James E. McGreevey

Gov. Jon Corzine, trailing his Republican opponent in a bid for re-election, has asked veteran Democratic strategist Jamie Fox to take a senior role in his campaign, Democratic sources say.  Democrats say that Fox would be an addition to the team and stressed that it is not a campaign shakeup.  Fox would not replace any of the existing campaign staff, and sources say that Corzine's longtime Chief of Staff, Tom Shea, and strategist Steve DeMicco will be staying on.

Fox, sources say, has not yet made a final decision to accept.

Over the next two weeks, the Corzine campaign is expected to bring several well-known operatives on to their staff in a full-time capacity.  The moves are expected to engage some key Democratic constituencies that have been less than enthusiastic over the governor's bid for a second term. 

The 55-year-old Fox served as Chief of Staff to Gov. James E. McGreevey and to U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli.  He was the Executive Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, state Commissioner of Transportation, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg's state director, and Deputy Chief of Staff to Gov. Jim Florio.  Prior to opening a lobbying firm, Fox was the Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

He took a leave from his firm last September to join Barack Obama's campaign, and was sent to Florida as a senior advisor.  John McCain had an 8-point lead in Florida before Fox arrived; Obama won the state by 2.5 points.

The well liked and talented Dunstan McNichol, who spent fifteen years as a Star-Ledger and The Record statehouse reporter before taking a buyout last year, has joined Bloomberg as their New Jersey state government reporter.  McNichol was part of the Star-Ledger team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for their coverage of Gov. James E. McGreevey's resignation.

Christopher Christie, leading Gov. Jon Corzine 50%-40% in today's Quinnipiac University poll, is the first Republican in twelve years to lead in a statewide race in June, and is likely the first Republican since Thomas Kean, Sr. in 1985 to be at 50% just after the primary election.

Past Quinnipiac University polls:

PolitickerNJ.com's Matt Friedman had an interesting observation during his coverage of the Republican gubernatorial debate.  He notes that Christopher Christie, "in recounting the damage he says has been done by seven years of Democratic governors," skips Richard Codey - he goes from James E. McGreevey straight to Jon Corzine. 

Independent candidates for Governor: Pastor Shannon Wright (top) and former DEP Commissioner Chris Daggett

Two Independent gubernatorial candidates worth watching: former Commissioner of Environmental Protection Christopher Daggett, who will formally announce his candidacy on Monday, and Pastor Shannon Wright, who will enter the race tomorrow.  Daggett is a Republican who served in the cabinet of Gov. Thomas Kean and as Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Reagan administration, could pull votes from the GOP nominee for Governor.  Wright, who until yesterday was managing Republican Brian Levine's campaign for Governor, potentially draws African-American votes away from Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

Daggett and Wright will need to raise $340,000 in contributions of $3,400 or less in order to qualify for public financing and participate in the debate.

In New Jersey, independent statewide candidates traditionally do not fare well.  The only independent candidate to qualify for matching funds was Murray Sabrin, a Ramapo College Professor who ran as the Libertarian candidate for Governor in 1997.  Sabrin won 5% of the vote in his race against incumbent Christine Todd Whitman and her Democratic challenger, then-State Sen. James E. McGreevey.  A conservative, Richard Pezzullo, won 1% in the same race

In 2001, Bill Schluter, an incumbent Republican State Senator from Mercer County, mounted an independent bid for Governor.  He used the same campaign team that had elected Jesse Ventura in Minnesota three years earlier, but won just 1% of the vote against McGreevey and Republican Bret Schundler, the former Mayor of Jersey City. 

In 1981, eleven independent candidates combined to win 27,038 votes (1%); the Right to Life candidate, Bill Gahres, was the top vote getter with 4,525 votes.  Republican Thomas Kean beat Democrat Jim Florio in that race by just 1,797 votes statewide.

Former Attorney General John Farmer is expected to be the new dean of Rutgers Law School

John Farmer, Jr., who was the Governor of New Jersey for a little more than an hour on January 8, 2002, is expected to be named Dean of the Rutgers University Law School today.  Farmer served as Chief Counsel to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and then as state Attorney General under Whitman and Donald DiFrancesco.   He was Governor for the hour between the end of DiFrancesco's term as a State Senator (which ended his tenure as Acting Governor) and the reorganization of the Senate.  Co-Senate Presidents John Bennett and Richard Codey each served 3 ½ day as Governor until James E. McGreevey was sworn in one week later.

Thanks to Mr. Potato Head, former State Sen. Robert Martin (R-Morris Plains), a slip-and-fall jury trial will need to be done over.  Martin, who served as foreman of the jury, wrote an article for the New Jersey Law Journal boasting that his fellow jurors relied on him to explain "abstract legal concepts and procedural issues" related to the case. A state appeals court ruled yesterday that Martin had influenced the 2006 verdict, where a woman was awarded $876,000 after a fall at a Shop-Rite in Wharton.

Martin did not seek re-election to the Senate in 2007, and has since won lucrative appointments to two panels: Gov. Jon Corzine named him to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Board of Directors, and Senate President Richard Codey gave him a seat on the State Commission of Investigation.  Martin is also a Law Professor at Seton Hall University.

Neil Cohen's lawyer, Mark H. Tuohey, is a partner at a high-powered Washington law firm.

The attorney who represented Neil Cohen at his arraignment today on child pornography and official misconduct charges is a Washington power lawyer who is a partner at Vinson & Elkins, a 700-lawyer international firm.  Mark H. Tuohey is a former federal prosecutor who served as Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney General, as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation, and as Chairman of the commission that returned major league baseball to Washington, D.C. and built a new stadium for the team. According to the firm website, Tuohey "concentrates his practice in complex civil and criminal litigation, internal corporate investigations and compliance programs. His practice is largely devoted to representing corporations, their officers and directors, and individuals in civil and white-collar criminal litigation, internal corporate investigations, and Congressional investigations."

Senate President Richard Codey unveiling his official portrait as a former Governor.

Senate President Richard Codey remains very popular among New Jersey voters, with a 41%-14% favorable rating in a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. But more than three years after he left office as Governor, he is slowly dropping in the name ID department.  An FDU poll in September had him at 49%-11%.  In November 2005, one year after he became Governor, an FDU poll showed Codey with a 65%-11% approval rating.

One-quarter of the state hasn't heard of Codey -- up six points from November 2005.

Woodbridge, New Jersey's sixth largest municipality, was politically competitive not much more than a decade ago, but is now solidly Democratic.  Republican strategists say that the very blue collar township of nearly 100,000 people exactly the kind of place Christopher Christie or Steven Lonegan would need to do well if they are to beat Jon Corzine in November.  It won't be easy for Republicans to win Woodbridge, but some insiders believe a GOP candidate could do better than they did in 2005, when Corzine beat Republican Douglas Forrester by 4,000 votes.

Sources say that Woodbridge Councilman Robert Luban has been offered the Republican line in his bid for re-election to a seventh term this year.  He was initially elected as a Republican when he first won in 1985, but switched parties after Democrat James E. McGreevey was elected Mayor.  Luban announced last week that he was no interested in running on the Democratic organization line, and said he was mulling opportunities to run as a Democrat, a Republican or as an Independent.