Rick Merkt

Assemblyman Rick Merkt, a conservative from Morris County, is expected to announce tomorrow that he's forming an exploratory committee to look at a bid for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor.

Rick Merkt's announcement that he won't seek re-election to a seventh term in the State Assembly next year - possibly to run for Governor - will create a chain reaction that will reach the local level. Four Freeholders are considered potential candidates for the solidly Republican District 25 seat, and three of them - John Murphy, Gene Feyl, Bill Chegwidden - would have to give up their Freeholder seats to run for the Legislature in 2009. That would create another hotly contested primary for open Freeholder seats. If Doug Cabana were to win the Assembly seat, Morris County Republicans would need to hold a January 2010 special election convention to replace him.

If Rick Merkt and Chris Christie both wind up in the race for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, it will be the first time in 28 years that two former running mates and two candidates from the same small town compete in a statewide primary.  Merkt and Christie, who live in Mendham, ran as a team in the 1995 State Assembly primary in District 25; they lost to incumbent Anthony Bucco and newcomer Michael Patrick Carroll, who was seeking the open seat of retiring Assemblyman Arthur Albohn.   Merkt went to the Assembly two years later when Bucco ran for the State Senate.

If Rick Merkt gives up his State Assembly seat to run for Governor next year, there will most definitely be a long list of Republicans interested in seeking the open seat in the 25th district. Possible candidates include: attorney Anthony Bucco, Jr., the son of the incumbent State Senator; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, who ran for Governor in 2005; Freeholder Douglas Cabana, who unsuccessfully challenged Merkt and incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll in 2003; Freeholders Bill Chegwidden and Gene Feyl; and Mount Arlington Mayor Art Ondish. Another possible candidate is former Freeholder John Inglesino, who lost the 1997 GOP primary to Merkt by less than 250 votes. But Inglesino is actively involved in Chris Christie’s campaign for Governor and might not want to take time away from that effort.

One hint on U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s political ideology comes from his 1995 campaign for the State Assembly, when he attacked two other candidates, Anthony Bucco and Michael Patrick Carroll, for supporting a repeal of the ban on assault weapons. A reader sent PolitickerNJ.com a copy of the mailer from that campaign after Matt Friedman’s story on conservatives wanting to know where the federal prosecutor stands on some state issues.

Winners & Losers of the Week: Click Here