If Christopher Christie wins the race for governor tomorrow, look for Jeffrey Chiesa to become an extraordinarily powerful man in New Jersey politics.  Christie's longtime friend could find himself on short lists for Chief of Staff, Counsel to the Governor, and Attorney General.

The 44-year-old Chiesa and Christie were law partners at Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci and went to the U.S. Attorney's office together in 2002.  Chiesa served as Chief of the Public Protection Unit, as Counsel to the U.S. Attorney, and as Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney.  He prosecuted former Senate President John Lynch and Harry Parkin, who was Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti's Chief of Staff.

Chiesa, who let the U.S. Attorney's office last year, has been on the inner circle of the campaign for governor.

Former Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti, out of office for six years and damaged goods after then-U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie sent his Chief of Staff and other members of his administration to jail, seems to be seeking a comeback as a man of influence.  Prunetti has seemingly forgiven Christie for sending Harry Parkin to prison, and is now helping to raise money for the GOP gubernatorial candidate.  Several of the donors who attended a Christie fundraising event at the Princeton Hyatt last night were there at the invitation of Prunetti, who was the County Executive from 1992 to 2004.

One lobbyist who says Prunetti called him about the event says that the former County Executive seemed to enjoy walking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush around the room - before anyone realized the campaign was not thrilled that the former President's brother was there.  Bush was invited by Tom Gallagher, a Christie fundraiser and businessman.

The Christie campaign seemed genuinely surprised that Bush was in attendance.  Maybe the senior staff didn't know he would be there, but someone on the campaign did.  A pre-printed name tag that read "Governor Jeb Bush" was on the table awaiting his arrival.

Mercer County Democratic Chairman Richard McClellan scored a clear victory over the local GOP this week.  After the Republicans tried to make an issue of Democrats taking contributions from Rick Perr's controversial New Frontiers PAC, McClellan said that even though the Election Law Enforcement Commission hasn't ruled on questions regarding the PAC, McClellan would put the monies they received in escrow just to avoid even an appearance of impropriety.  He pledged to contribute that money to charity if ELEC finds Perrpac did anything illegal.

Then McClellan beat the crap out of Republicans with their own issue, suggesting that if they "are truly serious" about the need to return tainted dollars, that could start with giving the nearly $52,000 the Mercer County GOP received from Harry Parkin, who was Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti's Chief of Staff and is now serving a federal prison sentence for corruption, and from cohorts and firms that were involved in the scandal.

The state Appellate Court today upheld a ruling that stripped Harry Parkin, the former Chief of Staff to Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti, of his government pension following his 2005 corruption conviction.  Parkin, who was sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison for his role in delivering a county recycling contract to a company he had a financial interest in, maintained that he should keep the pension on his six years of service before committing his crime in 2000.

"In the wake of the Former Republican County Government Chief of Staff Harry Parkin's corruption scandal, it was a Democratic County Executive and Freeholder Board that implemented the first county-wide pay-to-play reform in the state of New Jersey," said Mercer County Democratic Chairman Richard McClellan. "I personally testified before the Board of Freeholders in favor of this landmark legislation."

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has won endorsements from nine of thirteen Republican municipal chairmen in Mercer County, as well as the backing of GOP County Chairman Roy Wesley and all four of the county's Republican mayors.

Christie was also endorsed by former Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti.  As U.S. Attorney, Christie prosecuted Prunetti's Chief of Staff, Harry Parkin.  Parkin's 7 ½ year prison sentence was the longest of any of the more than 100 public officials Christie sent to jail.

Other Mercer County Republican leaders supporting Christie include: U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo, Ewing Mayor Jack Ball, Robbinsville Mayor David Fried, and Hightstown Mayor Robert Patten.

"Chris Christie and I share a commitment to protecting the most vulnerable in society including victims of human trafficking, pornography, forced labor and other crimes and horrific human rights abuses," said Smith.  He is a strong and innovative leader and as Governor, Chris Christie will fight for what is just and right for the people of New Jersey."

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats now govern six of those counties, and only Gilmore and Florio remain in power.

In 1999, Bergen Republicans controlled the County Executive post (Schuber won re-election in '98), had a majority on the Freeholder Board, and had GOP State Senators in districts 38, 39 and 40.  Democrats won the County Executive office when Schuber retired in 2002, and now hold all seven Freeholder seats; County Clerk Kathleen Donovan is the lone Republican elected countywide.  And Gerald Cardinale is the lone Republican Senator from Bergen County.

Jeffrey Chiesa last left his post as Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and has joined Wolff and Samson, a large North Jerey law firm.  Chiesa's resignation from the federal prosecutor's office was effective last Friday. 

Chiesa, 42, prosecuted several high profile federal corruption cases, including former Senate President John Lynch and Harry Parkin, the former Chief of Staff to Mercer County Executive Robert Prunetti.  He was also part of the team that won an indictment against ex-State Sen. Joseph Coniglio, whose trial begins on March 23.

Robert Prunetti, who served as Mercer County Executive from 1992 to 2004, has applied to become the new President of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce. This is a huge drop for Prunetti, who actively touted himself as a candidate for Governor and U.S. Senate, before a series of scandals tarnished his legacy. 

Prunetti Chief of Staff Harry Parkin and Mercer County Improvement Authority Chairman James Lambert, were convicted of federal corruption charges in 2005.  The two steered millions of dollars of county recycling contracts to a firm they owned. Lambert pleaded guilty and cooperated with federal prosecutors; he served five months in prison and an additional five months under house arrest.  A jury convicted Parkin, who is now serving a seven year prison sentence.