Tom Moran

Among the donors to Save Our State NJ, the issue-advocacy group essentially formed by Governor Jon Corzine to advocate his plan to raise tolls, is Public Service Electric & Gas. PSE&G has contributed $100,000 to the effort, according to sources familiar with the SOS group. That might explain Corzine’s reluctance to quickly release the list of SOS donors.

Editor's Note: The Inside Edge strongly stands behind our original report that PSE&G pledged $100,000 to Gov. Corzine's Save Our State NJ toll hike advocacy group, despite communications that seek to demonstrate otherwise and a release of their donors at the end of the day.

“It is easy enough to look back at 2007 and pass judgment”, Tom Moran penned in a recent column.  Given his recent hire at PSE&G, it’s seems fair to look back and at least ask some questions.

Sources close to Joseph Kyrillos say the six-term State Senator and former GOP State Chairman is seriously considering a late entrance into the race for the Republican U.S. Senate
nomination. Kyrillos has some free time on his hands now that Mitt Romney has dropped out of the presidential race, and some of his friends suggest that Kyrillos gets that Republicans aren’t terribly excited about the other three candidates – businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook, State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin.

New Jersey Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat since 1972, but some party insiders still hold out hope that there could be an opportunity against Frank Lautenberg, who at age 84 is seeking his fifth six-year term. Lautenberg, as Tom Moran once explained, is just one broken hip away from his age being a real factor in the race.

Tom MoranStar-Ledger political columnist Tom Moran has resigned his position at the newspaper and will take a job at PSE&G, one of the state's largest utility companies.

The news of the day is a Tom Moran’s Star-Ledger column slamming U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for giving his onetime boss, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, a huge piece of a no-bid contract as a court monitor that will pay between $29 million and $52 million over the next two years. Moran, widely viewed as an unabashed fan of Christie, the front runner for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, says that this particular deal “has an odor to it.”

The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University is sponsoring their annual post-election conference to analyze the general election results – always a fun and informative session.  But this year, Eagleton may have inadvertently failed to provide partisan balance: their panelists are former Democratic State Chairman Thomas Byrne, who supports Democratic candidates; former Republican State Senator Bill Gormley, who is fairly open in his support of Democratic State Senate candidate James Whelan in the second district; and New Jersey Business and Industry Association Vice President Christine Stearns, who has raised money for Democratic candidates this year. Is the most Republican-leaning panelist Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran, who some Democrats say is the Honorary Chairman of Chris Christie for Governor 2009?

Admittedly some political choices come down to the lesser of two evils.

Take Tom Moran's columns on dual office holding and his view of the "Bergen Reformers."   

It's pretty clear Tom opposes dual office holding.

New Jersey voters don't hold Jon Corzine accountable the same way Tom Wilson and Tom Moran do: a Quinnipiac University poll released today has the Governor at a 49%-40% approval rating.  That's not a great number, but it's not terrible either.

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg wasn't completely serious when he told The Star-Ledger's Tom Moran "I can send you a copy of the colonoscopy I just took. It's really something to admire." PoliticsNJ.com offered to post the picture of the senior Senator's colon online, but his staff says that Lautenberg's comments to Moran may have been a hyperbole. Lautenberg didn't receive any images of his colonoscopy, and while it may be in the Senator's medical file, his staff does not have access to it.

For obvious reasons, PoliticsNJ.com will not offer readers the opportunity to comment on this Inside Edge item!

Gill stops resisting Rabner, former Bergen County prosecutor questions Rabner’s character, Tom Moran on Nia Gill, Bloomberg leaves GOP, Weinberg uses senatorial courtesy, a Bergen County lawyer charged with exposing himself keeps his place on an ethics panel, Healy not likely to face jail time, a watermelon delivery leads to an investigation.

Editor's Note: On Monday, the Today's News feature will move to the NJPOLITICS IN THE NEWS section, located on the top left side of this site.