JOSH MARGOLIN

In what The Star-Ledger’s Josh Margolin called “another bizarre turn in an already crazy gubernatorial campaign,” independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett dropped a loaner car off at a dealership with a loaded gun left inside.

The gun belonged to Daggett’s driver, Ken Argirowho, a retired state trooper who had been taking Daggett around in a loaner car while Daggett’s own car was being serviced.

Daggett told the Ledger that the dealer called “and immediately we took care of it.”  

John Farmer, Sr., the legendary but aging Star-Ledger editorial page editor, told the National Journal that GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie was the front-runner for their newspaper endorsement before independent Christopher Daggett came into their editorial board and blew them away.  . "He was so good we brought him back a second time," Farmer told On Call, a National Journal publication.

Farmer said that Christie has played it safe - a reference to criticism that he has not been specific enough on his plans for taxes and budgets.  Christie's "arithmetic...didn't add up," Farmer told them, "and I think that hurt his credibility."  Calling him a "chaplain on a pirate ship," Farmer made it clear that Gov. Jon Corzine was never really in the running for an endorsement by the state's largest newspaper.

The Star-Ledger announced this week that they expect to cut another fifty full-time jobs amidst scary economic forecasts.  (There is, of course, a temptation to suggest that they ask Mark Matzen to help them become a bit more creative.) The newspaper's political team appears to be safe: the Star-Ledger has just invested in some billboards to expand the name ID of their "A Team" - Pulitzer Prize winner Josh Margolin, young rising star Claire Heininger, and Tom Moran, who rejoined the newspaper after a short stint at PSE&G.  The word is that Moran is Farmer's heir apparent.

New Jersey Chamber of Commerce President Joan Verplanck says she has had no contact with Gov. Jon Corzine or his staff about running for Lt. Governor, and says becoming a candidate has "never crossed her mind."  PolitickerNJ.com's Inside Edge reported late Friday night that she was under consideration for the post, based upon information from three sources with direct links to the LG selection process.  These sources suggest that Verplanck and State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) are the most serious contenders to become Corzine's running mate, and continue to stand behind that contention. 

"I would like to respond to the rumor that I am being considered as Governor Corzine's running mate.  I want to be clear that I have not spoken with anyone from the Governor's office regarding the position, and have no idea where this rumor came from," Verplanck said in an e-mail. "I am hopeful that the whoever the candidate is, she will be conversant in the role a vibrant business climate plays in fulfilling the vision of a fully-employed population, and that she will advocate for policies to create that climate for the good of all New Jerseyans."

"Governor Corzine has always had a great working relationship with Joan Verplank and the Chamber and he continues to be impressed with the work they do," said Sean Darcy, a spokesman for the Corzine campaign.  "We have had a great working relationship with them, and we look forward to continuing it. As for the Lieutenant Governor position, we have no comment."

Verplanck also sought to "clarify my use of the word stupid as relates to the Chamber's annual Congressional Dinner."

"In an interview with Josh Margolin, I stated that the premise that people would use the train as a vehicle to "cut deals" -- in a crowded environment crawling with journalists and cell phones that take pictures and record video -- was stupid," Verplanck wrote. "I didn't say the Republicans' decision was stupid.  I said that the premise on which they based the decision was stupid."

The only thing more shocking than Governor Jon "Zero Tolerance" Corzine publicly embracing a man convicted of bribing a public official is that Republicans have not seized on Corzine's statements as a campaign issue.  This seems to have been a one day story.

Howard Schoor, the founder of a politically influential engineering firm, who pleaded guilty last year to paying a $15,000 bribe to influence a sewerage authority contract in Ocean Township, was among the attendees at a Corzine campaign fundraiser at the Borgota Hotel Casino in Atlantic City on April 22, hosted by a law firm and an engineering firm.  In February, Schoor was sentenced to two years on probation.

"I publicly acknowledged him and said I thought he's a good man," Corzine told the Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin, who broke the story this week.  "I think he is a good man. If he actually was involved in bribes and payoffs -- I don't think he was ever convicted of that particular element -- I wouldn't approve of that. I don't approve of it. But I think he's a good man. He's been very philanthropic."

Schoor admitted that he paid a bribe to then-Ocean Township Mayor Terrance Weldon and Sewerage Authority Chairman Stephen Kessler while the three were attending the New Jersey League of Municipalities Convention in Atlantic City in November 2001. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, who was the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Schoor, Weldon and Kessler, was critical of Corzine in response to Margolin's question.  "Only in Jon Corzine's Trenton would a convicted felon who engaged in political corruption be invited to a political event by the governor and then be praised by him publicly," Christie said.  While Christie addressed the issue with Margolin, the type of stampede of condemnation that would normally come from a story like this has not occurred.

But the ability to use the attendance of a someone who has admitted to bribing a public official at the governor's fundraiser as a campaign issue is somewhat diminished by this twist: Christie's campaign chairman, State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown), was among the people who wrote letters offering a character reference for Schoor prior to his sentencing.  Schoor got a slap on the wrists compared to Kessler, who was sentenced six weeks later to one year in a federal prison.

Congratulations to the Star-Ledger’s Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman, who won the prestigious Edward Willis Scripps Award in the category of Distinguished Service to the First Amendment.  They will receive a $10,000 prize for their story on Big Time, Big Costs: The High Price of Rutgers Sports.”

The must-read story of the day comes from the Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman, who report Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce's allegation that Senate President Richard Codey "alternately threatened and tempted him with state grant money in an effort to halt a Republican hunt for documents that would expose how state funds were really being doled out by ruling Democrats."  The reporters say that DeCroce and Codey "traded charges of impropriety...as allegations over backroom budget deals involving millions of dollars grew increasingly heated and personal - even by New Jersey standards."

"It seemed like he was trying to pacify me by offering me some money," DeCroce told the Star-Ledger.  "I am prepared to take a lie detector test if it comes down to that...and it may come down to that." Margolin reports that Codey "called the assertion 'an absolute lie' and said the only conversation he had with DeCroce was over the use of GOP legislative staffers to conduct 'political opposition research' on state time." 

Click here to read the Star-Ledger story.

Sources familiar with the Star-Ledger newsroom say that Robert Schwaneberg, Joe Donohue, Rick Hepp, Dunstan McNichol, Kate Coscarelli, Matt Reilly and Tom Hester Sr. are among the veteran reporters who have accepted a buyout agreement.   Josh Margolin, Claire Heininger, Susan Livio and Tom Martello are part of the group that will stay on.

Besides giving a shout out to Wally Edge at Wednesday's New Jersey Legislative Correspondents Association Dinner ("As Wally always says, 'Hold Me Accountable.'" ... and you know we will.) Gov. Jon Corzine had some kind words for the state's political reporters and poked fun at the Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin and their declining circulation, and the Garden State's colorful array of political characters.

Click here to view Corzine's powerpoint presentation.

Fifty days ago today, Star-Ledger reporters Josh Margolin and Deborah Howlett broke the story that “Frank Lautenberg's opposition to Gov. Jon Corzine's highway toll plan has opened a rift between the two men that could affect the senator's re-election bid.”

“Lautenberg's announcement was a surprise and led one senior Corzine aide tell top Democrats that the governor would retaliate by ceasing his fund-raising efforts for the senator's re-election campaign,” wrote Margolin and Howlett.