Scudiery: Democratic County Candidates Should Resign
Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery
Former Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery told MMM that he thinks his party’s nominees for freeholder and county surrogate should resign their candidacies and let the new Chairman, Vin Gopal, and the Democratic County Committee select new candidates.
The freeholder candidates, former Hazlet Mayor Kevin Lavan and former State Trooper William Shea, along with surrogate nominee Michael Steinhorn, all supported Gopal’s opponent, Marlboro Council President Frank LaRocca, in last month’s Chairman’s race. Gopal won the chairmanship with over 70% of the vote, over 80% excluding Marlboro.
“I don’t know why they did that (took a position in the Chairman’s race),” said Scudiery, “LaRocca must have promised them something. I don’t see how the rank and file supports them now.”
Scudiery said that to his knowledge, only Lavan has reached out to Gopal since the Chairman’s election on June 12.
Scudiery said that he thought the Democrats should nominate three women. Former Freeholder Amy Mallet, Former Manalapan Mayor Rebecca Aaronson, Highlands Councilwoman Rebecca Kane and Red Bank Councilwomen Kathy Horgan and Sharon Lee were among the possibilities that Scudiery mentioned.
Gopal declined to comment.
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I have been involved in Democratic Party politics since I chaired Columbia University Democrats for JFK and worked as a volunteer staff associate for Senator RFK. Rarely during those five decades have I known anyone with the character and integrity of my colleague Frank LaRocca. I cannot believe that there is any factual basis for any suggestion that Frank made an inappropriate promise to solicit support. The three duly chosen candidates undoubtedly were also impressed by Frank’s character and integrity. This is a time for all Monmouth County Democrats to pull together and support all of our democratically chosen candidates and leaders.
Robert,
No one said Frank made an inappropriate promise.
Don’t make this into something that it is not.
I’m sorry that you have found character and intergrity to be so rare in five decades in the Democratic party.
Art,
I did not say that I have found character and integrity lacking in the Democratic party. What I said was that I rarely found many with the high character and integrity that I find in Frank LaRocca. As to your other point, clearly the suggestion that La Rocca must have promised the candidates something is not a comment that can be interpreted positively. My main message is that all Democrats have to be united behind our candidates and leaders if we are to be successful. Enjoy the fourth.
Robert,
I get it. You’re saying that character and integrity is not lacking in the Democratic party, but Frank LaRocca’s character and integrity is better than most. Right?
As to my other point, there is a big difference between something that can not be interpreted as positive and something that is inappropriate.
Clearly you do not know Victory Scudiery very well if you interpreted his comment as a suggestion that Frank promised something inappropriate.
Frank could have promised to raise money for the campaign. That would not have been inappropriate. He could have promised jobs or appointments to the candidates or their family members. Some might say that is inappropriate, others might say that is not positive,but that is way the system works.
Enjoy your 4th too. Thank you for spending part of it here.
I hope to see you back.
Art,
Point one–right. I’m glad you get it.
Point two–I do know Vic Scudiery very well and consider him a good friend. Indeed, it is thanks to Vic Scudiery selecting me that I have had the privilege of being elected to serve as a member of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee since 2001. It is precisely because of my personal relationship with Vic Scudiery that I was disappointed with the statement you quoted from him. I am happy to read your interpretation of Vic’s comment and as a friend I will choose to accept it. However, I think that Vic’s remark could be taken as reflecting negatively on Frank, which would be totally out of character for Vic.
Perhaps one of these days we will actually meet and exchange war stories of the Democratic Party.
Robert,
I would enjoy meeting and hearing your war stories. My Democratic Party War stories would not be first hand.
I did not hear Vic speaking poorly of Frank and I did not mean to portray the conversation that way.
I heard Vic saying that the candidates hurt themselves with the rank and file by endorsing Frank and that the party would be better off with other candiates, preferably women.
i was a democratic election commissioner on that convention day and was fascinated by this election. i never came out publicly for either candidate.
mr. salman has a lot of nerve to come out and attack vic scudiery, someone he calls “his friend” and i find it even more interesting that only after mr. gallagher has to convince mr. salman that the quote was not meant in a malicious way and mr. salman has the nerve to say “as his friend, i accept that”
here is a message mr. salman and his friends in marlboro need to understand. you all chose to associate your campaign with adam schnedier, michael dupont, pat menna and countless other people who have spent over 20 years trying to destroy vic scudiery and they never succeeded and they didnt succeed again on june 12th. mr. salman has a lot of nerve to say he is vic scudiery’s friend after he just collaborated with all the people who have tried to destroy vic for decades.
mr. salman also needs to understand that over 80% of the democratic county committee rejected his candidate. at no other time in the history of the monmouth county democrats, even when ed mckenna ran against vic in 2000, was a candidate for county chairman so overwhelmingly crushed.
mr. salman also needs to understand this team ran one of the most negative campaigns in the history of monmouth county democratic party politics. they CHOSE to challenge incumbent county committee members in over a half a dozen towns with out even giving those individuals the courtesy or respect to know they were being challenged. mr. gopal ran an honorable campaign and challenged no incumbent committee people and left all of marlboro alone.
mr. salman, do you want to talk about fairness and integrity? how about the fact that every former executive director of the county democrats and their media consultant mr. politano (good riddance), all while on vic scudiery’s payroll were working and supporting mr. larocca? thats fairness to you? your anything to do win mentality? and you have the audacity to question mr scudiery’s integrity and character when he remained neutral? i asked him at least 6 times who he was supporting and he said he was staying out of it all while his paid staff chose to do the opposite.
the campaign you and your friends ran, mr. salman, was disgusting. i hope the tens of thousands of dollars you spent to get 15% of the vote outside of marlboro’s 56 votes was worth it – including malrboro’s 56 votes, and i dont believe they all showed up, you got closer to 20% of the vote. thats pathetic.
you challenged mr. gopal’s age, his credentials and then challenged municipal chairs and incumbent committeemembers across the county, all of whom won against your candidates.
