Tom Wilson

The New Jersey Republican State Committee is expected to ratify gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's recommendation of Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) as the new GOP State Chairman.  Webber will replace Tom Wilson, who won the post in 2004 in a contest with Richard Kamin, a former Assemblyman, Morris County GOP Chairman and state Motor Vehicles Director.  Lynda Pagliughi, a State Committeewoman from Cape May County, is expected to be re-elected to another term as Vice Chairwoman.

Don Povia was told last week that he will not be retained as Executive Director.  His replacement is expected to be Daniel Centinello, who won rave reviews from GOP insiders as Field Director for Christie's 55%-42% primary victory. The 27-year-old Centinello was the Northeast Regional Political Director for Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign, and later served as State Director of the GOP coordinated campaign in California.  In 2006, he was the Deputy Field Director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign. 

Conservatives Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp), who will soon move up to the state Senate after beating the moderate state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) in this month’s primary, gave Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie high marks his pick of Jay Webber for Republican State Chairman.

“I think Jay Webber is a great pick. He’s a Ronald Reagan conservative and has been a leader on all the conservative issues that The Republican base looks for and will do a great job,” said Doherty.

Christie tapped Webber last week to succeed Tom Wilson, who represented the more moderate wing of the party.  The move was applauded by conservatives, many of whom supported Steve Lonegan in the primary against Christie. 

Jay Webber as a congressional aide in the 1990's, with House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his boss, U.S. Rep. Bill Martini.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie has called a 2PM news conference where he is expected to announce that Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) will be his choice for Republican State Chairman.  Webber will succeed Tom Wilson, who has held the post since late 2004.

Gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie is expected to pick Jay Webber, a freshman Republican Assemblyman from Morris County, as the new GOP State Chairman.  Webber, a strong conservative, would replace Tom Wilson as head of the state party organization.

Webber's selection, which must be ratified by a vote of the Republican State Committee, will likely please conservatives who made up most of Steven Lonegan's 42% in Tuesday's primary election.

Webber, 37, was an early supporter of Christie's bid for the Republican nomination for Governor.  He was elected to the State Assembly in 2007, four years after losing a primary challenge to State Sen. Robert Martin.  A Harvard Law School graduate, he served as a Law Clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Peter Verniero and as an aide to U.S. Rep. Bill Martini.

The Communications Workers of America acknowledged today that they’ve agreed to a wage freeze and 10 furlough days in exchange for no layoffs and seven bankable paid personal days.

“Given the realities of the current economic crisis, and soaring levels of unemployment, our two top priorities in these negotiations were the protection of all of our members’ jobs and preserving the integrity of the collective bargaining agreement,” said CWA District One Vice President Chris Shelton.  “We achieved those goals.”

The agreement was subject to some controversy after The Star-Ledger reported that the Corzine Administration rushed to finalize it to avoid a potentially embarrassing demonstration in front of his campaign kickoff  --  a picket line that the guest of honor, Vice President Joe Biden, might be hesitant to cross.  Corzine yesterday dismissed that as “speculative” and said that part of the sense of urgency in getting a deal arranged was that layoff notices were posted on Friday. 

Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson didn’t buy that, however, and sent a letter to Attorney General Anne Milgram asking for an investigation into what he titled a “Biden buy-off” to see if it constituted official misconduct.

The Political Prince Of Darkness Strikes Again

Rick Shaftan

In response to a threatened primary challenge to Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris), Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson wrote a letter to gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan defending DeCroce and asking the anti-establishment Republican to distance himself from his chief strategist, Rick Shaftan.  

“I truly hope that Mr. Shaftan’s comments and intentions are not yours and that you had no prior knowledge of his self-indulgent, baseless, inaccurate and personal attack on Assemblyman DeCroce,” wrote Wilson. "I ask that you make clear your position on Mr. Shaftan's comments and, if the statements were made without your authorization, to make sure that Mr. Shaftan does not abuse his position with your campiagn in the future.  His childish outbursts only serve to divert focus away from our principal goal:electing more Republicans and reversing the policies that have driven our state to the doorstep of bankruptcy." 

In an interview with PolitickerNJ.com yesterday, Shaftan said that DeCrcoce was “happy to be a big fish in a small pond” and was Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts’ (D-Camden) “best friend in the state.”

Governor Corzine today expressed relief that the question of whether he will be forced to reveal his email correspondence with ex-girlfriend/former union leader Carla Katz has been resolved by the State Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson’s case.

“I am glad this is all over. I think we had a political fishing trip by folks that has gone on far too long.  I think that the things that we are working on here today, things of real substance, are what public life is supposed to be all about,” said Corzine in a statement.

Wilson argued that the emails should be aired so the public can judge whether Corzine and Katz engaged in back-channel negotiations during contract talks with Katz’s former union, CWA Local 1034.  

With no legal options remaining to force Governor Corzine to turn over emails between himself and ex-girlfriend Carla Katz, a former public employee union leader, Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson said today Corzine should release the emails on his own volition.  

“With the legal question now answered, all that is left is for Jon Corzine to answer the real question. Did his backchannel communications with Carla Katz, away from the bargaining table, influence his actions on the state worker contract?  The only way for people to know the answer is for Corzine to now release the e-mails,” wrote Wilson in his formal response to the State Supreme Court’s decision not to hear his legal challenge to Corzine today.

Corzine claimed executive privilege in keeping the emails out of view and said last year that the public would find most of the content “extraordinarily boring.”

Tom Wilson's best chance at keeping his job may be for Brian Levine to win the Republican nomination for Governor.  Sources close to the two leading candidates, Christopher Christie and Steven Lonegan, say that Wilson is a goner with no hope of holding on as GOP State Chairman after the June primary.  Another candidate, Richard Merkt, called for Wilson's ouster last year.  By tradition, the winner of the gubernatorial primary gets to pick the new state party chairman.