Michael Doherty

It’s a week after the election, and the dust has yet to settle on the race to take over the state Senate seat of Leonard Lance (R-Flemington).  But one thing has been constant since Wednesday: Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington) is gunning hard for the seat, and has already started his door knocking campaign across pastoral Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

“I have my list and I have my Garmin, which certainly helps navigate some of our rural roads in the dark,” said Doherty.

There are roughly 400 county committee members from the two counties that comprise the 23rd Legislative District, and Doherty plans to visit every one of them (many are husband and wife teams, which helps cut down on the number of doors to knock on). Last night, he began his campaign, visiting committee members in Glen Gardner, Bethlehem and Hampton.

After Lance resigns his seat to move up to Congress in January, those committee members will decide who gets to fill in for Lance in Trenton until the June primary and special election in November.

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington), who has also expressed interest in the seat, has a slight geographical edge.  Hunterdon County has a larger population than Doherty’s native Warren County, and has about 40 more county committee members.

That’s why Doherty has begun by focusing on Hunterdon County Committee members.

“I initially focused on some Hunterdon county folks, but I’ll hit folks in the two counties,” he said.

Karrow could not be reached for comment.  Several Republican sources said today that she’s having second thoughts about running, given Doherty’s strong support by conservative groups.

Warren County Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt said that Doherty can count on nearly unanimous support from the Warren County committee members.  Even if Hunterdon County does field a candidate, he said, Doherty will be able to sap enough votes from their members to win.

The Conservatives with Attitude(CWA)Executive Committee today announced its unanimous endorsement of Assemblyman Michael Doherty to fill the New Jersey State Senate seat vacated by Congressman-elect/state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon).

“Assemblyman Doherty is a pro-taxpayer, pro-family conservative who
believes in smaller government, lower taxes, and personal responsibility,” said Michael Illions, co-executive director of Conservatives with Attitude. “He is a true, Back to Basics Republican with the voting record to prove it.”

One political certainty: 2009 will begin with at least one special election convention for the Legislature – either a race for Leonard Lance's 23rd district State Senate seat, or a contest for Linda Stender's State Assembly seat in District 22.  Lance or Stender would presumably resign just after the first of the year -- the new Member of Congress takes office on January 3 -- setting the stage for a County Committee vote betwee seven and 35 days of the vacancy.

Last Thursday around 1 p.m., I began my dissertation defense -- a 45-minute talk for the final stage of the Ph.D. process. At almost exactly the time I was wrapping up, Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington) issued a press release titled "New Scientific Data Justifies Repealing Global Warming Response Act".

When people learn of my engineering background, they often ask why I changed gears and pursued a path in media and politics.

Mike Doherty is Exhibit A.
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I consider the well-funded, coordinated assault on and politicization of science to be one of the most dangerous threats to our country's future.

Doherty's statement, which was noticed by the Drudge Report, falsely claims that "[t]here are many credible members of the scientific community who have questioned the theory of global warming, and now we have some scientists actually suggesting the earth's temperatures may be entering a period of dramatic cooling." It continues: "According to recent news reports, a top observatory that has been measuring sun spot activity predicts that global temperatures will drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity slows and the planet drastically cools down."

Apparently he is referring to "news reports" such as this editorial which points to the research of Dr. Kenneth Tapping, the project director at Canada's National Research Council at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Tapping was not directly quoted, so I reached out and asked if Doherty's statement is an accurate characterization of his work and conclusions.

Tapping replied: "Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of bogus rubbish circulating on the web. I make no predictions on global climate one way or the other. I am not a climatologist. The only thing I foolishly discussed with someone who put a private conversation on the web was that the next solar cycle is a bit late starting. NOAA predictions are that it will not be getting under way until well into 2009. We concur with that prediction. For the climatological consequences of that, if any, I am afraid you will need to speak to a climatologist." He continued: "The moral of the story is that one has no control about what people put on the web, and there is little that one can do about it afterwards."

Almost comically underscoring his profound ignorance on the difference between weather and climate, Doherty cites a weather man -- one with no expertise on climate science -- as his second example of dissent with the universal scientific consensus.

Doherty is a dangerous politician who through willful ignorance would deny scientific evidence and readily accept junk science if it fits his ideological agenda. And he will continue to recklessly abuse the stature of his office to attempt to deceive the public.

Who knows what he'll propose next week? He might call for tearing down Xanadu since it's encroaching on the habitat of the Jersey Devil.
Perhaps he'll argue for offshore drilling rigs as our best chance for finding the Loch Ness Monster. Or maybe in a joint press conference with the Bigfoot hunters, he'll demand stricter enforcement of the Highlands Act in order to protect Sasquatch.

Juan Melli, associate editor at Politicker.com, has finished a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Princeton University.

Calling conservative activist Steve Lonegan “New Jersey’s Ronald Reagan,” Assemblyman Michael Doherty announced today that he will chair the recently-formed Committee to Draft Steve Lonegan for Governor.

The committee was jump-started earlier this week by Republican political consultant Dan Gallic.

“No one speaks out louder or stronger for taxpayers and in defense of our conservative values than Steve Lonegan.  He is not only the strongest candidate we can run against Jon Corzine, he is the best man for the job,” said Doherty in a statement. 

Doherty, who’s among the legislature’s most conservative members, flirted with a U.S. Senate run last year, and was the only New Jersey legislator to endorse Republican Ron Paul for president. 

“Lonegan was not only our only hope to save our state, but our last hope.”

While dozens of candidates were making last minute appeals on primary day, Republican

Senate candidate Joe Pennacchio spent the afternoon working on dental fillings and root canals.  The next day, about 12 hours after congratulating rival Dick Zimmer on his victory, Pennacchio was at his Mount Arlington dental practice again, engaging in his pre and post-election routine: going to work. 

“I make a habit of working my regular job on election day and the next morning,” he said.  “It grounds me.  It tells me who I am, gets me back with the people and in the mix.”

Pennacchio, a conservative, lost to the more moderate Zimmer, 46% to 40%, with Murray Sabrin, a finance professor at Ramapo College, taking 14% of the vote.  But despite a respectable showing, Pennacchio was true to the persona he cultivated during the campaign, exemplified by his “Jersey Joe” moniker and the slogan that accompanied it: “He’s one of us!”

As he stood with futility against a bill he believes would ravage his 39th Legislative 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.

Henry Kuhl and parlimentarian Tony Maglio 

FLEMINGTON - The veterans picked the veteran here tonight and the county committee responded in kind as Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl won re-election over Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck.

The GOP is pumped up about having two residents on the general election ballot in important races: Dick Zimmer running for U.S. Senate and Leonard Lance for U.S. Congress in the 7th District.

Both candidates backed 28-year chair Kuhl for another term.

FLEMINGTON -- Facing a string of recent U.S. House special election wins for Democrats in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi and uncomfortable reminders of nearly losing New Jersey's 7th Congressional District in 2006, Republicans gathered at state Sen. Leonard Lance's primary election night victory party on Tuesday said they were confident that the GOP would be able to hold on to the seat of retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson in November.

"Demographics are destiny," state Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington) told PolitickerNJ.com at the American Legion hall in Flemington, in the heart of Lance's Hunterdon County base. Doherty said Democrat Linda Stender would have a difficult job capturing the reliably Republican congressional district, despite Stender's near defeat of Ferguson two years ago. The 7th district "was really drawn as a Republican district."