Jennifer Beck

PolitickerNJ.com is returning to our traditional weekly Winners & Losers format that our readers enjoyed between 2000 and 2007. Wally Edge will again develop the list, which will appear every Friday morning.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will file a slate of delegate candidates today that represents huge representation from supporters of his vanquished rivals – there are more Rudy Giuliani supporters on the ticket than early McCain backers, and the list includes some Mitt Romney backers.  None of Mike Huckabee’s state campaign leaders are running as McCain delegates, and retiring Rep. Jim Saxton, who backed Duncan Hunter, was not offered a delegate slot.

There was a fairly fierce internal battle over delegates in District 12, where State Senator Jennifer Beck and former Senate President John Bennett -- both originally Giuliani supporters – were both in competition for one Monmouth County slot.  Adam Puharic, the Monmouth GOP Chairman, picked Bennett, designating Beck for an alternate slot.

The McCain delegates:

Holmdel Mayor Serena DiMasoMonmouth County Republicans face an important decision at their convention on Wednesday night. In danger of losing control of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, GOP committee people have to decide whether Holmdel Mayor Serena DiMaso or Red Bank Councilman John Curley is the candidate who can win in November.

The Republicans have watched their rivals chip into their turf over the last two election cycles. Democrats edged one seat closer to seizing a majority in 2007 with John D'Amico's win.

There are two open seats this year, but Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, also a Republican, has the advantage of incumbency, meaning either DiMaso or Curley also needs to win to keep the GOP majority.

Embattled Board of Public Utilities President Jeanne Fox made a fast  and not at all subtle exit tonight from a New Jersey Women’s Political Caucus Awards dinner,  just as State Sen. Jennifer Beck was about to receive the Barbara Boggs Sigmund award.  Beck, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is leading the movement to deny Fox another term at the BPU. 

State Sens. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) and Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) said that Democrats on the Senate State Government Committee turned down their request to force Attorney General Anne Milgram to testify before the State Government Committee to answer questions about her investigation into deleted e-mails during Gov. James E. McGreevey’s administration.

Senators Jennifer Beck (R-12) and Kevin O’Toole (R-40) were disappointed to learn that Attorney General Anne Milgram will not testify at the next Senate State Government Committee. The Senators requested that the Attorney General testify in person about her investigation into the possible illegal removal of computerized documents and emails during the McGreevey administration.

Senators Kevin O’Toole (R-40) and Jennifer Beck (R-12) called today for greater accountability and transparency oversight in government. The senators requested that seven bills pertaining to dual office holding, pay-to-play and wheeling be brought for a vote at the next Senate State Government Committee hearing.

"My colleagues and I were elected on a platform of change," stated O’Toole. "I am not comfortable with their timetable for reform. We need it now. Lets put together an agenda and get government reform in motion."

As Jeanne Fox prepares for her Senate confirmation hearings following her nomination to another term as President of the state Board of Public Utilities, it is interesting to note that her husband, Steve DeMicco, was the consultant on the 2007 campaigns against two Republicans who now serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  DeMicco worked for Ellen Karcher and Seema Singh, who lost to Jennifer Beck and Bill Baroni, respectively. 

Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, state chairman of the DeAssemblyman Joseph Cryanmocratic Party, today derided the reaction of Republican leaders to Gov. Jon Corzine's budget as "all over the map."

"Too many of the Republicans are resorting to the political rhetoric of the past about budget cuts but they want  to exempt their own pet projects," said Cryan in a press release. "They aren't just contradicting each other, they are contradicting themselves. Their budget  numbers don't add up and their ideas don't add  up."

The governor described his budget as a "turning point"  away from the irresponsible practices of the past. "But the Republicans' want to do a u-turn back to the same politics of the past," Cryan said.

Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12) issued the following statement in response to the Governor’s presentation of his 2009 state budget proposal to the Legislature:

“The Governor is starting to cut some of the reckless 20% spending increases of his first two years in office for one reason – the people of this state rebelled against his insane toll increase and borrowing gimmick and forced him to pare back government.