Diane Allen

"Is he nuts? Does he really think women are so stupid that they would vote for a candidate based on looks? Or does he just think that saying women are dumb is funny? Either way, if he wants the votes of Atlantic County women, he is going about it the wrong way." - State Senator Diane Allen (R-7)

State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington) said today that she is probably not interested in a seat on the soon-to-be-expanded Senate Judiciary Committee.

“When you change committees you have to give up one, and while I think Judiciary would be an excellent committee, I would be hard pressed to give up one of the two I have,” said Allen, who is the ranking Republican on the Education Committee and the second ranking minority party member of the Health Committee.  

Under a rules change proposed by Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) and agreed to by Republicans, the Judiciary Committee will add two new senators, one Republican and one Democrat, to expand its membership from 11 to 13.

TRENTON - A bipartisan measure sponsored by Senators Loretta Weinberg and Diane Allen which would require county political committees to adopt and distribute a constitution and bylaws ensuring fairness and the rights of members has been approved by the full Senate.

   "This legislation is an important step in the right direction toward full accountability on every level of government," said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen, who is a long-time advocate of open government.  "The fact that this measure has the bipartisan support of Senator Allen and myself, as well as that of a number of county leaders shows that greater transparency is long overdue."

TRENTON – Key Assembly Democrats this week said they would like to expunge at least two of the more controversial elements of Gov. Jon Corzine’s budget proposal: the one-year property tax deduction on income taxes and the request for property tax rebate freezes for non-senior homeowners making over $75,000 and reexamine alternatives.

“I’m not certain the property tax deduction will be in the budget when it’s done,” said Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville). “We have to try to embrace these things as temporary measures, but my own personal suggestion on how we get through this is we may have to borrow money to get the state through its current economic crisis.

“I know it’s near heresy to say that, and in normal times that’s true, but now we ought to at least seriously consider borrowing. Against the pension fund? Sure, at least examine it. There are a variety of vehicles we have.”   

Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton doubts his party will have to defend two open freeholder seats this year, when control of the board hanging in the balance.  But even if they do, Layton said it won't make a difference.

"It doesn't matter if there are two vacancies or not. Last year we lost an election because of Barack Obama, and this year that dynamic has changed.  We have Chris Christie at the top of the ticket," he said.

Both Jim Wujcik and Bill Haines - the only freeholders up for reelection -- are mulling retirement.

While Layton was less certain about Wujcik, he was confident that Haines would decide to give it another go.

"Bill Haines has been a great freeholder, and he's contemplated running for reelection a few times during the last couple elections he's run," Layton said.  "I think he indicated pretty clearly that he's interested in running and a lot of things changed when Aubrey [Fenton] and Stacey [Jordan] lost."

At their election night party in Mount Laurel, while Burlington County Democrats were ecstatically watching the best returns they've seen in recent memory roll in, local Democratic chairman Rick Perr followed newly minted Congressman-Elect John Adler's (D-Cherry Hill) victory speech with a joke that lent a sobering reminder to an otherwise heady atmosphere.

"Hey John, when does re-election start?" he said.

The answer: immediately. 

After losing a seat that their party held for 124 years, national Republicans have stressed to local party leaders that they should start fielding potential challengers to Adler as soon as possible.  Not that they needed to tell that to Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore and Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton, who head up the GOP in the two counties that dominate the 3rd Congressional District (Camden County has one town, Cherry Hill, in the district).

Pat Schuber, 61, now a college professor, served as Bergen County Executive, Assemblyman, and Mayor of Bogota between 1972 and 2002.

Gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie dropped a major hint yesterday about his choice of a running mate if he wins the June primary: he said his Lieutenant Governor would chair the “New Jersey Partnership for Action,” leading an agency that will “create an effective infrastructure for economic growth.”  If Christie intends to have his LG play a key role in the state’s economic recovery – not necessarily a bad idea – then it could mean that he does not intend to pick an LG candidate based on geographical, gender, racial, or ideological balance.  Christie could be looking for someone out of the private sector, or someone with executive experience.

Could former Bergen County Executive William "Pat" Schuber come out of retirement to run for Lt. Governor?  Schuber is a friend of the former U.S. Attorney and of his top advisor, William Palatucci.  And while Schuber has been out of office for seven years -- something that could be turned into a positive -- he is likely to still have a following among independent voters in Bergen County that could be criticial to Christie's general election success.

TRENTON – A bi-partisan measure sponsored by Senators Loretta Weinberg and Diane Allen which would require county political committees to adopt and distribute a constitution and bylaws ensuring fairness and the rights of members was approved today by the Senate State Government Committee.

“I am pleased to note that this bill has the bi-partisan support of various county leaders,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. “This measure is a small but important step toward increasing accountability and transparency in government and in our parties on the county level, by allowing members to ensure that the nomination process is as fair as possible.”
“It is vitally important that the county and state political committees are open, transparent and accessible to everyone,” said Senator Allen, R-Burlington. “In order to run an honest government first we must have a transparent government. We should expect no less from our political parties. It is the only way to regain the public trust, and it is the only way to open up government to everyone.”

Some pundits view State Sen. Diane Allen, with U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, as the strongest potential Republican challenger to freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler in 2010.

New Jersey Republicans will face some pressure from the national GOP over the next few months to settle on their candidate to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) in 2010.  Adler won the seat of retiring twelve-term Republican Jim Saxton last year with 52% -- the first Democrat to win the seat since Thomas Ferrell ousted two-term Republican George Robeson with 50.1% in 1882.

Republicans think they can beat Adler next year, but the National Republican Congressional Committee is sending signals that they want the candidate in place soon so that he or she can begin fundraising.  That's what Adler did in 2006, before Saxton had announced his intention to retire.  If the third district Republican candidate does not meet certain early fundraising goals, sources say that the NRCC might not become fully engaged in the race, according to one House Republican staffer familiar with NRCC operations.