Loretta Weinberg

From left: state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), Kean University interim dean Frank Espostio, and Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno

WEST LONG BRANCH - The LG candidates mixed it up tonight in the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University, with home county Sheriff Kim Guadagno, a Republican, and Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) aggressively going after each other while independent candidate Frank Esposito played the mostly subdued middleman as the candidates debated everything from taxes to mammograms to weight.

Weinberg argued that her running mate, Gov. Jon Corzine, in his four years as governor reduced the number of uninsured by 11%, preserved tax rebates for seniors and those making under $75,000, expanded family care, cut the state budget by $4 billion and trimmed the state payroll by 8,000 employees. Guadagno plugged Corzine and Democratic leadership in Trenton for saddling the state with an $8 billion budget deficit, perpetuating corrupt political organizations with contributions, failing to rein in the state state's property tax crisis and running a scorched earth style campaign.

Running mate of former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who sat down in front and observed the contest a few bodies removed from Corzine, the tough-talking Guadagno, 50, vowed to be the second half of a corruption-busting team that would arrive in Trenton and lay waste to state government.

"The key issue is not mammograms, it's taxes, taxes, taxes," said Guadagno, referring to the former issue in the context of a repeated scrap the candidates waged over the phrasing of a Corzine campaign ad that criticizes Christie for not including mandated mammogram coverage in his healthcare plan.

Statements following the debate between Lt. Governor candidates -- State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (Democratic), Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno (Republican), and Dr. Frank Esposito (Independent):

WEST LONG BRANCH - The two teams have formed on either side of a paved drive outside the theater at Monmouth University and they're going back and forth, each heckling and hectoring the other, and a Christie partisan says with a mischievous grin, "street fight."

An hour and a half before the lieutenant governor's debate, the AFL-CIO affiliates and Corzine allies here in support of state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) outnumber the Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno forces, who nonetheless take pride in what they say is their independence, if not their numbers.

Chris Daggett's people here for independent LG candidate Frank Esposito aren't organized yet, but there's evidence - a green t-shirted Daggett guy moving rapidly in gear-up mode - that they will soon be mobilized.

Three candidates for Lt. Governor -- all virtually unknown by state voters -- will hold their first and only debate tonight.  State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), Republican Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, and former Kean College Professor Frank Esposito will take part in a 90-minute debate that will be broadcast on NJ 101.5 and on News 12 New Jersey.  The debate is sponsored by Leadership NJ, along with 101.5, News 12, and Gannett New Jersey.  It starts at 8PM from Monmouth University.

WHERE IS GOVERNOR CORZINE, SENATOR WEINBERG, DISTRICT 37 ASSEMBLY MEMBERS JOHNSON AND HUTTLE ON MTA (TUNNEL AND BRIDGE) INCREASES?

Hours after the New Jersey Environmental Federation endorsed Republican Christopher Christie for Governor, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) said that Christie would "turn back the clock on common sense environmental initiatives" that Gov. Jon Corzine has worked on over the last four years.

Weinberg, the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, says that under Corzine's leadership, "New Jersey has become a national leader on environmental policy."

"We are committed to making sure our kids will have clean water and fresh air for generations to come, while Christie is committed to the same failed environmental policies of the Bush Republicans," said Weinberg, who noted that Corzine's Commissioner of Environmental Protection, Lisa Jackson, was named to President Obama's cabinet as EPA Administrator.

"Chris Christie has boasted that he would fight the Obama administration's efforts to protect our air.  He has said that his first target for budget cuts would be environmental protection and that he'd roll back regulations that protect our air and water," Weinberg said.  "Christie has vowed to follow Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford's lead and reject more than $70 million in federal funds to invest in our state's energy programs and he is opposed to the open space bond issue which would protect our remaining green space.  I don't know about you, but I will take the recommendation of the President and the former Vice President when it comes to matters of the environment."

Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) said that Corzine was "willing to throw away the promises he made to New Jerseyans on the environment as soon as it was politically expedient to do so.

WHERE IS GOVERNOR CORZINE, SENATOR WEINBERG, DISTRICT 37 ASSEMBLY MEMBERS JOHNSON AND HUTTLE ON MTA (TUNNEL AND BRIDGE) INCREASES?

WHERE IS GOVERNOR CORZINE, SENATOR WEINBERG, DISTRICT 37 ASSEMBLY MEMBERS JOHNSON AND HUTTLE ON MTA (TUNNEL AND BRIDGE) INCREASES?