Free Republic

PolitickerNJ has learned that Comedian-Actor-Radio Host Joe Piscopo summoned Tony Perry to his residence in Hunterdon County last weekend. Perry is the Chief of Staff to State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown). Piscopo, the morning drive time host on AM970, became highly associated with the Garden State via his Paulie Herman character (“I’m from Jersey”) and Frank Sinatra impressions on Saturday Night Live. He has been frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for governor this year, either as a Republican or Independent. According to a source in Monmouth County Republican politics, no specific political roles were discussed at the meeting, which...

The death, at age 89, of Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg has put a wrinkle in the reelection plans of New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The cantankerous Republican enjoys high approval ratings and a chasmic lead over Barbara Buono, a Democratic rival so weak that former governor Brendan Byrne, now the Garden State’s Democratic elder statesman, has hinted she should think about dropping out. But the need to appoint an interim replacement for Lautenberg, and to schedule a special election to fill out his term through 2014, has created a pair of new challenges. First, does Christie hold the special election...

Dominican hookers, to be specific. This is what we’re hearing about the sex scandal involving a “powerful senator” in a headline being touted by Drudge, with a story by the Daily Caller promised late tonight. UPDATE: Shortly after the Drudge Report headline went up, my associate Ali Akbar got a tip that the story involved Sen. Menendez of New Jersey and at least one prostitute with whom he trysted on a taxpayer-funded trip to the Dominican Republic. Within one hour, Akbar had confirmed this with other sources, and we understand that numerous reporters in D.C. have heard similar reports. UPDATE...

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and top New Jersey Democrats sought today to cast his political opponent as an enemy to women. They said state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a Republican who is seeking to unseat Menendez in November, has a record of voting against the interests of women. “That fact of the matter is, on all of the issues that matter most to the women of New Jersey, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos has been on the wrong side,” state Sen. Barbara Buono said at a campaign rally held in a Union City daycare center. “For every stride Sen. Menendez has made...

Middletown, N.J. — It takes Joe Kyrillos, a 52-year-old state senator, 15 minutes to reach his table at the New Monmouth Diner. It’s late in the afternoon and the crowd has thinned, but two silver-haired grandfathers want a word, and a young mother with a child at her knee has a question. Waitresses hoisting heavy trays of burgers and Cokes brush past Kyrillos as he moves from booth to booth, talking politics.Kyrillos is running for the U.S. Senate against Senator Bob Menendez, the Garden State’s junior senator and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. As a Republican...

The "ACTION IN TRENTON" section of the Newark Star Ledger reports that State Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R - Monmouth County), introduced legislation yesterday to split New Jersey's Electoral votes. If passed, New Jersey's current "winner take all" system would be replaced by a system where each of the states 13 Congressional districts would pick their own electors and 2 "at large" electors would be apportioned by the statewide popular vote. This system would almost guarantee that Republicans would glean a minimum of 5 electoral votes from the Garden State regardless of the overall state outcome.