Christopher Connors

Only one more potential candidate has taken his name out of consideration: State Senator-Elect Chris Connors from Ocean County.

His running mate, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, remains in the mix.

The Republican Party on Thursday united behind state Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr., as its new Senate Minority Leader, while state Sen. Leonard Lance stepped aside in the face of a torrent of young blood.

Descendent of the state's first governor, son of a former two-term governor, and with a failed U.S. Senate run behind him and still only in his late 30s, Kean sees last Tuesday's election results as a rejection of Democratic leadership over the course of the last six years.

"Today there are more Republicans in the State Legislature, more Republican freeholders than before, more mayors than there were and more council seats," says Kean.

Michele Rosen is a political veteran who started out in politics as a 14-year-old volunteer for John F. Kennedy.  She was elected to the Toms River Township Committee in 1977, and won a seat on the Barnegat Township Charter Study Commission in 2004.  Now she's running for State Assembly, mounting an uphill battle as a Democrat in the heavily Republican 9th district.  She probably won't win, but she's impressed Democrats by receiving endorsements from the Asbury Park Press and the Press of Atlantic City.

The Asbury Park Press has endorsed Christopher Connors for State Senate in the 9th district.  Connors, a Republican Assemblyman, is seeking the seat held by his father, Leonard Connors, who is retiring after 26 years in the Senate.  READ

The Press of Atlantic City has endorsed Christopher Connors for State Senate in the 9th district.  READ

Richard Perr and Elia Pelios filed ethics complaints today against seven state legislators.

The two Democratic County Chairmen alleged State Senators Joseph Kyrillos, Bob Singer and Peter Inverso, and Assemblymen Kevin O'Toole, David Wolfe, Christopher Connors and Rick Merkt may have profited by state budget items that supported. Democrats are alleging that a federal probe of how legislators might personally profit off specific state budget items is unfairly targeting just one party by looking only at actions since 2004, when Democrats first had complete control of both houses of the Legislature.

"These complaints are nothing more than a pathetic attempt by the Democrat machine to divert attention away from the fact that a laundry list of Democrats is being investigated by the FBI and US Attorney for using their office to enrich themselves. By their own admission, their complaints lack any merit or substance," said GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson. "Their failure to provide a shred of evidence to support their claims demonstrates that this is nothing more than a couple of political bosses looking to sully the good names of honest legislators to help their campaigns. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, though, since Chairman Perr has a history of filing bogus complaints. The ethics committee will undoubtedly see this as yet another baseless, politically inspired stunt and dismiss it just as they have his past complaints."

Seven Republican legislators will be the targets of ethics complaints to be filed tomorrow by two Democratic party leaders: State Senators Joseph Kyrillos, Bob Singer and Peter Inverso, and Assemblymen Kevin O'Toole, David Wolfe, Christopher Connors and Rick Merkt.

O'Toole, is running for State Senate in a contested GOP primary against former Bergen County Freeholder Todd Caliguire and Wayne attorney Victor Rabbat. Inverso is retiring, but comes from the politically competitive 14th district. Connors, in a safe GOP district, is running for the State Senate seat his father has held since 1981.