I am following with interest the piece posted yesterday and its comments on the lack of By-laws for the Monmouth County Republican Committee. First, let’s clear up some nomenclature. Most think “by-laws” and think “candidate selection”. It is clear, however, that the by-laws don’t have to cover candidate selection. The statute contains nothing about what the by-laws should contain, only that there should be by-laws.
However, as someone who spent a considerable amount of time looking at County Party by-laws and their candidate selection procedures last Spring, I can tell you unequivocally two things:
1) By-laws don’t matter in candidate selection.
I spent the better part of four months familiarizing myself with the by-laws of the Mercer and Middlesex County Republican Parties, where there are, in the case of Mercer, relatively minimalist by-laws, and in the case of Middlesex, relatively byzantine by-laws. I also spent time trying to divine what the selection process would be in Monmouth County, where there is nothing in writing. Suffice it to say, the ultimate decision on what candidate would get the “party line” in the race I was interested in, the 12th Congressional District, was the same in all three of those counties.
In Mercer County, the Chair came out early and often for their hometown candidate, (look where that got him) and regardless of by-laws, that “nominating convention” was a home game for the candidate. (As it should have been, by the way.) But “rules” had nothing to do with the outcome. Mercer County is not under Republican Control, and hasn’t been for years.
In Middlesex County, the candidate selection process is complicated, multi-part and ultimately, wide-open. If you pay your entry fee, or if someone else pays your entry fee, you get a vote on whom the candidate will be. Middlesex County has not had Republican county control in twenty years.
In Monmouth County, the “Screening Committee”, is a loosely defined body of past and present County and higher elected officials, past and present County leaders and current Municipal Chairs. No actual list of the Screening Committee was made available. (At least, not to me) We had to make one up. But these people made the decision. Sometimes it is a secret ballot, sometimes it is not. Historically, Monmouth County is dominated by the GOP.
In the 12th Congressional District, in each of these three counties, the candidate selection outcome was the same. (But so was the election result)
By-laws don’t matter in candidate selection.
2) By-laws matter a great deal.
From a purely public perception stand-point, by-laws matter. To not have by-laws sends a message to the interested public that you don’t care about process, that the same group of Old Boys/Elitists/career politicians/whatever are making the decisions about who will run for office. To people with a Tea Party-type background, not having written rules to follow is anathema.
For example, in the past 18 months, there has been a resurgence of interest in politics thanks to the Tea Party. It should be a priority of leadership to welcome and encourage participation on the Republican team. The first question often heard is “How can I get involved?” the answer usually is, “Get in touch with your local County Committee. Run for a Committee seat. Then you get to help pick candidates and steer the party.”
Except often, that is not the right answer at all. In Monmouth County, the County Committee may have no voice. In the case of Congressional or Legislative Districts, the Past and Present elected and past and present County Party leaders often outnumber the Municipal Chairs. Where the Municipal Chair vote is thus diluted, the County Committee vote is even further diluted. And this assumes the Municipal Chair accurately reflects the feelings of the County Committee people he or she represents.
Why would we want to send this message? If we only welcome their votes in November, and not their participation all year long, we will soon lose their votes in November.
We should write it down, so everyone knows the process.
New York Congressman Christopher Lee (R-Buffalo Area) resigned his seat in the House of Representatives today three hours after the off-beat news website gawker.com revealed that he sent a shirtless photo of himself to a women seeking a date via Craiglists.
Lee, 46 and married, told the woman who tipped off gawker.com that he was a 39 year old divorced lobbyist. The woman ratted Lee out to gawker after she googled him and found that he was lying about his age and occupation.
If any MMM readers have topless photos of Frank Pallone or Rush Holt, please send them in. Please, no topless photos of Nancy Pelosi.
Monmouth County is blessed by terrific Republican elected officials at the State, County and local levels. Our GOP legislators, Freeholders, Mayors and Committeemen all work tirelessly on behalf of the residents and taxpayers of Monmouth County.
