Veteran reporter Joe Malinconico is reporting at NorthJersey.com that federal investigators have issued a subpoena for Paterson’s records involving a $100,000 annual contract with an Ocean County law firm headed by Ocean County Republican Committee Chairman George Gilmore.

The firm, Gilmore and Monahan of Toms River, already had been the target of subpoenas issued to various towns in Ocean County, where it does extensive government work, including Red Bank, according to The Asbury Park Press.

Gilmore backed a come-backing and now embattled Jose “Joey’ Torres in the 2014 mayor’s election.

The Malinconico report is bad timing for Gilmore, whose county committee is set to convene Wednesday evening in Toms River to award the line to its 2017 choice for governor.

GOP sources say the Gilmore-led Ocean is expected to go for Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno.