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MINNEAPOLIS - Atlantic County Republican Chairman Keith Davis today declared his support for GOP Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, who officially announced today that he plans to run again.

"It goes without saying that Alex is a strong leader who has created a brand identity for our party," said Davis. "He’s established a cohesiveness with (Senate Minority Leader) Kean in order to make inroads for our party.

"Now is not the time to be switching horses," he added of a possible challenge to DeCroce by Assembly Conference Leader Pete Biondi (R-Somerville). "I’m sorry, I don’t know Pete Biondi. I don’t recall him being very vocal during the budget crisis."

MINNEAPOLIS - Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton said his organization stands unequivocally with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, who this week announced his intention to pursue a fourth term as leader.

"This guy’s not afraid to bang kneecaps," said Layton in assessing the minority leader’s toughness.

"Today he was attacking the governor on taxes," the county chairman explained. "Alex has been an unbelievable friend to Burlington County. Under his leadership we picked up seats next year. The record speaks for itself. Alex was instrumental in assuring an 8th district victory for us last year, where Democrats outspent Republicans nearly 2-1. He was a very big part of the success story."

The last time a legislator gave up his seat to run statewide, only to keep their old job after losing the primary, was in 1989.  Assembly Speaker Chuck Hardwick finished third in the race for the Republican nomination for Governor.  During the summer, Assemblyman Peter Genova decided not to seek re-election, paving the way for Hardwick to seek a seventh term.  Hardwick won, narrowly, but the Republican who was originally nominated for the open seat, former Westfield Mayor Ronald Frigerio, lost the general election to Union County Freeholder Neil Cohen.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Enjoying his current career as an attorney, lobbyist and political operative, former Republican Senate President John O. Bennett said that he has no desire to return to elected office.

“I’m not done. I’m involved. But I’m done with elected office, other than party positions, basically,” said Bennett, who served an eventful four days as acting governor in 2002 and is in Minnesota this week as an alternate delegate.

Bennett remains active in the Monmouth County Republican Party, and is the county’s state committeeman. He said he believes that the new Republican county chairman, former Sheriff Joseph Oxley, has the ability to bring competing factions together.

GOP State Chairman Tom WilsonMINNEAPOLIS - A floor blanketed with white faces at the Republican National Convention doesn’t mean the GOP - or their presidential nominee - lack a universal message, argues State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson.

Coming off their convention in Denver last week, Democrats urged observers to note the contrast between their ethnically diverse party and the Republicans.

"When you have a quota system, it guarantees the result you saw in Denver," Wilson shot back. "Look, you have one million Republicans in New Jersey, and 52 New Jerseyans sitting on the floor, representing them. These 52 people are there day in and day out doing the hardcore party activism.

"Our hardcore party activists are predominantly middle class, white New Jersey," Wilson added.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts’s decision to kill the Clean Elections Program wasn’t met with regret by Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr.

Although Kean voted for the previous incarnations of the pilot program, he said that, even if it’s retooled for 2011, he’s not sure whether he’ll support it again.

"I never agreed that just because there was a Clean Elections program last year there had to be one this year. But clearly we have to ensure that the program is constitutional.”

MINNEAPOLIS - It was a case of lights, camera, no-show last night at the City of Orange Council meeting.

Upset that Mayor Eldridge Hawkins wants to tape meetings without their approval, four council people refused to attend the regularly scheduled Tuesday night meeting.

"As the mayor, he has to come through the council," said veteran Councilwoman Tency Eason, one of the governing body boycotters, along with Council President Lisa Perkins, Councilman Rayfield Morton and Councilman Elroy Corbitt.

"Enough is enough," said Eason, who lost to Hawkins in Orange’s mayoral election in May.

"He got a letter from the council president telling them to cease and desist," Eason said of Hawkins. "We apologize but we can’t allow the mayor to just go off and tape a council meeting without our approval."

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Yes, there were hard feelings after the brutal 3rd District Republican congressional primary campaign between Medford Mayor Chris Myers and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly. And yes, Ocean County Republicans weren’t immediately lining up to donate to Myers’s cash strapped general election campaign.

But George Gilmore, the powerful chairman of the Ocean County Republican Party, said that he hosted a fundraiser for Myers two weeks ago with former baseball star Al Leiter, who grew up in Ocean County but lives in Florida.  Leiter is on deck for a distant future political run, possibly for statewide office.

If the fences between the Ocean County and Burlington County Republicans weren’t mended a month ago, they are now, according to Gilmore.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- State Sen. Sean Kean said he hasn’t thought about being tapped for Lieutenant Governor, but he’d be interested in the prospect if it arose.

“I would certainly entertain it. I haven’t thought too much about it, but it would be interesting,” he said.

Kean (R-Wall Township), a freshman state Senator, said that he’s “advocating and urging” U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to run for governor next year.

“He hasn’t talked to me about it, he hasn’t asked me,” said Kean.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce at the breakfast meeting this morning.: Politicker photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - Last Friday, two veteran legislators sat in a Somerville restaurant and talked about the future of the Republican Party in New Jersey, and mutual efforts to gain the majority in a state that George Bush year-by-year drove farther into the arms of the Democratic Party.

With a political enemy out there that is bigger and better organized, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany-Troy Hills) wanted to make sure the party stays focused on the Democrats, and puts down those internal uprisings that might distract the GOP from that objective.

He gave Assembly Conference Leader Pete Biondi (R-Somerville) a simple piece of news regarding his interest in a fourth, two-year term as minority leader.

"I’m running again," he told Biondi, and then asked if he could depend on Biondi’s support.