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Lonegan’s Challenge Of Eck’s Petitions Fails

Administrative Law Judge Edward J. Delanoy, Jr  rejected the Steve Lonegan for Senate campaign’s challenge to Dr. Alieta Eck’s nominating petitions for the August 13, 2013 Special Republican Senate Primary this afternoon.  Barring an appeal by the Lonegan campaign, Eck will be on the primary ballot. Delanoy’s order can be downloaded here.

Dr. Alieta Eck is on the GOP Special Senate Primary Ballot.

Dr. Alieta Eck is on the GOP Special Senate Primary Ballot.

At the conclusion of the hearing on the matter yesterday, Lonegan’s attorney, F. Michael Daily, withdrew his challenge based up a failure to collect 1000 signatures from registered Republican or unaffiliated voters, leaving the challenge only to the veracity of Eck’s witnessing of the petitions.

Delanoy found that Eck may have failed to physically witness approximately 50 of the 371 signatures she collected on June 9 at her church in Somerset, but that even if she did not physically witness them, she had a right to cure the defect in her petition books.  He further ruled that curing the defect was not necessary because, even if she had not verified all 371 signatures collected at the church, she still had more than the 1000 signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.

Delanoy found that Eck acted in good faith and that Daily presented no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing on Eck’s part.

Lonegan’s spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik said, “We had serious concerns about the origin, collection, and notarization of Dr. Eck’s petitions and those concerns continue.”

Soloveichik did not know if Lonegan plans to appeal Delanoy’s ruling. The Star Ledger is reporting that Eck’s attorney Ted Maciag said that Lonegan is appealing the decision to Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, the New Jersey Secretary of State.

There was a Monmouth County twist to Delanoy’s ruling.  He cited the case of Scudiery vs. Falzone from 2010 when then Monmouth County Chairman Victor Scudiery challenged Mark Falzone’s primary petitions for a bid against Congressman Frank Pallone.

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Posted: June 18th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 2013 Election, Senate Special Election | Tags: , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

10 Comments on “Lonegan’s Challenge Of Eck’s Petitions Fails”

  1. Lonegan, Shaftan, Et Al said at 8:06 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    This was nothing more than meanness
    and slime tactics.

    Hope it backfires on ya.

    In the meantime,

    Phttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt To You

    Signed,

    Silence Dogood, Redux

  2. Joe Centonzi said at 9:00 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    Oh Steve, shall I compare thee to a summer’s eve?

    I shall, for thou art truly a douche.

  3. Clifford Case said at 9:13 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    Lonegan and Shaftan should get together and write a book called “How To Make Enemies And Scare Voters”.

  4. John Smith said at 9:23 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    Perennial candidate lose again lonegan, and his throw stuff up against the wall and see what sticks campaign against Eck’s signatures failed. The strategy to break Eck’s momentum backfired it gave her even more credibility and name recognition against a perennial loser for governor twice, state assembly, and Congress.

  5. If I'm the Dem, said at 9:34 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    sorry, but I put out “Eck is Ick”.. Am sure she’s fine, but let’s face it , our only hope is that it isn’t Frank.. What a mess we got stuck with..

  6. Bob English said at 11:15 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    I’d never vote for Lonegan but with that said, he (and any other candidate) does have a right to challange petitions.

  7. Eck Survives Petition Challenge | The Save Jersey Blog said at 11:39 pm on June 18th, 2013:

    […] Click here for a digital copy of the decision and a pretty good summary of the key points from MMM. […]

  8. Firesign58 said at 6:18 am on June 19th, 2013:

    Never give your opponent the opportunity for free publicity. Why the Lonegan camp would bother at all with a challenge of only 350 out of over 2000 signatures is still a mystery. This challenge action gave the Eck campaign extra opportunity to get the candidate’s name out in the press and would have made little to no difference in the outcome of her presence on the ballot. Eck’s strategists played this right. They have been getting the candidate out in the media and taking care of the lawsuit quietly. Someone gave Lonegan dubious advice; he should take notice that Eck may be new to big-time politics but is no pushover and certainly not without resources. Now it looks like more of a horse race: the last thing Lonegan for Senate wanted, but it is karma. Now let’s see a complete position platform for both candidates and a thorough comparison on the issues such as budget/deficit/debt, amnesty, UN treaties, White House scandals, Middle East, monetary policy, activist judicial nominees, etc.

  9. Mark F. said at 12:10 pm on June 19th, 2013:

    It is Falzon, not Falzone and yes it was me. Conservative GOP friends assisted me file my petition because I wanted to take the fight directly to the radical left, a person like Pallone. As a Dem myself I don’t have to fight in GOP primaries or wait till a general election, I can take the direct route and challenge these extremist leftist. I was ready to raise hell. I still may. What sank me was the shocking ignorance of the Democratic base signing my petitions.

  10. Art Gallagher said at 12:13 pm on June 19th, 2013:

    Sorry about the misspelling on your name, Mark. I spelled it the way the Judge spelled it.