Rick Merkt

PolitickerNJ.com has prepared a Casualty List for the New Jersey Legislature for each year since 2001.

Fourteen-term Republican John Rooney, the senior member of the State Assembly, becomes the fifth legislator not seeking re-election in 2009.  Three Assemblymen are seeking another office: Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) is running for Governor; Michael Doherty (R-Washington) is seeking State Senate seat; and L. Harvey Smith (D-Jersey City) is a candidate for Mayor. Assemblywoman Sandra Love (D-Gloucester Township) is retiring. And Eric Munoz (R-Summit) passed away earlier this month at the age of 61.

MERKT FILES TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR  

ONLY REPUBLICAN WITH STATE EXPERIENCE

New Jersey will have contested primaries for Governor, for two State Senate seats, and in 23 districts for the State Assembly.

Gov. Jon Corzine will face three opponents in the Democratic primary as he seeks a second term as Governor - the first incumbent to have a primary challenge since Brendan Byrne ran for re-election in 1977.  Corzine faces former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, Phillipsburg businessman Roger Bacon, and Jeffrey Boss, who ran for President in 2008 saying that he witnessed the U.S. government planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Five Republicans filed to run for Governor: former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Mayor Brian Levine, and David Brown, an inventor from South Brunswick.  Newark businessman Dennis Knight and Morris County Freeholder James Murray, mentioned as potential gubernatorial candidates, did not submit nominating petitions.

Two Republicans filed to challenge State Sen. James Beach (D-Voorhees) in a special election in the sixth district:  former Magnolia Mayor Joseph Adolf, who ran and lost two years ago, and Joseph Welsh of Haddonfield, who will run on a Lonegan slate.   Beach won a special election convention in January to replace John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who was elected to Congress.

In District 23, State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) will face a primary challenge from Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford).  Karrow won the seat in a January special election convention, defeating Doherty for the seat of Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), who resigned to take his seat in Congress.

The Assembly primaries:

In his post as Morris County Republican Chairman, John Sette is officially neutral in the race for State Assembly in District 25.  But as an individual, he is backing Morris County Freeholder Douglas Cabana and attorney Anthony Bucco over the seven-term incumbent, Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Township).  Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) is giving up the seat he has held since 1997 to seek the Republican nomination for Governor.

Roger Bacon, a 61-year-old Phillipsburg businessman, campaigning for the Democratic nomination for Congress in 2008. Bacon has filed petitions to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine in the 2009 Democratic primary.

Candidates seeking to run in the Democratic and Republican primaries for Governor, State Assembly, and county and local office must file nominating petitions by 4PM today.  There are also special elections for State Senate in districts 6 and 23.  Independent candidates have until 4PM on June 2 to file for the general election.

Filing to run against Gov. Jon Corzine in the Democratic primary are Roger Bacon and Jeff Boss.  Bacon, a Phillipsburg resident who runs a customized ceramic mug business, won 7% in the Democratic congressional primary in the fifth district last year.  A former Republican, he was the Libertarian candidate for Congress against Marge Roukema fourteen years ago.  Boss ran for President and U.S. Senate in 2008 and said he witnessed the U.S. government planning the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.  Corzine and another announced Democratic primary candidate, former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson, had not filed their petitions as of Friday.

On the Republican side, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and David Brown, an inventor from South Brunswick, have filed petitions.  Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) and Franklin Mayor Brian Levine are also expected to file.  Newark businessman Dennis Knight had announced his candidacy late last year, but has not made any campaign appearances.

Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Executive Director Fred Hermann calls it "Selection Tuesday."

The commission, which requires all candidates who receive public campaign funds to participate in two debates, will farm out the hosting of the Republican gubernatorial primary debate to two applicants on Tuesday, April 7.

Three television stations that are partnered with newspapers, civic groups and a public university have applied for the two spots. 

In one corner are the ABC affiliates from New York and Philadelphia, who applied to host the debate along with the League of Women Voters of New Jersey.  In another is My9, whose reach is limited to the New York media market but has the added heft of being partnered with the state's two biggest dailies: The Star-Ledger and The Record, and William Paterson University.  Finally, there's NJN, working in collaboration with The Asbury Park Press and The Philadelphia Inquirer - which has hosted an ELEC gubernatorial debate each year since the commission started requiring them in 1989.

So far, it looks like only two candidates will be eligible to participate: former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.  The other three, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine and entrepreneur David Brown, are not likely to raise the $340,000 necessary to qualify for public financing, making them ineligible to participate.

Christie, who as the frontrunner in the race might stand to benefit by facing more candidates than just his closest rival, said that he would like to see the other three Republican candidates participate as well.

"I can tell you how difficult it is to raise money out there, and I don't think money should be involved in the decision at all," he said.  "I've watched Rick Merkt, Brian Levine and Dave Brown travel all over the state."

The ELEC commissioners will consider a number of factors in picking the two winners, according to Hermann: the networks' audience reach, pre-debate publicity, time slots, audience selection (if there is an audience) and geography.

The news out of the Somerset County Republican convention tonight was that Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) finished in third place, far ahead of favorite son Brian Levine, the Mayor of Franklin Township.  Merkt received 28 votes, and just ten votes were cast for Levine.   There are 94 County Committee seats in Franklin, though it was not reported how many seats are filled and how many attended tonight's convention.

Christie was endorsed today by Levine's home town GOP Municipal Chairman, Bob LaCorte.

Candidates for Governor who receive public financing are required to participate in two debates before the primary election.  Unless Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Mayor Brian Levine, or inventor David Brown can show that they have raised and spent $340,000 by next Monday, the GOP primary debate will be a two-man contest between former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan.

There will be no Democratic primary debate, since Gov. Jon Corzine is not taking public financing and former Glen Ridge Mayor Carl Bergmanson is not likely to raise and spent $340,000 by April 6.

Chris Christie won the endorsement of the Atlantic County Republican organization tonight, defeating Steve Lonegan by a vote of 932-207, 81%-18%.  Rick Merkt received four votes and one vote was cast for Brian Levine.

Christie also won the Salem County GOP convention, but the local organization has declined to release vote totals. 

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie has won 80% of the actual recorded votes in the race for the 2009 GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Chris Christie leads Steve Lonegan 80%-17% among actual recorded votes cast so far at county conventions and screening committees in the race for the Republican nomination for Governor.  Christie, the former U.S. Attorney, has won each of the eight contests, amassing a 1,495-321 vote lead over Lonegan, the former Mayor of Bogota.  Assemblyman Rick Merkt has won 30 votes so far (2%), and Franklin Mayor Brian Levine remains in the single digits with just eight votes. Four votes have been cast for David Brown, a South Brunswick inventor.