Joseph Pennacchio

On the sidelines throughout a bruising GOP pAssemblyman Jon Bramnickrimary for U.S. Senate, Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Union) today endorsed state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris).

"Joe has worked very hard in my district," said Bramnick, who had himself mulled a bid for U.S. Senate last year before opting out. "I have worked with Joe day in and day out for five years, and he is a very honest and straightforward guy."

A moderate Republican, Bramnick conceded that Pennacchio is probably more conservative on most issues. But ideology isn’t as important as character, in Bramnick’s judgement.

There are unconfirmed reports this morning that biotech millionaire John Crowley has decided not to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, ending several days speculation that he might mount a challenge to four-term Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg. With just a week before the April 7 filing deadline, it appears that the GOP field with include Goya Foods millionaire Andy Unanue, State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin. Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello is launching a challenge to Lautenberg in the Democratic primary, while former Democratic State Chairman Tom Byrne is also considering a Senate bid.

Mercer County Republicans voted to postpone the endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate tonight and will wait and see if biotech millionaire John Crowley decides to enter the race.

“We have two new candidates, one from Mercer County,” said Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley. “So it’s almost like we have one of our own who we need to give some consideration to.”

Crowley, 39, was a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive eleven years ago when he found out his 15-month-old daughter and four-month-old son had a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease. He wound up leaving to head up a series of biotech firms and has raised a reported $200 million for research of genetic diseases. Harrison Ford is expected to play Crowley in a film about his life.

In an informal vote, taken by a show of hands, Mercer Republicans overwhelmingly supported deferring a formal endorsement in the Senate race, and authorized the party’s executive committee to award the organization line sometime before the April 7 filing deadline.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin attended the convention. A third candidate, millionaire businessman Andy Unanue, is vacationing in Vail.

Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson says his attorney has contacted Yahoo! to trace the origin of a political prankster who has impersonated Wilson in e-mails to GOP leaders and initiated discussions on Andy Unanue's candidacy for the U.S. Senate. Three GOP County Chairmen responded to the fake e-mail, which was then forwarded to PolitickerNJ.com by the purported author, who says "as a college student, I originally set up this email as a gag thinking no one would really think this was coming from the State Chairman - as you can see, I was wrong.  To be clear, I was very upset about the Chairmen pushing this guy Andy into the race, since I like both Senator Pennacchio and Dr. Sabrin."  Copies of the e-mail were also sent to the Pennacchio and Sabrin campaigns.

Over the course of the next week, brand new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue will have a chance to cement his status as the Republican favorite to take on incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg in a marathon series of eight conventions.

Between tomorrow and next Wednesday, there are Republican county conventions coming up in Monmouth, Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Middlesex and Somerset. County committees will decide between Unanue, a businessman who's an heir to the Goya Foods fortune and the heir apparent to the campaign of former candidate Anne Estabrook, and his two Republican competitors: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin.

The person who each committee picks will be awarded a coveted spot on the party line, which typically provides a boost to the candidate whose name occupies it.

But Pennacchio, not to be counted out, is focusing on winning the line in traditionally Democratic counties where he believes he can appeal to a working-class "Reagan Democrat base" in the general election - specifically Mercer and Middlesex. He already has the line in Bergen County, although that may change if Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz meets with his executive committee and opts to give the line to Unanue, a personal friend who he recruited. He's also got the line in Hunterdon, Passaic and Union counties.

The candidate the GOP establishment wanted -- Andy Unanue, a 40-year-old self-funding conservative millionaire Latino from Bergen County – began informing party leaders on Easter Sunday that he would enter the U.S. Senate race.  That gives those party leaders who were actively seeking an alternative to State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) and Ron Paul campaign leader Murray Sabrin a viable choice in the race to challenge Frank Lautenberg. 

One endorsement that U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Pennacchio is missing: his running mate, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.  DeCroce seems intent on staying out of the Senate race, even though Pennacchio was his running mate in District 26 contests in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007.  DeCroce’s wife, Roxbury Township Clerk Betty Lou DeCroce, served on Anne Evans Estabrook’s exploratory committee.  DeCroce has not really shied away from endorsing in primaries before: in recent years, he has backed candidates for Governor, the Legislature, Freeholder and Councilman in GOP primaries. 

The buzz among Republican insiders over the last two days is that party leaders seem genuinely excited by the prospects of millionaire businessman Andy Unanue entering the race for United States Senator.  The former Chief Operating Officer of Goya Foods, one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, makes an interesting candidate: a self-funder who his 44 years younger than the incumbent and can compete for Latino votes.