FREEHOLDERS' MEETING PUNCTUATED BY STANDING O's

At last night's (Nov. 21st) Freeholders' meeting, Freeholder Anna Little, accompanied by her husband Robert, their kids, her mother and her brother, was sworn in to an unexpired term on the board. After Anna took the oath of office, the entire room erupted in a standing ovation. Anna has worked very hard as a freeholder, and her victory was well deserved.
The Asbury Park Depress story is here.
Later, Freeholder Ted Narozanick, a former Englishtown fire chief, was honored by the Bayshore Active Fire Chiefs Association for his many years of service. Ted was also presented with a proclamation from the Monmouth County Library Commission for his work over the decades in building up the Monmouth County Library System. Ted's recognitions were also met with standing ovations.
Ted has served many years in different capacities for this Great County of Monmouth; as he retires from the Board he will be missed. Anna, who only came to the Board this year, has hit the ground running and clearly will have a great future as a freeholder.

ANNA LITTLE TO BE SWORN IN

Freeholder Anna Little will be sworn in on Tuesday at 7:00 PM at the Hall of Records.
Anna is the epitome of the new, youthful Republican leadership in this great county. Despite baldly partisan (And largely futile!) efforts on the part of the Asbury Park Depress to label her otherwise, Freeholder Little has, in a short time, earned a reputation as a no-nonsense reformer.
Please make an effort to attend this meeting and show your support for this outstanding official!

B. McCLURE COMES FORWARD

The perpetrator of the ♥ signs has come clean! Read about it here.
Your comments?

GOP WINS 2 OUT OF 3

Tonight saw the election of Rosemarie Peters as Surrogate and Anna Little as Freeholder. Sadly, after much hard work, Andrew Lucas was narrowly defeated by Democrat Barbara McMorrow. Read the returns here. The new Board of Freeholders will be 4-1 instead of 5-0. Andrew is a great guy and was a good candidate; we wish him well and hope to see him back soon.
Democrats also won in many towns.
What brought this on? Was it the national situation (The war, Foley, etc.), county issues, the Asbury Park 527 Press? What will this mean for the future?

NOW VOTE!

OK, a few more hours and the voting starts. Some of you may have already voted by now. Many of us have been campaigning for the team each in our own way. Phone calls, stuffing and addressing, signs, lit drops; some are candidates.
Phone banking will continue into tomorrow.
After all the hard work, it's now time to vote!

Republicans ♥
BARBARA
McMORROW

Well, not exactly. We haven't found any who do.
Maybe you've seen the signs. They've been spotted in Howell, Wall, Freehold Township and Colts Neck. The disclaimer says they are paid for by "Friends of Barbara McMorrow, B. McClure, Treasurer".
So far, the vast editorial staff here at the Monmouth County Republican Blog has found no reports filed with ELEC from this mysterious committee. Who are they? How much money do they have and where did it come from? And who is B. McClure?
It seems rather typical that the Democrats have a mystery fund. Kind of like Beverly Bova-Scarano's 2002 mystery fund. Are they running two sets of books here?

NO SURPRISE HERE

APP endorses Democrats for freeholders.
And Tommy DeSeno takes on the Press here.

SOME ELEC STUFF

This was originally part of the previous post. We separated it because we believe this issue to be important enough for its own post. HA

We found other things while surfing ELEC. One is that the Aberdeen, Hazlet and Middletown Democrats' reports all seem to be in the same handwriting, although they each have different treasurers. Weird I know. Also, of the ten Bayshore towns, six have not filed ELEC reports for their Democratic County Committee in years. They are Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport and Matawan. So a whole "cottage industry" of fundraising and spending could be going on, below ELEC's radar. In fact it is; sometimes it appears:

• Hazlet: On Oct. 24, 2005 we have a $2,600.00 contribution from a "Democratic Club of Hazlet" to the local Dem campaign. No ELEC reports filed by this club, so we don't know how much money it has, or where it came from.
• Keyport: On Oct. 14, 2005 the "Keyport Democratic Club" gave $5,000.00 to the local Democratic campaign. No ELEC report for that club, either.
• Matawan: This one was a little involved to find, but we found it while looking for payments to Courier. The 2005 Democratic campaign closed out its accounts by contributing to a future 2008 local campaign. OK, it's legal, and there are ELEC reports for the '08 account. There aren't ELEC reports to be found for "Matawan Democrats", which received $500.00 from the 2008 campaign fund.
• Middletown: There appears to be a "Middletown Democratic Social Club", with an address in Long Branch, which shows up on the Middletown Democratic Executive Committee's fourth quarter 2005 ELEC report with a $1,200.00 contribution on October 5. There are no ELEC reports for the Middletown Democratic Social Club.

