Hell hath no fury like a wingnut scorned

12th District Republican congressional candidate Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre today demanded an apology from Congressman Rush Holt for grabbing the microphone from the hand of one of his constituents during his most recent townhall meeting in Marlboro, and for his continued refusal to listen to the people who he is supposed to represent.

“Rhoda Chodosh is a constituent of Rush Holt’s, who had taken the time to come and speak with the Congressman about issues that concern her. For him to grab the microphone out of her hand while she was speaking the way he did is one of the rudest, most arrogant things I’ve ever seen an elected official do and he should apologize to her, immediately. He should be ashamed of himself, treating a constituent and a woman that way.”

At least he didn't do like Arlen Specter and tell her to "act like a lady".

Is this guy Chris Christie's "BFF"?

According to a report from the Associated Press, GOP State Senator Joe Kyrillos, a trusted confidante of Chris Christie, is perhaps the only lawmaker who will find the governor's door always open to him.

"I'm sure we'll continue to have a very special relationship going forward while I'm governor on both a personal and professional level," Christie said. "He's certainly someone whose advice I'll often seek out and often listen to as well because I think Joe's a pretty smart guy."

I assume he was better in science and math than Christie.

Bergen County is just not big enough for Steve Lonegan

Steve Lonegan is wasting no time kvetching about Bergen County Republicans supporting the candidacy of County Clerk Kathe Donovan for County Executive “I consider Kathe Donovan to be the Dede Scozzafava of New Jersey. There’s no more far left liberal running as a Republican than Kathe Donovan,” said Lonegan referring to moderate upstate New York Republican assemblywoman who last year suspended her special election congressional campaign after a challenge from the right doomed her chances.

Lonegan said that the Bergen GOP only rallied around Donovan because “they really had no choice. There was a desperate behind the scenes effort to find another candidate, but nobody would run. I was asked to run. My interest didn’t lie there.”

That's because Lonegan's only interested in losing races for higher office.

If Halfacre had money who would he give it to?

Tom Fitzsimmons, the campaign manager for GOP congressional candidate Michael Halfacre, is questioning why primary rival Scott Sipprelle, a millionaire venture capitalist who is promising to self-fund his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, contributed to five Democratic congressional candidates last June. But according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Sipprelle has contributed about $100,000 to federal campaigns in recent years, with 95% of those funds going to Republicans.

“Last June was the height of the battle for Congressional Republicans,” said Fitzsimmons. “The Democrats had rammed through the stimulus, cap and trade was being debated, government-run health care was on the table- and in the middle of all that, Scott Sipprelle made donations to not one, not two, but five separate Democrats.”

Oh boy. I guess it would have been better if Sipprelle made five separate donations to one Democratic candidate.

Jon Runyan's tax deduction

Philly.com reports former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Runyan, a Republican candidate for NJ's 3ed congressional district, is getting a break on his property taxes for his lavish Mount Laurel homestead - thanks in part to his four donkeys. Runyan paid $57,000 in taxes last year on five of his acres, which contain his home. But on most of his property - 20 acres - he paid $468 in taxes, according to township records. On his application for a farmland assessment in July, Runyan said he uses five acres as grazing land for his donkeys and 15 for timber, harvesting seven cords of firewood that he sold for $810.

Chris Russell, Runyan's campaign manager said, "He considers himself a steward of his land, and that's what farmland assessment is supposed to do."

So who was "stewarding" his land while the Jets defense was knocking him down on his very ample tush?

Christie ready to "fill 'er up"

Chris Christie told a reporter on the day before his Inauguration that he is prepared to assume the duties of his office. “I feel like I’m ready. If you ask me, ‘Ready for what?’ I don’t think I get to fill in the blank, history fills in the blank,” he said.

I'm sure Christie will do his share of filling when he gets to the Inaugural banquet.

Jon Runyan "charges" into politics

The San Diego Chargers’ playoff loss to the Jets means that Chargers tackle Jon Runyan is about to shift into full-time campaign mode for the Republican congressional nomination in the 3rd District.

Runyan's campaign manager Chris Russell said that Runyan still has some administrative issues to take care of with the team before he can hop on a plane back to New Jersey. “When he gets back we’ll sit down and try things out,” said Russell.

Try outs? What does he think this is, football?

Captain Christie builds his Ark

Since his nomination of Paula Dow to be Attorney General and the selection of Kim Guadagno as Secretary of State, all of Christie's cabinet choices have been white males. In response to a reporter's question about the diversity of his picks, Christie defended his selection process.

"I'm not going to take a Noah's Ark approach to filling my cabinet," he said.. "I'm going to look for the best possible people I can find. Diversity is one of the factors that you consider in doing that but I'm not going to just look at the class picture and decide what's missing."

I hope Christie doesn't use Noah's Ark. When he gets on board it will probably sink.

