MOUNTAIN LAKES - The guy hanging around the bar laughing and joking with old friends looked like he was having a great time.

So many people said they were sorry that he later joked he was ready to "kick them in the shins."

Jack Ciattarelli was reliving what makes political campaigning fun - the people you meet along the way.

Later he was to say, "There's nothing to feel sorry about."

This was Monday night and Ciattarelli attended Jim Gannon's annual fundraiser commemorating both St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day. Gannon, the popular Morris County sheriff (he was unopposed the last two times he ran) was also Ciattarelli's lieutenant governor candidate.

Ciattarelli did this type of stuff for like five years straight in running for governor in 2021 and again in 2025. So it was no big deal.

But it was!

Ciattarelli said this was the first political event he has attended since Nov. 4 of last year, Election Day. And he came to The Mansion banquet hall because of Gannon who he said transcends partisan politics by being a law enforcement officer first.

He added that Gannon is "the best damn sheriff in the state of New Jersey."

The sheriff put on quite the show. There was an Irish band, Irish step dancers, a pipe band and plenty of food - a mixture of Irish (corned beef and cabbage) and Italian (pasta, eggplant parmigiana) cuisine.

It was impossible not to ask "Jack" about the campaign.

He was stoical, saying you can't control the outcome, you can only control what you do. To that end, he was satisfied that he worked  hard. Traveled up and down the state "eight days a week," is how he sometimes put it.

What now?

Now, he said he plans soon to marry Anita Kothari, his partner, who often showed up with him on the campaign trail.

He told the crowd:

"I asked Anita to marry me at 5 o'clock on Election Day, 5 p.m. I did that before the results came down out of fear that if I lost, she might say no."

Well, she didn't say no.

Ciattarelli has had no choice but to move on.

By chance, however, his appearance Monday evening came the day before Mikie Sherrill's budget address, her first real consequential act as governor.

No, Ciattarelli said, he need not worry about the state budget.

"But I would have loved to."