Patricia Flannery

The Courier-News has endorsed Bridgewater Mayor Patty Flannery for re-election.  READ

Assemblyman Christopher Bateman is prepared to challenge incumbent Walter Kavanaugh in the 16th district State Senate primary next year, if Kavanaugh does not retire. Several sources close to Bateman say that the decision to run for Senate in 2007 is final.

The 73-year-old Kavanaugh, who has had serious health issues in recent years, has served in the Legislature since his election to the State Assembly in 1975. He moved up to the Senate in 1997 when John Ewing retired. Bateman, 49, is the son of former Senate President (and 1977 GOP gubernatorial candidate) Raymond Bateman; he was elected to the Assembly in 1993 after serving as a Somerset County Freeholder and Township Committeeman and Mayor in Branchburg. Kip Bateman is a partner in former Governor Donald DiFrancesco's law firm.

Some insiders say Somerset County GOP Chairman Dale Florio, who has been anxious to avoid a divisive primary, will likely lean on Kavanaugh to retire gracefully.

A move by Bateman would open up an Assembly seat in this solidly Republican district for the first time in ten years. Possible candidates include Freeholder Denise Coyle, Bridgewater Mayor Patricia Flannery, and outgoing Freeholder Kenneth Scherer.

The Star-Ledger reported this weekend that Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance faces a possible GOP primary challenge from Assemblyman Michael Doherty.

Somerset County Freeholder Kenneth Scherer announced yesterday that he would not seek re-election to a fourth term, saying that he wants to spend more time expanding his landscaping and nursery business. Republicans had viewed the 47-year-old Scherer, a former Hillsborough Mayor, as a possible Assembly candidate when his political ally, Peter Biondi, retires. Two Hillsborough officials are considered possible candidates for the seat -- Mayor Robert Wagner and Councilman Anthony Ferrara -- but there is no guarantee that Somerset Republicans view Scherer's seat as automatically going to Hillsborough. Three other Mayors have been mentioned -- Patricia Walsh of Green Brook, Amey Mesko of Bedminster and Albert Ellis of Watchung - but several GOP sources say that those three lack the countywide appeal to win a Republican convention. Other possible candidates include Branchburg Township Committeeman James Leonard, the chief lobbyist for the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and Monthomery Councilman Mark Caliguire, the brother of Bergen County Executive candidate Todd Caliguire. Bridgewater Mayor Patricia Flannery would be a formidable candidate for higher office in the future, the insiders said, but that Somerse Republicans would not run her with Freeholder Rick Fontana, who is also from Bridgewater.