Compliance with ELEC is very important. It appears however that the Monmouth County Democrats honor this mainly in the breach and otherwise take a very cavalier attitude. This was a survey of ten towns; certainly this behavior will show up elsewhere in the county; we'll be looking, too.

As part of his Ethical Roadmap, Monmouth County Republican Chairman Adam Puharic has established a Compliance Commission for the purpose of providing reference to local GOP organizations for compliance with Campaign Finance Laws. The Democrats ridicule this; they do so at their peril as they are frequently out of compliance.

This is not going away, Vic.

DO PAPERS USUALLY DO THIS? AND SOME ELEC STUFF

On Monday we received a communication addressing a situation in Matawan. The writer alleged that for the second year in a row, Courier has appeared in driveways in Matawan, shortly before Election Day and featuring articles favorable to the local Democrats. The writer went on to say that the local Democrats should report this on their ELEC reports as an in-kind contribution.
Back in January, the Monmouth County Republican Blog reported that the Flynn - DaSaro losing 13th District Legislative Campaign was given an in - kind donation of $2,100.00 from Courier. This was promptly refuted by Courier publisher and sometime - Democrat Jim Purcell; the bill was finally paid to Courier.
While we knew that Courier doesn't do in - kinds (Purcell said!), we thought this did bear some research, and so we directed the Honest Abe Research Foundation to look into this. They went through the Democrats' 2005 ELEC reports of every Bayshore town, including Matawan, and found some interesting stuff.

• Aberdeen: On Oct. 19 and Oct 21, 2005, the local Democratic Executive Committee made two payments of $960.00 each, totaling $1,920.00, to Courier for "Distribution". This was reported by the executive committee as an expenditure made on behalf of the Aberdeen Democratic campaign; the campaign failed to report this as an in - kind from the executive committee.
• Atlantic Highlands: Nothing spectacular. The Dems buy advertisement in Courier, that's about it.
• Hazlet: On a 48 - hour Report dated November 3, 2005, the Hazlet Democratic campaign reported paying $1,940.00 to Courier for "Ads and Paper Delivery". While they did file the 48 - hour report, the Hazlet Dems failed to file their 20 - Day Post - Election financial report. Their 11- day Pre - Election report closes with a balance of $6,230.00 and no expenditures whatsoever reported. While we know about the $1,940.00 paid to Courier, we don't know what they spent the other $4,290.00 on, or if they raised and spent more!
• Highlands: Only 48 - hour reports filed listing contributions to the local Democratic campaign. No expenditures listed.
• Holmdel: No Dem advertisements in Courier. No distribution or delivery of the paper.
• Keansburg: Non - partisan elections.
• Keyport: No advertisements by local Democrats or distribution reported. There was a $2,500.00 contribution from some Raritan Bay Leadership Fund, a New Brunswick - based PAC (Lynch?).
• Matawan: No record of any payments by local Democrats to Courier.
• Middletown: Their ELEC reports show many advertising bills in Courier, and Middletown Democrat boss Joe "King" Caliendo does advertise heavily in that paper. They do not, however, make mention of paying for paper delivery.
• Union Beach: No campaign reports found. Nothing. (Did any Democrats even run there in '05?) Sworn statement filed for Dem County Committee.

Jim Purcell is a frequent visitor to this Blog and we hope he will explain this newspaper delivery matter.

LOOKING FOR TIPS? THE DEMS SHOULD LOOK FOR A CLUE!

A report in the Sunday Asbury Park Press is very telling with regards to the county Democrats. After bad publicity on their County Organization's failure to file ELEC reports, and then the Lenny Inzerillo matter and his withdrawal, you'd think they'd get a clue!
Nope.
Democratic freeholder candidate J. Gregory Gibadlo, who is looking for tips, filed a report with ELEC stating that he plans to raise and spend no more than $3,500.00 for his race. In a countywide race.
Right.
More is raised in a town election; sometimes single contributions exceed $3,500.00!
Speaking of town elections, Highlands GOP council candidate Art Gallagher has blogged that the Highlands Democrats filed no ELEC reports for the October 10th reporting.
Let's look now at Democratic surrogate candidate Beverly Bova-Scarano, who has accepted contributions from convicted former Senate President John Lynch, Jr. Our candidate, Rosemarie Peters, points out the discovery of a mysterious 2002 campaign account, for which no ELEC reports were filed whatsoever!
Really.
These people sure are in disarray. Or are they? Some Republicans have alleged that the Democrats are keeping two sets of books. One for public viewing and a secret account? Imagine that.
Stay tuned. This is not going away.

SO WHAT'S UP IN HOWELL?

