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Rule 5 Weekend - NJ Lt Governor candidate Kim Guadagno

Here's another smart Republican woman ready to make the move into higher elective office. Monmount County Sheriff Kim Guadagno is running for the Lieutenant Governor slot alongside Chris Christie. This is the first election in which New Jersey will select a Lieutenant Governor, a role that has traditionally been filled by the State Senate President, aka "Acting Governor in waiting for life" Dick Codey.

Come January Dick will be out of both jobs. He'll no longer be needed to fill the Acting Governor role and he lost the Senate Presidency in a recent power struggle with South Jersey political boss George Norcross. Enjoy your retirement Dick.

Kim is an Iowa farm girl who earned a law degree and moved to New Jersey in 1991. She has served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Assistant Attorney General before being elected Sheriff in Monmouth County.

She has earned bipartisan recognition for her achievements. In 1996, Attorney General Janet Reno, a Democrat, presented an award to Guadagno for superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Her corruption-busting chops were honed on political miscreants from both parties.

Kim nailed Somerset County Republican Prosecutor Nicholas Bissell when he arranged for charges against a drug dealer to go away in exchange for an agreement to forfeit two lots that were subsequently sold at auction to Bissell's friend. And closer to home for me, Kim ended the career of Essex County political boss Thomas D'Allessio (a Democrat) on a plethora of corruption charges.

Now she's poised to help Chris Christie drain the swamp in Trenton. Kim has extensive executive experience having run a large law enforcement agency with a $65 million annual budget and 700 employees. And she's not a Trenton insider so she has no vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

Kim Guadagno is not just another pretty face. She's a tough, fair-minded Republican woman ready to run with the big dogs. She gets my vote as the Rule 5 politician of the week. Oh, and for Lt Governor too. The lady has handcuffs; and she knows how to use them!

To paraphrase Eddie Murphy (as Reggie Hanlon in 48 Hours) there's a new sheriff in town and her name is Kim Guadagno. Y'all be cool. Right on.

UPDATE 25 Oct 2009 12:01:
I feel a disturbance in The Force. Smitty ignored me this week.

He ignored The Classic Liberal too, who then compounded Smitty's disregard for my magnificence and didn't link me either.

Fortunately Fishersville Mike is a man who recognizes bloggeriffic greatness when he sees it. Thank you kind sir! You are a Prince among men, a gentlemen among rogues, and a cold beer on me is yours for the asking.

UPDATE 27 Oct 2009 11:30:
The iconic Bob Belvedere kindly gave this post the TCOTS Rule5 Compliance Committee stamp of approval.

And The Classic Liberal remedies his earlier oversight with a fine roundup of Rule 5 Octoberfest loveliness.

Thanks guys!

UPDATE 01 Nov 2009 11:38:
A time-space vortex opened and my Rule 5 email to Smitty reached him this week.

Good thing because I was too busy taking Sophie trick-or-treating to cobble together a new Rule 5 post for this week. Thanks for the linkage kind sir! And in what must surely be divine prescience, he tags Kim Guadagno as "the NJ Lieutenant Governor". Not until Tuesday, but from your blog to the voters eyes & ears!

Posted at 12:44 by Chris Wysocki   [/rule5]   | Trackback | Perm Link |
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