Jay Webber

As he stood with futility against a bill he believes would ravage his 39th GOP Assemblyman Vince PolistinaLegislative District, Assemblyman John Rooney took little joy in noting a personal milestone.

For while 2008 marks the Bergen County Republican’s 25th anniversary as an assemblyman, it is also the low point of his legislative career.

"My towns got destroyed last night," said Rooney, a day after the majority Democrats passed a $32.9 billion budget, which includes 25% cuts in aid to all of the 28 municipalities in Rooney’s district, and eliminations of property tax rebates for residents in the $150,000 to $250,000 income range.

Monday also brought the Democrats’ successful if ignominious - by Rooney’s reckoning - passage of a bill requiring the construction of affordable housing in affluent towns.

Absorbing some former backers of Fred Thompson and at least one defector from the camp of Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, state chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, today assembled an official, updated team of Romney backers at a breakfast in Parsippany.

New Jersey Republicans who had signed on with Mitt Romney looked as though they were heading straight for the triage unit going into Michigan on Tuesday when their presidential candidate came alive and beat the surging Sen. John McCain.

"It was the first state in the mix that looks like America, and he won it by ten points," state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, Romney’s state chairman in New Jersey, said of Romney’s performance in the ethnically diverse mid-western state.

District 26 Assemblyman Jay Webber talks about why he supports U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Pennacchio.

Six of the last eight Governors of New Jersey launched their political careers by serving in the New Jersey State Assembly: William Cahill, Thomas Kean, James Florio, Donald DiFrancesco, James E. McGreevey, and Richard Codey. With that kind of historical precedent, is it possible that one of the 25 freshmen entering the Assembly on Tuesday could wind up living at Drumthwacket someday?

The wife of Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce has joined the Mitt Romney for President camp, according to State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, the state's New Jersey chairman for Romney's campaign.

BettyLou DeCroce's politically prominent husband supports former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president.

The Daily Record has endorsed Joseph Pennacchio for State Senate, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce for re-election to the Assembly, and Jay Webber for Pennacchio's open Assembly seat.  READ

GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have both won races where Democrats dominate: Getty Images Photo
There may have been a time when Mitt Romney would have appealed to New Jersey voters, even potentially carrying the state against a Democrat in the presidential election.

Not any more, says a group of academics who monitor New Jersey campaigns.

While the pundits say Rudy Giuliani has a good chance to carry New Jersey – two independent polls have him leading all of the Democratic contenders -- they say that Romney can't win a state that has gone Democratic in the last four presidential elections.

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is expected to release a list of the New Jersey endorsements today. Supporters are likely to include State Senator Joseph Kyrillos, Republican National Chairman David Norcross, Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, Morris County Assembly candidate Jay Webber, former Paterson Mayor Lawrence "Pat" Kramer. and former Republican State Committee Executive Director Brian Nelson.

Former Kinnelon Council President Larry Casha lost his bid for State Assembly yesterday -- it was his second loss; Joseph Pennacchio beat him in a 2001 Special Election Convention -- but he performed well enough in ultra-forgiving Morris County to remain on the short list for the next vacancy. 

Casha ran a strong campaign, with perhaps the best direct mail of the cycle, but could not compete with Webber, who had spent five years running for the Legislature and had a virtual lock on primary-voting conservatives.  By the time the next seat comes up -- Alex DeCroce turns 71 on Sunday -- Casha may be able to shed the liability of being Bob Martin's staffer and campaign aide.