Joseph Kyrillos

Republican State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown) is part of GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's inner circle; some details of their friendship are apparent in a log of calls from Kyrillos to Christie between 2002 and 2008.  Kyrillos left messages for Christie at the U.S. Attorney's office 48 times between 2002 and 2008, including 19 times while Kyrillos was the Republican State Chairman, according to a log of Christie's incoming phone calls requested by the Corzine campaign as part of an extensive series of document requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The Corzine campaign received the phone logs late Friday.

Most of the phone messages shed little information as to the topics Christie and Kyrillos were discussing.  Kyrillos tended to call after 5PM, and would usually leave a message that offered little detail.

Kyrillos did call Christie on April 22, 2002, the day Todd Christie wrote a $225,000 check to the Republican State Committee.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie's top campaign officials went after the New York Times today in response to a story that a former Justice Department official may have used her position to help Christie's campaign for governor.

"I think a story by unnamed sources two weeks out from the campaign making allegations which are untrue - I don't think there's a lot of credence to that story - and it was not something I was expecting two weeks out form the New York Times," said Christie strategist Mike DuHaime.

DuHaime and state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), who chairs Christie's campaign, put together a press conference call this morning to talk about $87,000 in donations from Gov. Jon Corzine and his charitable foundation last year to the church of Rev. Reginald Jackson, who was courted by Christie but endorsed Corzine this month. 

Kyrillos criticized Corzine for delaying filing his philanthropic foundation's tax returns, arguing that "There must be a reason why the information is not forthcoming. We have 14 days left before an election."

A Star-Ledger report that Gov. Jon Corzine contributed $87,000 to Rev. Reginald Jackson's church is more evidence that the governor is trying to buy endorsements, said State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), the chairman of Republican Christopher Christie's campaign.

"For the past ten years, Jon Corzine has used his personal wealth to influence elections and voters across our state and, now, it appears he is using contributions from his charitable foundation to continue this excessive influence," Kyrillos said.  "It is improper for Governor Corzine to contribute such large sums to organizations with a vested interest in the governor's race and with significant political sway during an election year."

Corzine's charitable foundation has applied for an extension on the filing of their 2008 tax return with the Internal Revenue Service, a move that can delay disclosure of their contributions until after Election Day.

Gov. Jon Corzine is an investor in a $9 billion hedge fund that owns stock in two cable TV companies regulated by the state.  Corzine's investment in TPG-Axon is said to be in the 1% range, which could make the governor's personal stake in the fund as high as $90 million.  Corzine has refused to say how much his investment is.

A hedge fund Gov. Jon Corzine invests in has a financial stake in two companies that are regulated by the state, public records show.

Corzine has a stake of less than one percent in TPG-Axon, which holds $26.6 million of stock in Comcast.  The company, which has 1.3 million subscribers, is the largest cable provider in the state.  The fund also has $25.8 million of stock in Time Warner Cable, which has a small share of the New Jersey market, with 54,000 subscribers in Bergen and Hudson Counties. 

Cable television companies are regulated by the Board of Public Utilities, whose members are appointed by the governor.

Corzine's investment with TPG-Axon has become a political headache for his campaign, as Republicans have used it to tie him to casino investments made by Texas Pacific Group (TPG), which shares a founder with TPG-Axon.  Spokesmen from both TPG and TPG-Axon told newspapers this week that the two companies are separately run, although Republicans pointed to shared corporate addresses and several business publications that drew a connection between the two. 

No such separation exists in this case, since TPG-Axon itself made the investments sometime between March 30 and June 30 of this year.  Corzine has not disclosed the exact size of his investment in the hedge fund, but a one percent share would equate to about $260,000 in Comcast stock - a small amount relative to Corzine's personal wealth. 

Corzine aides argue that investors would be hard pressed to find major companies that are not regulated by the state in one way or another.  He is one of 250 passive investors in the hedge fund, meaning he does not dictate the investment decisions of its manager, Dinakhar Singh.  And the two cable companies, at about $50 million combined, make up barely more than one half of one percent of the $9 billion fund.  A one percent investment in that fund would be worth about $90 million.