As we approach yet another Primary season without a set of By-Laws for the County Republican Organization, it’s time for those elected officials to put on their other hat, and act on behalf of rank and file Monmouth County Republicans. It’s time to publicly and privately pressure Chairman Oxley to adopt By-Laws.
The topic of By-Laws has been around since the days of Bill Dowd, who ran the County Committee with an iron fist. With his downfall, each subsequent “administration” has promised By-Laws and reform. Each subsequent administration has failed to do anything even remotely resembling adoption of By-Laws and reform.
Seeing the opportunity for abuse, the State Legislature enacted a requirement for By-Laws in 2009. The statute, NJSA 19:5-3.2 states as follows:
Did you catch that highlighted part? “ensuring fundamental fairness and the rights of the members of the county committee in the governance of the county party.” It seems that the Legislature wanted the County Committee involved in the governance of the county party.
Unfortunately, the statute failed to set a deadline for enactment, but it seems to me that almost two years is too long. Other GOP organizations in other Counties have managed to adopt By-Laws and operate under written standards. Only Monmouth County continues to be run as an Old Boy Network, where candidates are selected and policies made by a select few (or even a select one)
It is even more unfortunate that Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin were sponsors of this law.Where are they now?What are the party leaders (and the legislators who passed this law) afraid of? Greater participation by motivated groups like the Tea Party will only strengthen the GOP. Shutting them out of the candidate selection process will only lead to contested Primaries and divisiveness. (See 6th Congressional District Primary, June 2010) If the Party is going to pick who “gets the line”, then it should pick who gets the line by the most open method possible. (Or really open it up and don’t give out the line, instead having truly “Open Primaries”)
I call on Monmouth County’s GOP Senators, Assemblymembers and Freeholders to pressure Chairman Joe to open up the process, adopt By-Laws and answer to the long neglected Party roots, the County Committee.
In a column published on northjersey.com this morning, Bergen Record columnist Charlie Stile lays out the case against legislation that would allow local governments to post their legal notices on the web, rather than to place ads in newspapers at the expense of taxpayers and private businesses and individuals.
The case, according to the Star Ledger publisher Richard Vezza….giving politicians the option of spending money with newspapers or posting the notices on government websites would turn the press into “lapdogs you can control” rather than watchdogs.
The bill could very well put some newspapers out of business, according to Stile.
Charlie Stile just wrote that newspapers integrity is for sale and that legal notices are essentially a government bailout of the industry. I like Charlie, but I don’t see any other way to read his column.
The publishers who testified in Trenton against the legislation said it wouldn’t save that much money. Only $8 million for taxpayers “which isn’t that much when spread over 566 municipalities,” and $12 million for private businesses and individuals (who are also taxpayers, presumably). Proponents of the legislation say it would produce a $70 million savings.
I was killing some time with an associate yesterday while we were waiting to meet someone. A copy of the Asbury Park Press was in the waiting area. My friend picked up the paper and said, “I stopped buying this paper two years ago. I can believe how thin it is.” The classified section was only 5 or 6 pages. Three of those pages were legal notices. A 1/2 page was prostitution ads and Al Gore style “massage therapists” ads.
The question of legal ads should not be one of journalistic integrity….the publishers have already unwittingly admitted that their integrity is a fallacy and that they can be bought. Nor should the question be one of propping up a struggling industry, as desirable as that industry might be.
The question should be, What is the least expensive way to get the ads to the most people?
Clearly, the private sector has already voted. Ad dollars have left the newspaper industry and gone to the Internet where the message finds a larger audience for less money. Requiring taxpayers, private business and individuals to prop up a failing industry only prolongs the inevitable. Technology has made newspapers obsolete, just as technology made the horse and buggy and the 8-track player obsolete.
Sad, as the obsolescence of the horse and buggy was for those invested in that industry and who couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt was sad, but true.
Governor Chris Christie called an Corzine era law that would help low income seniors and the disabled pay their cable TV bills “a dumb idea.”
