Kathleen Donovan

It was literally minutes after Bergen County Republicans won two freeholder seats that they started eyeing another prize.

"Now for the big one: county executive," said one Republican operative who often works in Bergen County from the Chris Christie Election Night victory party in Parsippany.

Two days after winning two freeholder seats in Bergen County - a prayed for shot in the arm for a county party that has spent the last several years on the brink of irrelevance- the talk in Bergen County Republican circles is who the party will run for the top office in 2010.

"A number of people have expressed interest.  I'm hearing a lot of it informally. No one has officially come to me," said Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin, whose party could stand to receive a cash infusion now that donors see that they can win elections.

So far, three names pop up: County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, who ran in the 2006 Republican primary for the office but was defeated on the right by Todd Caliguire, who went on to lose the general election; Fair Lawn Councilman Edward Trawinski, who yesterday just won a second consecutive (and third overall) term in that heavily Democratic town; and former Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa. 

Since the Republicans appear to have some momentum, other potential candidates are expected to come forward.  And with a GOP governor, Bergen Republicans will have an easier time raising money.

"It's a different ball game now that we've demonstrated we can win a couple county seats," said state Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest), who has taken an active role in behind-the-scenes party politics.

Assemblyman David Russo (R-Ridgewood), long rumored to be interested in the post, told PolitickerNJ.com that he will not run.

Some very optimistic Bergen County Republicans are thinking ahead to 2010, when two-term County Executive Dennis McNerney is up for re-election.  The GOP believes they could have a shot at the post they held from 1986 to 2003, if New Jersey has a Republican governor.  And some Democrats say that McNerney could be weakened if federal prosecutors convict former Democratic County Chairman Joseph Ferriero after his corruption trial this fall.

The Republicans who receive the most attention as potential County Executive candidates are: County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, Assemblyman David Russo (R-Ridgewood), and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan.  If the Bergen County Democratic Organization pulls their support from McNerney, look for Surrogate Michael Dressler, Sheriff Leo McGuire, and outgoing Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes to be among the top candidates.

Republicans might be showing up at political events in Hudson County, but the real battleground of the race for Governor is in Bergen.  No Republican has ever won a statewide election in New Jersey without carrying Bergen County.  In 2005, Jon Corzine beat Douglas Forrester in Bergen by fourteen percentage points and a margin of 34,302 votes. 

To win, Christopher Christie has to turn that around.  The last GOP statewide candidate to carry Bergen was Robert Franks, who received 3,932 votes more than Corzine in the 2000 U.S. Senate race.  Corzine knew that when he picked State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) as his running mate. If Christie carries Bergen by a decent margin, Republicans could oust Democratic Freeholders Julie O'Brien and Vernon Walton with their flotsam and jetsam challengers

This year, Corzine is defending Bergen without the help of Joseph Ferriero, whose fundraising prowess and campaign skills turned the state's largest county from solid Republican to solid Democratic.  Ferriero resigned as County Chairman last year following his indictment on federal corruption charges; his trial begins this fall.  For the last seven years, Ferriero has been in the top ten on the PolitickerNJ.com Power List; he was at #7 last year.  The new Democratic Chairman, Michael Kasparian, starts out at #94.   The problem for Christie is that the relatively new Republican County Chairman, Robert Yudin, isn't on the list at all. While Kasparian still hasn't figured out how to be a County Chairman - Corzine's executive order targeting criminally charged Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez is evidence of that -- Yudin hasn't cast himself in the mold of predecessors like Nelson Gross, Anthony Statile and John Inganamort either.

Nicholas Lonzisero and Judith Fisher, the Republican candidates for State Assembly in the 38th district.

Bergen County Republican Chairman Bob Yudin said today that the corruption allegation against Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez helps put the 38th Legislative District in play.

"It is in play because of the rampant Democratic corruption, first with Senator (Joseph) Coniglio and now with Mayor Suarez," said Yudin.

The 38th is considered a relatively safe Democratic district, although Republicans have indicated that they're keeping an eye on it this year.  Even after Coniglio (D-Paramus) had to drop his candidacy for re-election to a third term after receiving a target letter from the U.S. Attorney's office in 2007, the Democratic slate, led by Robert Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) as Coniglio's replacement, won easily.

But Yudin thinks the corruption issue may have reached critical mass there.  Republican candidate Nick Lonzisero is council president in Suarez's town, and, if Suarez resigns, he will become interim mayor.  

