John Adler

Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic), a legislator since 1977, enjoys his chairmanship of the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee.

Sources close to state Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic) say the vice chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee relishes serving as chairman of the Law and Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

For that reason, it’s unlikely he would succeed state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Having beaten Medford Mayor Chris Myers last week, Adler’s leaving the state Senate to become the 3rd district Congressman.

An image from Pamela Lampitt's 2007 campaign website. The two-term Assemblywoman from Cherry Hill is not expected to seek John Adler's State Senate seat.

Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt is privately telling friends that she will not seek the 6th district State Senate seat that will be vacated by Congressman-elect John Adler.  Lampitt, entering her fourth year in the Assembly, has a strong relationship with Speaker Joe Roberts and sources suggest she would be a frontrunner for a committee chairmanship next session. 

Getty Images Photo

Toms River native Al Leiter, who played for the Yankees and Mets, says he's unlikely to challenge John Adler for Congress in 2010

Former baseball star Al Leiter told PolitickerNJ.com's Matt Friedman yesterday that he was not likely to challenge John Adler for Congress in 2010, and an announcement today by Major League Baseball may explain why: MLB Network has hired Leiter, the YES Network color commentator, to join their studio team.  Leiter will appear on MLB Tonight and on Hot Stove, their off season show.  The Toms River native had told New Jersey Republicans as recently as October that he has a strong interest in running for office.

Former Tabernacle Committeeman Justin Murphy said today that he’s probably going to run for the Republican nomination in the 3rd Congressional District again in 2010.

“We’ve got to build a nice network and base. It’s a long time. A year from now we’re going to get serious about it,” said Murphy, who hopes to get the opportunity to take on Democratic Congressman-elect John Adler next time. 

Murphy surprised many political observers with his strong performance in the Republican 3rd District Congressional primary in June, in which he ran as an anti-machine candidate.  The race was thought to be neck-and-neck between Medford Mayor Chris Myers and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, while Murphy was considered by many to be an “also ran.”  But when the votes were counted, Myers won with 12,694 to Kelly’s 6,531 and Murphy’s 6,494. 

Toms River native Al Leiter, who played for the Yankees and the Mets, isn't likely to challenge U.S. Rep.-elect John Adler in 2010

Former baseball star Al Leiter said today that he will not likely run against Congressman-elect John Adler in 2010.

“I definitely have been curious enough to still be around the political scene… and my interest is there, while it’s stronger sometimes and weaker than others.  So that’s why I don’t ever dismiss the idea of running someday.  But I know I’m not ready now, and I’m almost certain that in 2010 I won’t be ready,” he said.

Some Republicans courted Leiter, a Toms River native who currently lives in Florida and works as a sports commentator, to run for in the 3rd Congressional District last year.  But Leiter said at the time that he’d rather get some local experience as an elected official, either in New Jersey or Florida, before running for federal office.

Rob Tornoe's July 2008 cartoon lampooning State Sen. Nia Gill for accepting a lucrative no-bid legal contract from the Essex County Improvement Authority

A Democrat with strong ties to Senate President Richard Codey says there is "no f#$&ing way" Nia Gill will become Senate Judiciary Chairman when John Adler goes to Congress in January.  Codey's friend cites tension between the two Senators over their shared senatorial courtesy in Essex County, and Gill's growing dependence on legal work from the County of Essex (that means Codey rival Stephen Adubato, Sr.) as key reasons why Gill won't get the job.  The front runner, says the Senate President's ally, is State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Lesniak), who doesn't excite Codey but may be the least problematic of the potential contenders.

Click here to read Max Pizarro's story on the race for Senate Judiciary Chairman

State Sen. Barbara Buono wants to stay focused on state budget issues

At least three State Senators want to succeed U.S. Rep.-elect John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) as chairman of the power Judiciary Committee, a decision that will be made by Senate President Richard J. Codey (D-Essex). 

Sources say state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden), Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair), and Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), want to succeed Adler, while two other senators with legal cred say they’re satisfied with their present chairmanships and don’t want to make a play for judiciary chair.

“It would be an interesting chairmanship,” admitted state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen). “But I can’t imagine a more challenging chairmanship than the budget committee, and right now with the economy what it is, I would like to stay focused.”

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), who already serves on the judiciary committee, said he’s likewise not budging from his current chairmanship of economic development.

John Adler won a seat in Congress eighteen years after his first House race.

Now it seems trendy to run for Congress, lose, then spend a lot of years in state government before finally making it to Washington.  In 2006, Albio Sires won an open House seat twenty years after his first attempt.  Sires had challenged U.S. Rep. Frank Guarini as a Republican in 1986; he later won local office in West New York, and after switching parties in 1999, he beat an incumbent Assemblyman in the Democratic primary.  He became Assembly Speaker after the 2001 election, and went to Congress after Bob Menendez joined the United States Senate.

Both of New Jersey's freshmen Congressman had previously lost House races.  John Adler ran against Jim Saxton in 1990 and lost 60%-40%.  A year later, despite one of the two biggest Republican landslides in state political history, he ousted four-term GOP State Sen. Lee Laskin.  Leonard Lance first ran for Congress in 1996, when Richard Zimmer gave up his seat to run for U.S. Senate; he finished third in the GOP primary, behind Michael Pappas and John Bennett. Lance moved from the Assembly to the Satate Senate in 2001, and became Minority Leader in 2004.

State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) is a possible candidate for Congress against John Adler in 2010

If Republicans can't beat John Adler in 2010, chances are they never will.  If Adler wins a second term, watch for mapmakers to take take some heavily Republican Ocean County towns out of his district when new congressional districts are drawn for the 2012 elections.  Adler scored a 52%-48% victory last week over Republican Christopher Myers for the seat of retiring twelve term U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton -- a seat Democrats hadn't won since 1882.

Republican insiders say that Myers isn't likely to get a second shot at the seat, and that the favorite candidate could be former major league baseball pitcher Al Leiter.  Leiter, a Toms River native who has said he wants to run for office someday, has turned down several offers to seek U.S. Senate and House seats in recent years.  Other possible Adler opponents include: State Sen. Diane Allen (who must first heal wounds in a very fractured Burlington County Republican organization); State Sen. Phil Haines; Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego; Assemblyman Brian Rumpf; and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, who lost the '08 GOP primary to Myers.

Of the two New Jersey congressional districts where Republican incumbents did not seek re-election this year, the third district in parts of Ocean, Burlington and Camden counties is arguably more Republican than the seventh district, which includes parts of Hunterdon, Somerset, Union and Middlesex counties.  In District 3, Jim Saxton won 58% of the vote in 2006 and 63% in 2004; George W. Bush won with 51% in 2004.  In the 7th, Mike Ferguson nearly lost his 2006 re-election bid to Democrat Linda Stender, 49%-48%, after winning 57% in 2004; Bush won 53% four years ago.  Republicans have held the Saxton seat since 1884 and the Ferguson seat since 1956.