Golden Days: Monmouth GOP dominated county races
Surrogate Rosemarie Peters, Sheriff Shaun Golden, Congressman Chris Smith, Freeholder Serena DiMaso and Freeholder Tom Arnone celebrate their victories on Election Night
By Art Gallagher
Monmouth County’s Democrat leadership is spinning the shellacking they took last week from Sheriff Shaun Golden, Surrogate Rosemarie Peters, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso as a function of President-elect Donald Trump’s performance in the county.
Vin’s spin is laughable on many levels. Let’s hope he believes it.
The Monmouth GOP swept the county races because, under Golden’s leadership, they campaign the same way the govern. They work smarter and harder with less money.
Golden, Peters, Arnone and DiMaso each earned a higher percentage of the vote in their races than Trump got against Hillary Clinton in Monmouth County.
Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty lost badly to Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso on Tuesday night. According to The Asbury Park Press, Doherty told his somber supporters on Election Night, “We really do have a remarkable team that ran this year, with an incredible leader,” Doherty said referencing Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal. “We envision that you’re part of that team. And in sports, sometimes the best team doesn’t win. But they always come back.”
Doherty coming back next year would be great! He can burn another $50K of his own money!
We’ve hardly scratched the surface in exposing Doherty’s horrible record in Belmar. Belmar property taxes are going to surge next year as the bill comes due on the gimmicks Doherty has been using to keep them flat and as the legal bills he is sticking taxpayers with to fund his ambition come due. That’s why we think Doherty will resign as mayor at the end of the year. Rather than clean up his own mess, Doherty will leave and blame the tax increases on his successor.
The best team won in Monmouth County last Tuesday. Golden, Peters, Arnone, DiMaso and the rest of the all Republican team running Monmouth County; Freeholders Lillian Burry, Gary Rich, Sr., and John Curley and County Clerk Christine Hanlon continue to do a remarkable job in improving the quality of government services and reducing the costs of doing so.
Good government is good politics. The Monmouth GOP team keeps winning because they are doing great jobs. The political competition in the form of millions of dollars in out of county money makes them stronger.
Based on their records and campaign rhetoric, this is what we could have expected should any of the Democrats been elected last week.
If Marlboro Councilman Jeff Cantor had been elected, there would be a military style presence at Monmouth County malls, parks and other gathering places to thwart the terrorists that Golden’s team is already guarding us against without an open display of automatic weapons.
If Vincent Solomeno had been elected Surrogate, the Surrogate’s Office would have interfered with law enforcement in cracking down on elder abuse and would have openly broken the law by refusing to release redacted death certificates to the public.
If Doherty had been elected Freeholder, parking meters would appear on county roads, tolls on county bridges, perhaps, and debt would skyrocket. Our AAA bond rating would be at risk, but property taxes would be artificially low for long enough for Doherty to position himself to run for a higher office.
If Sue Fulton had been elected Freeholer, should would have worked really hard in the face of tough challenges. She learned to do that a long time ago.
If Doherty and Fulton had both been elected, Freeholders would not be allowed to pay for their own health insurance.
The Dems ran the same campaign that they have run since Gopal became Chairman. Each year they raise and spend more money on the same basic campaign.
Every year since 2012, when Gopal became chairman, the Dems fabricate a scandal to use for the character assassination of a female Republican office holder. In 2012 and 2013 they attacked DiMaso. In 2014 it was Freeholder Lillian Burry. In 2015 they went after County Clerk Christine Hanlon and this year they went after DiMaso again. If the Monmouth GOP ever runs an all male ticket, the Dems will need a new playbook.
Monmouth GOP Executive Director Tom Szymanski estimates that the Dems spent $1.5 million on their county campaign this year. All of the campaign finance reports won’t be in until January, but Tom’s estimate is probably pretty close. The Dems spent at least $550K, including $50K of Doherty’s own money, on TV in a futile attempt to assassinate DiMaso’s character for paying for her own health insurance.
None of it worked. It has never worked in Monmouth County. But Gopal needs a narrative to convince his gullible yet well-healed special interest donors to fund his campaign next year.
Next year the Dems and their greedy special interests will probably spend over $12 million dollars in Monmouth County; $5 million to attempt to unseat Senator Jennifer Beck and retain the Assembly seats on Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey in the 11th District, $5 million in the 13th District if Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik is foolish enough to run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Senator Joe Kyrillos and $2 million in an attempt to win two Freeholder seats.
Bring it on.
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Freeholder DiMaso DID NOT Get Health Benefits From The County
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Golden, Peters, Arnone and DiMaso Announce Reelection Campaign
Monmouth Dems Have A Freeholder Primary
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Monmouth Democrats were invited to campaign at Middletown High School North during school hours
Monmouth Dems Embrace The Rain Water Tax Champion
is needed, as the north Jersey and New York Dens continue to migrate here, bringing their allegiance to Dem lies, taxing and spending,and negative, divisive mentality with them. Changing demographics have to be met with continually informing the public about positive actions and management: the “why you came here in the first place” narrative needs to continue, lest they forget!