Patrick Murray

New Jersey residents may be used to reading headlines about corrupt public officials on a near-daily basis, but it hasn’t made them overwhelmingly cynical about the idea of holding public office, according to a Monmouth University poll released yesterday.

Fifty-five percent of New Jerseyans think that getting involved in politics and government is “honorable,” compared to only 32% who think it’s a “dirty business.”

“Although New Jersey has developed a reputation for ethically-challenged government, most residents feel it doesn’t have to be that way,” said pollster Patrick Murray.

With less than a month before voters go to the polls in the hyper-competitive 3rd and 7th congressional districts, Republicans unleashed what is likely to be their theme for the remainder of the campaign: tying Democratic State Sen. John Adler and Assemblywoman Linda Stender to a controversial program that they characterize as a slush fund.

Medford Mayor Chris Myers, who's running against Adler in the 3rd District, stood with Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson and provided documentation that Adler and Stender both helped municipalities in their districts apply for the Property Tax Assistance and Community Developments grants program - known to insiders as the "MAC account" - that were not publicized beforehand, and were allegedly handed out in a non-transparent way.

Myers alleged that Adler - contrary to his denial that he had any influence over the way the funds were used - was belied by letters written by the Haddonfield borough administrator, the Haddon Township police chief and the Cherry Hill mayor, who all wrote that they were made aware of available grant money from the program through Adler's office.

"Welcome to John Adler's Trenton. It's a culture of corruption," said Myers. "I was just appalled - I'm not a creature of Trenton. I'm a small town mayor."

State Sen. Leonard Lance leads Assemblywoman Linda Stender by four points in the 7th District Congressional District, according to a Monmouth University poll released today.

Lance leads Stender 41% to 37% among registered voters, and 43% to 39% among likely voters. Both numbers are within the poll’s margin of error, however, and 14% of the district’s voters are undecided.

Former Republican Michael Hsing, who’s running as an independent, attracts about 2% of the vote. That’s far worse than he did in an internal Stender campaign poll, where he attracted 9% of voters.

GOP Freeholder candidate John Curley: Politicker file photoIt’s been labor by slow degrees.

Aided by Bush fatigue nationally and the Operation Bid Rig scandal locally, Democrats chipped steadily away at the Freeholder Board in Monmouth, foregoing potential Assembly gains elsewhere to focus on trying to build a majority in this longtime Republican stronghold.

Relying heavily on state party funds, they elected Barbara McMorrow two years ago and John D’Amico last year to get them to within one seat of swinging control of Monmouth in their favor.

Now with newly registered voters bolstering their numbers beyond the GOP’s - 99,282 Democrats to 86,992 Republicans - Democrats hope Amy Mallet and Glen Mason are poised to become their party’s next freeholders here. Freeholder Barbara McMorrow, left, stands with fellow Democrats, candidates Amy Mallet and Glen Mason.: Politicker file photo

In arguably the most consequential freeholder showdown of the year, those two must get past veteran Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and her running mate, Red Bank Councilman John Curley.

"As far as I can tell, it’s the premiere down ballot race in the state," State Party Chair Joseph Cryan said.

Although Democrats gleefully claim momentum going into this one, it will be no walk over for them.

Two independent polls released today on the race for United States Senator offer conflicting data on the question of Frank Lautenberg's ability, at age 84, to serve another six-year term: more than half the voters polled by Quinnipiac University say yes, while less more than two-thirds of Monmouth University/Gannett poll voters disagree.  Both polls have Lautenberg leading Republican Dick Zimmer by about the same margin.  Patrick Murray, who runs the Monmouth/Gannett poll, offers an explanation in his blog, which is worth the read.

Just 6% of New Jersey voters are closely following the race for U.S. Senate between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer: Getty Images Photo
A new  Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg leading GOP challenger Dick Zimmer 46%-36% -- the latest in a series of polls that show the four-term Democrat with a double digit lead.  The poll shows that just 45% of voters are showing interest in the Senate race, and just 6% are following it closely.  83% of New Jersey voters have a lot of interest in the race for President.

