Paul DiGaetano

There is some talk that Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) would emerge as the leading candidate for Lt. Governor, if Steven Lonegan wins the GOP gubernatorial primary and if Doherty fails to beat State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) in the District 23 State Senate primary.  Doherty won't give up a State Senate nomination to run statewide.

If Lonegan and Doherty both win on June 2, look at former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano (R-Nutley) to emerge as a strong contender to be Lonegan's running mate.  DiGaetano was an early supporter of Lonegan, and could help unite the state GOP if the former Mayor of Bogota beats Christopher Christie for the Republican nod.  

The 55-year-old DiGaetano has a strong resume: businessman, naval reservist, nine-term Assemblyman, four-term Passaic City Councilman, and former Assembly Majority and Minority Leader.  He's also been through a statewide campaign as a candidate for the 2005 Republican nomination for Governor.  But DiGaetano might struggle to prove his conservative credentials to Lonegan supporters.  Despite his endorsement of Christie, State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove), the Essex County GOP Chairman, actually enjoys a strong relationship with Lonegan and his top strategist, Rick Shaftan.  And O'Toole, who as Chairman of the Republican County Chairmen would play a pivotal role in uniting the party after the primary, can't stand DiGaetano.

Filing to run against Republican Assemblymen Brian Rumpf and Daniel Van Pelt in the strongly Republican, Ocean County-based ninth district, are Richard P. Visotcky and Robert Rue.  Visotcky, an attorney, is the son of Richard F. Visotcky, a Bergen County Democrat who served in the Assembly from 1974 to 1986. 

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge)

Passaic Democratic Committee Chairman John Currie’s decision to welcome three strikes and you’re out (Assembly, Congress, mayor) Republican candidate Jose Sandoval into the Democratic Party this afternoon triggered a curiosity wave in the city as Democrats wondered about Sandoval’s intentions.

The chief question was whether the real estate developer with a bug for politics and access to cash would turn around and run in the 36th Legislative District Democratic Primary against his former conqueror Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic)?

Currie said he did not discuss that possibility with Sandoval.

“I first heard that he might do that on Friday night, but I couldn’t stop him if I wanted to,” said the party chairman. “All he told me is he’s bringing 1,000 of his people into our party, and if you ask me, that’s pretty positive. Anyone can challenge anyone at anytime. I told him you don’t really need me to change parties but if you want to do something publicly, that’s fine.”

Following the departure of Kevin Collins, above, Steve Lonegan's campaign staffers will no longer have official titles.

Kevin Collins has been let go as campaign manager of Steve Lonegan's bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.  Collins will not be replaced, at least not formally.  As of today, the Lonegan campaign has eliminated titles for staffers.

Collins told PolitickerNJ.com that he viewed the direction of the campaign differently than Lonegan and his strategist, Rick Shaftan, and that the decision to leave the campaign was his. 

Collins declined to say if he would still back Lonegan for the GOP nomination.  "There are several fine candidates competing in the GOP primary and I wish each of them well.  Steve's decision to attempt to compete in a statewide primary without a campaign manager speaks for itself," Collins said.

The fifteen-member Ocean County Republican Screening Committee has voted to endorse former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.  If Christie wins the Republican convention next Monday, he'll run on the organization line in the June primary.  But the line has not delivered a plurality of Ocean County primary voters in a contested gubernatorial primary since 1993.   

A victory at the screening committee four years ago did not assure Morris County Freeholder John Murphy the organization line in the 2005 gubernatorial primary.  A week later, Murphy lost the convention on the second ballot to Washington Township Committeeman Robert Schroeder by a 52%-25% margin, with Douglas Forrester finishing third.  In the Republican primary, Forrester carried Ocean County by a 37%-27% margin over Bret Schundler, with Schroeder finishing third with 15%, followed by Steve Lonegan (15%), Murphy (6%), Paul DiGaetano (6%) and Todd Caliguire (2%). 

Former gubernatorial candidate Bob Schroeder could be headed to the State Assembly.

Robert Schroeder, who spent $2.1 million - most of it his own money - in pursuit of the 2005 Republican nomination for Governor, is now the leading candidate for an open State Assembly seat in the Bergen County-based 39th district.  The Washington Township Committeeman won the endorsement today of the incumbent, John Rooney, who is stepping down after 26 years in the Assembly. 

