Glenn Paulsen

“Rather than vehemently attacking every individual or organization that supports us, Republicans Bruce Garganio and Mary Ann O'Brien can help County government by calling on their own party to clean up their act,” said Bernard.  “Did they lose Freeholder-Director Donnelly’s phone number? They can walk across the street from their campaign office to the County building, where many of their high-priced GOP cronies also work, and join us in calling for a reduction to political patronage salaries.

State Sen. Diane Allen, left, says she will consider a challenge to freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler, right, in 2010

Now that state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) is no longer in the running for lieutenant governor, she's a top prospect to run against freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) next year - at least among Burlington County Republicans.

"The organization would whole-heartedly support Diane Allen if she decided to run for Congress," said Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton.

Allen, a moderate Republican who consistently wins reelection easily in a district with a two-to-one Democratic registration advantage, has fought bitterly over the years with former chairman Glenn Paulsen and more recently Layton, his close ally.  The party divide even sunk her fledgling bid for the House in late 2007, with the Paulsen/Layton faction instead recruiting Lockheed Martin executive Chris Myers, who became the nominee.

"Now is not the time in my life that I feel prepared to again fight a Democrat opponent as well as a rogue faction of the Burlington County Republican Party simultaneously," Allen said when she announced in late 2007 that she would not seek the open House seat>

But Layton says he's intent on letting bygones be bygones.

"In politics, sometimes you have your differences, but you put them aside and try to do the best thing for the party," he said.

Myers, who lost narrowly to Adler in 2008, may be in line for a state Senate seat if state Sen. Phil Haines (R-Springfield) is appointed to a Superior Court judgeship.  He would likely have a lot of support if he decided to run for Congress again, but he is not expected to.

Allen remains non-committal about running, but she leaves the possibility open.

"It is kind of early, and truthfully it's just nothing I've given any thought to," she said.

Allen said that her decision will depend on whether Adler does a good job addressing the district's issues.

"It's exactly how the GOP has worked for the last 30 years," said Sarcone. "If you are a ‘team player,' you will be rewarded with powerful, lucrative political positions in many different areas of the county that control appointments and the awarding of contracts.

"Bill’s decision to leave the Burlington County GOP is in line with the values, principles and ethics he risked his life to defend and today’s scurrilous attack is an affront to every veteran, taxpayer and resident of Burlington County.”

If Christopher Christie becomes the Republican nominee for Governor, he'll have thirty days to decide on a running mate.  Republican leaders close to the former U.S. Attorney seem to think the race for Lt. Governor is down to two finalists: Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park), with Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan sitting third on the list.

Kean's fledgling candidacy is helped by his previous statewide experience and his knowledge of state issues.  He was the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2006, and while he sometimes struggled as a candidate - his avoidance of reporters in an Atlantic City elevator comes to find - his 44% in a bad Republican year had to be a growing experience.  And he's been vetted by the thorough opposition research of Bob Menendez, which means it is unlikely that anything in Kean's background would embarrass Christie.

He has won good reviews for his role as Senate Republican leader from colleagues who view him as more partisan and more aggressive than his predecessor, Leonard Lance.  He seems well-liked, and understands vast details of state government - a quality that might be a good balance for Christie, who has served as a Freeholder and as a federal prosecutor.

The 40-year-old Kean comes from a prominent political family: his father served two terms as Governor and later as Drew University President and as Chairman of the 9/11 Commission; his grandfather was a ten-term Congressman, and his great-grandfather served in the United States Senate.

But Kean's greatest weakness as a candidate for Lt. Governor is his natural hesitation to be an attack dog.  While he has become more combative since his 2006 defeat, he is not exactly the kind of guy who will criticize Democrats just for being Democrats.  He's often reluctant to get his hands dirty.  Kean may not attract voters that Christie won't get on his own, but he won't hurt Christie either.

Allen, 61, has a legitimate base in South Jersey, where she was well known as a television news anchorwoman for a Philadelphia network affiliate before launching a career in politics in 1995.  She has won five races in a district that has elected Democrats to the Assembly for the last twelve years, and got received seasoning as a candidate for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 2002.  She helps Christie in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties - places Republicans will need to better than they have in recent statewide elections if they want to beat Gov. Jon Corzine.  And Allen might be more willing than Kean to be act in a fiercely partisan manner.

State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) is widely mentioned as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor if Chris Christie wins the GOP primary.

One major obstacle for Diane Allen as a potential candidate for Lieutenant Governor is the objection of Burlington County Republican leaders who have been feuding with the popular South Jersey State Senator from the last two years.  Allen, a former TV anchorwoman has proven herself as a strong vote-getter in the suburban Philadelphia region, winning five successive general elections in a Democratic-leaning district.

Allen nearly entered the race for Congress in 2008 after Jim Saxton announced his retirement, but withdrew when it became apparent that her home county organization would not support her.  Some pundits think that Allen would have kept the seat in Republican hands against Democrat John Adler, who won the seat 52%-48% against the lesser known Christopher Myers. The same pundits say that Allen’s presence on the ballot might have prevented Republicans from losing two Freeholder seats and the County Clerk’s office.

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."

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats now govern six of those counties, and only Gilmore and Florio remain in power.

In 1999, Bergen Republicans controlled the County Executive post (Schuber won re-election in '98), had a majority on the Freeholder Board, and had GOP State Senators in districts 38, 39 and 40.  Democrats won the County Executive office when Schuber retired in 2002, and now hold all seven Freeholder seats; County Clerk Kathleen Donovan is the lone Republican elected countywide.  And Gerald Cardinale is the lone Republican Senator from Bergen County.

Much has been made of State Sen. Diane Allen’s (R-Burlington) lack of involvement in the tight 3rd Congressional race, where Republican Medford Mayor Chris Myers is running against State Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill).

But while Allen is much more committed to State Sen. Leonard Lance’s (R-Flemington) Congressional race, which is far outside of her district, she said today that she’s still voting for Myers, and even personally donated $250 to him within the last week or two.

“I have sat down with [Myers] and any time he asked me any questions on strategy and along those lines I gave him my best bit of information,” she said.

State Sen. Diane Allen, recovering from pneumonia that has sidelined her for much of the year, says she has no plans to retireState Sen. Diane Allen set the record straight today, denying rumors that she’s considering retirement due to health issues.

“There is no truth to that. Absolutely not,” said Allen in a phone interview this morning.

Allen has been suffering through a severe bout of pneumonia for most of the year, which has left her unable to attend some legislative sessions, including recent ones on the budget. It also kept her from considering a U.S. Senate bid earlier this year after she was courted by party leaders to replace Anne Evans Estabrook, who pulled out of the race after suffering a minor stroke.