Victor Sordillo

Victor Sordillo

Warren Deputy Mayor Victor Sordillo this afternoon said he would not enter the GOP race for Somerset County Freeholder, denying claims by sources that he was poised to enter the contest.

Sordillo, an unsuccessful candidate for freeholder in 2007, who failed last year in his 7th District Congressional bid, said he won't run this year. 

That leaves the following candidates, who will screen before the GOP County Committee on April 2 for a seat being vacated by Freeholder Director Rick Fontant: Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter, Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire, former prosecutor Tom Roughneen, and Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione. 

Thomas Roughneen

Attorney and Iraq War veteran Thomas Roughneen says he'll seek the Republican nomination for an open seat on the Somerset County Freeholder Board.  

“I came to the decision on Monday and made some calls yesterday,” said Roughneen, who subsequently submitted a letter to the municipal party chairs and to Somerset County GOP Chairman Dale Florio.

“It would be a privilege to serve the people,” said the candidate, who is one of three Roughneen brothers who have either served or are serving in Iraq. 

Roughneen, a Watchung resident, is the first of last year’s unsuccessful 7th Congressional District GOP candidates to formally submit a letter of interest to party members. 

Warren Township Deputy Mayor Victor Sordillo

Warren Township Deputy Mayor Victor Sordillo may pursue a run for the seat veteran Somerset County Freeholder Rick Fontana is vacating at the end of his term this year.

“I have not ruled out running at this time,” Sordillo told supporters in a Tuesday night email. 

The 2007 candidate for freeholder and 2008 candidate for U.S. Congress said he plans to meet with Somerset County Republican Party Chairman Dale Florio to determine a course of action.

“If I can add something to the field of candidates by stimulating ideas and debate, I will enter the contest,” said Sordillo. “If I believe that the choices are sufficient to ensure the strength of the party, I will become an observer and supporter this year.”

Kate Whitman

FRANKLIN - Kate Whitman, Republican Party municipal chair from Peapack-Gladstone and a veteran of last year's Republican Primary in the 7th Congressional District, is mulling a bid for Somerset County Freeholder, she told PolitickerNJ.com tonight at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Imperia Banquet Hall. 

Whitman, who last year ran a hard-charging campaign in losing to eventual general election winner U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), would vie to replace retiring Freeholder Director Rick Fontana of Bridgewater Township.

But she hasn't yet discussed the issue with her husband, and she will do that before either talking to Chairman Dale Florio or deciding against another run.

"It would mean three screenings in three years," said Whitman, who had tried to land a freeholder seat in 2007 when Denise Coyle moved up to run successfully for the Assembly.

BRIDGEWATER - Warren Township Mayor Victor Sordillo said if he didn't win the line in his home county of Somerset, he would exit the 7th district race. Shortly before losing at the Somerset County Convention on Thursday, Sordillo praised the rest of the field.

Senate Minority Leader Ton Kean, Jr. (R-Union), and Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon).

State Sen. Leonard Lance won the Somerset County Republican convention tonight, an important victory in his quest for the Republican nomination to succeed Rep. Mike Ferguson in the seventh congressional district.

Lance beat Whitman nearly 2-1, winning 136 votes to her 74 in the second round of balloting.

Hundreds of Somerset Republican County Committee members packed the Elks Lodge in Bridgewater tonight to participate in the event, where they also voted on Senate and freeholder candidates. But the seventh district congressional race was the real contest of the night.

“There were six candidates from Somerset County and I was able to prevail,” said Lance. “I think it shows that the Republican Party in Somerset County recognizes that I will be the agent of change in Washington.”

BRIDGEWATER - The frontrunners like to call it a three-way race.State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon)

Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon), Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield and businesswoman Kate Whitman each won Hunterdon, Union and Middlesex respectively in their quest to be the Republican nominee in the 7th Congressional District.

Tonight’s Somerset County Republican Convention will likely thin the ranks of contenders and give one of the frontrunners a solid leg up on the rest of the nine-person field.

With only the Somerset convention remaining in a district that encompasses portions of four counties, the pressure to secure the endorsement of this county’s committee is on Whitman, who lives in Peapack-Gladstone.

After all, Lance won his home county of Hunterdon, and Hatfield won her home county of Union.

Congressional candidate Kate Whitman won the organization line in Middlesex CountyKate Whitman won the endorsement of the Middlesex County Republican Party at its convention in Woodbridge this morning.

After some confusion that required a re-vote, Whitman won the first round of balloting, earning the 50% plus one requirement with 48 out of 85 votes cast. Former Summit Councilwoman P. Kelly Hatfield was the runner up, with 17 votes. State Sen. Leonard Lance came in next with 14 votes, followed by Scotch Plains Mayor Marty Marks with five votes and Iraq war vet Tom Roughneen with one.

That gives Whitman the line in this county, which between the three towns of Edison, South Plainfield and Woodbridge makes up the smallest portion of the four-county district.

But despite the county’s size, supporters said that it would give Whitman crucial momentum going into the Somerset County convention next Thursday – the last of the four counties left to award its endorsement.

Warren Mayor Victor Sordillo, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress in the 7th district, says that he would be happy to run on a ticket with U.S. Senate candidate Joseph Pennacchio and isn’t worried about a voter backlash over a Nationalist Party manifesto Pennacchio authored in 1991.

Kate Whitman says Linda Stender has voted to raise taxes 94 timesWOODBRIDGE – The Republican congressional candidates vying to succeed Rep. Mike Ferguson last night mostly found common ground by calling for President George W. Bush’s tax cuts to be made permanent, and depicting likely Democratic nominee Assemblywoman Linda Stender as a big government liberal.

A forum sponsored by the Woodbridge Township Republican Organization and held at the Forge, featured Kate Whitman, State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon), Warren Township Mayor Victor Sordillo, Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, former Summit Council President Kelly Hatfield, Bridgewater Town Councilman Michael Hsing, Iraq War veteran/ex-Prosecutor Thomas Roughneen, and Seton Hall University business professor A.D. Amar. Of the announced candidates, only former Hillsborough Deputy Mayor Chris Venis was absent.