A Republican legislator wants former Gov. Jon Corzine to reimburse the state for the salary of his transition staffer, Josh Zeitz.

“It disturbs me that our erstwhile former governor is continuing to run a failed political campaign on the taxpayers' dime,” said Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township), in reference to Zeitz’s role as Corzine’s spokesman and defender. “This guy is, apparently, a campaign flunkie, and should absolutely not be on the public payroll.  If Jon Corzine wants to defend his legacy, let him write a book.”

Outgoing governors receive a small budget for a transition staff, usually to help with archival and scheduling responsibilities during the first six months out of office.

TRENTON -- Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township) thinks that the political consultant Rick Shaftan’s dissatisfaction with Gov. Christopher Christie’s conservative credentials expressed is unwarranted.

“Rick is always unhappy. And I don’t mean to be insulting to him, but we conservatives are never happy unless we’re eating our own young.  If we have a guy we agree with 98% of the time, we’ll find that 2% and that’s what we’ll harp on,” said Carroll, who is considered one of New Jersey’s most conservative legislators and beat Christie in a 1995 GOP primary for State Assembly. 

Carroll made the comments from a conference room in Trenton, where the Assembly Judiciary Committee was about to hear testimony from Attorney General Paula Dow, a registered Democrat whose nomination annoyed Shaftan and at least a few outspoken conservatives. 

“Is Chris going to be a doctrinaire conservative?  I’m sure he won’t be.  But at the end of the day I have nothing to complain about, and I don’t think anybody else does yet either.  They’re concerned about his appointments.  Well, let’s see how those appointments actually work out.”

A do-over of a slip-and-fall jury trial necessitated by the arrogance of Mr. Potato Head – former State Sen. Robert Martin (R-Morris Plains) –has been settled.  In 2006, Martin served as foreman of a Morris County jury that awarded $876,000 to a woman who fell in a Shop-Rite in Wharton.  After Martin wrote an article for the New Jersey Law Journal boasting that his fellow jurors relied on him to explain "abstract legal concepts and procedural issues" related to the case, a state appeals court ruled that the then-Senator and Law Professor influenced the verdict. 

Martin did not seek re-election to the Senate in 2007, and has since won lucrative appointments to two panels: Gov. Jon Corzine named him to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Board of Directors, and Senate President Richard Codey gave him a seat on the State Commission of Investigation.  Martin is also a Law Professor at Seton Hall University.

In February 2006, Martin acknowledged that he was arrested for drunk driving in March 2005 and lost his driving privileges for three months that year. Martin was able to keep his arrest and conviction quiet. Several Republican Senators and Morris GOP leaders said they knew nothing about Martin's legal woes until contacted by a Gannett newspaper reporter who broke the story.

Martin announced in September 2005, a month after the state restored his license to drive, that he would not seek re-election to the Senate.  There had been rumors of Martin's pending retirement, although it was generally assumed that he wanted to avoid another difficult battle for the GOP nomination. Some insiders now speculate that his decision to retire was based on his desire to keep his DWI conviction out of the public domain.

Fourteen-year incumbent Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township) did something new today.  He lauded a budget address.

“I got to cheer a speech for the first time since I’ve been down here,” said Carroll, who is considered one of the most conservative legislators in the state and who said he has voted against all but one budget since he’s been in Trenton – including most from Republican administrations.  

“They were too profligate, and they did not meet the pension requirements,” he said.

Democrats, of course, had a very different reaction to the address, accusing Christie of going back on his previous calls for bipartisanship by unilaterally enacting a controversial school aid freeze.

“Gee, that’s a surprise,” said Carroll.  “He gets up and says the unhappy truth that we’ve been hoodwinked, bilked, and sold a bill of goods for years.  Some of them are the perpetrators.”

Our new Governor suffers from no lack of advice.  Much of it, contained in the transition reports, deserves prompt attention. 

Obviously, economic prosperity benefits everyone, and – as our state motto provides – “liberty and prosperity” are inextricably intertwined.  As his predecessors conclusively demonstrated, huge government, crushing taxation, and massive regulation – the antithesis of liberty – also preclude prosperity.  The “most vulnerable” among us are infinitely better served by the boundless opportunity a free and prosperous economy produces than by obscenely expensive, economically catastrophic, governmental guarantees.

MORRIS TOWNSHIP -- Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township) is not the type of candidate to scurry around his district trying to squeeze out possible last minute votes.  Instead, he is spending the day painting his living room and taking his kids to a firing range. 

