Christie Whitman

Governor's Office Photo

John Farmer, the new Star-Ledger editorial page editor, says he doesn't believe in giving one party more than eight years in office

The NJ Voices interview with John Farmer, the new Editorial Page editor of the Star-Ledger, is a must-read for the New Jersey political community.  Farmer says he’s an Independent (a political “agnostic”) who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 “because I don't believe in giving any one party more than eight years in office.”

On the Star-Ledger’s political leanings:

“The editorials over the past eight years have been largely liberal.  But that's as much a function of events as it is of any internal inclination of the paper.  Largely, it's been a reaction to the record of the Bush administration. He hasn't given us much to cheer. We supported him quite enthusiastically after 9/11. But as the record of the Bush administration has unfolded, we've been pretty critical.”

On newspapers competing with the Internet:

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Former Gov. Christie Whitman said that it’s a sad state of affairs that she was the last New Jersey Republican elected statewide.

“This is kind of sad. I’m the last Republican to carry New Jersey. That’s not where we want to be as a state, and we have an opportunity to change that,” she said at the state’s delegation breakfast this morning.

Whitman is far from the most popular Republican in New Jersey, but she received a standing ovation after her remarks, in which she said that she’d never experienced so much enthusiasm at a Republican convention and that John McCain could potentially lead Republicans back to statewide control.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Former Gov. Christie Whitman, who left office during her second term after she was appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said this morning that she thinks John McCain is right on the offshore drilling question.

Whitman said that offshore drilling is worth looking into, as long as it’s up to the states themselves. 

“(McCain) did put a provision in his bill to allow states to have the final word, and that to me is the important thing,” said Whitman as she was leaving the New Jersey delegation’s breakfast.  “We’re the only industrialized nation in the world that is not using all of its resources.  We can not keep saying we care about the price of oil, we’re worried about our energy, where it’s going to come from, and we want to continue to grow.  But we can’t drill, we don’t want to have any coal, we can’t have nuclear, we really don’t like wind power off the coast of Nantucket.  We can’t keep saying no to everything.”

Three Somerset County Democrats hope to succeed outgoing Chairman Elia Pelios tomorrow.

Peg Schaffer, Mike Ceponis and Rebecca Perkins all hope to reinvigorate the party, which has struggled over the last couple decades to overcome complete Republican domination.

Schaffer, who’s backed by Pelios, appears to be the favorite, with state Democratic sources saying they expect her to be the next chairwoman.  But her opponents have used that against her, saying that electing her to the top position will essentially be a continuation of the last 10 years under Pelios.

Congressional candidate Kate Whitman is joined by her mother, former Gov. Christie Whitman, at a dinner in Scotch Plains
SCOTCH PLAINS - A familiar face joined 7th District Congressional candidate Kate Whitman as she trailed through diners along US-22 today, her mother former Gov. Christie Whitman.

"I thought I was done with this," the former governor said jokingly. Her public presence, only the second time in this campaign, lent a familiar face to voters who seemed to be caught off guard that today was Primary Day.

"I didn't even know she was running for anything," Cindy Soloway of Scotch Plains told PolitickerNJ.com, "What is she running for?"

When one diner asked Whitman who else was running, Whitman raised her right hand and swiftly rattled off the names of her 6 opponents, "Its me, Leonard Lance, Kelly Hatfield…" she continued, counting her finger tips.

This one is interesting: former Governor Christine Todd Whitman and the Republican Leadership Council (RLC) is taking sides in the Republican primary for Burlington County Clerk and Freeholder.  Whitman is backing Lauri Sheppard for County Clerk,  and Jon Shevelew and Debbie Sarcone for Freeholder.  The three are challenging the candidates backed by the powerful Burlington County Republican organization, which is run by two onetime Whitman allies, County Chairman Bill Layton and the de facto party leader, Glenn Paulsen.

State Sen. Leonard Lance is the front-runner in his bid for the GOP nomination for Congress in the 7th district
Leonard Lance doesn’t like to use the F-word, but some pundits say it applies to him in his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.

“I never use the word ‘frontrunner’,” said Lance, a veteran State Senator from Hunterdon County. “I think it’s a dangerous word, and I campaign as vigorously as I can.”

While Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov.Christine Todd Whitman, has raised the most money in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Mike Ferguson, Lance appears to have raised enough to assuage doubts about his fundraising prowess. And he has secured the organization lines in two counties where 67% of Republican primary voters live.

As of the end of last month, Lance had raised $294,130 – which includes a $100,000 personal loan -- and has $255,654 on hand for the primary. Whitman has taken in $444,433 and has $307,260 on hand, although about $50,000 of that is from maxed out donations and must be set aside for the general election.

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.

GOP congressional candidate Kate Whitman will formally enter the race for Mike Ferguson’s House seat tomorrow.  Her campaign says she will layout her six-point plan to “get America moving.”  Whitman, the daughter of former Governor (and PolitickerNJ.com unpaid columnist) Christine Todd Whitman, faces State Senator Leonard Lance and others in the seventh district Republican primary.

For those of you who don’t know, my daughter Kate is running for the open seat for Congress in the 7th District. I couldn’t be more proud of her, and of course I will vote for her. Unfortunately, some have been quick to judge her ­ both positively and negatively ­ on the single fact that she is my daughter. That’s why I want to share with you why Kate is more than just my daughter, and why she will make an excellent member of Congress.