Tom Wilson

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr., (R-Union), left; and state Sen. Kevin O'Toole, GOP chairman of Essex County and chair of the GOP chairs.

PRINCETON – It didn’t look like a scene of devastation – or of a coming battle.

In the swank lobby of the Hyatt Regency, water tumbled over rocks and splashed into a pool, where Koi fish gaped up at a swiftly striding figure heading toward a crew of young, BlackBerry-thumbing operatives at the far end of a long, carpeted corridor.

On his way to the Republican Party chairmen’s dinner, Chris Christie took several questions before an aide steered him toward his destination: a room in which 15 of the party’s 21 chair people and party leaders waited to assess the merits of the former U.S. Attorney and three other Republican candidates for governor a month in front of the first county convention in Union.

Like a lot of his colleagues, Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore personally thinks Christie gives his party the best shot at rebirth.

“I will be endorsing Chris Christie,” he said, against the nagging back story of former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who for months has aggressively organized a grassroots effort in the likely event he’s unable to scale the walls of the establishment at a majority of the party’s nominating conventions.

GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson has a problem: the state party has no money.

The New Jersey Republican State Committee has virtually no money and is at risk of not making payroll, according to a GOP County Chairman who will be attending a meeting of party leaders tonight where the party's financial woes will be discussed. 

One Republican gubernatorial candidate, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, has already made a decision to replace GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson after the June primary, sources say.  Gubernatorial candidates traditionally get the chance to pick their own State Chairman after the primary.  One possible candidate if Christie wins the nomination is Keith Davis, the Atlantic County Republican Chairman.

TRENTON - Today, New Jersey Democratic Chairman Joe Cryan called on Republican Chairman Tom Wilson to publicly disavow a Republican National Committee (RNC) effort to extinguish a New Jersey federal court's power  to protect voters nationally against Republican intimidation and suppression tactics.

Gov. Jon Corzine

Digging in against a court ruling that went against him, State GOP Chairman Tom Wilson said he would give Gov. Jon Corzine until noon today to cough up emails between himself and former labor leader Carla Katz. 

Convinced the governor does not plan to make the emails public after Corzine didn't make Wilson's ten-day deadline, Wilson said he has decided to pursue an appeal to the State Supreme Court in the matter.  

An appellate judge ruled earlier this month in Corzine’s favor, agreeing with him that he could invoke executive privilege to keep private email communications he had with girlfriend Katz while negotiating the terms of a state workers contract with the former Communication Workers of America (CWA) leader. 

But Wilson wants another shot at the emails.

GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson is offering Gov. Jon Corzine a deal: release his e-mails with Carla Katz and he won't take his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Supported by newspaper editorials concurring with his opinion that Gov. Jon Corzine should release emails he exchanged with former union leader Carla Katz despite an appellate court ruling Monday that Corzine isn’t legally obligated to do so, GOP Chairman Tom Wilson fired off a letter to the governor today. 

In the four paragraph communication, Wilson renewed the same offer he made to Corzine after Superior Court Judge Paul Innes’ issued his initial ruling in May of last year:  release the e-mails to the public under the provisions of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). 

Do that, the GOP chairman said today, and “I will agree to forego an appeal to the Supreme Court."

GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson is one of two New Jersey votes for Republican National Chairman candidate Saul Anuzis.

In the old days, New Jersey politicians used to cut deals with candidates for national party office, trading votes for commitments of campaign dollars.  But that kind of thing doesn’t happen here anymore.   A pair of reformers, GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson and Republican National Committeewoman Virginia Haines, have put their principles first and endorsed a candidate for Republican National Chairman without making national party funds for the gubernatorial and State Assembly races a condition of their support.   Wilson and Haines are supporting Saul Anuzis, the Michigan GOP Chairman in the January 30 election.  The two New Jerseyans were early Anuzis backers, and according to sources, offered their votes without the encumbrances of any backroom deals. 

Former Gov. Jim Florio and former Acting Gov. John Bennett listen to Gov. Jon Corzine's State of the State address.

Just one of New Jersey's five living former Governors, Jim Florio, attended Jon Corzine's State of the State address today.  Richard Codey, who served as Acting Governor for 84 hours in 2002, and again from November 2004 to January 2006, was there in his capacity as Senate President, as was Donald DiFrancesco, who was Acting Governor from January 2001 to January 2002. 

Also there, as is his custom, was former Co-Senate President John Bennett, who was also Acting Governor for 84 hours in 2002.  The definitive historical analysis of Bennett's administration was written by the New York Times' David Kocieniewski a few days after his governorship ended and remains a must-read:

Last week former U.S. attorney Chris Christie announced he will seek the Republican nomination for governor.  Christie becomes the fourth GOP candidate who wants to knock off Gov. Jon Corzine in the November election.   Christie's long awaited entry into the race caused New Jersey's GOP bosses and others to go gaga, because they will have a candidate who will be their meal ticket during both the primary and general election, if he successfully disposes of Levine, Lonegan and Merkt and in the June face-off. 

Chris Christie is in many ways this year's Anne Estabrook, the wealthy businesswomen who sought the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 2008 and was self-financing her campaign, a bonanza for the political consultants who need a "deep pocket" candidate or one who could raise millions from the political establishment.  Mrs. Estabrook had hired the GOP establishment's favorite operatives to run her bid to unseat Frank Lautenberg.  When she dropped out of the race last March, the political establishment, i.e., the consultants and operatives, were left without a meal ticket and got Andy Unanue to hold a place in the primary until the party bosses could find an acceptable candidate who would hire the same team that was running Mrs. Estabrook's campaign.  As the deadline was drawing near to replace Unanue, New Jersey state GOP chairman Tom Wilson literally begged former congressman and 1996 GOP U.S. Senate nominee Dick Zimmer to replace Unanue in early April.  Zimmer agreed to replace Unanue stating that he is jumping in because he said he wanted to make a "difference."  Zimmer was crushed by Frank Lautenberg in November after running one of the most invisible statewide campaigns in American political history