"Today there's really nothing much I can do.  In Morris County all the votes that I think can be gotten out already have been gotten out," said Carroll, an attorney, from the home he also uses as his law office. 

Motivating Republican voters in Morris County - the home of their gubernatorial candidate, Chris Christie - is not hard this year.  And Carroll, who sits in a relatively safe Republican district, is not expected to be defeated by Democrats Rebekah Conroy and Wendy Wright. 

That is not to say that Carroll has never faced competition.  After his district-mate, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham), decided not to seek reelection, Carroll found himself caught up in a three-way primary with Anthony Bucco, Jr. and Freeholder Doug Cabana.

One of the likely casualties of the battle for the Senate Presidency will be Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange), who is Richard Codey's (D-Roseland) closest ally in the Legislature.  Watch for the new leadership to punish McKeon, perhaps by taking away his chairmanship of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee.  Democrats will argue that with the new Speaker coming from Essex, some of the more prestigious chairmanships might need to go elsewhere. 

Democrats most loyal to Gov. Jon Corzine are not big fans of McKeon, who took on the role of bashing Corzine during the few months in 2004 and 2005 when Codey and Corzine might have been competitors for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

McKeon, the Mayor of West Orange, has been widely viewed as the heir apparent to Codey's Senate seat.  With Codey apparently about to lose his post to Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), the new leadership might be less than enthusiastic about seeing McKeon ascend to the Senate.  Sources suggest that Democrats might be open to moving West Orange (and perhaps Roseland, if Codey runs again) out of the district during the 2011 redistricting process.

Maybe Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.) will get his wish: the conservative Republican told PolitickerNJ.com last month that he would run against Codey if mapmakers created a competitive district that is at least half Morris County,

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township) says he would run against Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland) in 2011 if legislative mapmakers drew a competitive district that included both of their towns.

"It would be an interesting question to see whether a Democrat who favors large government would appeal to Morris County voters more, or whether a Republican who favors small government would appeal to Essex County voters," said Carroll.

The idea of creating that district, of course, is far fetched.  But Carroll, who sits in a safely Republican district, says he hopes the next Legislative Apportionment Commission will create as many competitive legislative districts as possible - including his own. 

The chairmen of the state's two major political parties each appoint five members to the commission, while the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court appoints the crucial 11th member.  That tie-breaking member will determine whether the state will continue to have a huge majority of safe districts for each party, or whether maps should be redrawn to create districts where both parties have a shot to win. 

As of today, there are only a few of the state's 40 districts that have relatively equal party registration, and Republicans and Democrats only share representation in three. 

"If Stu Rabner appointed me to be the guy who drew the districts, I would draw districts that both parties hated, because I would try to draw as many competitive districts as possible," said Carroll.  "I wouldn't take consideration of incumbency.  The only thing I would take consideration of is you don't want to divide up communities."

One of the perks of being the new GOP State Chairman: Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) gets to appoint the five Republican members of the Legislative Redistricting Commission, which will redraw districts for the 2011 elections.  That could help Webber move up to the State Senate.

The conventional wisdom is that State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) will retire in 2011 and that three Republicans - Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, and soon-to-be Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Jr., the son of the Senator - will compete for his seat.

But with just some minor tinkering of the two Morris County-based legislative districts, Webber could find himself without substantial opposition for the Senate seat.  Morris Plains and Parsippany could move from the 26th to the 25th, and Morris Township, Morristown, Boonton Township and Boonton Borough could shift from the 25th to the 26th - a nearly even exchange of population, based on 2006 census estimates.

That would mean a 26th district ticket of State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville), Carroll and Bucco, Jr.  In the 25th, it would be Webber for Senate, running with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) and an open seat. Murphy, who sought the 2005 Republican gubernatorial nomination, lives in Morris Township.  Shifting his hometown to District 26 could easily block his legislative ambitions.

An early prediction for the best primary of 2011: the Republican contest for State Senator in District 25, assuming that State Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) retires.  Possible candidate include: his son, Anthony Bucco, Jr., who is heavily favored to win a State Assembly seat in November after defeating his brother-in-law, Morris County Freeholder Douglas Cabana on Tuesday; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, who won a big plurality in Morris County when he ran for Governor four years ago, and who ran several thousand votes ahead of his running mates in the 2006 and 2009 Freeholder primaries; and Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.), who has consistently demonstrated considerable vote getting prowess without spending large sums on his campaigns.