Friday, January 19, 2007

COUNTY CAMPAIGN 2007

New Year's Day is behind us. It's 2007. It'll be a busy year on the Monmouth political scene. All the legislators will be up for election. On the county level, we have the County Clerk, the Sheriff and two Freeholders.
From all indications all the county officials are running for reelection: County Clerk Claire French, Sheriff Joe Oxley, and Freeholders Rob Clifton and Anna Little.
There is, however, talk around Freehold that there may be a challenge against both incumbent freeholders. This is compounded by the fact that both freeholders have been inexplicably excluded from the new steering committee. While there may be other, logical reasons for that, it looks suspicious.
Some question the electability of Rob and Anna without giving any specifics. It may be more like retaliation for their votes against curmudgeonly County Counsel Malcolm V. Carton. Whatever the reason, we Republicans should be very wary of the motives of anyone attempting to unseat two officeholders.
There are some people who are said to have thrown their names in the ring. At this time, we will not list any names of potential contenders until these individuals make an announcement.

3 comments:

Art Gallagher said...

I'm hearing that so far there are six candidates, including incumbents, for the two freeholder seats. Bob McKenna, Bill Barham and Jim Gianell are recruiting challengers. The incumbents are sticking together.

The 11th and 13th are pretty much settled as far as legislative candidates. In the 12th, everyone is waiting for Jen to say which office she's running for.

Oxley and French won't be challenged.

The Two Rivers group has been divided and thus lost a great deal of its power to influence the candidate selections.

Honest Abe said...

William H Seward addressed...
"The incumbents are sticking together."

As well they should. Both have done a good job on the board, and until someone can demonstrate otherwise, they are worthy of support.
With a Democrat (Barbara McMorrow) now on the board, and control in the balance this year, now is not the time to start playing power games. Democratic money will be wheeled into Monmouth County this year at unprecedented amounts. Look at Bergen County to see what happens.
The wolf is at the door. Let's not let it in.

Editor said...

I do not usually post on these things but I feel I must address two statements of william h seward I know to be incorrect.
1. Jim is not recruiting challengers. In fact he has told me he is upset about the rumors that the incumbents might be challenged.
2. The Two Rivers Group is as united in purpose as it has ever been. We still meet regularly and plan to engage in any candidate selection process as wed have in the past. I will let others debate about how much influence we have. My only concern is that the Republican Party put forth the best candidates.