Now that would have been one hell of a delivery

Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego (R- Evesham) talked about why football player Jon Runyan is a credible candidate for the 3rd district congressional seat held by John Adler. “He brings a diverse background,” she said. “He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”

In other words, don't bother to run for Congress if you're born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

Christie lets his Cabinet nominees run red lights

Chris Christie introduced his two latest cabinet nominees and said he expects them to freely express their opinions. “I expect them to speak up. I told them if anybody from our staff puts a red light in front of them in terms of getting me information they think I need to know to run the red light. I would get them off the ticket. Not that I’ve had too much luck driving myself. In this position I can have more luck at it.”

Hopefully better luck than his predecessor had on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Should John Adler fear Joe Rullo?

Joseph Rullo, a former Democratic freeholder candidate and recent Republican campaign organizer, is adding his name to the growing list of Republicans running for the party’s nomination in the 3rd Congressional District race. Rullo, who is 40 and lives in Toms River, said he is going through the process to be endorsed by the Ocean County Republican Organization, but said he would still run in the primary even if not backed by the party.

Rullo expressed frustration that Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore and other party officials have not publicly named him as a viable candidate for the primary, especially since he felt he has done more to prepare in recent months than the other candidates publicly mentioned such as Jon Runyan and Maurice “Mo” Hill. “I think a lot of people are disturbed that my campaign seems to be underground,” he said. “Why wouldn’t my name be brought up? It’s just odd.”

I think it's odd that anyone would even care about whether his campaign is underground or not.

Christie objects to Corzine's goody bag

Acting on a request Friday from the governor's Office of Management and Budget, the Joint Budget Oversight Committee voted along party lines to redirect money that was slated to be set aside as an end-of-the-year surplus. The move sparked a firestorm of criticism from Chris Christie, who said it was another example of Gov. Jon Corzine "shoveling money out the door in the eleventh hour."

"Seriously, there's eight days left. Can he please keep his hand out of the cash register for the last eight days?" Christie said.

No chance of that any more than Chris Christie keeps his hands off the cannolis.

Christie returns to his shaky roots

Chris Christie administered oaths of offices for new, three-year terms to Republican freeholders Gene Feyl, Bill Chegwidden and John Murphy, the latter whom defeated Christie for re-election in a bitter 1997 freeholder race in which Christie finished last in a field of six candidates.

"I’m just thrilled to be back home here to participate in a place where it all started for me," said Christie. "It was 15 years ago I stood here as a brand new elected freeholder and participated in this same ceremony."

And two years later he was political roadkill.

I'll bet GOP State Senator Bill Baroni wets his pants when he sees this.

Conservative blogger Michael Illions has issued the following challenge in response to the scheduled vote for marriage equality in New Jersey's State Senate:

"To ANY Republican RINO in the State Senate who votes for this Gay Marriage Bill on Thursday, you will be primaried in 2011 and you will lose your seat."

Yeah, that should put the fear of wingnuts into them.

Runyan v. Adler in arm wrestling?

The Asbury Park Press in a recent editorial is calling for an open GOP primary in the third district congressional race against incumbent Democrat John Adler. They acknowledge Jon Runyan's celebrity status as a football player and considerable bank account. But they also said, "Runyan, who says he will retire from football at the end of the season, has no political experience. He also has no clearly enunciated political views. When he isn't on the practice field or watching game film for his new team, the San Diego Chargers, he says he is boning up on political issues. In an arm-wrestling match against Adler — who is about half his size — he would do well. In debates with Adler, he could get sliced and diced."

It will be hard for Adler to put Runyan in a veg-a-matic, but maybe he turns him into "Sham-Wow" and wipes him off the political map.

Jon Runyan scratches his head

After spending the last several weeks studying public issues, along with his football playbook, 3rd district GOP Congressional candidate Jon Runyan gave his first interviews to political reporters by phone from San Diego, where he is currently employed as an offensive lineman for the Chargers. He said he has been frustrated with the federal stimulus spending and does not like the path President Obama and Congress appear to be on to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

“There’s a lot of things going on that you sit there and scratch your heads about,” he said.

Like a congressional candidate who would rather get his head bashed in to prove he can still play football rather than devote full time campaigning in his district to meet voters and learn about the issues they care about.

Is Justin Murphy "trash-talking" Jon Runyan?

There is a post on PolitickerNJ which reports that Justin Murphy, a former committeeman from Tabernacle Township in Burlington County who had a surprisingly strong showing in the 2008 primary, says he will definitely run again. And he’s not cowed by Jon Runyan, the football star who the Burlington County GOP has recruited and already rolled out to seek the party nod to challenge U.S. Rep. John Adler.

“If the scenario unfolds where Jon Runyan faces Justin Murphy for the nomination, I can guarantee you I will be the nominee,” said Murphy. “I’m not trying to be a trash talker on that. I can tell you why in one word: abortion. If there is a choice between one pro-choice candidate and one pro-life candidate in this election, the base of the party will support me.”

Evidently Justin Murphy is convinced the base of his party believes that life begins at conception and ends at birth.