The three remaining competitors in the 25th Legislative District GOP Primary deny that the absence of Randolph Councilman Gary Algeier from the race will significantly alter their battlefield strategies.

Algeier, a Morristown-based attorney, dropped his Assembly bid this week.

“The decision is based upon a significant change in my professional life which renders it impractical to continue this candidacy,” he said in a statement. “The decision was most difficult, not because of my own personal situation, but more because of all the work and commitment that my supporters have provided to the campaign for the Assembly Seat.

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township) never minded bucking the system, so Morris GOP Chair John Sette’s endorsement of two rival primary candidates landed with no crushing force.  

“John Sette is entitled to his opinion,” said Carroll. “I’m sorry he feels that way.  I would have appreciated the courtesy of a phone call instead of reading it cold. ...The truth is, I would be honored to serve with any of the three other men running for this office.” 

As he assessed the field of four candidates pursuing two seats in the 25th District, Sette complained about Carroll’s boast that he was going to Trenton to “do nothing.”

In his bid for a seat in the 25th Legislative District, Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana today announced the support of 13 of the district’s 15 Republican mayors. 

They are: Cyril Wekilsky of Boonton; Thomas Donadio of Boonton Twp.; P. Ted Hussa of Denville Twp.; Russell Felter of Jefferson Twp.; Frank Cioppettini of Mendham Twp.; Richard Leary of Mine Hill Twp.; Arthur Ondish of Mt. Arlington; Stephen Shaw of Mountain Lakes; Kathyann Snyder of Rockaway Borough; Louis Sceusi of Rockaway Twp.; Kathy DeFllippo of Roxbury Twp.; Betty Simmons of Victory Gardens; and William Chegwidden of Wharton. 

“I am humbled to have the support of these community leaders, with whom I’ve worked to help provide good government for the citizens of Morris County,” said Cabana, who is running in a field of four candidates in pursuit of two seats, including one left vacant by retiring Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), a Republican candidate for governor.

MOUNTAIN LAKES – They’ve seen other candidates in neighboring districts arrive at the brink of running and then back down with the awful idea of a bad economy turning even worse. For if there’s nobility in serving the public, there is also the catastrophic fear of accepting that service to the detriment of the more foundational forces of job and family.

What’s the good of circulating a glossy mailer advertising first-rate business credentials and a great looking family, when in fact the family sits at home with no food on the table because dad is out pouring the contents of their nest egg into his campaign, and a once thriving but now unmanned business simultaneously goes belly up?

Yet as hard as it is to run, to pick up the phone and beg for money in a flat-lined economy, the four 25th District Republican primary candidates in pursuit of two seats – all attorneys who fulfill at least some government contract work, some more than others - are going anyway, lousy economy be damned.

“We’re in the early stages of this campaign, and I’m in whether I raise $10 or $100,000,” said Randolph Councilman Gary Algeier, who intends to rely on writing columns and door-to-door campaigning probably more than fundraising.

MOUNTAIN LAKES – Kicking off his 25th District Assembly campaign at the centrally situated and styling Zeris Inn on the side of Highway 46, Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana summoned the forces of government to stand with him at the front of the big, packed room. 

It was a potent demonstration of political heft as Republican freeholders Jack Schrier, John Murphy, William Chegwidden, Gene Feyl, former freeholders William Druetzler and John Inglesino and others crowded in behind Cabana, facing a room that contained no fewer than 10 Morris County mayors not to mention deputy mayors and their dates and/or wives and council people and their significant others and attendant staff, political operatives, a sheriff’s surrogate, other former freeholders and elected officials and County Clerk Joan Bramhall. 

All arrayed against bloated government. 

“I stand with you tonight with the leadership of our county,” said Cabana, a municipal prosecutor and elected official going back 20 years to when he first served on the committee of Boonton Township, a northern Morris County mountain town.

Gary Algeier, a former two-term Randolph Township Mayor and 12-year veteran of Council, today formally announced his candidacy for State Assembly in the 25th Legislative District.

“Service in the State Legislature will continue a long tradition of community service,” said Algeier campaign manager Allen Napoliello. “Under Gary’s leadership, Randolph created Randolph’s award winning Freedom Park, preserved over 1000 acres of Open Space and Farmland, and has been a leader in shared services. Mr. Algeier is well known for his leadership in opposing the unreasonable quotas imposed by the Council on Affordable Housing."

Veteran Randolph Township Councilman Gary Algeier today will officially enter the Republican primary for the Assembly in the 25th Legislative District, according to sources.

 Mulling the possibility of a run for some time now, Algeier informally announced his intentions to members of the Randolph Republican Club on Wednesday night. A Morristown attorney, the long-serving councilman is in a four-way contest for two assembly seats with Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), attorney Tony Bucco (son of veteran state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris) and Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana.

Morris County political insiders say the race for the vacated assembly seat in District 25 will come down to Tony Bucco and Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana, both of Boonton Township. 

Bucco, son of state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), officially entered the race late last year, and his brother-in-law, Cabana, is set to kick-off his own campaign on Jan. 13th. 

But Randolph Councilman Gary Algeier, who three years ago pursued an unsucessful run for freeholder, says don’t count him out of the assembly contest. 

“A lot of people have asked me but I haven’t made a decision yet,” he told PolitickerNJ.com. “At the moment, I’m keeping my options open. With Rick Merkt stepping down, it opens a lot of possibilities.”