Kelly Yaede

There's another statewide campaign in New Jersey next winter: the race to succeed Christopher Christie as the United States Attorney - a post that holds considerable power and visibility, and potentially a launching pad for higher public office.   By tradition, federal prosecutors submit their resignations to coincide with the inauguration of a new President. 

If John McCain wins, possible candidate for U.S. Attorney include McCain state campaign director Rick Mroz, a former Chief Counsel to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; and State Sen. Bill Baroni, the Chairman of McCain's New Jersey campaign.  Mroz runs former Assemblyman/BPU Commissioner Edward Salmon's consulting firm, and is associated with former Cumberland County GOP Chairman Lawrence Pepper's law firm.  Baroni is a Seton Hall University law professor, and has been on Team McCain since 1999, when he worked on the national campaign staff as McCain's advanceman. 

McCain could also go with one of Christie's deputies, like First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra or Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown.

Two Republicans on the Hamilton Township Council are expressing interest in running for the State Assembly in 2009, creating a potential fight between Tom Goodwin and Kelly Yaede for the support of the GOP organization in the fourteenth district. The two want to challenge incumbents Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo.

Hamilton Mayor John BencivengoStrengthened by what he described as a "shared vision with my people, a cause to be accomplished and a dream come true," John Bencivengo officially became mayor of Hamilton today as he was sworn in by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith in the ballroom of the Nottingham Firehouse in front of a crowd of 350 people.

"I wish that I could have given a more cheerful address today," said Bencivengo in a nod to the town’s $10 million budget deficit. "But even if our fiscal circumstances had been better, even if we had ample surplus, I’d be saying the same things. It should be our goal, no matter the circumstances, to do more with less."

The former Republican Party municipal chairman and fired government worker ran and won on a platform of restoring common sense and accountability to government. Today Bencivengo swore always to remember that working families fund the town, and promised to present the 2009 budget on time in July.

He made the second of these vows in defiance of the record of his predecessor, Glen Gilmore, who sat on the document last year until a judge ruled he had to release it to the Township Council prior to the November election. The release of the 2008 budget, which initially showed a $5 million shortfall, helped propel the Republican Bencivengo to victory over Gilmore by fewer than 500 votes.