Diane Allen

New Jersey's off-year elections and the competitive gubernatorial contest have stalled the start of the 2010 cycle.  That's great news for U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who still has no Republican opponent in a district that sent a Republican to Congress for 124 consecutive years until Adler won it with 52% in 2008.  Days after Adler won the seat last year, former major league baseball star Al Leiter said he would not run.  And last May, a millionaire self-funder the GOP was recruiting, Moorestown investor John Culbertson, said he would not run.

Adler's fundraising prowess is likely to scare away top tier challengers, like State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park), who some insiders would have won the seat last year if a local GOP feud hadn't kept her out of the race.  Adler raised $404,406 over the last three months and has amassed a $1,193,061 war chest; he raised more money than any other freshman Congressman. Unless there is a Republican Governor who can help level the financial playing field, it's possible that this seat won't be seriously contested.

New Jersey Republicans admit that there is little possibility they'll turn over control of the Assembly this year, but they have hyped their chances in some sleeper districts where they don't typically compete.

Fundraising reports released today show that some money is being raised in those purported sleeper districts, but not much. 

In the 4th District, Republicans Domenick DiCicco and Eugene Lawrence have raised $69,887 - most of which comes from attorneys all over the country.  That's about half of the $134,473 incumbent Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Twp.) and newcomer Democratic running mate Bill Collins have raised. 

"Obviously District 4 is a place where we expect to do well," said Republican State Chairman Jay Webber.

Republicans haven't talked much about District 7, which is considered a Democratic district even though GOP Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) has won there five times.  But their Assembly candidates there - Leah Arter and Harry Adams - have raised almost $90,000 and have spent $77,263 (The Assembly Republican Victory committee took enough notice to donate almost $5,000). The two Republican candidates have $12,250 on hand. 

Chris Russell, a political consultant for Arter and Adams, said the campaign against incumbents Herbert Conaway (D-Delanco) and Jack Conners (D-Pennsauken) is "under the rader." 

"We know the district is difficult, but we figure the only way to put them is position is the old fashioned way," said Russell, who cited the candidates' aggressive ground game.   "If they're in position, we'll strike, and I think right now, they're definitely outworking Conaway and Connors on the ground."

Conners and Conaway have raised a combined $196,603 and have about $53,000 on hand. 

District 14 was supposed to be one of the Republicans' top races this year, but their recruitment efforts fell through after Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede dropped out at the last minute.

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Senator Diane Allen provided the following comment when an informal survey of state authorities found that their high-paid, non-union patronage employees are not required to engage in furloughs similar to those imposed on rank and file state employees.

The informal survey indicates that there are no furlough policies in place for non-union employees at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the Waterfront Commission, or many other state authorities, some of which are heavily subsidized by taxes paid by private employees and public employees alike.

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Less than sixty weeks remain before the 2010 midterm elections, and Republicans still don't have a candidate to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) in a district they held continuously from 1884 to 2008, and where their candidate won 48% of the vote in the last election.  During his first six months in office, Adler raised more than any other House freshman, and had $869,275 cash on hand as of his last report.  If the GOP were to pick their candidate today, he/she would need to raise $25,000 a week for the next year just to remain financially viable.

PARSIPPANY, NJ – Today, Senator Diane Allen released the following statement on Jon Corzine’s attempts to unfairly influence the ELEC debate schedule:

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie kept gubernatorial politics out of his initial statement on the resignation of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown, leaving the task to his running mate for lieutenant governor, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno. 

Brown resigned a week after her ongoing repayment of a $46,000 loan Christie gave her two years ago was first reported.  

"Michele Brown is a career prosecutor who has worked at the U.S. Attorney's office for 18 years, serving both Democratic and Republican presidents.  Michele's long and distinguished record of public service is impressive, and during that time she's shown herself to be a fair and respected federal prosecutor among judges, adversaries and her peers," said Christie.  "Her efforts have been instrumental to all the success the U.S. Attorney's office has had and her work ethic, determination and outstanding legal background will be missed by all those she has worked with over the years.  I know Michele will continue to be a success at whatever she chooses for her next challenge.”

It was Guadagno who blamed Governor Corzine for impugning Brown and forcing her to end "an acclaimed career."

