NOTE: I was fully prepared to go through the campaign without criticizing the County Chairman. The priority right now should be to elect our great G. O. P. Team. However, things have gotten pretty weird lately and it needs to be addressed.
Chairman Adam Puharic's recent e-mail initiative on pay-to-play reform has been criticized by many Republicans. Adam brings up some very valid points, but he has been criticized for the amateurish timing of his proposal, which has made our Freeholders look foolish and has handed unnecessary ammunition to the Asbury Park Press as well as to the Democrats.
An interesting by-product of this has been the attack on Freeholder Rob Clifton by an obscure blog known for its slavish devotion to the Puharic company line. Monmouth RastaMan writes,
"Out (sic) take is this: Cifton might as well just resign and hand over the freeholder job to D'Amico. From the looks of it, one must wonder if he is going to make it til' (sic) the end of the summer. ...Maybe it's (sic) simple. He is just looking for an excuse not to win."
Monmouth RastaMan has been a Puharic ally from the beginning; he/she/they first appeared on Current Times, Brett Palat's blog, over a year ago supporting Puharic's election as County Chairman, and since then has continued to support Adam and his policies. By attacking Clifton, RastaMan ironically now joins Courier publisher Jim Purcell, who has consistently opposed Clifton on other issues; Purcell has also been on the receiving end of some of RastaMan's more vicious diatribes.
It's almost as if RastaMan would attack Clifton no matter what stand he took on this issue, which would be consistent with theories during the candidate selection process that Clifton was targeted just as Freeholder Anna Little was.
Why, in a year with control of the Freeholder Board on the line, would two incumbent freeholders be targeted by their own party leadership?
That's a good question. A number of theories came out during the process as to why Adam was after Anna; one of those had to do with her "NO" vote on the reappointment of curmudgeonly County Counsel Malcolm V. Carton. Rob also voted against the sarcastic solicitor, and would thus be vulnerable to being similarly targeted.
But why would he be targeted during a general election? A Democrat could get in.
Exactly. With Clifton's running mate Jeff Cantor an unknown quantity and Rob himself a NO vote, factions loyal to the bombastic barrister may actually feel more comfortable with Democrat John D'Amico, a known Carton supporter, who when on the Board, moved Carton's nomination as counsel. D'Amico actually sponsored the resolution.
Other theories exist that, for various alleged reasons, deals were made to throw the election to the Democrats. Or the whole gooey mess could be just very amateurish politics.
Make no mistake, if the Democrats get in this year, it's control of the County, and it'll be very hard for the G. O. P. to get back in the driver's seat, if at all. Can you say Bergen County with beaches?
Regardless of what our party leadership may or may not do, whether you like Adam or not, it is imperative to get behind our candidates like never before. This is expected to be a tough election, and the candidates will need our help. With a county chairman bumbling from crisis, or worse, actively working for defeat, our candidates may not be able to depend upon the leadership for help. It then is important for the rank and file to step up to the plate, to "cowboy up" as it were, and work to ensure that the Democrats don't get in this fall.
6 comments:
Bizarro universe indeed.
Instead of talking about all of the rumors and nonsense that are surrounding the GOP, we should be out in the streets working hard to ensure that the Democrats do NOT win in the fall! We live in a beautiful county and the positive progress continues every day. We have all witnessed what the Democrats have done in Trenton and the negative effect it has had on the taxpayers of NJ. The time for talking must stop and the time to work hard must begin!
abe, all things are not good in the world because they are republican. public trust is something that really has nothing to do about the donkey and elephant stuff. people are drawn to parties because they are supposed to represent something.
when republicans are doing a good job, and are good stewards of trust, then they should be elected, and when democrats are a better choice then they should win.
nothing is going to get better until the elected person, and not their party, is the most important thing in this thing.
you're a fair person, but all things are not swell because they're republican. and if they were, things wouldn't be where they are today.
I think Purcell is on the money when he said it is the person not the party that counts! In Matawan, we are floundering with a weak Mayor and a Democratic majority Council. So things are not always good because the Democrats are in office. Hope Jim maintains his position when it comes to Matawan's Mayoral race in Nov. In Matawan Republicans just happen to be the better choice. On the County level, Freeholder Rob Clifton is our home grown hero.
dear matawan advocate
i think it is a subjective thing that you are saying about your mayor. everyone is entitled to their opinion about who should govern their community. as for mr. clifton, he is not my hero, since he made such a big deal out of a "sqeeky clean" election that included him accepting money from a middlesex pac that was heavily contributed to by someone who became an appointee in town, during his administration as mayor (though, for the record, he did not cast a vote on the matter).
mr. clifton did give the money back to the pac, after the courier found out it ws dispersed and informed him, and that is to his credit. but candidates should be aware of where their money comes from, and he was not, because that was not "squeeky clean," as was the theme for that year's county contest with mr. clifton.
so as for hero, not so much for me.
I'm a democrat through and through, but to tell you the truth, I may have voted for Anna Little if Stalinista Puharic hadn't sabotaged her. She gets railroaded for standing up for the taxpayers and standing up to Comrade Puharic and his petty tirade and outrageous demands about the primary background checks. Then he completely disregards the Hatch Laws and takes a government job. Does anyone believe that he won't do any fundraising for the county? What kind of firewall does he have in place? Not that the county republicans care about the law. They take their cue from the Bushies. As for Malcolm "don't bother me with details" Carton, reappointing him was a disgrace. He should have been thrown out years ago for the exhorbitant fees he charges the taxpayers of Monmouth County. Even Amy Handlin saw what he was doing years ago and tried to get him out. The republican board should be ashamed of themselves for putting up with his arrogant attitude. It makes you wonder who the employer is. But I guess when you are a huge fundraising machine, you get what you want out of the republicans on the board.
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