Ellen Karcher

GOP Freeholder candidate John Curley: Politicker file photoIt’s been labor by slow degrees.

Aided by Bush fatigue nationally and the Operation Bid Rig scandal locally, Democrats chipped steadily away at the Freeholder Board in Monmouth, foregoing potential Assembly gains elsewhere to focus on trying to build a majority in this longtime Republican stronghold.

Relying heavily on state party funds, they elected Barbara McMorrow two years ago and John D’Amico last year to get them to within one seat of swinging control of Monmouth in their favor.

Now with newly registered voters bolstering their numbers beyond the GOP’s - 99,282 Democrats to 86,992 Republicans - Democrats hope Amy Mallet and Glen Mason are poised to become their party’s next freeholders here. Freeholder Barbara McMorrow, left, stands with fellow Democrats, candidates Amy Mallet and Glen Mason.: Politicker file photo

In arguably the most consequential freeholder showdown of the year, those two must get past veteran Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and her running mate, Red Bank Councilman John Curley.

"As far as I can tell, it’s the premiere down ballot race in the state," State Party Chair Joseph Cryan said.

Although Democrats gleefully claim momentum going into this one, it will be no walk over for them.

Dennis Shulman in Denver last month.: Politicker photo 

They say there are about two or three enduring storylines in world literature, and over the last year there have proved to be two or three storylines in New Jersey politics..

In the U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett/Dennis Shulman Fifth Congressional District contest, the Shulman campaign argues that it’s the Ellen Karcher story all over again, with Garrett receiving a $41,000 tax break on a piece of land that yields approximately $700 per year in income.

In a television ad that went up today on Channel 5 in the district, Shulman charges that by enjoying the tax loophole, Garrett proves he is just another "corrupt politician."

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Rumson) met privately this summer to discuss the 2009 campaign for Governor and specifically the possibility of Beck running on Christie's ticket for Lieutenant Governor, according to two key Monmouth County Republicans who say they heard this from Beck.  Christie did not offer the number two spot on his ticket to the freshman State Senator from Monmouth County, the sources say, but did indicate he was likely to enter the race for Governor next year.  

Beck, who ousted a Democratic Assemblyman in 2005 and a Democratic State Senator in 2007, has appeared on most short lists as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor next year.  He Senate seat is not up until 2011.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Enjoying his current career as an attorney, lobbyist and political operative, former Republican Senate President John O. Bennett said that he has no desire to return to elected office.

“I’m not done. I’m involved. But I’m done with elected office, other than party positions, basically,” said Bennett, who served an eventful four days as acting governor in 2002 and is in Minnesota this week as an alternate delegate.

Bennett remains active in the Monmouth County Republican Party, and is the county’s state committeeman. He said he believes that the new Republican county chairman, former Sheriff Joseph Oxley, has the ability to bring competing factions together.

If Joseph Kyrillos doesn’t get picked to run for Lt. Governor in 2009, he’s likely to retire from the State Senate in 2011, according to a Monmouth GOP leader with knowledge of Kyrillos’ plans.  The six-term State Senator is actively seeking the LG nod, hoping to run on a ticket with his friend, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin would be the front runner to succeed Kyrillos in the Senate -- though not at all automatic on the GOP side -- if the 13th district seat remains intact after redistricting.  If the seat is open, mapmakers could move State Sen. Jennifer Beck into District 13; her hometown, Red Bank, borders on the 13th.  That could boost the chances for Democrats to recapture the 12th district, where former State Sen. Ellen Karcher and former Assemblyman Michael Panter are mulling comebacks.

There’s no question that the Democrats would love to take out rising Republican star Jennifer Beck in the 12th legislative district.

But with her reelection over three years away and redistricting coming up in 2010, none of the potential challengers on deck for her will even indicate that they’re thinking of taking her on. But they won’t rule it out either.

Former Assemblyman Mike Panter, who spent four years in the legislature before being ousted in a miniature Republican wave led by Beck in November – one largely blamed on a controversial farmland tax assessment break taken by former State Sen. Ellen Karcher – said he’s made a conscious effort not to think about politics this year.

Former Assemblyman Michael Panter, who lost his bid for re-election to a third term in 2007, is expected to play an active role raising money for Democratic legislative candidates in 2009. Assembly Democratic sources say that Panter won’t run again next year, but instead hopes to pick up a series of political IOU’s that he can use in 2011 as mapmakers redrew legislative districts.  Panter wants to see the twelfth district become more Democratic and then challenge Republican Jennifer Beck for the State Senate.

State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex) on Wednesday stepped out in frontChris Christie of the back-static regarding a pairing of U.S. Attorney Jen BeckChris Christie with state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) for GOP governor/lt. governor in 2009.

"I think it's a dream ticket," said O'Toole. "If Chris Christie decides to run, I expect Jen Beck to be considered in what would be an ideal combination of law enforcement, ethics and government transparency."

O'Toole recalled as "gutsy" Beck's drubbing out of of office of state Sen. Ellen Karcher last year.

Amy Mallet has not had much time to rest.

Last year, she ran for Assembly in what was perhaps the most hotly contested - and most expensive - election district in the state. Her entire ticket, which was made up of two incumbents, went down, largely attributed to a controversial farmland assessment tax break used by state Sen. Ellen Karcher.

But shortly after that loss, Mallet was again tapped by Democrats, the perennial minority party in Monmouth County, to work towards winning a majority on the freeholder board for the first time in recent memory. She's running with Hazlet Board of Education President Glen Mason against incumbent Republican Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Republican Red Bank Councilman John Curley, a former Democrat and outsider to machine politics who beat out the Republican establishment's choice to win the party's nomination.

"After I put so much into it last year, I was thinking about how the issues have not gone away," said Mallet, who owns a promotional marketing company. "They're still out there in terms of government spending, and really the cost of living here and the fact that folks don't have a lot of faith in their elected officials."

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) today. 

TRENTON - Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) sees a link between his Republican primary opponent Dick Zimmer and fallen Democrat Ellen Karcher.

In her state Senate fight last year, Karcher was bedeviled by a farmland assessment mini-scandal that her opponent Jennifer Beck highlighted in aggressive television advertising on her way to finally burying Karcher by a ten-point margin on Election Day.

Running behind Zimmer in their U.S. Senate primary contest, according to a Monmouth University poll and just ahead of economist Murray Sabrin, Pennacchio thinks he can sink the front-running former congressman with the same strategy.

"He’s got a Karcher problem," said Pennacchio, questioning Zimmer’s sincerity as a Washington-D.C. based lobbyist who claims a farmland assessment tax break.