“It was a dumb idea in my opinion,” Christie said. “To have the taxpayers of New Jersey pay for cable TV, I mean seriously, has cable TV become a constitutional right now we are going to pay for, in this time of budget constraints?
The Corzine administration implemented the tax on cable bills to fund the program, but never got around to implementing the distribution of the funds. The Christie administration used the $9.2 million generated by the tax to plug the budget deficit last year.
Wall Township Committeeman George Newberry has sent a letter to County Committee members seeking their support for the GOP nomination to run as Freeholder Lillian Burry’s running mate this fall.
A full size copy of Newberry’s letter can be found here.
Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas and Spring Lake Councilman Gary Rich are also expected to compete for the nomination. Former Middletown Committeeman Tom Wilkens, who narrowly lost the nomination to now Freeholder Tom Arnone last year, will not be a candidate this year.
The Monmouth GOP’s Annual Lincoln Day Dinner is the traditional kickoff for candidates seeking county and legislative office. With Republican incumbents seeking reelection for the legislature, surrogate, and Burry seeking a third term as freeholder, the nomination for Democratic Freeholder Amy Mallet’s seat is the only race that is expected to be competitive in the screening process.
The Lincoln Day Dinner is this Sunday evening at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands. For information on reserving your seat, download the reservation form here.
The Asbury Park Press, aka The Neptune Nudniks really needs to teach their editorial staff how to use google or they need to hire a fact checker who knows how to use google. In this information age there is no justification for getting the facts wrong as often as the Nudniks do.
In editorial published yesterday about the Live Action video depicting a Planned Parenthood employee in Perth Amboy coaching Live Action activists posing as a pimp and underage prostitute how to avoid being caught trafficking underage sex slaves, the APP editorial board inaccurately defended Planned Parenthood They said:
To its credit, Planned Parenthood said it had promptly notified law enforcement authorities after the visit, and it also announced it had fired the clinic employee for violating some of the organization’s policies.
Planned Parenthood also said at least 12 of its clinics across the country had been visited by Live Action undercover operatives claiming to be sex traffickers. None of the clinics’ employees at the other sites took the bait.
Emphasis added.
That’s not true. The Planned Parenthood clinics’ other employees, at least some of them, did take the bait. Live Action released four more videos on Friday morning that show employees in four Virginia clinics cooperating with activists posing as sex traffickers.
If the Asbury Park Press editorial board didn’t know that, they should have. At the very least they should have known that LiveAction was going to release more video footage. They said they were going to.
Incidentally, this is why, in part, that I’ve been critical of Live Action for releasing their videos without including an acknowledgment of the fact that Planned Parenthood’s leadership reported their visits to the authorities a full week prior the video releases. The mainstream media is both lazy and strapped financially. Their “news” is increasingly nothing more than regurgitated press releases and sound bites. It’s a shame that their editorials are as well.
On a much lighter note, APP sports writer Steve Edelson started his latest blog post with the cliche “You can’t make this stuff up.”
Edelson’s post was about a Dr. Scholl’s Super Bowl commercial featuring Jets coach Rex Ryan and his wife Michelle of foot fetish video fame.
The press release about the commercial that Edelson received was made up.
We appreciate the efforts of the Legislature and in particular the Monmouth County delegation, on behalf of protecting horse racing.
Horse racing is an important and vital cog in not only Oceanport’s economy and the economy of Monmouth County but the entire State of New Jersey as well. Horse racing contributes 7,000 jobs, $110 million in federal, state and local taxes, and 57,000 acres of working agricultural landscape and open space to our “Garden State.”
Our own Oceanport Task Force on Monmouth Park has continued to maintain the position that VLT’s, slot machines, or an all out gaming casino in the Meadowlands is the only way to protect horse racing in New Jersey. All the surrounding states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland now have some form of gaming at their race tracks. This uneven playing field enables our competitors to lure New Jersey horseman out of State with larger purses and better quality horse racing.
