John Murphy

One of the perks of being the new GOP State Chairman: Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) gets to appoint the five Republican members of the Legislative Redistricting Commission, which will redraw districts for the 2011 elections.  That could help Webber move up to the State Senate.

The conventional wisdom is that State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) will retire in 2011 and that three Republicans - Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, and soon-to-be Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Jr., the son of the Senator - will compete for his seat.

But with just some minor tinkering of the two Morris County-based legislative districts, Webber could find himself without substantial opposition for the Senate seat.  Morris Plains and Parsippany could move from the 26th to the 25th, and Morris Township, Morristown, Boonton Township and Boonton Borough could shift from the 25th to the 26th - a nearly even exchange of population, based on 2006 census estimates.

That would mean a 26th district ticket of State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville), Carroll and Bucco, Jr.  In the 25th, it would be Webber for Senate, running with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) and an open seat. Murphy, who sought the 2005 Republican gubernatorial nomination, lives in Morris Township.  Shifting his hometown to District 26 could easily block his legislative ambitions.

An early prediction for the best primary of 2011: the Republican contest for State Senator in District 25, assuming that State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) retires.  Possible candidate include: his son, Anthony Bucco, Jr., who is heavily favored to win a State Assembly seat in November after defeating his brother-in-law, Morris County Freeholder Douglas Cabana on Tuesday; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, who won a big plurality in Morris County when he ran for Governor four years ago, and who ran several thousand votes ahead of his running mates in the 2006 and 2009 Freeholder primaries; and Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), who has consistently demonstrated considerable vote getting prowess without spending large sums on his campaigns.

Twelve years after a rancorous campaign that ended in a lawsuit, Chris Christie and John Murphy have, apparently, buried the hatchet - at least publicly.  Murphy has endorsed Christie for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, something he told fellow Morris County Republicans he would do if the primary contest tightened up.

But Christie and Murphy, both strong advocates of full transparency and public disclosure, are still keeping one aspect of their tumultuous relationship a secret: the sealed records of an out of court settlement after Christie sued Murphy for defamation following his loss in the 1997 GOP primary for Morris County Freeholder.

The settlement probably isn't as sexy as the Republican State Committee's request for Gov. Jon Corzine's e-mail correspondence with his former girlfriend, Carla Katz.  Still, political watchers might be curious to learn how much money Murphy had to pay Christie, if any, to drop his lawsuit.  And after all, a Judge agreed to seal the records, so their hands are tied.

"The past is the past," said Christie.  "John and I made an agreement. There is no chance that John and I would breach that agreement to remain private."

Chris Christie, right, and John Murphy today in Morristown.

MORRISTOWN – Citing a mutual love of family and similar views on the issues, Freeholder John Murphy and former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie reconciled publicly today as Murphy endorsed Christie for governor in a short ceremony at Morris County GOP headquarters.  

“We share a lot of things in common,” said Christie. “Jack and Bridget (two of their children) sit next to each other in class at Assumption School. …I’m thrilled to have John here.”

“Our differences are pretty well documented,” Murphy said. “Certainly they have sold newspapers. What was not alluded to is we are both family men who believe in public service.”

The pair of Morris political products waged a memorably hardnosed war in 1997, when Christie ran for re-election to the Freeholder Board and Murphy beat him, then Christie filed a defamation lawsuit against Murphy, which they settled out of court. Family events and their children’s crisscrossing paths – two other children played on the same two-person team at a recent sporting event – have helped quell any lingering inner turmoil from their drawn daggers encounter of more than a decade ago.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie will pick up the endorsement of a formal rival tomorrow when Morris County Freeholder John Murphy announces his support for the former U.S. Attorney.  In 1997, Murphy defeated Christie in the GOP primary for Freeholder.

After the primary, Christie filed a defamation lawsuit against Murphy and his political consultant, David Murray.  The matter was settled out of court.

Afraid of facing a GOP primary challenge, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Franklin) had indicated to Republican leaders that she would endorse former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for Governor after the filing deadline - which was last Monday.  Sources say that the Christie camp, aggravated by McHose's delay, is no longer viewing her as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor.  It's possible that Christie would not have asked McHose to be his running mate anyway, but her neutrality has all but ended her hope of running statewide this year.

The fifteen-member Ocean County Republican Screening Committee has voted to endorse former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.  If Christie wins the Republican convention next Monday, he'll run on the organization line in the June primary.  But the line has not delivered a plurality of Ocean County primary voters in a contested gubernatorial primary since 1993.   

A victory at the screening committee four years ago did not assure Morris County Freeholder John Murphy the organization line in the 2005 gubernatorial primary.  A week later, Murphy lost the convention on the second ballot to Washington Township Committeeman Robert Schroeder by a 52%-25% margin, with Douglas Forrester finishing third.  In the Republican primary, Forrester carried Ocean County by a 37%-27% margin over Bret Schundler, with Schroeder finishing third with 15%, followed by Steve Lonegan (15%), Murphy (6%), Paul DiGaetano (6%) and Todd Caliguire (2%). 

Chris Christie, who began his political career running for Morris County Freeholder in 1994, is expected to seek the GOP nomination for Governor in 2009.

His 1995 swearing-in ceremony marked an auspicious beginning for Freeholder Christopher J. Christie, who raised his right hand to take the oath of office at the prompting of former Gov. Thomas Kean.*

If Christie was still relatively unknown in Morris County Republican politics, the considerable presence of Kean at the reorganization meeting six months after the young comer ousted incumbent Cecilia Laureys in the GOP primary turned some heads.

Soon more people would know the freshman freeholder, although to hear observers tell the story – thirteen years removed from the initial pomp of the Kean triumphal – Christie didn’t exactly overwhelm the Morris County Republican organization. It wasn’t that he didn’t get government or arrived at freeholder meetings unprepared

That wasn’t it at all.

He just appeared unusually ambitious, particularly when, just two months into his first term as a freeholder, he announced his intentions to run for the State Assembly.  He said he’d accomplished all he needed to at the county level and that it was time to move on to Trenton.

His colleagues saw that as a particularly audacious move.

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan will announce today that he'll seek the Republican nomination for Governor.

Conservative activist Steve Lonegan will formally announce his gubernatorial candidacy this afternoon.

Lonegan, the 52-year-old former mayor of Bogota, will kickoff his 2009 campaign at the Courtyard Marriot in Edison at 1:00pm, according to his Web site.

This will be Lonegan’s second try for his party’s nomination. In 2005, he won eight percent of the vote in the Republican primary, coming in fourth out of seven candidates. But since then he's developed a higher statewide profile, authoring a book and heading the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity.

Morris County Freeholder John Murphy

A veteran of the last GOP gubernatorial primary, Morris County Freeholder John Murphy says he likely won’t run for governor if either biotech businessman John Crowley or U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie gets in the race to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine.

“Being from Morris County, it would not be prudent for me to run against Chris, who’s also from Morris, of course, and has great name ID,” Murphy said. “I’m not a glutton for punishment.”

Then there’s Crowley, a question mark ever since he looked ready to run against U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) then backed down – only to resurface as a GOP organizer and host of a riverboat cruise down the Mississippi River at the Republican National Convention.