Barack Obama leads John McCain by 8 points in a new Monmouth University/Gannett poll
Barack Obama leads John McCain in New Jersey by eight percentage points, 49%-41%, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released today.  

“McCain has made some gains in New Jersey, which should not really be a surprise to anyone who has followed election polling in this state,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.  “Republican candidates often see some positive movement in September polling, but have had problems maintaining that momentum.  Only once in the past ten years – the 2000 U.S. Senate race – has the Republican candidate continued to narrow the gap through election day.  We’ll have to wait and see if this is really a trend.”

Democratic lawyer Dennis Oury (left), whose indictment is expected to be announced today, with Freeholder David Ganz
Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin admits that, after a decade of Democratic gains, Bergen County will not likely return to the Republican bastion it once was.

His appeal to the voters in the upcoming freeholder and county clerk races is not to start a movement for total Republican control of the county, but to create a two-party system that he feels has been sorely lacking.  That the federal investigation of his Democratic counterpart, Joseph Ferriero, and Democratic lawyer Dennis Oury may have little effect alone on the local races, but that it underscores the need to bring the Republican Party out of the political wilderness.

“I think it’s very, very unfortunate for the people of Bergen County, and it shows what one party rule leads to. The residents of Bergen deserve a two party government and this has underlined how important that is,” he said.   “The corruption, the pay-to-play in Bergen County is systemic, and the only way to change this is to bring back the two party system. Elect republicans to at least share in the running of government.”

Even if he wanted to, Yudin would be hard pressed at this point to make this election a referendum on Ferriero.  Republican consultant Thom Ammirato has polled Ferriero’s name recognition in races past, and it has not exceeded nine percent – despite the Democratic power broker’s huge influence in the every day workings of county government.

Conservative Steve Lonegan is expected to seek the GOP nomination for Governor in 2009.
For years, conservative activist Steve Lonegan has been seen by the state's moderate, mainstream Republicans more as a thorn in the side than a boon to their party.

But after leaving office as the mayor of Bogota, the ever-controversial Lonegan has - at least on the surface - made nice with some of the party's more high profile members as he's dramatically increased his statewide profile.

Take the convention run shortly before the U.S. Senate primaries at the Trenton Marriot, where Americans for Prosperity - the anti-tax group whose New Jersey chapter Lonegan heads up - brought out a couple national Republican luminaries and a few New Jersey Republicans who typically aren't seen with Lonegan.

Once you got past the 3,000 pound fiberglass pig perched atop a trailer parked outside the hotel, you could meet not only some of the of the Republicans' most conservative legislators -- like Assembly members Michael Patrick Carroll, Richard Merkt, Allison Littell-McHose and State Sen. Gerald Cardinale. But also present were members of the new crop of Republican leadership like Tom Kean, Jr., Kevin O'Toole and Joe Kyrillos.

The convention came about six months after the November surprise defeat of two ballot initiatives that Lonegan fought hard against, including one to borrow money for stem-cell research. Political observers differ on how much credit Lonegan gets for the measures' defeat, but he was most vocal opponent, and became the face of the effort.

Recent polls on the U.S. Senate race confirm what New Jersey political observers already knew: Dick Zimmer is in a tough situation.

If Zimmer, the Republican nominee, is to have any hope of defeating Democratic incumbent Frank Lautenberg in November, he'll need to capitalize on each and every gaffe Lautenberg makes on the campaign trail. But that will be difficult, since Lautenberg has laid low, which experts say is meant to not risk upsetting the state's natural Democratic inclinations. 

The status quo won't likely work for Zimmer. Although he's running against an 84-year-old incumbent lawmaker with lukewarm approval ratings, Zimmer still trails by margins from the high single digits to low double digits in most polls. One poll from last month, however, showed the two in a statistical dead heat. A Gannett/Monmouth University survey released today showed Zimmer 11 points behind Lautenberg with registered voters and eight points behind him with likely voters. Zimmer has little money -- only $411,000 in the bank to Lautenberg's nearly $1.3 million. On top of that, the state's Democratic base is excited over Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.