House

Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre is expected to enter the race for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey's 12th district.  He wants toun against six-term U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell). 

Holt, 60, was elected to Congress in 1998 in a 51%-48% upset victory that took advantage of incumbent Michael Pappas' weaknesses.  He defied pundits two years later by holding the seat against former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, winning by just 651 votes.  Boosted by some adjustments to his district after the 2000 Census, Holt won 61% against former N.J. Secretary of State DeForest "Buster" Soaries in 2002, 59% against GOP activist Bill Spadea in 2004, 65% against former Helmetta Councilman Joseph Sinagra in 2006, and 62% against Holmdel Deputy Mayor Alan Bateman in 2008.

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) is one of five Members of Congress targeted by a House Ethics Committee investigation of two Caribbean trips sponsored by the Carib News Foundation, a non-profit group funded by Citigroup, according to a CBS News report.    Payne reportedly went on a three-day trip in St. Marteen in November 2008, and a four-day trip in 2007.  House rules prohibit Congressmen from participating in privately funded trips of more than two days.

Hal Turner, a North Bergen resident who was arrested today on charges that he advocated the assasination of three federal judges.

Hal Turner, a internet radio talk show host who ran Pat Buchanan's 1996 presidential campaign in New Jersey and then sought the Republican nomination for Congress in 2000, was arrested at his North Bergen home today on charges that he threatened the assault and murder of three federal judges in internet postings that criticized a recent court ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago.

Turner allegedly posted on his website that "let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges (Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) deserve to be killed."  According to the complaint, Turner posted "photographs, phone numbers, work address and room numbers of these judges, along with a photo of the building in which they work and a map of its location."

 "We take threats to federal judges very seriously.  Period," said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Turner finished third in his congressional bid, winning 19% of the vote against Theresa DeLeon, who went on to lose the general election to Democrat Robert Menendez in the Hudson County-based 13th district.

Bravo Photo

New Jersey housewife Danielle Staub has not ruled out a campaign for Congress against U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) next year, according to her spokesman, Thom Ammirato.

"At this point Ms. Staub is fielding numerous offers and has ruled out nothing.  Her advisors will be discussing her future shortly," said Ammirato, a Republican strategist who recently signed on as Staub's official spokesman.

But is the controversial star of Bravo's TV reality show, The Real Housewives of New Jersey a Republican?

"I don't know, but she can become one," said Ammirato.  "She would have to of course meet with the approval of (Passaic County GOP) Chairman Scott Rumana to see if she could get the line."

Staub, a 48-year-old mother of two, recently moved from Franklin Lakes to Wayne, which is in Pascrell's district.

According to her Bravo bio, Staub is active in her local parish and attends mass regularly.  She has admitted to being arrested 25 years ago, but has denied reports that she was involved in prostitution or in a cocaine ring.

Bravo Photo

New Jersey housewife Danielle Staub has not ruled out a campaign for Congress against U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) next year, according to her spokesman, Thom Ammirato.

"At this point Ms. Staub is fielding numerous offers and has ruled out nothing.  Her advisors will be discussing her future shortly," said Ammirato, a Republican strategist who recently signed on as Staub's official spokesman.

But is the controversial star of Bravo's TV reality show, The Real Housewives of New Jersey a Republican?

"I don't know, but she can become one," said Ammirato.  "She would have to of course meet with the approval of (Passaic County GOP) Chairman Scott Rumana to see if she could get the line."

Staub, a 48-year-old mother of two, recently moved from Franklin Lakes to Wayne, which is in Pascrell's district.

According to her Bravo bio, Staub is active in her local parish and attends mass regularly.  She has admitted to being arrested 25 years ago, but has denied reports that she was involved in prostitution or in a cocaine ring.

Former Perth Amboy Democratic Municipal Chairman Raymond Geneske, a longtime political advisor to indicted Assemblyman Joseph Vas (D-Perth Amboy), pleaded guilty today to charges that he participated in a straw-donor scheme to funnel campaign contributions to Vas' 2006 congressional campaign.  He faces a maximum two year prison sentence. 

Vas, who was Mayor of Perth Amboy for eighteen years before his 2008 defeat, challenged Albio Sires for the Democratic nomination for Congress in District 13 in 2006.  He received 25% of the vote. Geneske admitted to a role in a scheme to circumvent federal campaign contribution limits by accepting approximately $30,000 in cash from a "prominent developer in Perth Amboy" and trading the cash for personal checks from other individuals.   Geneske, in his court appearance, alleged that Vas was aware of the straw-donor plan.

Former Hillsborough Mayor Joseph Tricarico, a dentist who works for the state Department of Health, is mulling a bid for the Democratic nomination for Congress against freshman U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the seventh district.  Tricarico briefly considered running in 2006 against then-U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, but dropped out to support Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood).  

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie

You won’t see GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie testifying in front of a Democratic Party-dominant House Subcommitee in Washington, D.C. – at least not during the Republican Primary.

The subcommittee has rescheduled a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) hearing for June 25th at the request of Republicans on the panel, according to Chairman U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), co-sponsor of a bill to reform DPAs.

Originally scheduled for May 19, the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law hearing will focus on legislation to reform deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and the selection of federal monitors, an issue with a concussive effect on New Jersey politics.

Cohen said Democrats rescheduled the hearing date to comply with the entreaties of Republicans on the panel who worried about the distraction factor with a hearing initially schooled at the tail end of a GOP primary campaign – June 2nd - and specifically the impact on GOP gubernatorial candidate Christie, who Cohen asked to testify at the hearing. 

One candidate for the Comeback of the Year Award will be James Biggs, who won 63% of the vote yesterday in a special election for Mayor of Island Heights (pop. 1,877).  The 67-year-old Biggs was first elected Mayor in 1974, at age 32, and gave up the job four years later to run for Congress.

In 1978, Democrat William Hughes was a two-term Congressman from a Republican district.  A 41-year-old former Assistant Prosecutor from Cape May County, ousted four-term incumbent Charles Sandman, by a 57%-41% margin in the 1974 Watergate landslide - one year after Sandman beat incumbent William Cahill in the Republican gubernatorial primary and then lost the general election by 721,328 votes.

Republicans believed they would win the seat back in 1976 with an exceptionally strong candidate, five-term Assembly Assistant Minority Leader James Hurley (R-Millville).  But Hughes proved to be a stronger incumbent than Republicans imagined, and Hurley turned out to be a weak general election candidate.  Hughes beat Hurly 68%-32%, running twenty percentage points ahead of the Democratic presidential candidate.

The major upset of the 2009 non-partisan municipal elections was the defeat of Carl Block, who has served as Mayor of Stafford (pop. 25,819) since 1983.  Block lost by fifteen percentage points, 57%-42%, to John McMenamin, a former police lieutenant.  Four incumbent Councilmembers allied with Block also lost their bids for re-election.

This is a stunning defeat for Republicans in a town where John McCain beat Barack Obama with 59% of the vote last year.  Block is also the Ocean County Clerk, and an insider within the Ocean County GOP organization.  McMenamin had the backing of Democrats, who backed GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's proposal to ban dual officeholding.  Christie attended a fundraiser for Block in Stafford just days after announcing his plan, which would have forced Block to choose between his two jobs.