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Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) is shown in this file photo.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

Does Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) support allowing most New Jerseyans to carry concealed firearms?

No, but some gun rights advocates could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

"I’ll make it really clear: I do support the Second Amendment, but I don’t support the right to carry concealed weapons. I never did," Sweeney told The Auditor.

That’s clearer than a 1½-year-old form letter to constituents making the rounds on Twitter, in which Sweeney and his two Assembly district-mates indicated they might be willing to allow it — if someone would put the bill up for a vote.

"We have been, and will remain, strong proponents of the Second Amendment rights of our constituents," the lawmakers wrote. "Please rest assured, if this bill is released from committee and posted for a floor vote, we will remember the strong support this measure has received from our constituents when casting our votes."

The letter, from July 2012, was written in response to a member of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society. It was tweeted at Sweeney last month during a "Twitter Town Hall" by Dave Bell, also with the group.

"It’s a bit hypocritical for him to indicate that he supports a bill that would allow law-abiding gun owners to carry a firearm, but never follow through on it," Bell said.

But here’s the thing: As Senate president, Sweeney has huge influence over a bill’s fate, including the decision on whether it gets a vote in the full Senate.

Asked if he thought his letter wrongly implied he supported "concealed carry," Sweeney responded with a joke. "I’ll have to talk to the Senate president to see what he thinks of it," he told The Auditor.

Top legal guns sit out a third case

Speaking of firearms, The Star-Ledger has reported that Gov. Chris Christie’s attorney general twice took the unusual step of sitting out challenges to one of the state’s toughest gun laws over the past year, in cases from Monmouth County and Newark.

Now The Auditor has noticed the Attorney General’s Office sat out a third gun case.

A man in Paterson argued before an appeals court that the local police department was breaking state law by asking for more paperwork than the State Police say is necessary to get a firearm identification card. The court agreed and ordered a new trial.

In all three cases, Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa and his successor, acting Attorney General John Hoffman, left it to county prosecutors to defend laws restricting gun ownership in New Jersey. One case is pending before the state Supreme Court.

Legal experts said it was very rare for county prosecutors to be defending statewide laws instead of the attorney general, who is basically New Jersey's chief lawyer. Lee Moore, a spokesman for Hoffman, disagreed.

"There are numerous civil and criminal cases each year implicating the constitutionality of New Jersey statutes where the Attorney General’s Office is not counsel of record, and does not participate," said Moore, who added that "county prosecutor’s offices operate as arms of the state."

And he didn’t have to remove any traffic cones

Ah, the innocent days of March 2013.

Christie touted the Shore’s imminent bounce-back and threatened homeowners who refused to allow easements to build dunes. He outlined his budget proposal in which he agreed to expand Medicaid. The state seized control of Camden’s public schools.

But one playful moment for Christie that month — at the time promulgated by his own press office — doesn’t play so well anymore, with Christie trapped in a scandal over his aides closing toll lanes to the George Washington Bridge for political revenge.

A second-grader at a town hall in Montville asked Christie to reveal his favorite thing about being governor. Christie gave a serious answer: "Every morning I get up, and I have a chance to do something great."

Then, he gave a second, "fun" answer.

"Some people, in fact a lot of people, don’t take the train. And a lot of people drive. And maybe when you’re on the train you see the people in all the traffic trying to get to the Lincoln Tunnel," Christie said. "When you’re governor, they close the Lincoln Tunnel for you. And you get to drive right through. No traffic. ... I love it."

Ex-Corzine aide pens tell-all book — about Lincoln

Josh Zeitz, historian and former aide to Gov. Jon Corzine and one-time Democratic congressional candidate, has a book coming out soon.

The 400-page work — "Lincoln's Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln's Image" (Viking) — is set for release Feb. 4. The book, his third, tells the tale of how the two secretaries to Abraham Lincoln crafted his "image of a humble man with uncommon intellect who rose from obscurity to become a storied wartime leader and emancipator," according to Amazon.com.

"I missed writing books and doing articles," Zeitz told The Auditor.

Those outside politics may recognize him from his appearance in Ken Burns’ documentary "Prohibition."

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