin released it yesterday. Some fear that incumbent Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg will have a field day with the material, leading to a Lautenberg landslide that could spell trouble for their down-ballot candidates.

“We’re still fishing, we just haven’t gotten a fish,” said one Republican official who wished to remain anonymous. “We’ve got a lot of bait in the water.”

It’s a valid concern, according to Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray.

“This is how Democrats win landslide elections in New Jersey -- by having the ability to paint the Republicans as ideologically out of touch with the state,” said Murray, who noted two statewide races in which Democrats were able to successfully portray their opponents as ideologues: Democrat Jim Florio did against Republican Jim Courter in 1989, as did Democrat Jim McGreevey against Republican Brett Schundler in 2001.

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Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson is expected to announce his endorsement of John McCain for the GOP presidential nomination later today.  Levinson won re-election in 2007 by a 2-1 margin. Read More >

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