Scott Rumana

For the last couple weeks, Passaic County has buzzed with talk of Republican activist Joe Caruso mounting an Assembly primary bid to take down incumbent Scott Rumana (R-Wayne).

Reached for comment today, Caruso downplayed the prospect but did not rule it out entirely.

"Not to bloat my own ego, but I have too many ideas I want to share with the state, and to go into a position in the Assembly, my first question is what can you do to affect change as an assemblyman?," said Caruso, a Passaic County native who heads up the finance wing of the Republican Party in neighboring Bergen County and runs a finance firm.

If Caruso does decide to run, however, he will limit his campaign to targeting Rumana, and not Assemblyman Dave Russo (R-Ridgewood), who he described as a "gentleman."

An ongoing political feud among Republicans in Passaic County escalated a bit today with former GOP County Chairman Michael Mecca sharply criticizing the current chairman, Scott Rumana, for not attending the wake or funeral of Elaine Murphy, whose son and late husband both served as Passaic County Republican Chairman.

The following is a text of Mecca's e-mail sent to party leaders today:

Passaic County Republicans don’t need an internal war.  But they’ve got one.

The latest flare up between leadership factions in the party occurred last Monday, when freeholder candidates Mike Marotta and Jerry Holt held a joint beefsteak dinner fundraiser with Chairman Scott Rumana, who’s also an Assemblyman, at the Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson.

That led Rumana’s critics to charge that he was competing for resources with the cash-strapped freeholder candidates.  Rumana, in turn, said that his critics were holdovers from the dark days of the party and puppets of the man who used to control it: Peter Murphy.

Meanwhile, Marotta and Holt are stuck uncomfortably in the middle while they try to campaign against Democratic incumbents Bruce James and Greyson Hannigan.

**UPDATED

MINNEAPOLIS - Three more Republican county chairs today affirmed their support for Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany-Troy Hills), who announced this week that he intends to pursue another term next year as party leader.

Rick Wright, executive director of the Assembly Republicans, said the following chairs indicated they want the 72-year old DeCroce to remain as minority leader: Essex Chairman\Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex), Monmouth Chairman Joe Oxley, and Passaic Chairman\Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne).

Somerset County Chairman Dale Florio told PolitickerNJ.com that he wants to talk to conference leader Assemblyman Pete Biondi (R-Somerville).

"Whatever Pete decides to do, I'm going to support him," says Florio.

“The success of this event exemplifies the great strides that have been made by the Republican Party in Passaic County in the past two years.

Former Rep. Bob RoeThe State Senate is expected to consider a bill today that repeals the designation of Route 23 as Robert A. Roe Highway – pulling back their tribute to former Congressman Robert Roe after a family injured in an accident when Roe was driving drunk complained. The bill passed in the Assembly 76-2; among the supporters of removing Roe’s name was Assemblyman Scott Rumana, the Mayor of Wayne and a longtime Roe ally.

State Sen. Kevin O'Toole reportedly has the votes to become the new Chairman of the GOP County Chairmen

Update: O'Toole, Davis and Steinhardt have reached an agreement, largely brokered by Gilmore. Davis and Steinhardt will support O'Toole for the chairmanship. Steinhardt will likely become vice-chair, while Davis will be treasurer of the group.

Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, who announced yesterday that he would not seek another term as the chair of Republican chairmen, today supported Essex County Republican Chairman/state Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove) for the post.

Gilmore said that O'Toole has the support of enough of the state's 21 county chairs to easily ascend to the position.

"Kevin absolutely has the votes," said Gilmore. "One of the things I wanted to see was that it was a smooth transition."

Gilmore's support and vote count makes O'Toole the obvious favorite, but it's possible that he won't go unchallenged. Gilmore's decision not to run took many county chairs by surprise, and a short list of four names quickly emerged: O'Toole, Somerset County Chairman Dale Florio, Warren County Chairman Doug Steinhardt and Atlantic County Chairman Keith Davis.

Assemblywoman Alison McHose and Assemblyman David Rible today in Trenton. 

TRENTON - A day after Gov. Jon Corzine and the Democrats launched what had the vibe of a pre "overwhelming victory" party, Republicans attempted a low-key, state-level counter-offensive here this afternoon at the height of the budget season.

While Democrats may be in the throes of Obama fever, "Jon Corzine is not terribly popular now," said Assembly Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), referring to the governor’s 38% job approval rating, according to Quinnipiac University.

Battling for some GOP respect, Bramnick announced the formation of the New Republican Policy Committee, which he hopes will be one of the features of a new-face Republican party. The move comes in an atmosphere in which the departing Republican president’s job approval rating is 22% and Obama leads presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain by six points.

There’s a movement afoot in Passaic County to change their form of government and elect a County Executive. It’s being pushed by Freeholder James Gallagher, after Clifton Councilman Frank Fusco initiated a movement by sponsoring a council resolution advocating it.  Wayne, Totowa and Hawthorne have since added their support.  Insiders don’t expect it to go anywhere. But if it did happen, who would be on the short list to become the first County Executive?

The Record has endorsed Kevin O'Toole for State Senate, Assemblyman David Russo for re-election to the Assembly, and Scott Rumana for O'Toole's open Assembly seat.  READ