So far, it's been a quiet county campaign this year. As the Democratic candidates hone their skills at writing ELEC reports and concession speeches, Surrogate candidate Rosemarie Peters, Freeholder Anna C. Little and Freeholder candidate Andrew Lucas are working hard, meeting people and not taking victory for granted. Indeed, Anna has built a solid reputation as a no-nonsense reformer.
Something weird has been going on in, you guessed it, Howell.
A few weeks ago, we saw the withdrawal of the entire Democratic ticket in the township. This leaves in the field the Republican ticket of Deputy Mayor Pete Tobasco, Mauro Raccuglia and Ed Skibicki; and an Independent ticket led by Councilman Bob Walsh.
What's weird is that this is the second consecutive year that the Democrats have not run a ticket in Howell. Now, that would normally be the Democrats' problem, but the word "deal" has been thrown about here. Some have alleged that the Democrats never intended to field a slate in Howell, and that they would back the Independents.
Now, the Independent group in Howell appears at least in part to have originated as a faction within the local GOP that chose to skip the primary process and go right to the General Election. Indeed, a number of its supporters remain committed Republicans on the county level, attending such functions as Lincoln Day and The Affiliated. That would make a deal with the Dems less likely.
Why is this even relevant in a county blog? Howell is Monmouth County's largest municipality in land area, and is second only to Middletown in population and registered voters. It is an important town for county candidates to carry. We might win without Howell, but it sure helps to have it in our column.
So does the current situation help us or hurt us on the county level? Is the withdrawal en masse of the Democratic ticket part of a deal with the Independents, or just another in a series of Democratic fumbles in Monmouth County? Does it hurt the county Democrats not to have local candidates?
Your comments, please.

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Thank you for your continued support!

O'GRADY SENTENCED

Former Middletown Mayor Raymond O'Grady was sentenced today to 43 months in federal prison. That's 3 years and 7 months.
This is a good thing, let this be an example to all public officials who may be tempted by corruption; at the same time we must have compassion for his family and all the other innocents affected by this case.

THE THIRD POLITICAL PARTY

There is a third political party here in Monmouth County: The Gannett. Their daily newspaper, The Asbury Park Press, ran a series of articles in Sunday's edition obviously timed to influence the upcoming election for freeholders. Gannett has an agenda, and that is to be a player on New Jersey's political stage. Influencing this election would clearly be a way to achieve their agenda.
The Press has been critical of the freeholders' 3 - 2 vote reappointment of Neptune City's Malcolm V. Carton back in August as County Counsel. Now, while the vast editorial staff here at the Monmouth County Republican Blog may have voted differently had they been on the board, it appears that the Press just doesn't like the gruff Carton and bases its opinions thusly. Lost in all this is the fact that Freeholder Anna C. Little voted against Carton's reappointment! Her running - mate, Andrew F. Lucas, isn't even on the board yet, making this issue moot as to this election.
Still, the Press attempts to drive the news, not just report it.
It is important in a free society to have a press vigilant to governmental abuse. But when that press goes beyond vigilance and slants its reporting to suit an agenda, just how free are we?
The Press has attempted to use the Carton reappointment as an issue to influence this year's election even though no freeholder running this year or next voted favorably on the reappointment.
In past articles, they attempted to paint rank & file county workers as political hacks, publishing names, salaries and overtime for all to see.
Their biased reporting in 2005 prompted a fact-laden response from then - Freeholder Director Thomas J. Powers.
As stated above, a free press protects us from government abuse. Operative word here being free. Sadly the Press (with a capital P), which as part of the Gannett empire holds a near monopoly on daily print media in Monmouth County, has been likened to a schoolyard bully. If you give the bully your lunch money in September, expect to give it up every day until June unless you fight back.
Our freeholders, beginning with Director Powers and continuing under Director Bill Barham, are fighting back. They are fighting back by doing what they believe to be right, and by not being cowed by the print media.
What can we do as Republican activists? County Chairman Adam Puharic said it very well in this week's Wireside Chat: Stick together.

And a stovepipe hat-tip to Bayshore Journalista for the "third political party" idea.

POLITICS NJ.com

With all that's going on in New Jersey's volatile political scene, you'd think that the once-vaunted PoliticsNJ.com would be on top of it all.
Not.
Beginning in mid summer, their chief writer, Bill Albers, seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. Albers had been picked but a few months before to replace the departing Steve Kornacki. After Albers' disappearance, it just got weird. The site was not updated, then they went to a "Best of Kornacki" theme. Now, they're running Kornacki posts on the presidential race from PoliticsNH.com. New Hampshire? In New Jersey?
With all the corruption busts as well as a pivotal U. S. Senate race at hand here in New Jersey, you'd think that they would pull together and get back to business. Otherwise, if you're interested in what's happening, log on here; if it's not on my blog, check out some of the great blogs that I have linked.

