Richard Merkt

UNION – As former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie publicly mulls a run for governor, Assemblyman David Rible (R-Wall) says he believes the Republican Party should rally around one candidate for governor before the June primary.

“We have to get unified,” said Rible, who didn’t discount the value of a GOP Primary fight, but also doesn’t want to see a bloodletting that could leave his party sapped by the time a candidate squares of with the muscle-bound war chest of incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine.

Of Christie, the former Wall Township police officer turned legislator, said, “He has a tremendous resume and good name ID. He’s not a far right conservative, and that’s good. I’m not sure New Jersey is looking for someone from the party’s far right.”

Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham)

When Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) officially kicked off his gubernatorial campaign on Oct. 22, it proved no awesome headline-grabbing event just days before an historic presidential election.

But the 12-year veteran of the Assembly and long-shot candidate for the Republican nomination for governor said he made his declaration when he did because he was steamed over news about the way Democrats during the Codey administration managed a state fund supposedly dedicated to property tax relief.

 Merkt believes that his money notwithstanding, millionaire Gov. Jon Corzine will present Republicans with a soft target next year.

 “Let’s face it, he wanted to be Secretary of Treasury and didn’t get it,” said Merkt. “He’s running for governor as a consolation prize. And his wealth can be turned against him. I think you point out to the people that here’s a guy who spent $65 million to run for the U.S. Senate and $40 million to run for governor, and for that we got three years of misery and suffering and a declining economy.”

On a week in which U.S. Attorney Chris Christie resigned from office and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan officially announced his decision to run for governor, yet another Republican statewide prospect burnished some modest local support.

Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) said his campaign for governor has so far picked up the endorsements of more than 50 elected officials in his home county of Morris.  

Tony Bucco kicks off campaign next month.

The announcement that attorney Tony Bucco means to officially kick-off his District 25 Assembly campaign on Dec. 9th contrasts with his primary opponent and fellow attorney, Morris County Freeholder Douglas Cabana, who’s waiting to make his formal announcement in the new year.  

“It’s time to be spending time with family and friends,” said Cabana. “I know where I have support, and it is unsolicited support.”

Bucco, son of state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), declared during the Republican National Convention that he would run for the seat vacated by Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), who’s retiring to run for governor.

Lacing on the sneakers and hitting the pavement, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) started literally running for governor in early September. Today the Republican announced that his campaign has achieved a milestone as he has jogged in 118 communities located in all 21 counties of New Jersey since kicking off the plan in September.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, GOP gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Richard A. Merkt (R-Mendham) called on Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson to resign his post immediately “in the best interests of the party.”

“After years of failure, it is time for the New Jersey State GOP to change horses and look to new leadership if it wants to succeed in 2009,” said Merkt. “Wilson has overseen a series of dismal state campaigns, reducing the Republican party to essential irrelevance in New Jersey state politics.”

 Merkt called Wilson’s handling of the U.S. Senate Primary a “fiasco,” in which the establishment juggled one candidate after another before running with former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, and getting soundly beaten by U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park).  In particular, the party’s selection of political neophyte and food heir Andy Unanue, whose short-lived candidacy dissolved in jarring headlines about his party boy past, galled Merkt.

Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine, who has won twice in a heavily Democratic town, is thinking about seeking the 2009 GOP gubernatorial nomination

Brian D. Levine doesn’t know if he broke any records in losses suffered when he ran for student council at Rutgers. But he retained his interest in politics after marrying and moving to Franklin Township and at the polls one June he noted that no one from his party had filed to run for Republican County Committeeman.

So he wrote himself in, and won. 

 “You could say I squeaked it out because I won by one vote, or I won by a landslide because I won by 100 percent,” says Levine. “That proves you can spin the numbers.”

In the 1997 race for city council, Levine faced a formidable 16-year incumbent. He prevailed in a close election, triggering what became for him a pattern of victories, and spawning two back-to-back wins in mayoral races, in 2004 and 2007.

Now Levine, 50, a certified public accountant who is married with two daughters, is considering a run for governor, and believes his record as a fiscally conservative Republican in a Democratic town gives him particularly well-suited skills to serve as New Jersey’s chief executive.

Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine, who has won twice in a heavily Democratic town, is thinking about seeking the 2009 GOP gubernatorial nomination

Franklin Township Mayor Brian D. Levine today confirmed that he is mulling a run for governor.

“I have been contemplating such a thing,” he told PolitickerNJ.com. “Of course, you need money and organization, but I’ve had some successes here in Franklin and my background is in finance. I think that’s what we’re needing now.”

Currently serving his second term in this Somerset County town of 60,000 residents, Levine became mayor in a 2003 upset election. A Republican in a town where registered Democrats have the numbers, he put an exclamation point on his local victory when he won re-election in 2007.

GOP Freeholder candidates gain support of recently announced gubernatorial candidate

They may face each other in a gubernatorial primary election next year, but for now Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) wants U.S. Attorney Chris Christie activated for a common purpose.

Tired of lobbying state channels and getting no results, Merkt today called on Christie to investigate a grant program that appears to have been "nothing more than a political pork slush fund for certain Democratic legislators," in Merkt’s words.

"We need to know what legislators, in addition to (former state Sen. Wayne Bryant D-Camden) had control of these funds, where they directed those funds, and whether they benefitted from the recipients," said Merkt, who’s probing a run for governor next year. "The U.S. Attorney now needs to look into the entire scope of this program to see whether there is wrongdoing that extends beyond Mr. Bryant’s actions."