Murray Sabrin

Paybacks are often difficult, especially when Election Day is just around the corner. When he was seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate last year, Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin was expecting the endorsement of Steve Lonegan.  But Lonegan instead backed State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville).  Now Lonegan is a candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.  Pennacchio delivered an early endorsement to Lonegan's rival, Christopher Christie.  And Sabrin, in an Op-Ed for PolitickerNJ.com, is fairly critical of Lonegan's flat tax plan.

Sabrin has not endorsed any candidate in the race for Governor.

Independent candidates for Governor: Pastor Shannon Wright (top) and former DEP Commissioner Chris Daggett

Two Independent gubernatorial candidates worth watching: former Commissioner of Environmental Protection Christopher Daggett, who will formally announce his candidacy on Monday, and Pastor Shannon Wright, who will enter the race tomorrow.  Daggett is a Republican who served in the cabinet of Gov. Thomas Kean and as Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Reagan administration, could pull votes from the GOP nominee for Governor.  Wright, who until yesterday was managing Republican Brian Levine's campaign for Governor, potentially draws African-American votes away from Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

Daggett and Wright will need to raise $340,000 in contributions of $3,400 or less in order to qualify for public financing and participate in the debate.

In New Jersey, independent statewide candidates traditionally do not fare well.  The only independent candidate to qualify for matching funds was Murray Sabrin, a Ramapo College Professor who ran as the Libertarian candidate for Governor in 1997.  Sabrin won 5% of the vote in his race against incumbent Christine Todd Whitman and her Democratic challenger, then-State Sen. James E. McGreevey.  A conservative, Richard Pezzullo, won 1% in the same race

In 2001, Bill Schluter, an incumbent Republican State Senator from Mercer County, mounted an independent bid for Governor.  He used the same campaign team that had elected Jesse Ventura in Minnesota three years earlier, but won just 1% of the vote against McGreevey and Republican Bret Schundler, the former Mayor of Jersey City. 

In 1981, eleven independent candidates combined to win 27,038 votes (1%); the Right to Life candidate, Bill Gahres, was the top vote getter with 4,525 votes.  Republican Thomas Kean beat Democrat Jim Florio in that race by just 1,797 votes statewide.

Gloucester County GOP Chair Loran Oglesby has canceled the Republican convention and will instead award the organization line for statewide, legislative and county candidates after a vote of an Executive Screening Committee she appointed on Friday.  Oglesby is facing a challenge for re-election in a party vote that will come the week after the June primary.

Local sources suggest that Christopher Christie had the votes in place to win the convention - rival Steve Lonegan is no longer competing for organization endorsements - and that Oglesby's decision to change the endorsement process could be a signal of her intention to back Lonegan.  In 2008, Murray Sabrin ran on the Gloucester organization line.

Independent candidates for Governor, left to right: Christopher Daggett (2009), Murray Sabrin (1997), Bill Schluter (2001), and Secaucus pig farmer Henry Krajewski (1953, 1957, 1961)

Dr. Christopher Daggett, the former Kean cabinet member who said today that he will run for Governor as an independent, will need to raise $340,000 in contributions of $3,400 or less in order to qualify for public financing and participate in the debate.  In New Jersey, independent statewide candidates traditionally do not fare well.

The only independent candidate to qualify for matching funds was Murray Sabrin, a Ramapo College Professor who ran as the Libertarian candidate for Governor in 1997.  Sabrin won 5% of the vote in his race against incumbent Christine Todd Whitman and her Democratic challenger, then-State Sen. James E. McGreevey.  A conservative, Richard Pezzullo, won 1% in the same race.

In 2001, Bill Schluter, an incumbent Republican State Senator from Mercer County, mounted an independent bid for Governor.  He used the same campaign team that had elected Jesse Ventura in Minnesota three years earlier, but won just 1% of the vote against McGreevey and Republican Bret Schunder, the former Mayor of Jersey City. 

To view a larger version of this cartoon, click here.

Dr. Murray Sabrin is a new PolitickerNJ.com contributor

Steve Lonegan has been an unpaid PolitickerNJ.com columnist since March 2007.  As he begins his campaign for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, his column will go on hiatus.  We are grateful for his willingness to use PolitickerNJ.com as a forum to express his views and for his contribution to the political debate in New Jersey.  We look forward to Mayor Lonegan's return next year, win or lose.

Joining our list of contributors today is Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin, a former candidate for Governor and U.S. Senator.  We welcome Dr. Sabrin and look forward to hearing his views.

CLICK HERE TO READ DR. SABRIN'S FIRST COLUMN

It’s all about the Governor’s economic stimulus plan on NJN this weekend.

On Sunday at 9a.m. and 11a.m., watch On the Record with New Jersey Policy Perspective President Jon Shure, Center for Policy Research of NJ President Gregg Edwards, Democratic analyst Mike Murphy and Ramapo College Finance Professor/former U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin discuss Corzine’s plan.  The show is hosted by Michael Aron and will air again on Monday at 6:30 a.m. 

Tonight at 7:00 and Sunday at 10:00a.m., catch Reporters Roundtable, hosted by Michael Aron and featuring Bergen Record columnist Charles Stile, Gannett’s Greg Volpe and yours truly,  Matt Friedman.  We'll discuss the Corzine economic plan, the Republican sales tax cut proposal and commercials from the U.S. Senate and Congressional races.

Despite a competitive and sometimes nasty primary fight, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg seems to have had little trouble uniting the Democratic Party behind his re-election campaign.  There are no real signs that party leaders who backed Rob Andrews for the nomination are denying any support to the four-term Senator, and a poll released today by Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey shows Democratic voters solidly behind the Lautenberg.  The Republican candidate, former Rep. Dick Zimmer, seems to be having a little trouble getting the GOP behind his candidacy after defeating conservative State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and Ron Paul supporter Murray Sabrin in his primary.  The poll shows that Zimmer, with 64% of the GOP vote, has not yet closed the deal on his own party.

Dick Zimmer has some catching up to do.

Across the board, fundraising figures for New Jersey’s Republican candidates for federal office look bleak, and Zimmer’s are no exception: he has about $411,000 cash on hand to go up against Frank Lautenberg, who has $1.3 million after a primary fight with Rep. Rob Andrews.

Already, Zimmer has put $300,000 of his own money into the race. After a press conference today on an unrelated topic, Zimmer wouldn’t say whether he plans to put any more of his own money in.

“I have no comment on that,” Zimmer said. “What I have said is that I can’t self-fund.”

Lautenberg can, however.

Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin said today that he won’t run for Governor next year.

Towards the end of his Senate campaign, Sabrin said that, if he didn’t win, he would consider running for Governor to keep U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, the establishment Republicans’ favorite prospective nominee, from getting the nomination.

Reached on vacation in Alaska today, Sabrin said that he would devote his energy towards advancing his philosophy of limited government and laissez faire economic policy.