John Kelly

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Former NFL star Jon Runyan is a possible candidate for Congress against Jon Adler next year.

Now that the gubernatorial election is over, Republicans in Burlington, Ocean and Camden Counties are starting to focus on recruiting someone to take on freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) next year. 

There is a deep bench of potential candidates, but some Republicans have one in mind who could clear the field: Philadelphia Eagles legend Jon Runyan, a Mount Laurel resident.

Sources tell PolitickerNJ.com that Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego (R-Evesham) - who knows Runyan because their children attend school together - has talked to him about running.  Runyan, who is not currently active in the NFL but has not retired, has not ruled out a run.  It is unclear, however, how serious the prospect is.

Reached for comment by PolitickerNJ.com, Addiego said "I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss that right now."

The leading contender of the more conventional candidates to take on Adler is state Sen. Christopher Connors (R-Lacey Twp.).  A little further down the shortlist is Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R-Medford), Assemblyman Brian Rumpf (R-Little Egg Harbor), Toms River Councilman Moe Hill and former Assemblywoman Virginia "Ginny" Haines.  One source said Lumberton Committeeman Patrick Delany has expressed interest.

John V. Kelly (1926-2009)

It was the summer of 1983 and at 25 I was an embarrassingly green and inexperienced political candidate running for the state legislature against popular incumbent John Kelly, who was also the president of Nutley Savings and Loan at the time.

Kelly was already Nutley's most popular public figure, and was in his late 50's.  I will never forget going to a Nutley little league game, because I figured there would be lots of voters who I could meet and hopefully persuade to support for me.

But it soon became clear just how popular Assemblyman-and all around good guy-John Kelly really was.  Immediately, as I started introducing myself and saying I was running for the Assembly, person after person said things like; "You are running against John Kelly?  I'm sorry, I can never vote against him."  Or; "Hey kid, take a look at the scoreboard.  Did you notice who donated it to the little league?  John Kelly."  Or, this one; "John Kelly gave me my first loan that allowed me to start my business."  People wished me luck, but it became clear that Nutley was a locked up town for anyone running against Kelly.

Former Assemblyman John V. Kelly, a Nutley Republican who served in the State Assembly from 1982 to 1984, and again from 1986 to 2002, passed away last night.  Kelly also served as Mayor of Nutley, and lost State Senate bids in 2001 and 2003.

Kelly first went to the Assembly in 1981 after five-term Assemblyman Carl Orechio (R-Nutley) retired.  He lost his seat after two years to a young political scientist with a political pedigree, 25-year-old Stephen Adubato, Jr.  Kelly and Marion Crecco, the wife of the Mayor of Bloomfield, came back to win both Assembly seat in 1985.

Kelly gave up his Assembly seat to challenge State Sen. Garry Furnari (D-Nutley) in 2001, but lost narrowly.  He lost again in 2003 to State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge).

Peter Shapiro was 23-years-old when he unseated Assemblyman Rocco Neri in 1975. He is the youngest person to win a State Assembly seat in New Jersey.

If 21-year-old Brian Hackett wins his bid for State Assembly in the politically competitive fourteen district this year, he will become the youngest legislator in state history.  The four youngest legislators each ousted incumbents who were not viewed to be in serious electoral trouble.

In 1975, Peter Shapiro, a 23-year-old Harvard graduate who had worked as an aide to the state Transportation Commissioner, ran against the Essex County Democratic Organization and defeated Assemblyman Rocco Neri (D-Irvington).  In 1991, 24-year-old Republican John Hartmann, a second year law student at Seton Hall, beat veteran Assemblyman Gerald Naples (D-Trenton). 

Edward Hynes was 25 when he ousted a Republican Assemblyman in 1971.  Stephen Adubato, Jr., the son of a powerful Newark political leader and a former aide to Shapiro, was 26 when he unseated GOP Assemblyman John Kelly (R-Nutley) in 1983.

Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola, who won re-election tonight by one of the biggest margins in local history, has bucked a historical trend that has denied every mayor a second consecutive term since at least 1968.

Nutley has a Commissioner form of government and all five commissioners are elected in one election held every four years. By tradition, the top vote-getter becomes Mayor. In 2004, Cocchiola became Nutley’s first woman Mayor when she led Mauro Tucci by 55 votes (and incumbent Peter Scarpelli by 686 votes) in the race for Commissioner.

Republican congressional candidate Jack Kelly is featured in an Oscar winning documentary.

But it may not be the kind of attention he wants.

The movie, Freeheld, follows the struggle of Laurel Hester, a former Point Pleasant police officer who was dying of cancer, to leave her pension benefits to her same sex life partner, Stacie Andree.

But the couple faced obstacles from the Ocean County Board of Freeholders, and from Kelly in particular. In the movie, Kelly is shown saying that giving the benefits would violate the sanctity of marriage. Towards the end of the film -- after the rest of the board reconsiders and grants pension benefits to same-sex couples -- the camera focuses on the empty seat of Kelly, who did not attend the meeting.

Kelly, however, said that he’s not scared that the movie could drum up donations to Democratic candidate John Adler from the gay community should he be the nominee, or adversely affect his race for the Republican nomination against Chris Myers.

Nutley has a Commissioner form of government and all five commissioners are elected in one election held every four years.  By tradition, the top vote-getter becomes Mayor.  In 2004, Joanne Cocchiola became Nutley’s first woman Mayor when she led Mauro Tucci by 55 votes (and incumbent Peter Scarpelli by 686 votes) in the race for Commissioner.   But one historical trend that bodes poorly for Cocchiola: in at least 40 years, Nutley voters have never given a Commissioner two consecutive terms as Mayor.

They're not state Senators or gubernatorial offspring. They don't come from political dynasties and don't have powerful county organizations backing them.

But in the third and seventh congressional districts, there are eight lower-profile Republican candidates, considered second-tier to the likes of state Sen. Leonard Lance, Kate Whitman, Medford Mayor Chris Myers and Ocean County Freeholder Director Jack Kelly. And those candidates want to stress that even without a famous name or a powerful county organization behind them, they can have an impact on these races.

One of the longest shot candidates on the ballot in either district is Suzanne Penna, a 37-year-old nursing student from Bayville who's only been involved in politics for the last year and a half. It won't be her first time facing Kelly in a primary.

Ocean County Freeholder John Kelly 

Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly today officially entered the race for U.S. Congress, and presented himself as a pro-life, tough on terror, fiscal conservative who would serve the entire 3rd district.

A six-term freeholder running in the half of the 3rd district that has never had a congressman, Kelly said the press would continue to depict the GOP primary war he plans to wage against Medford Mayor Chris Myers as a county versus county showdown.

An elevator-full of Rudy Giuliani supporters looked at the ceiling when confronted with today’s Monmouth University/Gannett poll numbers that show the former New York mayor in a statistical dead heat with Arizona Sen. John McCain in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.

They were riding down from the fourth floor of the Toms River law office of Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, who also serves as state chairman of Giuliani’s campaign in New Jersey.

Gilmore wasn’t in town today.