Richard Merkt 
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 at 04:55:32 PM EDT
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Back in May, Assemblyman Rick Merkt dropped the bombshell that John Inglesino (the same person that was in the middle of the pay to play corruption deals where Christie handed his firm a lucrative no bid contract and then Inglesino raised and donated many thousands to Christie's campaign) tried to bribe him out of the Governor's race with a "major position" in the Christie campaign/administration.
And as reported yesterday by Matt Friedman over at PolitickerNJ, there is renewed calls for Attorney General Anne Milgram to open up an investigation into these allegations - allegations that have also resulted in NJ politicians facing years in prison for the exact same thing - trying to offer an opponent a job if they were to drop out of a race.
What makes this even more interesting is that the republican Assembly Minority Leader, Alex DeCroce, issued a press release calling for a special session of the NJ Legislature to investigate corruption in order to "restore public trust": "People are disgusted that more and more public officials are betraying their trust. Lips service and inaction only feeds their growing cynicism. We must act now."
DeCroce demanded that Corzine order both houses of the Legislature to reconvene this summer to pass tougher ethics laws and penalties for corrupt public officials.
What makes this interesting is that DeCroce is a republican in the Assembly, as is Merkt. And there was a first hand account by that republican Assemblyman (Merkt) that an attempted bribery or buy-off was made to him with respect to a political race - especially one where a very similar act resulted in prosecution for corruption and potential prison time. I submit that DeCroce's call to investigate corruption and restore the public trust include looking into attempts to bribe his fellow republican Assemblyman. After all, if he is truly serious about cleaning up corruption in NJ, then he should realize that this is not a partisan issue.
Chris Christie is running on a theme of "changing Trenton", and on a very undeserved reputation with respect to corruption. Let them both put actions behind their empty rhetoric and if there is nothing to Merkt's own allegations, then so be it. But to ignore or call this "political" - especially when it is all within the republican Party, is not just hypocritical - it is a potential cover up of a very serious crime.
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* of course, DeCroce only called for things that didn't directly impact his party or his party's nominee for Governor. This is typical whining and hypocrisy, but DeCroce should be called on it. If he is serious about corruption, then let him show it. Otherwise, he should be served a heaping portion of STFU.
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Tue Apr 14, 2009 at 10:07:53 PM EDT
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This party is the gift that keeps on giving. Now we have all of the candidates for Governor in the Republican Primary teabagging together in Morristown on Wednesday:Confirmed Participants:
Steve Lonegan, Richard Merkt, Brian Levine, Chris Christie, Roger Bacon, Gary Steele, Michael Illions! The jokes just write themselves. It is interesting to note that hometown boy Rick Merckt and party front runner Chris Christie are listed after Steve Lonegan. Here's what Andrew Sullivan has to say about the whole thing:These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown. They will gather for teabagging at noon on the green. Oh and by the guest list, you can clearly see these are non-partisan events. If anyone is in the area, please stop by with a video camera and share with your friends here at Blue Jersey.
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Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 01:57:27 PM EDT
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Last week we learned that Chris Christie is actively participating in preparations to run for Governor, despite a blanket prohibition by the Department of Justice against US Attorneys engaging in political campaigns.
He sent his brother to "represent his interests" at the Republican National Convention, and had active communications with State Senator Jennifer Beck about joining his ticket as Lt. Governor.
Now we find out that Assemblyman Richard Merkt, who has announced his intention to run, discussed his interest in running for Governor with Christie, as well.
"I?m not a stalking horse," he said, still on the run. ""I talked to Chris Christie before I formed my exploratory committee. I told him what I was doing. He?s the favorite of the party insiders, and since I announced I was running, it?s been only party insiders who have leaned on me to get out of the race."
If Chris Christie wants to prepare to run for Governor he needs to resign his position. It is patently unethical and against Department of Justice policy to remain in the position while engaging in a political campaign.
In short, Chris Christie is abusing his office. Once upon a time that was something that precluded you from being Governor.
Update: Senator Beck now denies having discussions about the upcoming campaign with Christie, though she says she meets with him often.
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Tue Jan 01, 2008 at 11:51:35 PM EST
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( - promoted by Juan Melli)
Update: The Assembly Appropriations Committee released the bill to the Assembly by a vote of 10-1-2.
