Ex-McGreevey foe tapped for judgeship

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Gov. Phil Murphy has nominated a Republican lawyer who challenged incumbent James E. McGreevey in a race for mayor of Woodbridge in 1999 to serve as a Superior Court Judge and the Senate has confirmed him.

Christopher Struben was a 32-year-old political newcomer when he took on McGreevey, then 41, a two-term mayor and former state senator who had come within one percentage point of ousting Gov. Christine Todd Whitman in 1997; he was preparing to run again in 2001.

McGreevey beat Struben in a landslide, 81%.5% to 13.4%.

In 2001, with McGreevey on the ballot for governor, Struben sought a State Assembly seat in the 19th district; he finished fourth, 11,844 votes behind Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville).

After McGreevey resigned as mayor in January 2002 to become governor, Councilman Frank Pelzman became the new mayor; he was elected in a November 2002 special election and won a four-year term in 2003.

Pelzman died of cancer in June 2006 and was briefly replaced by State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge).  In a special election that fall, Struben ran again for mayor against Democrat John McCormac, the former New Jersey State Treasurer.  McCormac defeated Struben, 67%-26%, in a four-candidate field.

When Struben ran for councilman in 2007, his nominating petition was rejected by the municipal clerk for not having enough valid signatures.  Rather than fight in court, Struben won the nomination as a write-in candidate; he lost the general election by a 2-1 margin.

He took on McCormac again in 2011, losing 74%-26%.  He ran for a Ward 5 council seat against Democrat Debbie Meehan in 2013 but withdrew after the primary.

Struben joins another former McGreevey opponent on the bench: former State Sen. Randy Corman (D-Sayreville), who was unseated by the future governor in 1993 by a 48%-45% margin, as a Superior Court judge.