John Bennett

Eleonore Nissley won a decisive victory in her comeback bid for Republican State Committeewoman in Bergen County, defeating former Franklin Lakes Councilwoman Pearl Spector by nearly 5,000 votes, 60%-40%.  This marks a return to the seat Nissley held from 1965 until her narrow defeat in 2005.

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.

Former Gov. Jim Florio and former Acting Gov. John Bennett listen to Gov. Jon Corzine's State of the State address.

Just one of New Jersey's five living former Governors, Jim Florio, attended Jon Corzine's State of the State address today.  Richard Codey, who served as Acting Governor for 84 hours in 2002, and again from November 2004 to January 2006, was there in his capacity as Senate President, as was Donald DiFrancesco, who was Acting Governor from January 2001 to January 2002. 

Also there, as is his custom, was former Co-Senate President John Bennett, who was also Acting Governor for 84 hours in 2002.  The definitive historical analysis of Bennett's administration was written by the New York Times' David Kocieniewski a few days after his governorship ended and remains a must-read:

Lawyers will be the minority on the 2009 State Senate Judiciary Committee headed by engineer Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge)

For the first time since the new State Constitution was approved in 1947, a majority of members of the 2009 New Jersey State Senate Judiciary Committee -- six of eleven -- are not lawyers.  Chairman Paul Sarlo and Vice Chairman John Girgenti are not attorneys, as is fellow Democrat Loretta Weinberg.  Among the Republicans, Gerald Cardinale (who serves as the unofficial ranking Republican), Joseph Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck are not attorneys.

The lawyers on the Judiciary Committee are Democrats Raymond Lesniak, Nicholas Scutari, Robert Smith and Nia Gill, and Republican Bill Baroni. 

Senate President Richard Codey, who is responsible for the non-lawyer a majority -- a move some pols are applauding -- is one of a few non-lawyers to serve as Senate President.

The Board of Elections and Democratic and Republican Party operatives run down the provisional ballots, town by town, voter by voter.

FREEHOLD –  The vote stands at 694 provisional ballots for Amy Mallet and 476 for John Curley – not including hand counts - with the count for Manalapan ongoing and Marlboro and Long Branch left to go.

That puts the Fair Haven candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder in a position to win the election, as Long Branch is heavily Democratic and Mallet scored well in Manalapan and Marlboro in the regular vote count.

Prior to the provisionals process, Mallet led Curley by 18 votes overall: 135,688 to 135,670, in this county of 53 towns.  If Mallet defeats Curley, county control of this longtime Republican stronghold will favor the Democrats by 3-2.

Now on the tattered, unresolved edge of the Nov. 4th election, operatives from both parties sit with two Board of Elections reps from each party and a representative from the state attorney general's office at a long table. They all pour town by town over the provisional ballots.

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.

The New Jersey Supreme Court has tentatively scheduled oral arguments in the Appeal by Earle Asphalt Co., which is challenging New Jersey's pay to play laws on November.  The matter involves a contribution made to the Monmouth County Republican Committee by Walter Earle III, the owner of Earle Asphalt, which later barred his firm from winning state contracts.  Upon finding out that his contributuion (made at the request of former Co-Senate President John Bennett) would violate pay to play laws, Earle asked for his money back.  Still, the state invalidated the award of a state Department of Transportation contract -- on which Earle Asphalt was the lowest bidder.  New Jersey prohibits the award of public contracts of more than $17,500 to any business that has contributed more than $300 to certain candidates and party organizatons.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Rumson) met privately this summer to discuss the 2009 campaign for Governor and specifically the possibility of Beck running on Christie's ticket for Lieutenant Governor, according to two key Monmouth County Republicans who say they heard this from Beck.  Christie did not offer the number two spot on his ticket to the freshman State Senator from Monmouth County, the sources say, but did indicate he was likely to enter the race for Governor next year.  

Beck, who ousted a Democratic Assemblyman in 2005 and a Democratic State Senator in 2007, has appeared on most short lists as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor next year.  He Senate seat is not up until 2011.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Enjoying his current career as an attorney, lobbyist and political operative, former Republican Senate President John O. Bennett said that he has no desire to return to elected office.

“I’m not done. I’m involved. But I’m done with elected office, other than party positions, basically,” said Bennett, who served an eventful four days as acting governor in 2002 and is in Minnesota this week as an alternate delegate.

Bennett remains active in the Monmouth County Republican Party, and is the county’s state committeeman. He said he believes that the new Republican county chairman, former Sheriff Joseph Oxley, has the ability to bring competing factions together.

Former state Sen. John Bennett, left, and Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge).: Politicker photo

MINNEAPOLIS - Everything but an afternoon business meeting is off the table at tomorrow's Republican National Convention here, with Hurricane Gustav bearing down on New Orleans south of this Mississippi River town.

Standing in front of the Hilton among the early arrivals for the New Jersey delegation on late Sunday afternoon, and going with the flow at this point, were former state Sen. President John Bennett (R-Monmouth) and Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge).

Widely lambasted for taking a ho-hum approach to the devastation wrought on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina three years ago, President George W. Bush will not speak at the convention tomorrow night.