When he's not pushing bad policy in Trenton, Assemblyman Merkt is an historian and amateur astronomy buff. An almost equally famous astronomer, Galileo Galilei, once was condemned and sentenced to house arrest by the Catholic church for theorizing that the Earth revolved around the sun.
Pope John Paul II formed a commission to study that controversy - one of the "dark pages" in the church's past. In 1992 the commission's report said that the mistakes of the judges who tried Galileo needed to be acknowledged: This subjective error of judgment, so clear to us today, led them to a disciplinary measure from which Galileo had much to suffer. These mistakes must be frankly recognized, as you, Holy Father, have requested" (L'Osservatore Romano, November 1, 1992). 350 years after Galileo's death, Pope John Paul II apologized for their actions. The next year, he apologized for the church's role in the African slave trade, and later to Jews, women and other minorities. "Never again," he said.
What does this have to do with the good Assemblyman? One might think that Merkt - a convert to Catholicism - would understand the value of acknowledging the past and apologizing for New Jersey's mistakes. "Who living today is guilty of slave holding and thus capable of apologizing for the offense?" asked Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris. "And who living today is a former slave and thus capable of accepting the apology? So how is a real apology even remotely possible, much less meaningful, given the long absence of both oppressor and victim?" Merkt may not think the pope's historic apologies were meaningful either, but the rest of the world welcomed them as an important step towards reconciliation.
Slavery was a deeply painful scar on the conscience of American history and this apology would be an important symbol in healing division. Everyone who understands that there is no statue of limitations on morality should support Assemblyman Payne's bill.
As for Merkt - does he think the Vatican should take back its apology? Or is this an intellectually inconsistent attempt at race-mongering?
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Sat Sep 29, 2007 at 04:45:36 PM EDT
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Echoing General Anthony Clement McAuliffe, Mercer County Democratic chair Rich McClellan today responded to Assemblyman Merkt's call for 14th district Senate candidate Seema Singh to drop out.FROM: Rich McClellan, Mercer County Democratic Chair
TO: Republican Senate candidate Bill Baroni and his henchman Assemblyman Dick Merkt
RE: Your suggestion that Seema Singh drop out of the race for Senate in the 14th Legislative District
NUTS! That's some pretty big nuts.
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Thu May 03, 2007 at 02:15:46 PM EDT
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The seven legislators named in the ethics complaints today are: Senator Joseph Kyrillos, Senator Peter Inverso, Senator Robert Singer, Assemblyman Chris Connors, Assemblyman David Wolfe, Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole and Assemblyman Richard Merkt.
We have a 15 page pdf including all the complaints (or in text format below the fold). I haven't had time to browse through it carefully yet, but each complaint details specific budget items purported to be conflicts of interest.
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Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:47:13 AM EST
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I just caught this, but this quote from Wednesday's paper is disturbing:"As my husband always says, in a time of war, there is a chain of command, and you don't publicly buck the commander-in-chief," said Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, R-Sussex, whose husband has served in Iraq. Some of our legislators seem to believe they take their orders from the President, rather than...oh, I don't know...their constituents, maybe? It's sad when you have to throw up the "Commander-in-Chief" as a smokescreen for lack of independent thought. If you think escalating a war for the fourth time after that approach failed the previous three times is a good idea, give a smart reason for it. You're big boys and girls. You can do it. But don't insult us with this garbage.
As recently as Wednesday, Assembly Republicans were talking about voting against the anti-Iraq escalation legislation: "I am going to vote against it," Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris, said of the resolution. "This is grandstanding." The Pavlovian conditioning to obey orders seems to be a recurring theme, because like lemmings, every single one blindly fell in line and followed leader Lance DeCroce off the cliff of irrelevance. Again.
Update:: Lance/DeCroce. Oops. That's what I get for posting past my bedtime.
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Wed Jan 17, 2007 at 05:43:56 PM EST
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Cheers from your northern neighbor. With campaigns sparse this coming year, I might be looking to cross the border and help out with some Northern New Jersey state races. In particular, I'm curious to see if there will be any viable challenges to the Republicans in Districts 25, 26, 39, and 40 (the four closes to my home in Orange County). Have there been any announced challengers yet? If so (even if not), who of the incumbents are most vulnerable?
Thanks in advance for any help.
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