As a gubernatorial candidate, Schroeder won the organization line in Ocean County, and scored a victory at the Northeastern Republican Organization convention in Bergen County.  But he won just 6% of the vote in the GOP primary, finishing fifth in a field of seven candidates.  He did beat former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano and former Bergen County Freeholder Todd Caliguire.

Schroeder now faces former River Edge Councilman John Felice (the son of former Assemblyman Nicholas Felice) and Harrington Park Councilman Thomas Bettancourt for the support of the Bergen County Republican Organization.  Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk (R-Montvale) is seeking re-election to an eleventh term, and while she is favored to win the Northeastern Republican Organization (NERO) convention on Saturday, it is possible that two other candidates might do so. The NERO vote will determine the line.

Getty Images Photo

Do lines matter in Bergen County? Paul DiGaetano won the 2005 GOP convention, but Douglas Forrester, above, finished 24 percentage points ahead of him in the primary.

Next up on the Republican gubernatorial campaign schedule: Essex County Republicans will hold a Screening Committee on Tuesday evening to award their organization line.  The favorite to win there is former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, who has the support - though not yet officially - of State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove), the Essex County Republican Chairman.  Look for a list of Essex endorsements for Christie to be released before the screening committee. 

O'Toole and Christie some history together - O'Toole was one of the legislators who attempted to convince Christie to run in 2005.  The political alliance between the former Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive James Treffinger and the man who sent Treffinger to prison as a federal prosecutor is indeed an interesting one. 

And in the land of Republican gubernatorial politics, as goes Essex, so goes Passaic.  So the winner of the Essex screening committee will likely replicate his success in Passaic, where Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne), the Passaic County Republican Chairman, is an O'Toole ally. 

A player in the Essex, Bergen and Passaic contests will be former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano (R-Nutley), who is the biggest Republican name to have endorsed former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan so far.  DiGaetano moved to Essex County after spending sixteen years as a Passaic City Councilman, and in 2005, he won the Bergen County Republican Convention when he ran for Governor.

A Republican splinter group from Passaic County last night unveiled a slate of three freeholder candidates and one county clerk candidate to take on whomever the local Republican organization fields in the June primary.

Members of the group, called GOP Strong, said that about 300 people turned out to a Little Falls union hall to see the three freeholder candidates -- Bruno Varano, a retired federal law enforcement agent from Wayne; Debra Andriani, a legal assistant from Totowa; and Robert Cruz, a Web developer from Pompton Lakes.  The group also fielded county clerk candidate Kristin Corrado, who has a law practice and is the Totowa Municipal Attorney.

GOP strong, which counts former Republican chairman Peter Murphy as a co-founder and is headed up by activists Michael Ramaglia and Michael Mecca, has been feuding with current Passaic County Republican Chairman and Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) over control of the mainstream organization.

Some insiders suspect there may be more to why Joel Brizzi backed down from an Assembly bid.

Blaming the economy and his need to pay his daughter's college tuition this fall, East Rutherford Councilman Joel Brizzi has changed his mind about running for State Assembly in the 36th district.  Some Republicans think there might be more to the story, suggesting that State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) might have helped alter the field.

Back in 2003, the GOP had recruited a fairly strong Assembly candidate to run with then-Minority Leader Paul DiGaetano: Anthony Scardino, a college professor from Lyndhurst whose father had served as a State Senator, Lyndhurst Mayor, and Executive Director of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission.  But Scardino pulled out at the last minute - the word was that Bergen Democrats put some pressure on his father - leaving DiGaetano without the running mate he wanted.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano plans to endorse former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan for governor tomorrow at an 11 a.m. press conference outside his Nutley home.

Already running a grassroots, against-the-grain, campaign, Lonegan's alignment with DiGaetano - himself a gubernatorial candidate in 2005 - will give the GOP candidate for governor some line-building capacity in Passaic, Bergen and Essex.

DiGaetano's 40th Legislative District candidate Joe Caruso of Wayne is waging a primary run against the Republican orgaizations of those counties, and if GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie wins organizational support there, the DiGaetano connection will enable Lonegan to stand up an alternate slate.