Alex DeCroce

The Senate and Assembly both passed laws disbanding and reforming the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards earlier this year.  But so far, only two of the new committee’s eight seats have been filled.

That’s because it’s hard to find people interested or eligible to serve, according to Rick Wright, executive director of the Assembly Republicans.

“We are going to make appointments, but like everyone else we’re having a hard time finding people,” he said.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards has been widely considered a joke for most of its existence.  It averaged one sanction against a legislator every 10 years during its nearly four decade lifespan.  Meanwhile, filing toothless complaints with the committee became standard fare during the legislative campaign season, when candidates or their allies would file a complaint against an opponent and then issue press releases trumpeting it.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) said today that Assemblyman Neil Cohen made the right decision by resigning his seat.

“Given the gravity of the allegations he faces, relinquishing public office is the right thing to do for his constituents,” said DeCroce in a statement. “These are serious charges. The people of New Jersey deserve a Legislature that is untainted by scandal.”

On Friday, DeCroce issued a tougher worded statement about Cohen, saying that if the allegations that he stored child pornography on a legislative office computer then it “represents one of the most deplorable acts committed by a public servant,” and that “not only must he resign from office, but he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Amid the shockwaves that hit the political community last night over the revelation that Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union) is under investigation for possession of child pornography, four legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle have requested that the Office of Legislative Services begin installing the “most aggressive” possible internet filtering software on all of the legislature’s computers.

A joint statement by Senate President Dick Codey, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce said that this morning they directed the Office of Legislative Services to “immediately pursue installing the most aggressive Internet filtering software available on all computers in the Legislature.”

Republicans last week honored Larry Pepper for his 33 years of service as chair of the Cumberland County GOP.

Marking the occasion of his retirement as chairman, over 400 of Pepper’s friends, family and elected officials throughout the state attended a gala at the Centerton Country Club on June 30.

Guests included U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2), New Jersey State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr., Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, and former state Senator and personal friend James R. Hurley.

LoBiondo and new county Chairman Douglas Sorantino awarded Pepper with a plaque honoring him for his "unprecedented" service.

McCain State Chair Bill Baroni, right, with Sen. Leonard Lance on Wednesday in Woodbridge.
WOODBRIDGE - The McCain campaign opened up its New Jersey/New York regional headquarters here in the heart of hail fellow blue collar country on New Brunswick Avenue.

"New Jersey is McCain country," declared New Jersey State Campaign Chairman Bill Baroni, flanked by fellow Republicans, including Sen. Thomas Kean, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, state Sen. Kevin O’Toole, state Sen. Leonard Lance, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton, Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan, Morris County Sheriff Ed Rochford, and Ed Cox, chair of the New York McCain campaign, among others.

"We are here, we’re campaigning, we’re competing, we’re building a grassroots organization, we’re opening it (campaign headquarters) in the heart of Reagan Democratic country," said Baroni, who also at least once invoked what New Jersey Republicans call the "Baroni model," or hardcore shoe leather-style campaigning.

As he stood with futility against a bill he believes would ravage his 39th GOP Assemblyman Vince PolistinaLegislative District, Assemblyman John Rooney took little joy in noting a personal milestone.

For while 2008 marks the Bergen County Republican’s 25th anniversary as an assemblyman, it is also the low point of his legislative career.

"My towns got destroyed last night," said Rooney, a day after the majority Democrats passed a $32.9 billion budget, which includes 25% cuts in aid to all of the 28 municipalities in Rooney’s district, and eliminations of property tax rebates for residents in the $150,000 to $250,000 income range.

Monday also brought the Democrats’ successful if ignominious - by Rooney’s reckoning - passage of a bill requiring the construction of affordable housing in affluent towns.

Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, state chairman of the DeAssemblyman Joseph Cryanmocratic Party, today derided the reaction of Republican leaders to Gov. Jon Corzine's budget as "all over the map."

"Too many of the Republicans are resorting to the political rhetoric of the past about budget cuts but they want  to exempt their own pet projects," said Cryan in a press release. "They aren't just contradicting each other, they are contradicting themselves. Their budget  numbers don't add up and their ideas don't add  up."

The governor described his budget as a "turning point"  away from the irresponsible practices of the past. "But the Republicans' want to do a u-turn back to the same politics of the past," Cryan said.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce today issued a release criticizing Gov. Jon Corzine's methods of selling his plan to increase tolls, likening them to a "political blackmail plot." 

"Corzine’s claim yesterday that property tax rebates and tax relief could be in danger unless his 800% toll hike and nearly $40 billion borrowing scheme is approved is tantamount to political extortion," DeCroce said.

Freshman Assemblyman Ruben Ramos today walked in Gov. Jon Corzine's entourage with fellow freshman Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande.Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts today called on his fellow lawmakers to be bold and to focus on the big issues: ethics, affordable housing, healthcare and property tax reform.

"Our obligation is not to be a rubber stamp," Roberts told a group of legislators that included 25 new assembly people, or the largest number of freshmen since the Florio tax backlash of 1992. 

Speaking in the War Memorial shortly after helping to swear-in the other 79 assembly people and then being sworn into office himself, 20-year veteran Roberts urged the Assembly to work hard and bring honor to the State of New Jersey.

Although he and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce complimented each other and committed themselves to bipartisanship, the latter didn’t clap when Roberts boasted about providing the largest property relief tax package in state history in 2007.

The wife of Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce has joined the Mitt Romney for President camp, according to State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, the state's New Jersey chairman for Romney's campaign.

BettyLou DeCroce's politically prominent husband supports former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president.