"Governor Corzine has no input or control over the investments TPG-Axon has made," said Sean Darcy, a spokesman for the campaign. "Factually, he has no discretion over the fund's investments." 

Still, despite its small size, the investment creates at least the appearance of conflict, according Seton Hall University political science professor Joseph Marbach.

"It points to a larger issue that I think the Governor has to explain: why does he insist on managing his portfolio when nearly every other politician in that situation would have turned it over to a blind trust?" he said.

A tax proposed by unions and liberal Democrats could prolong the recession in New Jersey. Governor Corzine should do the right thing and speak up against this job-killing tax, Senator Joe Kyrillos says. 

Linda Greenstein first entered politics in 1992 when she ran for an open seat on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education.  She was a staff attorney for the Community Health Law Project; her opponent, Barry Weisberg, was a lawyer active in his synagogue and with the local Little League.  Greenstein beat Weisberg in that race.  She went on to win two races for the Plainsboro Township Committee and ousted Republican incumbents Barbara Wright and Paul Kramer in a 1999 State Assembly race.  In all, Greenstein is 8-0 as a candidate.

But life turned out ok for Weisberg too.  His made enough friends in Middlesex County politics to get Gov. Jon Corzine to make him a Superior Court Judge, a job he started less than two weeks ago.  Greenstein let bygones be bygones; she didn't make any move to oppose Weisberg's nomination.

Another new Superior Court Judge in Middlesex County is Colleen Flynn, the 44-year-old daughter of Middlesex County Clerk Elaine Flynn and former six-term Assemblyman William Flynn.  State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown) supported Colleen Flynn's nomination, even though he and Bill Flynn have been political opponents for twenty years.

The selection of Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno as the GOP Lt. Governor candidate demonstrates the influence State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown) has on Chris Christie's campaign for Governor.  As the Monmouth County GOP seeks to regain control of the Board of Freeholders in a county that has become politically competitive over the last few years, it is helpful to the organization to have an influential ally chairing the Christie campaign - and potentially even more beneficial if Christie ousts Jon Corzine in November.  Kyrillos pushed Guadagno to make an early endorsement of Christie in the race for Governor - a move that seems to benefit the new LG candidate and the Monmouth Republicans.

Following reports that Governor Corzine hurried an important negotiation with the largest state union to prevent an embarrassing protest during a visit by Vice President Biden, Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13) noted the apparent hypocrisy of the Corzine Administration’s use of a “poison pill” provision in the rushed labor agreement.

In return for the agreement of the Communications Workers of America to minor concessions on wages and furloughs, the Corzine Administration has agreed to not layoff any state employees between now and January 1, 2011. The Corzine Administration further agreed to a poison pill provision that would reverse all of the agreed upon concessions if this Governor or his successor violates Corzine’s “No Layoff” pledge.

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, on his way to becoming the pick of the New Jersey GOP establishment if he runs for President in 2012, will be in New Jersey next Thursday to headline a fundraiser for the New Jersey Republican State Committee.  Romney came in the week before the primary to endorse Christopher Christie for Governor.  State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), Christie's campaign chairman, was Romney's N.J. chairman in 2008.

By tradition, the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary gets to pick the new GOP State Chairman.  But some insiders are saying that if Steve Lonegan upsets Christopher Christie on June 2, its possible - if not likely - that the Republican establishment won't cede control of the state party organization to their standard bearer.

The individual elected to lead the Republican State Committee in June will get a six-month term.  Party leaders can decide next January if they want a new State Chairman.  Republican legislative leaders are not likely to let Lonegan control the state party - and appointments to the legislative redistricting commission - unless he is elected Governor.

Anxious to unite the party after his upset victory in 2001, Bret Schundler chose to retain the incumbent, State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), who had been picked for the post a few months earlier by Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco.  As part of the deal, Kyrillos replaced his new Executive Director, Alan Raymond, with Evan Kozlow, who had been Political Director of the Schundler campaign.  Kyrillos held the seat until he stepped down in 2004, which left the state party apparatus in the hands of the party leadership and not with Schundler supporters.