Martin Marks

Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, will host an open house celebration to mark the opening of his campaign headquarters at 726 Boulevard, Suite 12 in Kenilworth. The event is slated for Saturday, May 3rd from 11 AM to 1 PM.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), left, and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union). 

FANWOOD - Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) flexed her party muscles today as she toured a senior care facility here with chief deputy whip in the U.S. House, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and defended herself against attacks from prospective general election rivals.

Stender, the Democrats’ nominee in the 7th District Congressional District, and Wasserman Schultz, co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program, underscored their commitment to universal health care, Medicare and Social Security.

“We need to elect someone with a conscience, who understands that health care should be a high priority,” said Wasserman Shultz, sitting with Stender in the parlor of the Chelsea at Fanwood. “That’s why I’m here, to highlight Linda’s promising candidacy.”

Thomas RoughneenAn administrative law judge today ruled that Thomas Roughneen’s petitions are in good order, and told the 7th Congressional District candidate he could continue to compete in the Republican primary.

Emilio Dabul of South Plainfield had challenged 79 of Roughneen’s 273 petitions but did not attend court in Elizabeth today, according to Roughneen. Yesterday Dabul would not say if any of the candidates had asked him to challenge Roughneen’s petitions.

Former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield and Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks said they had nothing to do with the petitions challenge.

Three of the four top contenders for the Republican nomination for Congress in the seventh district have made substantial contributions to their campaigns.  State Sen. Leonard Lance has loaned $100,000 to his House campaign – nearly one-third of the $294,130 he has raised so far.  Former Summit Council President Kelly Hatfield, who has the organization line in Union County, loaned her campaign $55,813 – more than half of the $106,293 she’s brought in so far.  Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks has raised $123,340 – which includes a $75,000 personal loan.  Kate Whitman has raised $434,283, which includes a personal contribution (not a loan – that means she can’t get it back) of $4,600.

Former Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield in front of the old Town Hall 

SUMMIT - Former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield stands downtown on a corner where she can see the old Town Hall, the parking garage and the historic horse trough - all items that were either renovated or built during her nine years on the council.

"I have proven experience as a problem solver," says the microbiologist who retired from the council in 2005 and now is a longshot to represent the Republican Party as a candidate for U.S. Congress in the 7th District.

The other candidates in the 7th Congressional District GOP primary responded favorably to Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks’s challenge today for four debates.

"We are happy to debate," said Amanda Woloshen, spokeswoman for state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon). "We have actually already accepted a debate from Channel 9. Any opportunity for Leonard to express his record of true fiscal conservatism is always welcome."

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks 

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks today sent a letter to his opponents in the Republican 7th Congressional District Primary, challenging them to a series of four debates.

Marks said he wants four candidate debates, one each in Union, Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Somerset counties.

In determining who among the crowded field of seventh district Republican congressional candidates is the frontrunner, the question may be what counts more: money or county lines.

From the moment state Sen. Leonard Lance entered the race, the conventional wisdom has been that he leads the pack. And, without so much as acknowledging that he is the frontrunner, Lance has done much to reinforce that status, winning the party line in his native Hunterdon County, along with Somerset County.

The combination of those two counties accounts for about 70% of the district’s Republican primary vote, and Lance’s win in Somerset is particularly compelling because it’s home turf for his chief rival, Kate Whitman, along with several other lower-profile candidates.

Whitman has managed to win the line in Middlesex County – which comprises the smallest portion of the district and an even smaller portion of its Republican primary vote.

BRIDGEWATER - Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks finishes fourth at the Somerset County Republican Convention on Thursday night, but promises to be the conservatves' alternative in the  7th District congressional race.

BRIDGEWATER - The frontrunners like to call it a three-way race.State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon)

Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon), Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield and businesswoman Kate Whitman each won Hunterdon, Union and Middlesex respectively in their quest to be the Republican nominee in the 7th Congressional District.

Tonight’s Somerset County Republican Convention will likely thin the ranks of contenders and give one of the frontrunners a solid leg up on the rest of the nine-person field.

With only the Somerset convention remaining in a district that encompasses portions of four counties, the pressure to secure the endorsement of this county’s committee is on Whitman, who lives in Peapack-Gladstone.

After all, Lance won his home county of Hunterdon, and Hatfield won her home county of Union.