Robert Martin

New Jersey has a medium-sized controversy brewing: the naming of Route 23 after Robert Roe, who represented New Jersey in Congress from 1969 to 1993 and served as Chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee. The Legislature almost unanimously (only Ellen Karcher voted no) approved the bill last year, and Governor Jon Corzine signed it – but now people are paying attention because of a complaint levied by a Morris County man whose wife and daughter were seriously injured in a 1993 car accident involving Roe, who was driving drunk at the time (a breathalyzer showed him at .17, well beyond the .10 legal limit). Roe entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors to avoid serious charges, and paid the family a settlement of more than $500,000.

Back in the old days, when state legislators made just a few thousand dollars a year, with no staff budgets or district offices – they did get telephone credit cards and passes to ride trains for free – the New Jersey State Police was regularly used to transport legislators. Sometimes the Senate President or Assembly Speaker would dispatch a State Trooper to compel the return of a legislator who had snuck away while the Senate or Assembly was “under call” – or more typically, to help a legislator get home from Lorenzo’s after a long night.

Not a great cycle for Message & Media hotshots Steve DeMicco and Brad Lawrence: their two State Senate candidates got beaten – Ellen Karcher received 46% in District 12, and Seema Singh took just 37% in the fourteenth.

And now DeMicco and Lawrence have a bigger problem: their mail in the 37th district for Democrats Loretta Weinberg, Gordon Johnson and Valerie Huttle – the reformer pieces – seems to have really annoyed Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero. Does this but DeMicco and Lawrence in a war with the powerful Ferriero?

Is Shirley Turner really in trouble, or did someone just spin Joe Donohue? In a review of competitive State Senate races for the upcoming mid-term elections, The Star-Ledger listed the 15th district as one of the in-play seats that the GOP needs to win to take control of the Senate.

Republican newcomer Robert Martin is self-financing his race against Turner, and Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance has become infatuated with his candidacy. Martin has done some early mail and cable TV ads, and GOP insiders say he plans to spend a few hundred thousand dollars.

Morris County Republicans traditionally don't hold grudges, which might make it a little easier for Jay Webber as he embarks on a bid to win a State Assembly seat in the 26th district. If he wins, Webber -- who ran a strong race for State Senate against Robert Martin in 2003 -- would join a long list of public officials who won after taking on incumbents in a GOP primary.

Rodney Frelinghuysen challenged Republican incumbent James Courter in the 1982 congressional primary and then won a State Assembly seat in 1983 after ousting Republican Assemblyman William Bishop in the primary.

Joseph Pennacchio, who is the heavy favorite to succeed Martin in the Senate next year, launched his political career by running against Congressman Dean Gallo in the 1984 primary. That was a particularly nasty race, especially since Gallo -- unbeknownst to Pennacchio -- was suffering from cancer. Pennacchio went on to win races for Freeholder and State Assembly.

Michael Patrick Carrolll took on Frelinghuysen and incumbent Arthur Albohn in a 1993 primary for State Assembly before winning the seat in 1995. Rick Merkt ran against incumbent Anthony Bucco in 1995 and won the seat in 1997. John Inglesino ran against Carroll in 1997 and later won a seat on the Morris County Board of Freeholders.

The Star-Ledger reported today that two powerful conservative groups that have never been huge fans of the Kean Family-- the Christian Coalition and National Right to Life -- are "sending out mailers and distributing fliers at churches" advocating the election of Thomas Kean, Jr. to the United States Senate. The newspaper says that the pro-life organization has spent nearly $80,000 to help the pro-choice Kean. This represents a change in philosophy by the conservatives, who had taken a virtual pass on Douglas Forrester when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2002 and for Governor in 2005. (Editor's Note: Kean's support comes from National Right to Life; their state organization, New Jersey Right to Life, has not endorsed a candidate.)

The Kean/Conservative coalition comes at a time when there is considerable specualtion that conservatives will mount a strong campaign to change the ideological makeup of the State Senate and Assembly GOP caucuses in next year's election. Two of the state's most conservative Assemblymen, Michael Doherty and Guy Gregg, are mulling Senate primaries against Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance and Robert Littell, the Ranking Republican on the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, respectively. Another conservative, Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio, seems certain to replace one of the most liberal members of the Senate Republican Caucus, Robert Martin, next year.

Conservatives have been threatening for years to recruit a candidate to run against William Gormley in the GOP Senate primary -- they came very close to ousting him in 1991 -- but there is also a good chance that Gormley won't run again in 2007. His likely replacement, Francis Blee, is viewed as a moderate, which puts him to the right of the incumbent. Burlington County Republicans are widely expected to replace Martha Bark in the eighth district, and her replacement is also likely to be more conservative -- especially if the candidate turns out to be Michael Warner, the GOP County Chairman and a retired Army Colonel.

Two GOP Assemblymen are vying for the eleventh district Senate seat, where Joseph Palaia is retiring: Sean Kean and Steven Corodemus. Kean is viewed as the front runner; Corodemus is the more conservative of the duo.

Another possible change in the Senate could come in the sixteenth district, where longtime incumbent Walter Kavanaugh could face a serious primary challenge from Assembyman Christopher Bateman. Kavanaugh began his career in 1975 as one of the Assembly's more conservative members, but he has not been viewed as an ideologue for many years. Still, observers view him as more conservative that Bateman.

In the Assembly, the race to watch for the right is in the 26th district, where former congressional aide Jay Webber faces off against Martin's Campaign Chairman, Lawrence Casha, for Pennacchio's open Assembly seat. Webber ran a challenge from the right against Martin in the 2003 primary and seems to be making some headway by tying Casha to Martin's recent voting record. Conservatives are also set to take on Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk in Bergen County; possible candidates include former gubernatorial candidate Robert Schroeder and former Waldwick Mayor James Toolen.