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Clifton will seek a seat in the legislature

By Art Gallagher

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Rob Clifton told MoreMonmouthMusings that he will seek the GOP nomination for the legislative vacancy in the new 12th district.

The district as comprised has no incumbent Senator.  Sam Thompson of Old Bridge (Middlesex County) and Ronald Dancer of Plumsted (Ocean County) are incumbent Assemblymen. 

Clifton is unsure if he will be seeking a Senate seat or an Assembly seat.

Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas is considering entering the fray in the new 12th.  Lucas told MMM that he will make a decision within 24 hours.

Posted: April 3rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: NJ State Legislature | Tags: , | 17 Comments »

17 Comments on “Clifton will seek a seat in the legislature”

  1. Freespeaker1976 said at 2:50 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    I say Clifton should stay in his Freeholder seat, we just elected him last year and leaving early risks loosing that seat to a Dem in 2012 with the turn out from Obama.

    Andy Lucas deserves a step up and will draw Democrat votes. The only thing left is will George Newberry challenge for that Assembly Seat in the new 30th?

    Wouldn’t put it past him

  2. TR said at 4:04 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Ohh for crying out loud the only way we are going to loose a Freeholder seat is if we have another bunch of Monmouth County Republican politicians indicted…

    Or if Madame Burry looses because she can’t get with the program.

  3. Name said at 4:10 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Andy Lucas deserves a chance? Based upon what???

  4. Freespeaker1976 said at 4:18 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    TR, you remember we do have Mallet on the Board now and we used to have D’Amico.

    “On Any Given Sunday,” Someone Can Win. I for one feel we should never give up a seat and leave it open when we hold it. That’s political commonsense. You never let your guard down.

    Who knows who might be running against us in 2012 if the seat becomes vacant and Democrats come out to support Nobama.

    What we have is a given, Rob Clifton who in that seat thru 2013.

    Oh, and “Name;” the guy can beat Democrats and he has a constituency. His second place finish in the Freeholder race was not chopped liver.

  5. Name said at 4:49 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Didn’t Lucas lose a seat on the Freeholder Board to the Dems?

  6. Freespeaker1976 said at 5:19 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Name, I am not sure if he ever ran for Freeholder, someone else might have that answer.

    But he does win in predominantly Democrat town and that helps in an Assembly race.

  7. Barry said at 5:27 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Andrew Lucas lost in 2006 to Barbara McMorrow. She narrowly lost the Freeholder election in 2005, but the APP encouraged bullet voting for the Green Party candidate (Unger?).

  8. Anonymous said at 5:49 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    The word on the street is Jennifer Beck will move her residence somewhere in the newly crafted 12th instead of competing against Joe Kyrillos.

    As for Clifton–he just won a seat on the Freeholder Board, campaigning for fiscal austerity regarding county operations. If he does intend to leave–his words are very hollow indeed

  9. Name (required) said at 5:57 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Obviously Anon does not know how to read a map. Beck is in the new 11 and not in 13 with Sen. Kyrillos, she doesn’t have a primary to face. On the other hand Director Clifton this year presented a flat budget and could probably do more in the state trying to reduce the amount of unfunded mandates for the county. You should do your research before you just spew words.

  10. Thanks, Barry, said at 6:00 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    it appears many bloggers here have either a lack of memory/ history, or have only been active for a year or two, with a small frame of reference/experience.. the only thing Lucas failed to count as his gov’t. experience this freeholder go-round was our first loss in many years, when he ran with Peters and Little,in’06.. it was the beginning of the loss of the Rep.majority when over 4,000 voters had switched over from our column to McMorrow.. hope Andrew runs for assembly, and would love for Newberry to step up to freeholder!..anyone who knows Rob knows he always wanted the legislature.. he deserves a shot if the timing and support is there.. we have a good bench of people who can run and win for his freeholder seat.. remember, thus far, only Curley and French are up in 2012, so, if there’s another freeholder, we can handle it!

  11. TR said at 7:53 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Look the only reason we lost freeholder seats is because of Bid Rig. As you see those loses have been reversed.

    Yes anyone can win on any given day but Monmouth is a deep dark red.
    That being said something like this Brookdale scandal could hurt any freeholder (are you liesting Lillian) who does not do exactly what Curley has done.

    But absent a scandal republicans will win.
    I like Rob but for crying out loud his own cousin isn’t sure what office he holds. losing his “incumbancy advantage” is not a problem.
    he should go for the legislature.
    That is what he always wanted anyway.

  12. That would be said at 8:27 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    NON-bid rig, which months of investigations proved..( thanks, Gov.)…. what was wrong, is the way it was handled: by NON-political, social-service liberals, who had no idea how to manage a political problem.. followed by the typical, over-compensation of more silly policies and finger-pointing.. a sad chapter in our mainly positive and storied history.. was very tough climbing back, inch by painful inch.. the only time the “rag” was in the black selling papers, and they still LIVE to try and create another phony scandal to save their own sorry jobs.. also, in the ensuing 6 years, more libs/Dems have invaded the county and moved here, bringing their voting history with them, hence, the first time declared Dems outnumber declared Rep’s, here.. so, on any given year, especially with this economy, would not take much to turn the tide against us, once again..therefore, hard work,diligence and looking ahead, being smart, and doing the right thing, needs to be our continuing modus operendi..

  13. Bid-Rig said at 9:23 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    There is a new Bid-Rig on the horizon–it’s Brookdale and the Sheriff’s Department. Both involving nicky-hokey. I think it is about to explode and hurt the Republican majority. I may be wrong, but timing, as they say, is everything.

  14. commonsense said at 9:49 pm on April 3rd, 2011:

    Clifton is a dud. He knows nothing outside Monmouth County. Don’t worry, in 2012, it will be French and Curley on the County ticket. Unless of course Curley continues to speak out of both ends of his ass and goes back to the liberal progressive party he came from which would be the best thing for the County GOP

  15. TR said at 11:37 pm on April 4th, 2011:

    You are right. Brookdale could hurt us if Burnham is indicted . That is why the idiot Freeholders should follow Curlys lead and demand they all resign.
    In fact if they really gave a rats ass about the Republican party nobody would have to ask.
    Unfortunatly no one understands the meaning of the word Honor anymore.
    The Sheriffs department stuff is going to nowheresville.

  16. TR said at 11:39 pm on April 4th, 2011:

    Oh and buy the way if thats the case having an incumbent run next year ain’t gonna help us.

  17. Michael S. Golub said at 10:53 pm on April 5th, 2011:

    Much to the disagreement of TR , Mrs. Lillian Burry is an excellent Freeholder and a very dignified, respected and honorable person. She has served our county very well and took a leadership role along with Bill Barham and Bob Clifton, at a time that required a special type of tean of individuals to keep the party successful and healthy. We were fortunate to have three people like that at that time. Bob Clifton, Lillian Burry and especially Bill Barham were spot on at the top of their game when we needed them to be. I doubt TR has ever run for anything but the bathroom or the phone! Very Sad! It’s a real shame that so many people feel the need to hide behind initials and nick-names. I put my name on everything I write, because I have respect for myself and I learned a long time ago that no one can give away to anyone else, what they first don’t possess for themselves. You can’t give away what you don’t have. Respect, wisdom, money etc… You need to have it first, in order to give it back.