As far as the three county candidates, they were idiots to get involved in this chairs race. they should have focused on their own campaigns and guess what, along with mr. larocca and mr. hornik, 80% of the county committeemembers, mayors and councilpeople all across this county rejected those 3 fools. they have no support from the county committee or any of the mayors and if they were smart, they along with you people in marlboro would be reaching out and apologizing to every municipal leader in this county for your foolishness. nobody believe mr. larocca and his i will raise 1 million dollars for you bs.
please mr. salman – never question vic scudiery’s character or integrity again. he is a private citizen now as a former chairman and has every right to say what he wants. you and your friends in marlboro are the last people in the world to be talking about integrity and character.
Vic is right, we can do better than the three amigos, each of whom got crushed in their races last year.
Amy Mallett has already beaten that clown John Curley once when Obama was on top of the ticket. We should plead with her to do it again.
Rebecca Aaronson came close once too
kevin lavan lost by over 7000 votes and lost every single town in the bayshore last year, including his own town of hazlet. he also lost reelection to the hazlet township committee in 2010.
bill shea finished almost 4000 votes below amy mallet. 4000 monmouth voters voted for her and not him, incredible
michael steinhorn lost by over 25% points when he ran last year.
Dear Democratic Observer,
I at least had the integrity to identify myself by name. I never questioned Vic Scudiery’s integrity. I simply said that I was disappointed that his remarks could be taken as questioning Frank LaRocca’s character. You obviously know nothing about me or you would be aware that I was one of Vic’s strongest supporters when he was challenged by Ed McKenna and again when Governor Corzine sought to remove Vic as County Chair.
I believe that both sides ran an honorable campaign. Your reference to “you people in Marlboro” is certainly not the kind of language we need if we are to build a united Democratic Party capable of once again winning elections in Monmouth County. It will be very difficult to win in Monmouth County without the support of all Democrats. Finally, as an elections commissioner you must know that all of our candidates and new leaders were chosen bythe process mandated by the by laws of the Monmouth County Democratic Party. I think this is a process that should be respected.
As a lifetime Democrat and a member of the Democratic State Committee I congratulated Chairman Gopal immediately after his election and I am prepared to work with him and all Democrats to ensure the election of all of our Democratic candidates from top to bottom.
Michele Roth, Kathy Horgan, Rebecca Aaronson, Amy Mallet should be considered as possible candidates: they all offer different and broad skill sets and have the necessary experience.
Mr. Salman, are you the same Robert salmon who is of counsel to larocca and hornicks law firm? I would not want to be so brazen as to think you might have a slight conflict of interest with your posts. Thank you for your response.
http://nt.gmnews.com/news/2011-10-05/Letters/Hornik_Marder_and_LaRocca_have_earned_a_second_ter.html
http://nt.gmnews.com/news/2007-04-18/Letters/090.html
http://nt.gmnews.com/news/2007-11-21/letters/017.html
http://nt.gmnews.com/news/2011-04-13/Letters/Hornik_LaRocca_Marder_deserve_reelection.html
My posting clearly stated that I was a colleague of Frank LaRocca. Rather than being a “conflict of interest”, the relationship enables me to be in a position to judge Frank’s character. I proudly endorsed Mayor Hornik and his team. We need more outstanding Democrats like them to win elections in Monmouth County.
Mr. Salman… I would have absolutely no problem endorsing those who sign my checks as well. Congrats on supporting the team that is fulfilling the negative financial projections of those who ran against them. Well done.
Ms. Feldman,
I do not know your political affiliation, but we Democrats would be better served by supporting and electing Democrats of the caliber of Mayor Hornik and his team. BTW, loyalty to one’s business associates, if earned, is admirable.
Yes, Mr. Salman, but supporting and electing as well as publishing letters as noted in a previous post in this conversation chain is really being paid for. I also found it interesting (after my own research) that you never once mentioned your affiliation with the hornik larocca law firm and political team especially during the election season. Quite interesting. Perhaps you too will enjoy the same questionable reputation as those two partners whose firm employs you. In terms of electing democrats “of the caliber of Mayor Hornik and his team”…the jury is still out or perhaps they have not yet convened.
Ms. Feldman,
First, you obviously do not know me. My reputation in NJDemocratic politics is stellar. I am proud to support the Marlboro Township government, which I believe most impartial observers consider one of the best local governments in the State. If, which I doubt, you were a Democrat you would expend your time researching the bullying record of our terrible Governor rather than my letters to the editor. But if you must spend your time researching me why not check me out on google and see my history
[…] Clerk. Former Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery called for Lavan, Shea and Steinhorn to resign their candidacies last week. Posted: July 11th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Monmouth Democrats | Tags: […]