Jay Webber

PolitickerNJ.com

From left: Republican State Chairman Jay Webber, GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Chris Christie and Republican National Chairman Michael Steele

PITMAN - Republican National Chairman Michael Steele came to South Jersey today to campaign with GOP gubernatorial nominee Christopher Christie, calling him a politician who "plays across the state unlike any other Republican in the last 10 or 12 years."

"I am honored to be here today to represent Republicans around the country who knows just how important this race is - not just to New Jersey, but to the nation, because it is a bellwether in so many ways for the future of our party and the future of our nation," he said.

Gloucester Republicans estimated that 175 people showed up to see Christie, the former U.S. Attorney and Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate, in front of the office of the Main Street Financial Group in this small Gloucester County town.  Afterwards, Christie, Steele and GOP State Chairman Jay Webber were off the Vineland for a meet and greet at a diner with the 1st Legislative District's Republican Assembly candidates.

The Pitman event had two distinct strains of campaign rhetoric.  Christie held to his argument that the gubernatorial race hinges only on New Jersey issues, resisting pitting himself against a Democratic president whose in-state approvals remain high. National Republicans like Steele, however, see the race as - in Steele's own words - a "bellwether."  There are only two gubernatorial races this year, and Republicans are hoping that victories here and in Virginia will cast them as a party on the mend.

Christie gave an abridged version of his usual stump speech, listing rankings that showed New Jersey with an unfriendly business climate and lamenting the loss of residents to neighboring states with lower tax rates.  Steele, however, noted that President Obama was coming on Thursday to campaign for Corzine.

PITMAN -- Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie barely acknowledged Steve Lonegan’s missive against the state’s establishment Republicans during a campaign appearance today.

Lonegan, who lost the primary to Christie last month, called Christie’s top supporters and operatives “hollow men” in an email to supporters today.  When asked about it by The Record’s Charles stile, Christie blew the question off.  

“I don’t think Steve really means that. He probably just had a bad morning,” he said.

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan issued an op-ed blast to supporters this morning entitled "The Hollow Men," rebuking campaign operative allies of GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, State Party Chairman Jay Webber, pro-cap and trade Republican congressmen, and the state party in general for what Lonegan cites as an abandonment of conservative principles.

"Since the Primary Election, loyal Republicans have been baffled by the behavior of the GOP establishment in New Jersey," writes Lonegan in his most pointed criticism of his party since losing the nomination to Christie on June 2nd. "First, operatives in the campaign of our nominee for Governor, Chris Christie, monkeyed around with the social issues page on his website, gaining the attention of the media before resolving what they caused.

"Then, at the meeting of the Republican State Committee – the men and women elected from each county to formulate and advance the party’s principles – the party leadership blocked a move to formally adopt the platform of the national Republican Party, as well as blocking a resolution condemning Governor Corzine’s tax hikes.  At least one major newspaper, the Star-Ledger, linked the leadership’s refusal to adopt our Party’s platform to the fact it contains Pro-Life and Pro-Traditional Marriage planks."

Homophobs are always hypocrites!

Urban Republican" Assembly Candidate Bloschak Will Attend GOPAC SessionBelleville Resident Is The "Non-Traditional" Candidate GOP Is Looking To For The Future Belleville-Andrew Bloschak, a lifelong union member and community activist, will attend a GOPAC candidate training session at Bergen County Republican Headquarters on Saturday. Bloschak is particularly excited to go because his candidacy in the heavily urban and ethnically diverse 28th District represents exactly the kind of campaign that GOPAC wants to support as it looks to grow the Republican Party.

Newly Elected Gloucester County Republican State Committee Members Rob Eichmann and Donna Ward are miffed at the reluctance of the State Committee to support the RNC Platform or to condemn Jon Corzine's budget!

Republican State Chairman Jay Webber

While Democrats quietly hailed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Friday announcement that she wouldn't finish her term in office as the latest in a series of Republican crackups nationwide, GOP State Chairman Jay Webber released a statement today refocusing on the statewide contest here and amplifying the sale of his gubernatorial candidate as the emblem of a new beginning.

"Governor Palin’s reasons for her resignation are her own, but her decision is not relevant to the most important issue in New Jersey this year: the failed tenure of Jon Corzine," Webber said. "Behind emerging, strong, and principled leaders like Chris Christie, we expect a rebirth for our party in New Jersey in 2009."

Palin's bow-out soliloquoy last week followed South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's and Nevada Sen. John Ensigns back-to-back admissions of marital infidelity, which came on the heels of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's oratorical belly flop response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's party flip after decades as a Republican. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, in a statement issued after the State Senate passed the budget along a party line vote, accused Gov. Jon Corzine of failing to manage New Jersey's priorities.

"The result is a budget that raises taxes, cuts spending for programs that matter, and leaves us in greater debt next year instead of responsibly planning for the future," said Christie. "When New Jerseyans are faced with mounting unemployment, billions in new taxes and home foreclosures, it's the job of the governor, not middle class families, to plan for the future, fight for meaningful priorities and make the tough choices."

Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains), the Republican State Chairman, says that the Corzine budget means "higher taxes for a state already crushed by the most terrible tax burden in the country. 

"The Governor's budget will raise our taxes by $2.8 billion this year.  That tax increase will only destroy more jobs and drive more New Jerseyans out of their homes.  No state taxes its way to prosperity - and that is an ironclad principle that Jon Corzine simply will never get," said Webber.

Two newly elected Republican State Committee members from Gloucester County who ran on gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan's line, are protesting the failure of the New Jersey GOP to adopt the Republican National Committee platform.

Read the full letter from Donna Ward and Rob Eichmann to the new GOP State Chairman, Jay Webber:

State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblyman/Republican State Chairman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) will debate health care in Washington, DC tomorrow.

The two will engage on the issue at the House’s Subcommittee on Health legislative hearing tomorrow at 1pm.  The subcommittee is chaired by New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch)., who invited the two legislators.

“We've done a lot to improve and enhance health care at the state level in New Jersey so a reasoned debate on the issue could be informative," said Pallone, a leader in Congress on health reform. "The states can only do so much but we can still learn from them as we pursue reforms to the nation's health system."