Rick England

The word came down from Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr., on Tuesday.

Trying to change the look of the GOP Upper House team, the incoming Senate Minority Leader fired Rick England, a political operative who was director of constituent relations, in addition to several members of the minority office's support staff, Republican staff sources say.

While there is speculation that Director of Research John Hutchison is also slated to lose his job, he was absent from work on Tuesday and his status is unknown, according to sources.

Averting a firing, Communications Director Mike Jennings told PolitickerNj.com that he has accepted a communications job with PSE&G.

John Samerjan will be removed as Executive Director of the Senate Republican Minority Office and replaced by John Kingston, the Assembly Republican Research Director, according to sources close to incoming Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr.  

Kean will also repalce Rick England, a political operative who was Director of Constituent Relations, and John Hutchison, the Director of Research.  Michael Jennings is in danger of losing his post as Communications Director.

The race for Executive Director of the Senate Republicans is already taking shape, with at least two potential candidates already calling Senators seeking support for the $140,730-a-year staff post.  Rick England, a longtime Senate aide and political strategist who has been around the upper house since Donald DiFrancesco ran the Senate, and lame duck Assemblyman Guy Gregg are both campaigning for the job currently held by John Samerjan.

Reports of back stabbing his colleagues have plagued John Samerjan since he  came to New Jersey 23 years ago, and now the Senate Republican Executive  Director faces similar internal problems for the mid-term elections. A  source close to Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance says that an internal  dispute between Samerjan and Rick England, a veteran political operative from  the days when Republicans actually competed against Democratic Senators, has  ended in England’s decision to skip the ‘07 cycle.

Of the 6,000 absentee ballots cast in Ocean County, 1,000 have been flagged as coming from deceased voters, says Rick England, who is Doug Forrester's campaign manager. "No wonder the AG's office didn't want to turn over the list," England told PoliticsNJ.com. But Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, a Democrat, says that the Board of Elections has not found "one case of fraud" among 4,919 absentee ballots requests. "This was a hollow tactic of the Republicans crying wolf on the supposition that the Democratic Party is out to steal the election," said Hughes, referring to a NJGOP lawsuit. "IIt cost our taxpayers precious resources in staff time that should have been used to serve the needs of the public."