Thursday, November 10, 2005

MONMOUTH GOES REPUBLICAN AGAIN!

Fending off a stiff challenge from Democrats, Freeholder William C. Barham and Colts Neck Township Committeewoman Lillian Burry were elected to three year terms on the Board of Chosen Freeholders Tuesday.
Republicans were also victorious in the 11th District, where Assemblymen Steve Corodemus and Sean Kean were reelected; in the 12th District Jennifer Beck and Declan O'Scanlon bested Democrats Michael Panter and Dr. Robert Morgan. (UPDATE! PANTER HAS WON, DEFEATING O'SCANLON BY 65 VOTES. O'SCANLON CARRIED THE MONMOUTH COUNTY PART OF THE DISTRICT, WHILE PANTER CARRIED THE MERCER COUNTY PART. PANTER'S PLURALITY IN MERCER ERASED O'SCANLON'S IN MONMOUTH. O'SCANLON WILL FILE FOR A RECOUNT ONCE THE TOTALS ARE CERTIFIED.) In the 13th District, Assemblyman Sam Thompson was reelected, and Freeholder Amy Handlin will go to Trenton in place of veteran Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina.
On the town level was a mixed bag, with Democrats winning in Matawan, Manalapan and Hazlet, an independent winning Howell, and Republicans winning Holmdel, Red Bank, Marlboro and Millstone. Wall split between an R and a D, and Aberdeen saw Democrats reelected by less than 100 votes.
The 13th District race saw opposition to Handlin's candidacy by supporters of Azzolina, who Handlin defeated in the June primary. To make matters even more exciting, we saw examples of the "partisan print media", including such Democratic
journalists as Union Beach Democratic Chairman Jim Purcell and Union County Democrat James Devine. Purcell is associated with Azzolina but appears to have his own agenda apart from Azzolina's. The diminutive, oompa-loompa-esque Devine is a longtime associate of the defeated William E. Flynn, serving as an aide to Flynn in the 80s. Devine was also associated with former Democratic 4th District congressional candidate James C. Hedden. Hedden, a former Mercer County freeholder, saw his campaign crumble when prank phone calls to Rep. Christopher H. Smith's (R-4th) campaign headquarters were traced to Hedden's headquarters.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

An Oompa Loompa???