Robert Torricelli

Republican political consultant Tom Blakely died this morning after collapsing during a 5k run in Bordentown. He was 47.

Blakely was the President of Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based GOP consulting firm. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he served as an aide to Rep. Dick Zimmer and was Campaign Manager of Zimmer’s 1996 U.S. Senate bid against Robert Torricelli. He also ran County Executive campaigns for James Treffinger and Robert Prunetti, and was Director of Appointments for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

Seen with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer this morning, just prior to his announcement that he will resign on March 17, was criminal defense attorney Ted Wells, a New Jersey resident who has played a key role in state Democratic politics for years. Wells has represented several prominent politicians as they faces legal battles, including U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, and Scooter Libby, Vice President Richard Cheney’s former Chief of Staff.

New Jersey has become accustomed to statewide candidates dropping out of the race. Bob Torricelli dropped out twice in two years: he announced a bid for Governor in 2000 and then pulled out twelve days later, and he ended his own Senate re-election bid in 2002, five weeks before Election Day.

Joshua Zeitz, a former aide to Governor Jim Florio and U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, is expected to run against fourteen-term Republican Congressman Christopher Smith. Zeitz has raised $43,032, while Smith, a traditionally anemic fundraiser, has $204,161 cash on hand. Zeitz actually outraised Smith during the last quarter.

PoliticsNJ.com readers, in a highly unscientific survey that asks if Jon Corzine would rather be Governor of New Jersey or the U.S. Ambassador to Italy, say by a 2-1 margin that the Hold Me Accountable man would rather be in Rome than Trenton.  Even Corzine's friends suggest that he's not loving life as Governor.  Between problems with the Legislature, issues within his administration and personal life, and serious injuries suffered in a automobile accicdent last spring, it's not surprising that Corzine isn't having fun.

New Jersey state law says that September 16th is the deadline for a candidate to withdraw from the November general election ballot, and September 19th is the deadline for the County Committee to nominate a replacement candidate.  But in actuality, under the New Jersey Supreme Court decision five years ago when Robert Torricelli dropped his bid for re-election on September 30th, the parties really have until the first few days in October.

I am as supportive of the great calibrating power of the free market as any believer of individual liberty should be - and most Democrat politicians and a majority of Republicans, are not.

Pay-to-Play reforms in New York have been good for lobbyist Eric Shuffler, a former aide to Robert Torricelli and James E. McGreevey who wrote Governor Jon Corzine's State of the State address earlier this year. Shuffler also wrote the State of the City address for New York City Council President Christine Quinn. While Corzine paid Schuffler through the Democratic State Committee, his New York speech was paid out of taxpayer dollars. Quinn put the speechwriting gig out for bid and Shuffler won.