"It is despicable that Jon Corzine has stooped so low to try to win re-election that he's aimed the negative attacks of his hired guns on a dedicated public servant who made it her life's mission to serve the people of New Jersey as a corruption-fighter," she said.  " As candidates willingly running for office, we expect this kind of mudslinging, but we don't expect it to be aimed at someone who has made a career serving both Democrats and Republicans in the best interest of the public good. Jon Corzine should be ashamed that he has smeared a respected federal prosecutor's name and forced her to end an acclaimed career in the sole interest of scoring petty political points."

Peter Cammarano, elected Mayor of Hoboken in June by a narrow margin and gone in July after federal prosecutors arrested him for taking bribes, seemed to believe that he was on his way to political stardom.  While still a candidate for Mayor, Cammarano appeared to be planning a bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor.  The events that led to the resignation late last night of Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr were tied to Cammarano's empire building strategy.  Perr, it seems, was to be Cammarano's man in South Jersey. 

Just a week before Cammarano was arrested, he had a lunch meeting with a group of about a dozen young Democrats from different parts of the state to talk about his statewide prospects.  Perr was there.  Perr even sent out an e-mail to Democratic donors talking up Cammarano and seeking contributions to his campaign.  He did this while Republicans were outspending Democrats in Evesham by a 4-1 margin as they won back control in the May elections - a move that truly annoyed some key South Jersey Democrats.

Perr had personal political ambitions too.  He aggressively lobbied party leaders to win the Democratic nomination for Congress last year when it appeared that Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) would not return to the House.  Sources say that in a Global Strategy poll paid for by the Burlington Democratic organization, Perr tested himself as a potential candidate for State Senator in District 8, where the conventional wisdom is that Philip Haines (R-Springfield) will resign later this year to become a Superior Court Judge.  The poll showed that Perr had little name ID and that the leading Republican candidate, former Medford Mayor Christopher Myers, was beating him by a huge margin.  Sources say that Perr ally Jeff Meyer, a lobbyist who quit as party Treasurer because of his ties to a PAC that was helping Cammarano, was himself eyeing a run for State Senate against Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) in two years.

After a tough week answering questions about his loan to his former employee, career federal prosecutor Michele Brown, Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie this afternoon tried  to change the subject with an offensive on Gov. Jon Corzine, accusing the Democratic incumbent of engineering an income reporting loophole that allowed major corporations like Enron to hide debt.

When Corzine was CEO of Goldman Sachs in the 1990s, Christie said, he was integral in creating Monthly Income Preferred Securities (MIPS), which provided a way for corporations to make debt look like equity, and later lobbied President Bill Clinton in a letter, also signed by 34 others, against reigning the practice in.

"The Governor, as CEO of Goldman Sachs, personally lobbied to get a tax loophole for Enron to make debt look like equity.  What this did was contribute, as you all know, to the precipitous fall of Enron when things that looked like equity turned out to be debt," said Christie during a conference call with reporters."

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie in between state Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove), left, and state Sen. Brian P. Stack (D-Union City).

News about GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's failure to disclose a loan to a former employee and report the income on his federal income tax and fallout from his pre-campaign discussions with Karl Rove have Democrats alert to shifting terrain in the gubernatorial election even if they remain guarded about the outcome.

Ahead by double digits through the bulk of the summer, Republicans say the headlines are inevitable campaign turbulence, and not even close to death spiral spasms.

"We'll continue to work contrasts between Jon Corzine and Chris Christie," said Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, who wouldn't identify this week as the first time in the cycle that Gov. Jon Corzine has appeared to have climbed off the political cold slab, a condition some polls have shown the governor to be in since he and Christie officially started their head-to-head rivalry back in June.

State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) today stepped up the optimism.

"At this point it's a horse race, but I'm feeling very confident the governor will be successful," said the chair of the Senate Budget Committee and a prospective candidate for lieutenant governor until Corzine picked her colleague, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).

Buono toured Indian-American businesses with Corzine today on Oak Tree Road in Edison in her first campaign appearance with the governor since failing to lock up the LG spot.

Senator Diane Allen, R-Burlington, was angered by reports that the Corzine administration has decided to withhold the details of investigations conducted after a child under the supervision of the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) dies from abuse or neglect. The new policy of less disclosure was reported today in the Star-Ledger of Newark.

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