Todd Caliguire

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Todd Caliguire is an American Republican Party politician in New Jersey. He is a former county freeholder and candidate for Governor of New Jersey. Caliguire is married to Laurie Gayle Stephenson, who is a professional actress who has appeared in several Broadway productions. Todd and Laurie have one daughter, Sarah Kate.

Caliguire was an aide in the 1980s to then Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean, where he served as an assistant counsel to the governor and as a policy advisor. Caliguire left Kean's staff to work in the private practice of law in Bergen County.

During the 1990s, Caliguire was elected to two terms to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders, which is the county's legislative body. Caliguire surprised political observers when he announced his decision to not seek a third term as a freeholder.

[edit] 2005 Gubernatorial campaign

In 2005, Caliguire announced his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2005. Caliguire was considered a long shot candidate for the nomination as he was little known statewide. He raised the least of the seven candidates and had no campaign staff. He came across as the most academic of the candidates and he issued a 150 page campaign plan for what he would do as governor. He finished last in the field of seven. It was reported that his candidacy for governor was aimed to position himself for the Republican nomination for Bergen County Executive in 2006.

Former State Pensions Director Doug Forrester: 36%
Former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler: 31%
Morris County Freeholder John J. Murphy: 11%
Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan: 8%
Washington Township (Bergen County) Councilman Bob Schroeder: 6%
Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano: 6%
Caliguire: 3%

[edit] 2006 Bergen County Executive campaign

Caliguire announced his candidacy for Bergen County Executive in early 2006 and was quickly endorsed by the Bergen County Republican Committee. In March 2006, there was a split between the moderates and the conservatives in the Bergen County Republican Party, which resulted from a fight for the county party chairmanship. Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan announced her candidacy for county executive against Caliguire.

Caliguire was formally endorsed by the county Republican party, because of a rule enforced by the county party chairman which said that a candidate needed to have filed a notice of intent to seek the party endorsement before the endorsement meeting. Caliguire had met the deadline, while Donovan announced her candidacy after the deadline.

Thus, only Caliguire's name was presented to endorsement convention delegates, while Donovan did receive support. Donovan quickly recruited Freeholder Elizabeth Randall, who had been running with Caliguire, and Caliguire's running mate for county surrogate to her campaign.

Following a competitive and at times, heated campaign, Caliguire defeated Donovan 51% to 49% for the Republican nomination. He lost to incumbent County Executive Dennis McNerney 60%-40% in the November election.^[1]