In April, Coniglio was convicted of steering state funds to Hackensack University Medical Center, which employed him as a consultant.  Former Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero and ex-BCDO counsel Dennis Oury are set to have corruption trials that parallel the general election.  Yudin thinks all that, combined having former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie - who got the ball rolling on the investigations that ensnared the Democrats - at the top of the ticket, will make corruption a winning issue.

Yudin's focus on corruption - or the "corruption tax" that he ran last year's unsuccessful freeholder campaigns on - has drawn criticism from some Bergen Republicans in the past.

Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, thought to be a leading candidate for Lt. Governor, with State Sen. Sean Kean (R-Wall)

While it appears that Democrat Jon Corzine will go first (there is considerable speculation that he wants his running mate in place before President Obama campaigns with him in Holmdel next week), Christopher Christie continues to mull his own pick for a GOP Lt. Governor candidate.  The conventional wisdom, at least right now, is that Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno is at or near the top of the list.  Also under consideration: Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, and State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park).

Don’t expect Governor Jon Corzine to make a lieutenant governor pick this week.  

“We don't expect an announcement this week,” said Corzine spokesman Sean Darcy.

Until last week, the widely held perception was that candidates had to pick a running mate within 30 days of the June 2 primary, which is Thursday.  The campaigns of both Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie were apparently under that impression as well.  

But gubernatorial candidates actually have until 30 days of the certification of the primary results, which happened only Friday.  Last week, a source involved in the Corzine campaign said that they were relieved to be able to push the selection past Independence Day weekend. 

New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy is taking a wait and see approach on Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie’s running mate.

Although Christie has said that he converted to a pro-life viewpoint in the 1990s, both the women most talked about as his candidate for lieutenant governor – Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan and state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) – are pro-choice.  

Tasy, however, said that she will withhold judgment until a pick is made, and would not say whether her group would withhold an endorsement from Christie if he picked a pro-choicer. 

Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie has publicly sworn off political considerations in making his eventual Lieutenant Governor pick, arguing that the public will vote largely based on who occupies the top of the ticket.

But the two women said to be at the top of Christie’s shortlist – state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) and Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan -- each has a history of running strong in regions that are crucial to Christie’s electoral prospects, and both could help Republicans down-ballot in their respective counties.  

Christie alone will have the say on his choice for the number two spot, so he could surprise observers with his pick.  But media speculation about who he will choose has come down to Allen, who repeatedly wins reelection in a South Jersey legislative district that has a two-to-one Democrat registration advantage, and Donovan, who over the last decade has been the one Republican bulwark against the Bergen County Democratic Organization’s complete dominance and last year won reelection the most votes of any county-wide candidate, Democrat or Republican.  

“These are counties that have gone Democratic in many cases over the last few years in statewide races after having been solidly Republican for a while,” said Monmouth University pollster and political science professor Patrick Murray.  “These are counties that Christie must win.”

PolitickerNJ.com

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie and Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan in Rutherford this morning. Donovan is reportedly high on Christie's short list of Lt. Governor candidates

RUTHERFORD - In what looked like an audition for Lieutenant Governor, Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan hosted Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Chrsitie in her hometown today. 

Donovan, a five-term County Clerk, is said to be near the top of Christie's shortlist for the state's number two spot.  And while standing in front of a group of elderly voters at a senior center, Christie dropped what initially sounded like a hint about a Christie/Donovan ticket.

"She has been with me every step of the way, and I hope that we will be together every step of the way, and I trust we will be into the November election," he said.

But when asked to elaborate on the comment by a reporter, Christie walked it back, repeating previous statements that Donovan, along with several other potential running mates, would make a good choice, and that he would take his time making the decision.

No Republican has ever won a statewide election without carrying Bergen County, a point that helps Donovan, who was the top Republican vote getter when she ran for re-election in 2008.  A former Port Authority Commissioner and GOP State Chairman, she represented heavily blue collar and politically competitive South Bergen in the State Assembly after ousting incumbents in 1985.

Christie, however, downplayed that speculation, arguing that voters would choose based on who is at the top of the ticket.

"I don't think people go into the voting booth and say ‘I don't really like Chris, but I like Kathe, so I'll vote for him and maybe he'll die,'" he said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, potentially auditioning running mates, will join Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan on a tour of downtown Rutherford on Thursday morning.  Donovan is widely considered to be one of the top candidates on Christie's short list for Lt. Governor.   Last week, Christie campaigned with another LG aspirant, State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park).  Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), widely viewed as a top contender for the number two spot on the Republican ticket, said last Friday that he was not interested in running for Lt. Governor.