In addition to A-2926 authorizing “exchange wagering,” and the enactment of S-2229 to permit racetrack permit holders to provide a single pari-mutuel pool for every horse race; We applaud the Governor’s signing of the bipartisan bill, S-11, approved in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly, that would enable horse racing to not only survive, but to thrive. The bill includes a $ 30 million allocation to horse racing, to be phased over a 3 year period; $15 million in 2011, $10 million in 2012 and $5 million in 2013.
Last year Monmouth Park’s “Elite Summer Meet” raced 71 days. Purses almost tripled-about $20 million came from a now expired casino purse supplement-and total pari-mutuel handle increased $123 million on the year. This was a significant return on the investment made toward the purses. As of Jan. 24 no action had been taken on the status of Monmouth Park’s 2011 racing schedule. By law, the New Jersey Racing Commission awarded Monmouth 141 Thoroughbred dates.
The Governor’s announcement this week that the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority would issue in the near future a Request for Proposals for the sale of Monmouth Park, including assignment of additional off-track wagering operations comes as no surprise to the Oceanport Task Force. Representatives have maintained an open dialogue with the Hanson Commission, the NJSEA, the Thoroughbred Horsemen and others that will likely play a key role in preserving horseracing at Monmouth Park.
The Oceanport Task Force on Monmouth Park
Chair Michael J. Mahon, Mayor Co.-Chair Gerald Briscione, Former Council Member
Sen. John O. Bennett
Sen. S. Thomas Gagliano
Hon. Caroline Casagrande, Assemblywoman
Hon. Lillian Burry, Freeholder
Hon. Clem Sommers, Former Mayor & Freeholder
Hon. Joseph Irace, Council Member
Mr. Peter Geronimo, IBEW 400 Business Manager
Mr. Alfred DeSantis, Public Member
Mr. David Gruskos, Owner and Member NJTHA
Mr. Bernard Dowd, Veterinarian and Member NJTHA
Mr. Bert Lynch, Public Member
Mr. Joseph Marinaro, Public Member
Mr. James Ryerson, Trainer and Member NJTHA
Mr. Robert Kelly, Public Member
Mr. William Finley, Turf Writer
Mr. Thomas Galligan, Public Member
Contributing:
Mr. Dennis Dowd, Former NJSEA and Monmouth Park Race Official
Mr. Jerold Zaro, Former NJSEA Commissioner
Mr. John Forbes, President NJ Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association
Last week’s 12th anniversary edition of the triCityNews was no where to be found in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands by Friday evening last week. I wondered if officers of the Highlands Republican Club grabbed them all so no one would read it, but all the positive feedback I received through out the week indicates otherwise.
This week’s issue, Volume 12 + Issue 13, was still in Foodtown in Atlantic Highlands tonight. There’s a full page of TriCity>Mail dedicated to calling me a self serving bloviator! Is there any other kind?
I’d link you to the letters, but Dan Jacobson doesn’t publish on the Internet. You’ll have to pick it up.
Actually, I can link you to one of the letters. Dan published HRC President Louis Croce’s letter banning me from Republican Club meetings which I published here the day I received it. Here it is in case you missed it.
In another letter, the Sergeant-At-Arms of the HRC writes about 600 words on how irrelevent I am. I doubt he sees the irony in that. I guess, as Sergeant-At-Arms, it will be his job to take “appropriate measures” to have me removed from the HRC meeting on Monday night should I attend. Should I show up? Dan wants pictures if I go. Rhoda?
The other letter is an anonymous email from someone who looked up MMM’s stats on alexa.com and reasoned that the 70% growth in MMM traffic is because I’ve been picking on the former Mayor of Highlands.
My page is entertaining, but the best reason to pick up this week’s issue is Dan’s column about the epic failure of the Asbury Park Press, Frank Pallone and those who destroyed Jim Wassel’s effort to redevelop Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook. I wish I could link it for you. It’s really good. Pick up the paper.
Last week’s 12th anniversary edition of the triCityNews was no where to be found in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands by Friday evening last week. I wondered if officers of the Highlands Republican Club grabbed them all so no one would read it, but all the positive feedback I received through out the week indicates otherwise.