Scott Garrett

Rabbi Dennis Shulman has entered the race against Rep. Scott GarrettDennis Shulman, a Rabbi and psychologist who has never run for public office before, said today that he would challenge three-term Rep. Scott Garrett next year.

Shulman joins attorney Camille Abate as Democratic candidates seeking the fifth district nomination. Abate won 40% in the 2006 primary against the organization candidate, Paul Stuart Aronsohn.

So far, Democrats haven’t seemed anxious to field and financially support a real challenger to Rep. E. Scott Garrett. But amongst Republicans, there’s discontent with Garrett brewing just beneath the surface of the fifth congressional district.

Some complain of Garrett’s steadfast conservative ideological commitment which has led to cast votes against bills considered no-brainers to Democrats and more moderate Republicans. Whether this is a strength or weakness is up for debate, however.

In a constituent newsletter paid for with tax dollars, Scott Garrett refers to a request to "Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi." It's a small point, but Pelosi is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, not simply the Speaker of the Democratic party.

Running off the line, attorney Camille Abate won 40% in the 2006 Democratic congressional primary

At a breakfast hosted by the Democratic State Committee today, congressional candidate Camille Abate mentioned to Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean that she is running for Congress against Scott Garrett.

“He’s the worst,” said Dean.

But despite Dean’s personal opinion, national Democrats apparently don’t think enough of it to pump many resources into a fight against him. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that they have three targets in 2008, and Garrett isn’t one of them.

If Democrats really wanted to get serious about ousting Congressman Scott Garrett next year, they would recruit Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney to run.  In the fifth district towns, McNerney won 54% of the vote in his 2006 re-election campaign against Republican Todd Caliguire (and 60% countywide), and carried 23 of the 36 municipalitie in Garrett's district. A recent Democratic poll in Bergen County shows him with job approval ratings countywide at over 60%. 

New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett better watch out now that a feisty Alaskan Congressman has threatened to bite him.

When Garrett suggested cutting $34 million in funds to The Alaska Native Education Equity Program, he faced an odd and angry response from Alaska Congressman Don Young, a fellow Republican notorious for his love of pork.

David DeGerolamo will not seek re-election as Warren County Democratic Chairman, but says he will consider running against Congressman Scott Garrett in 2008, according to an Express-Times report. DeGerolamo, the Phillipsburg Council President, said he would run for Congress only if Paul Aronsohn does not run.

Democrat Camille Abate will announce next month that she will enter the race to challenge GOP Rep. Scott Garrett in 2008.  The Glen Rock attorney ran for Congress last year, and won 34% in her primary challenge to the organization candidate, Paul Stuart Aronsohn – despite her late entrance and being significantly outspent.

Potential U.S. Senate candidate Michael J. Doherty has tapped Republican Congressman Scott Garrett to head his exploratory committee, a move to show he is the candidate of the state GOP’s conservative wing.

Garrett will serve as a co-chair with Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, who comes from the more moderate, establishment wing of the state GOP. Garrett and Lance provides the Doherty campaign with some ideological balance as he mulls a challenge to four-term incumbent Frank R. Lautenberg.

Paul Stuart AronsohnRotarian-American Paul Stuart Aronsohn says he will "lead the effort" against GOP Rep. Scott Garrett's campaign for a fourth term.  While he "stopped short of announcing his candidacy," he said he will "continue my consultations and conversations about a possible Aronsohn '08 campaign -- with an eye toward a late spring announcement."