John Crowley

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Matt Mowers, who was 18 when he started his job as executive director of the Bergen County Republican Organization, has landed at the newly formed PAC Building a New Majority.

Mowers, now 19, lost his position at the BCRO after former Chairman Rob Ortiz, who hired him, lost his bid for reelection to former freeholder candidate Bob Yudin.  He’s spending the week in the Twin Cities for his new position. 

“It’s great. It’s fun. We’re targeting local races and a few county races, just trying to help them out with field plans, paper mailers,” he said.

Morris County Freeholder John Murphy is keeping his gubernatorial toe in the water just in case.

Last night, he watched John Crowley’s ‘here I am’ moment on a Mississippi river boat cruise. He’s heard the speculation about the potential gubernatorial bids of U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, conservative activist Steve Lonegan and Assemblyman Rick Merkt, and he may not run himself.

“I’m leaning towards not running for governor in 2009, but I also want to have enough exposure and be out there with my foot in the water just in case,” said Murphy, who came in a distant third in the 2005 Republican primary. “If you look at what’s happened in New Jersey politics: Glen Cunningham drops dead of a heart attack, Jim McGreevey resigns in disgrace. Anything can happen, so in terms of ’09, I certainly want to stay somewhat relevant and keep my name out there."

The 2009 gubernatorial campaign in underway in St. Paul, where two of the four potential candidates for Governor have a visible presence among Republican Party leaders attending the convention.  Biotech millionaire John Crowley sponsored a booze cruise down the Mississippi River last night – the first opportunity for many New Jersey Republicans to see the guy who teased them with a potential U.S. Senate candidate last spring.   And while U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is not permitted to attend political events, his brother, Wall Street millionaire Todd Christie, has been working the delegation seeming support for 2009.  Former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan is not attending the convention (his most likely support won’t come from establishment Republicans who traveled to St. Paul), and there has not yet been a spotting of the fourth candidate in that race, Assemblyman Rick Merkt.

John Crowley is interviewed on the Mississippi river boat by NJN's Jim Hooker.: Politicker photo

MINNEAPOLIS - It started like a scene in a movie where guests receive a mysterious invitation from a powerful benefactor. On the bus trip out to the Mississippi River, a lot of Republicans were wondering, "Who is John Crowley?"

There was another less flashy, more intimate New Jersey political meeting going on simultaneously in another corner of the sprawling Minnesota town where Republicans had converged for their national convention, but for the moment this boat covered with red, white and blue bunting was a captivating focal point for the New Jersey GOP procession answering their invitations to see Crowley.

Crowley. Princeton businessman. Owner of a biotech company engaged in finding a cure for a disease Crowley’s children have fought since birth. Millionaire. Navy intelligence officer. Presumptive GOP political star.

Republicans knew the lineaments of the story; still, everyone was speaking the name without knowing the why beyond the boat trip and the vague possibility that Crowley would challenge Gov. Jon Corzine for governor next year.

Coming off the bus, former Gov. Thomas Kean led the way down the gangplank as the jug band started in on a tune and a paranoid Jersey guy told the governor, "As long as you’re here, I know I’m not too far from home."

Biotech millionaire John Crowley, a possible candidate for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, had postponed his cruise down the Mississippi River this afternoon amidst a flurry of event cancellations today. But the Republicans said today that the Crowley cruise has been rescheduled for tonight, since the convention session has been cancelled.

Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Medham) is thinking about running for Governor in 2009.
DENVER - When people ask him if he’s a mountain man - one of those hard right warriors from Northwestern Jersey, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Randolph) responds that he’s "more of a foothill guy."

Whatever the colloquialism, Merkt said today that he is very serious about trying to climb over the obstacles to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine. Tomorrow he will officially establish an exploratory committee toward that end.

How serious is he?

"I will not seek re-election to the Assembly," said the 11-year legislative veteran, a corporate attorney with TDI Power in Hackettstown.

"This is no trial balloon," Merkt said. "I’ve been considering this for a number of months, and I am convinced that New Jersey needs a governor who respects the people."

Conservative Steve Lonegan is expected to seek the GOP nomination for Governor in 2009.
For years, conservative activist Steve Lonegan has been seen by the state's moderate, mainstream Republicans more as a thorn in the side than a boon to their party.

But after leaving office as the mayor of Bogota, the ever-controversial Lonegan has - at least on the surface - made nice with some of the party's more high profile members as he's dramatically increased his statewide profile.

Take the convention run shortly before the U.S. Senate primaries at the Trenton Marriot, where Americans for Prosperity - the anti-tax group whose New Jersey chapter Lonegan heads up - brought out a couple national Republican luminaries and a few New Jersey Republicans who typically aren't seen with Lonegan.

Once you got past the 3,000 pound fiberglass pig perched atop a trailer parked outside the hotel, you could meet not only some of the of the Republicans' most conservative legislators -- like Assembly members Michael Patrick Carroll, Richard Merkt, Allison Littell-McHose and State Sen. Gerald Cardinale. But also present were members of the new crop of Republican leadership like Tom Kean, Jr., Kevin O'Toole and Joe Kyrillos.

The convention came about six months after the November surprise defeat of two ballot initiatives that Lonegan fought hard against, including one to borrow money for stem-cell research. Political observers differ on how much credit Lonegan gets for the measures' defeat, but he was most vocal opponent, and became the face of the effort.

The race for the 2009 Democratic gubernatorial nomination has begun, with Congressman Bill Pascrell and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo saying that they would consider running if the incumbent, Jon Corzine, decides not to seek re-election to a second term.   

If Corzine were to leave office early, Senate President Richard Codey would succeed to the governorship.  Codey served as Governor when James E. McGreevey resigned, and then backed down from a bid for a full-term when Corzine, willing to self-fund his campaign, secured the endorsement of key county Democratic organizations.  Codey, his friends say, is unlikely to back down again.

Gov. Jon Corzine and biotech businessman John Crowley: Politicker photo

CRANBURY - Although their meeting might have lacked the hype of a heavyweight fight buildup - mostly because it is unknown if they will ever square off - Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican biotech millionaire John Crowley shook hands today like respectful would-be rivals with private industry street cred.

"Not all of life is about politics," Corzine told reporters after participating in a ceremony at Crowley's company, Amicus Therapeutics, which in its sixth year of operation today celebrated the hiring of its 100th employee.

"We've come a long way from the incubator on Route 1," said Crowley, standing earlier at the boardroom podium in his sprawling, hi-tech Cranbury complex, facing Corzine in the front row.

The governor attended as Crowley's guest, a nod to the fact that Amicus became the first graduate of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's (EDA) Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies, and exemplifies the kind of biotech development Corzine champions.

CRANBURY - Gov. Jon Corzine will speak at Amicus Therapeutics' "100th Employee" celebration here later this morning to help celebrate a thriving New Jersey business in a difficult economy.

The intriguing political context of his appearance is that Amicus Therapeutics was founded - and is owned and operated - by Republican John Crowley of Princeton, a potential challenger to Corzine in 2009. 

Nearly the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate as he flirted with running last spring, Crowley has been making the Republican circuit, and is considered by some party insiders to be a potential establishment favorite if U.S. Attorney Chris Christie stumbles.