TRENTON – The Senate Republican caucus elected its leadership team today, with state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. (R- 21), of Westfield, serving another term as Republican Leader, with state Sen. Diane Allen (R- 7), of Edgewater Park, serving as Deputy Republican Leader.
Rounding out the caucus’s leadership team is state Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R- 40), of Cedar Grove, as Republican Whip; state Sen. Robert Singer (R- 30), of Lakewood, as Conference Chairman; state Sen. Christopher ‘Kip’ Bateman (R- 16), of Branchburg, as Deputy Conference Chairman; and state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R- 25), of Boonton, as Budget Officer. All leaders were elected unanimously.
“It’s an honor to once again receive the trust of my colleagues to lead the Republican Caucus in the Senate,” Kean said in a release. “We’ve put a great team on the field that will do everything in our power to stand up to the Majority’s endless attempts to increase taxes on job creators and families and increase the size of a government that is already too large and costly. It is our hope that the Majority will work with us to heed the call of New Jersey taxpayers to make our state a more affordable place in which to live, work, and create jobs through fundamental, sweeping reform.”
Kean pointed to unfinished legislative efforts to control property taxes and reform education as priorities for the upcoming session. “Municipalities of all sizes are borrowing money to pay employees for unused sick leave. The state’s school funding formula is enormously unfair to the vast majority of taxpayers in the state, and school districts still lack the necessary tools to operate more efficiently and ensure a quality teacher is in every classroom,” he said. “Republican Senators will not let defenders of the status quo prevent us from putting forth solutions to these, and other, challenges. We hope that the Majority will find itself up to the task of working with us on these important issues, but we will continue to put solutions on the table regardless because the cost of inaction is too high for the people of New Jersey.”
