John Inglesino

TRENTON - Citing published reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie has received almost $24,000 in campaign contributions from a law firm with principals that benefited from a no-bid contract, Senator Loretta Weinberg today called upon the Christie campaign to give the money back.  According to ELEC reports, the Roseland law firm Stern and Killcullen’s partners Herbert Stern, Kevin Killcullen and John Inglesino all contributed the maximum amount allowed under law of $3,400.  The three partner’s wives all contributed the same maximum of $3,400.  According to reports, Mr. Inglesino also contributed the maximum allowed of $3,400 from an election fund for a total of $23,800.

Freeholder Jim Murray

Morris County Freeholder Jim Murray today confirmed to PolitickerNJ.com that he is considering a Republican Primary run for governor.

“We need to shake things up in Trenton and do something to lower taxes,” said the first term freeholder, a 70-year old retired municipal engineer who two years ago unseated John Inglesino, a confidante of Chris Christie, now the GOP’s frontrunner for governor.  

“We need to prioritize the taxpayers. I’m concerned about that,” Murray said. “There are also other things. New Jersey has the highest number of state mandates. There are a lot of environmental regulations. We should look at that. We really need to stimulate the private sector of the economy. I really am considering this.”

Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana and County Clerk Joan Bramhall, who's also supporting Tony Bucco in the 25th District race.

MOUNTAIN LAKES – Kicking off his 25th District Assembly campaign at the centrally situated and styling Zeris Inn on the side of Highway 46, Morris County Freeholder Doug Cabana summoned the forces of government to stand with him at the front of the big, packed room. 

It was a potent demonstration of political heft as Republican freeholders Jack Schrier, John Murphy, William Chegwidden, Gene Feyl, former freeholders William Druetzler and John Inglesino and others crowded in behind Cabana, facing a room that contained no fewer than 10 Morris County mayors not to mention deputy mayors and their dates and/or wives and council people and their significant others and attendant staff, political operatives, a sheriff’s surrogate, other former freeholders and elected officials and County Clerk Joan Bramhall. 

All arrayed against bloated government. 

“I stand with you tonight with the leadership of our county,” said Cabana, a municipal prosecutor and elected official going back 20 years to when he first served on the committee of Boonton Township, a northern Morris County mountain town.

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.)

MORRIS TWP. – While his Democratic Party family forbearers probably found the nickname “Little Adlai” endearing, Michael Patrick Carroll hardly panned out as the ideological offspring of every  liberal’s favorite bumper sticker  - Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson - who was twice demolished by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Pro-life, pro-gun, pro-voucher,  and a proponent of scrapping Mount Laurel and Abbott who likens some of the Abbott Schools to “educational Taj Mahals,” veteran Assemblyman Carroll (R-Morris Twp.) remains one of the most outspoken conservative members of the New Jersey Legislature.

“I don’t generally do as well in my hometown of Morris Township as I do in western Morris County – places like Roxbury and Randolph,” Carroll said. “We’re like everywhere else in New Jersey – the farther east you go, the bluer it gets.”

If Rick Merkt gives up his State Assembly seat to run for Governor next year, there will most definitely be a long list of Republicans interested in seeking the open seat in the 25th district. Possible candidates include: attorney Anthony Bucco, Jr., the son of the incumbent State Senator; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, who ran for Governor in 2005; Freeholder Douglas Cabana, who unsuccessfully challenged Merkt and incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll in 2003; Freeholders Bill Chegwidden and Gene Feyl; and Mount Arlington Mayor Art Ondish. Another possible candidate is former Freeholder John Inglesino, who lost the 1997 GOP primary to Merkt by less than 250 votes. But Inglesino is actively involved in Chris Christie’s campaign for Governor and might not want to take time away from that effort.

GOP presidential candidate John McCain campaigns in New Jersey last February with Sen. Joe Lieberman: Getty Images Photo
Two pro-choice names floated as potential vice-president picks for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain have caused a lot of grumbling among conservatives nationwide, but some of the most ardently pro-life members of the delegation representing New Jersey at next month's Republican National Convention were circumspect on the prospects.

While McCain has pledged to run a "pro-life administration" if elected, his campaign has floated trial balloons about U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Thomas Ridge as possible Veep picks, both of whom are pro-choice.

While some pro-life delegation members would prefer to see a fully anti-abortion ticket, none were committed to casting a protest vote against a pro-choice McCain pick. Still, some of them cautiously suggested that McCain would be wise not to alienate the socially conservative wing of the party, including the evangelical voters who he's had trouble courting in the past.

"I don't from a tactical standpoint see the gain other than maybe he's trying to reach moderate Democrat voters and take them from Barack by putting Lieberman there," said Assemblywoman Allison Littell McHose (R-Franklin), a delegate who sits on the convention's platform committee. "But I think when you have a Republican base that would probably not traditionally vote for a guy like Lieberman, I don't know why McCain would need to do that."

Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino is leaving office in a few weeks – the victim of a bad ballot position that removes perhaps the most intellectually superior and politically savvy county official from public service.

Now, with the tribute to Inglesino over, he did leave himself open to one opportunity for abuse.  Earlier this year, he told PolitickerNJ.com’s Matt Friedman that while he was “not going to participate in all of the speculation” about the 2009 gubernatorial campaign -- "the only people who speculate about things that happen that far out in advance are fools,” Inglesino explained – he did have kind words for one of the likely candidates: Chris Christie.

The controversy surrounding U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie's selection of John Ashcroft for a lucrative federal monitor position may have roiled Democrats, but it hasn't changed Republicans' feelings about their would-be gubernatorial nominee.

That's not to say that Christie has come out and announced he's running for governor. In fact, he consistently blows off speculation about a potential run, saying that members of the media obsess about it more than he does.

That may be true. But members of the Republican Party obsess about it too, and the revelation about him giving his former boss a hefty paycheck hasn't dampened the establishment's enthusiasm for Christie as their nominee in 2009 - should he choose to run, of course. The election may be two years away, but all signs point to vast Republican support for a Christie candidacy.

Find the names of the Republican candidates for Morris County Freeholder --- on the Morris County Republican Committee website: http://www.morrisgop.org/

Bill Chegwidden says he agrees with the new law that bans dual officeholding, so he will give up one of his two posts -- Morris County Freeholder and Mayor of Wharton -- before the end of the year, even though the law doesn't require him to do so. Chegwidden, a high school social studies teacher who was elected Freeholder in 2006, has not decided which job he will give up. But another dual officeholder, Freeholder Jack Schrier, the Mayor of Mendham, says he will use the grandfather clause and remain in both posts.