January 21, 2003: Connors Will Run - Who Will He Run With?

Ocean County Politics .com

2003 Ninth District - Part One

Senator
Len Connors

We Told You So: Senator Len Connors, 73, Will Run For Another Term; Has Been A Towering Figure In Ocean County Politics For Twenty Years

Mayor Of Surf City Since 1966 And Still “Feelin’ Real Good”, Connors Says Rumors Of His “Imminent” Retirement Were “Just Empty Speculation”

Assemblyman Moran Will Run For Vacant Surrogate’s Office As Hopefuls Jockey To Replace Him On 9th District Assembly Ticket

Despite rumors of his imminent retirement, Senator Leonard T. Connors Jr. will be a candidate for re-election to the New Jersey State Senate.

“We’ll believe the retirement rumors when it happens, OceanCountyPolitics told readers in a 9th District preview article a month ago when the rumors became especially persistent. We pointed out at the time that Connors “loves his job and looks ten years younger than his 73 years.”

Towering Figure In Ocean County Politics For Twenty Years

A towering figure in Ocean County Politics for twenty years and still at the height of his intellectual and political powers, Connors was first elected to the state senate in 1981 after serving four years as a county freeholder.

He was the fiscal conscience of the administration of Republican Governor Thomas Kean, and was one of the few legislators to keep faith with Ocean County’s large Senior Citizen population as former Democratic Governor James Florio weakened and compromised the political process.

Not One Of Whitman’s Most Devoted Fans

As Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman and her successor, Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco spent the state government into near bankruptcy, Sen. Connors was one of very few Republican legislators to keep his self respect intact by making it abundantly clear that he was not one of Whitman’s most devoted fans.

Connors is the sponsor of numerous legislative bills to ease the property tax burden on New Jersey homeowners, especially on senior citizen homeowners.

Some of this landmark legislation has been signed into law.

Assemblyman
Jeff Moran

Sponsor Of Constitutional Amendment For Bond Issue Accountability

He is also the prime sponsor of a constitutional amendment that would clarify requirements for a referendum on all bond issues marketed by pledging the state’s faith and credit.

The Connors Amendment would make it mandatory for the Newark Arena bond issue to be submitted to referendum and approved by the voters before the money is spent.

Connors Amendment Would Prevent Disasters
Like Whitman Pension Bond

The amendment would also have required voter approval prior to the adoption of Whitman’s $4 Billion Pension Bond Issue, a financial abortion that was supposed to be a panacea which would forever eliminate local contributions to state pension funds as pension fund stock market investments skyrocketed higher and higher.

Instead, homeowners and other property taxpayers all over New Jersey will pay higher property taxes this year as pension costs are reconstituted to reflect the staggering consequences of $22 Billion in stock market losses from Whitman’s pension fund blunders and other casualties of the Whitman eternal prosperity theories.

“I Told You So”, Is Connors’ Only Comment On The Whitman Years

“I told you so” is the printable version of Connors’ commentary on the Whitman-DiFrancesco years.

Possible candidates for Moran’s assembly seat include the following hopefuls:

Jack Kelly, an employee of the South Jersey Transportation Authority at the Atlantic City Airport, former Executive Director of the Ocean County Republican Finance Committee, former member of the Eagleswood Township committee and a Freeholder for the last seven years.

Carmen Amato, an employee of the County Election Board, a former candidate for the Berkeley Township Council and a member of the Central Regional School Board.

Daniel Van Pelt, Mayor of Ocean Township who has been elected and re-elected to the Ocean Township Committee. Van Pelt is a fiscal conservative who has a strong environmental record as a member of the Ocean County Solid Waste Advisory Committee.

Brian Rumpf is an attorney and the Mayor of Little Egg Harbor Twp. Rumpf also has a strong environmental record and an excellent reputation as a can-do public official in the only Ocean County town that is further south than Tuckerton.

Part two of OceanCountyPolitics 9th District coverage will deal further with Sen. Connors’ extraordinary record in public office and spend considerable time developing extended coverage and evaluating the candidates who want to take Moran’s place on the ticket for Assembly.