Linda Greenstein

Assembly Republicans are spending money in the 14th district in a clear bid to stop 21-year-old college student Brian Hackett from winning the GOP primary.  At least five mailings have been sent out on behalf of restaurant owner Rob Calabro and attorney Bill Harvey, who are running on the Mercer County organization line.  Hackett is running alone on the line in Middlesex.

The campaign to oust incumbents Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) fell apart a week before the filing deadline when the two candidates recruited by Republicans, Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede and former Cranbury Councilman Wayne Wittman, unexpectedly changed their minds about running.  Mercer Republicans convinced Calabro, a former Freeholder candidate, to run.  But when Middlesex couldn't find a candidate and Hackett showed up at the convention and won, Mercer refused to accept him.  Middlesex has stuck with Hackett, the winner of their convention. 

In 2005, about 600 more Republicans voted in Mercer than in Middlesex.  In 2001, the Mercer edge was about 500.

In two Mercer County races where gubernatorial candidates took sides, there was a split.  West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who had the backing of Gov. Jon Corzine, decimated rival Charles Morgan, a Republican Councilman.  Hsueh won 70% of the vote.  In Robbinsville, Mayor David Fried was re-elected with 64% of the vote over Corzine's choice, Councilwoman Sonja Walter.  Morgan and Fried had the backing of Republican Christopher Christie.

Hsueh's landslide was helped with his new alliance with the local Democratic Party.  Sources say that Hsueh, an independent, has agreed not to endorse Republican candidates outside of local politics in exchange for Democratic support of his re-election campaign.

Hsueh has annoyed Democrats in recent years with his support of Republican Bill Baroni in races for the Senate and Assembly.  He has reportedly agreed to support Democratic incumbents Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo in their Assembly bid this year, and not to endorse Baroni in 2011.  Four years ago, Baroni backed Hsueh's re-election bid, while Greenstein helped then-Councilwoman Allison Miller.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

MORIARTY/CONAWAY/GREENSTEIN/CRUZ-PEREZ ON PROHIBITING PAYMENT FOR PREVENTABLE MEDICAL ERRORS

Measure Would Protect Consumers through Enhanced Error Reporting; Prohibition of Payment for Severe Medical Mistakes

(TRENTON) - Assembly members Paul D. Moriarty, Herb Conaway, M.D., Linda R. Greenstein and Nilsa Cruz-Perez today issued a multimedia package on their legislation to protect New Jersey consumers from being billed for certain egregious medical errors.

The measure (A-3371) is designed to mitigate serious and preventable medical errors. It would prohibit hospitals from charging patients and their insurance companies for medical bills related to these errors and require public hospital-by-hospital reporting of certain errors.

21-year-old Assembly candidate Brian Hackett

When Middlesex County Republicans tapped 21-year-old Brian Hackett as their candidate for Assembly in District 14, the GOP in neighboring Mercer County - which accounts for the slightly larger half of the district - decided to field a primary challenger against him rather than go with the traditional arrangement of each county fielding one candidate.

The Mercer Republicans argued that Hackett, a college junior who has never owned a home or held a full-time job, would not be taken seriously by the electorate.  But Hackett said that his young age is one of his key strengths.

"There are people who say I can't relate to the voters, and that's not true," said Hackett, who's running against restaurant owner Rob Calabro and attorney Bill Harvey -- two Mercer County 30-somethings - for the Republican nomination.

Sidna Mitchell, who came within 880 votes of unseating Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) in 2003, met with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce and Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley today to discuss the possibility to entering the State Assembly race in the fourteenth district.  The GOP leaders want to replace 21-year-old college student Brian Hackett with Mitchell, a 70-year-old former newspaper editor who served as Deputy Executive Director of the state Council on Affordable Housing under Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

Correction: Reports that Middlesex County GOP Chairman Joseph Leo was at the meeting was incorrect. 

Republicans, who tout the fourteenth as one of their target districts, found themselves without Assembly candidates against Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) last week after their two candidates, Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede and former Cranbury Councilman Wayne Wittman, unexpectedly pulled out of the race. 

Gov. Jon Corzine and Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro)

Amid fullblown intrigue elsewhere, Nutley businessman Carmen Pio Costa and Carlstadt School Board member Don Diorio will formally announce their Republican candidacies in Rutherford Thursday evening, and few doubt the battleground, gauntlet-down implications of their challenge to Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley).

But if the 36th Legislative District remains a decided field of contention this cycle (as is the 1st District in New Jersey’s deep south), two other districts – the 2nd and the 14th – early identified by operatives in both parties as potential battlegrounds in their own right,  at least for the moment do not appear to be marquee headline races.

Certainly that opens up the possibility for North Country Democrats and Republicans to expend more resources in the 36th, where Democrats enjoy a 2-1 edge but where the Dems must run with an unpopular leading man in Gov. Jon Corzine. 

Yet it could also open up other regions, other terrain, formerly classified as green zones. Arguably chief among these, particularly given its bordering proximity to the 14th, is the 12th District, where Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Colts Neck) seek reelection, and last night double-teamed at a town hall meeting in Manalapan.

For different reasons, both Democrats and Republicans have had a difficult time recruiting candidates in some key legislative districts this year. 

Some Republicans say they're having the best recruitment year in recent memory, with Governor Corzine's anemic poll numbers giving hope to the long beleaguered minority party.  But the GOP has had a difficult time recruiting candidates in two districts that were expected to be the most competitive in the state. 

Less surprising is the Democrats' failure to field their top choices in District 2 in South Jersey, where they hoped to play offense against two freshman Republican incumbents. 

"I think that economic challenges of getting a message out, as well as the challenges of public services, are unique to any candidate," said Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who's also an assemblyman.  "Certain situations make it more difficult."

The search for GOP Assembly candidates in the politically competitive fourteenth district continues, with Republicans viewing restaurant owner Rob Calabro as a stand-in candidate until party officials can find a stronger candidate.  The Mercer GOP has been in turmoil since Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede unexpectedly backed out of the race against Democrats Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).  Other potential candidates, including former Hamilton Mayor/Assemblyman Jack Rafferty, former Mercer County GOP Chair Cathy Tramontana, '08 Sheriff candidate James McSorely, and Councilman Thomas Goodwin all declined.

Rob Calabro, a Hamilton restauranteer who ran for Mercer County Freeholder in 2007, was picked tonight as a Republican candidate for State Assembly in the politically competitive 14th district.  Calabro was a last minute pick for the GOP, who had no candidate as of this afternoon after Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede changed her mind about running.  Calabro and a candidate from Middlesex who is expected to be picked on Saturday, will face incumbents Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).

From the Democratic side, there is no shortage of snickering at the ineptitude of Mercer County Republicans who have been unable to find State Assembly candidates in one of the few districts where Democrats admit their incumbents are vulnerable.  The Mercer GOP is holding their convention tonight and the Middlesex GOP will pick their candidates on Saturday.  With just hours to go before the balloting begins, Republicans have no one to take on incumbents Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).

Less than a week ago, Republicans had their ticket: Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede and former Cranbury Councilman Wayne Wittman.  Both have subsequently changed their minds.  Yaede apparently decided to run more than a week ago, but held off notifying party leaders.  Her withdrawal comes two weeks after she was introduced as a candidate at an Assembly Republican fundraiser and met with gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie.  Sources say that Yaede has been flip-flopping about an Assembly bid for the last two months, being in the race one day and out the next.  She has Hamilton Republicans so angry that there is speculation that the local GOP might dump her from their ticket in 2011.