TOWNSEND TERMINATED

Convicted felon and former Neptune Township construction official Patsy Townsend, currently doing six months at the federal correction facility at Fort Dix, has been terminated from his remaining municipal positions in a 5 - 0 vote of the Township Committee. He was still director of code and construction and was HazMat coordinator in the Neptune Office of Emergency Management.
Read more in today's Asbury Park Press.
And this is interesting in the Independent.

THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED

As of yesterday, September 20, the deadline for replacing candidates on the ballot has passed. The window has closed. That means that if your candidate has withdrawn from the race, and your organization hasn't named a replacement by yesterday, you've got a blank spot on the ballot going into November.
The Democratic Party, who "don't need no steenkin' deadlines", just as they don't need no steenkin' reports, believes otherwise. It is well-known what they did in the 2002 campaign when disgraced U. S. Senator Robert "The Torch" Torricelli withdrew after the deadline and the State Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Deborah "I Am The Law" Poritz allowed them to replace Torricelli with the old Frank Raleigh Lautenberg. There are rumors of the Dems trying the same this year if Bob Meanendez' limp campaign continues to lag. And, in a variation on a theme, County Democratic boss Victor Scudiery is trying to get his man on the Democratic Ticket in Matawan. That case is expected to go before Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer this afternoon. If Lehrer rules against the Democrats, they will be minus one candidate. When we hear more news, we will update.

UPDATE

Judge "Hollywood" Al Lehrer has decided in favor of the Monmouth County Dems in the Matawan case - Michael Cannon will appear on the local ballot this November.

WESTLAKE'S GOING, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Convicted tax cheat and Monmouth County Tax Board President John E. Westlake will be resigning from office as of Friday, according to the Asbury Park Press. If he fails to resign, the State Attorney General's office is prepared to file the necessary briefs to have him removed.

As Westlake is a Democratic appointee, it is not the place of this blog to say that he never should have been on the board in the first place, but that would still have been an excellent idea, regardless of any Republicans that may have liked him. He will finally be off the board, another board member will become President (Maybe Wayne Pomanowski?), and the Democrats will get another bite at the apple regarding the appointment.

Since the Democrats do not control many appointments in Monmouth County, we here at the Monmouth County Republican Blog are going to be nice and make a suggestion to County Democratic boss Victor Scudiery: Think it through, Vic. Don't screw this one up. You may have let it go by in the past and not objected to Westlake's reappointment. So you have nothing to complain about there. Fine, that's water under the bridge. Go forward. Nominate a good person to the post.

The Monmouth County Republican Blog recommends that the State Legislature look closely at this matter. It should not have had to come to Westlake being asked to resign. Upon conviction, he should have forfeited his office. Period. Amend the law so this doesn't happen in the future.

UPDATE

It's official. He's gone.

LYNCH PINCHED

"Our team is not done. Put this on the billboard: 97 and 0, and counting."
...Leslie Weiser, Special FBI Agent in Charge of the Newark Office.

Middlesex County Democratic Boss John A. Lynch, Jr. pleaded guilty in Federal Court yesterday to accepting $25,000.00 in bribes and failing to declare $150,000.00 on his federal taxes. He could get up to 41 months in prison.

Lynch's PAC, New Directions Through Responsible Leadership, funded many Democratic campaigns throughout New Jersey, including here in Monmouth County.

In a very related matter, Lynch associate John E. Westlake, a Democratic member of the Monmouth County Tax Board, pleaded guilty to failing to declare $350,000.00 on his federal taxes.

And two more corrupt politicians bite the dust. Sentencing will be December 19th. Merry Christmas.

DEM BOSS PLAYING THE SWITCHEROO GAME IN MATAWAN

The Independent reports that County Democratic Boss Victor V. Scudiery is attempting to force Michael Cannon onto the local Democratic ticket in Matawan, replacing candidate Robert Bunion. Cannon, a former Republican councilman who fell away from the GOP and found himself a home with the Democrats, had lived out of Matawan for nearly a year after resigning from council.
This has raised questions about Cannon's residency.
Not to worry, says Scudiery, who in true Democratic tradition is looking to have a court make an exception to the law, along the lines of disgraced former U. S. Senator Bob "The Torch" Torricelli being replaced in 2002 with the old Frank Raleigh Lautenberg.
Local GOP Chair Paul Buccellato believes that the law should be followed regarding Cannon's residency. County Clerk M. Claire French has indicated that unless the courts rule otherwise, her office will abide by the law.
Control of Matawan's council is at stake this year. Democrats have held three out of six council seats since January 1, with Democratic Mayor Mary Aufseeser voting to break a tie, giving the Democrats effective control.
The diminutive borough, where Republicans hold the registration edge over Democrats, would not even be on the map with the county Dems, but with the proposed redevelopment of the Matawan Aberdeen train station area, the county and state Democrats are very interested. It is said that Scudiery himself even owns property in the area to be redeveloped.