New Jersey

Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, has won the endorsement of New Jersey’s largest and oldest pro-life political action committee - New Jersey Right to Life PAC

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.

The PolitickerNJ.com Smartest Legislator Tournament is intended to be a contest of sheer intelligence -- an online, interactive contest among readers to determine New Jersey's most intelllllectually talented. This is not about political parties, vote-getting abilities, fundraising prowess, legislative achievements, or personal popularity -- it's a contest to look at the minds of the legislators. Think about their ability to reason, to solve problems, to comprehend complicated ideas, to think abstractly, to articulate their views, and to learn. Consider their personal wisdom, their knowledge, and their ability to deal with cognitive complexity.

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A manifesto written by State Sen. Joe Pennacchio in 1991 has become an issue in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat
WOODBRIDGE - On the same day Murray Sabrin denounced as "fascist" a work written seventeen years ago by state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris), the two Republican candidates for U.S. Senate intensified their debate at a forum sponsored by the Woodbridge Township Republican Organization.

Sabrin, an economics and finance professor at Ramapo College, last night stood by his characterization of Pennacchio's self-published work, The Nationalist Agenda, a Blueprint for the 21st Century, as a "fascist manifesto" and reiterated his demand that Pennacchio drop out of the race.

"Calling for the government to put people in camps is un-American and nothing that Americans should be advocating," said Sabrin, referring to ideas in a chapter from Pennacchio's book titled "Solving the Homeless Problem." "To single out a group of people for being placed in a government military camp is unacceptable and repugnant policy."

Sabrin likened the idea to the U.S. government holding Japanese Americans in internment camps during WW II.

Firing back prior to the debate, Pennacchio labeled Sabrin's comments about his 94-page work as the desperate and hateful words of a fringe candidate.

It is clear that the big-government radicals running Trenton today will stop at nothing to advance their vision of an even bigger nanny state no matter what or who is destroyed on the way to achieving the “Common Good.” So much so that they will pass drastically flawed and dangerous bills that will destroy New Jersey’s competitive business climate in favor of emotion based, job destroying politics. This time, however, they got caught on a procedural technicality.

Christopher Venis, Republican candidate for New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, announced today that he signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

Among the donors to Save Our State NJ, the issue-advocacy group essentially formed by Governor Jon Corzine to advocate his plan to raise tolls, is Public Service Electric & Gas. PSE&G has contributed $100,000 to the effort, according to sources familiar with the SOS group. That might explain Corzine’s reluctance to quickly release the list of SOS donors.

Editor's Note: The Inside Edge strongly stands behind our original report that PSE&G pledged $100,000 to Gov. Corzine's Save Our State NJ toll hike advocacy group, despite communications that seek to demonstrate otherwise and a release of their donors at the end of the day.

Republican insiders were unclear last night just how serious Joseph Buckalew is about entering the race for United States Senator, but it does appear that the GOP doesn’t seem ready to heed the request of Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore to stop endorsing candidates: the Bergen County GOP convention went on as planned last night, giving Joseph Pennacchio a landslide victory in his bid to run on the organization line against Murray Sabrin.

Republican Joe Buckalew is a possible U.S. Senate candidateFormer New Jersey Highway Authority Chairman Joseph Buckalew, a longtime business associate of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross, is giving serious consideration to a bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, according to a statement made by Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore on a conference call of party leaders this afternoon. Buckalew serves on the Board of Directors of Commerce Bank and as Vice Chairman of Commerce Bank Insurance Services – where Norcross was Chairman.

Anne Estabrook’s departure from the United States Senate race takes a potentially strong general election candidate out of the running for a party that hasn’t won a Senate contest since 1972.  Her withdrawal means Republicans lose a candidate who was prepared to self-fund a campaign to oust the four-term incumbent, Frank Lautenberg.  Estabrook was experiencing some of the obstacles that normally go to first time candidates -- not entirely unlike Lautenberg’s 1982 campaign against Millicent Fenwick – but Republicans expected that by November, she would emerge as a fierce competitor against the 84-year-old incumbent.  In time, the skills that made Estabrook successful in business and philanthropy would likely have extended to her political career.  Her outsider status and her money made her the candidate Democrats feared most in a general election.