Pallone Prevails Against Pelosi Backed Eshoo

Congressman Frank Pallone was elected ranking Democratic member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning in a 100-90 vote by the entire Democratic Caucus, according to Roll Call.

He defeated California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who had been backed for the post by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Both Eshoo and Pallone downplayed speculation that the result was a result of Democratic discontent with Pelosi who was reelected Minority Leader yesterday.

But fellow New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell is quoted indicated that Pelosi overdid it in support of her friend and fellow Californian:

“One can make the argument that she overdid it,” Pascrell said. “One may make the argument that she overdid in terms of the letter she sent out, on the other hand, she had every right to do it — she didn’t break any laws.”

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House Democratic Caucus To Choose Between Eshoo and Pallone This Morning

Congressman Frank Pallone 

Congressman Frank Pallone will either be anointed into the elite class of legislative chairmen and ranking members this morning or remain a congressional back bencher as his campaign to replace Henry Waxman as the highest ranking Democrat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee comes to a close.

Pallone lost the endorsement of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday to California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo but secured enough votes to force the choice to the entire caucus. The leadership committee is dominated by allies of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who favors her friend Eshoo to lead Energy and Commerce.  The 39-19 tally gave Pallone 14 more votes than he needed to get a ballot with the entire caucus. As a backup, Pallone had a petition signed by 53 Democratic members of congress which would also have forced the caucus ballot, according to Roll Call.

The caucus vote is scheduled for 8:30 this morning, according to Roll Call.

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Pallone’s Status Is On The Line This Week

House Democrats won’t let pregnant Iraqi war veteran vote by proxy

Congressman Frank Pallone cruised to reelection easily earlier this month, but the race he’s been waging since February for a key leadership post in the Democratic Minority of the House of Representatives will come to a head on Tuesday, November 18.

Pallone is battling California Congressman Anna Eshoo for the ranking position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The retirements of Henry Waxman and John Dingle made the coveted position available. Pallone is the next in line for the job, based upon seniority, but Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in backing her California colleague Eshoo who, as At-Large Democratic Whip, has been part of Pelosi’s leadership team since 2003.

Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer, the # 2 Democratic Leader in the House, backs Pallone for the position.

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The sacrifice of the survivors

Veteran Don Manrodt of Highlands. Not Sal or Mike.

On this Veterans Day, two men who have made an impression on me are on my mind.

Sal was a WWII Vet.  His son Mike was my best friend in the 1970’s.  Sal was a blue collar guy who worked two jobs to provide a better life for his sons than he had.

One afternoon, Mike and I were heading upstairs in his house to get something from his room.  We had to be quiet Mike warned because his father was sleeping before heading off to his night job.  As we quietly walked past Sal’s room, a loud blood curdling scream emerged from the room.  I could hear the bed shaking. Then just as suddenly, quiet.

I was startled. Frightened really. Mike was embarrassed.  “Is he alright? Should we call the police?” I asked Mike. “Its OK,” Mike said, “he does that all the time. Please don’t tell anyone,” as if it was something to be ashamed of.

It had been 30 years since Sal returned from war. He hadn’t, perhaps, had a good nights sleep in those thirty years.  PTSD was not a thing yet.  But Sal’s suffering was real. He sucked it up and went to work twice a day to provide for his family.

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Connelly leading in Eatontown mayoral race after provisional ballots counted

Eatontown “Mayor-elect” Dennis Connelly. photo via facebook with permission.

Eatontown Council President Dennis J. Connelly, a Republican, appears to have thwarted Democratic Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo’s bid for a 5th four year term as the borough’s mayor.

Tarantolo was leading the race by one vote after all the machine and vote by mail ballots were counted in the wee hours last Wednesday.  This morning, Connelly picked up four votes when the provisional ballots were counted to Tarantolo’s one vote, leaving the final unofficial count 1,481 for Connelley and 1479 for Tarantolo.

Connelly told MMM that he expects the mayor to demand a recount. Tarantolo has until November 19th to file for a recount.

Of the 13 provisional ballots submitted on election day, 6 were disqualified and 2 did not have votes cast for mayor.  Of the five qualified ballots, 4 cast votes for Connelly.

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Winners: The Battle for Monmouth

The 2014 Monmouth County election is in the books.

After the most intense campaign in memory funded by out of county Democrats, Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal has nothing but IOUs to show for his duplicitous efforts.

There are literally hundreds of winners in this campaign county wide.  From candidates making their first bid for elected office, to the seasoned pros defending their records, to the selfless volunteers who knocked on doors and made over 50,000 phone calls to voters. We congratulate the entire Monmouth Republican team.

On every championship team there are stars who get the accolades on behalf of the entire team.  Here are five special mentions from this hard fought victory:

The top Winners of the Battle for Monmouth:

Lillian G. Burry. Burry has been elected county-wide 4 times. Three of those four elections were hard fought.  None had the benefit of up ballot coattails. In 2005 she prevailed despite the anti-Republican sentiment generated by Operation Bid Rig.  In 2008, Burry prevailed as the top vote getter over the Obama wave that saw an unprecedented Democratic turnout.   The low turnout race of 2011 was relatively easy.  In the campaign that just concluded, Burry’s integrity was maliciously maligned by Gopal and his henchmen armed with hundreds of thousands of Democratic money wheeled into the county from Trenton, Essex, Hudson, Union and Middlesex counties.

Burry stood tall and fought hard.  She is a proven winner, in politics and life. A role model for women and men, Burry embraces the toughest challenges and prevails with honor.

Shaun Golden.  Already a rising star after his huge reelection victory as Monmouth County Sheriff in 2013, Golden risked his career in taking on Chairman John Bennett last spring in-order to lead beyond the status quo .

Bennett boasted of his fundraising prowess in his campaign to retain the Chairmanship, but left Golden with an overdrawn check book on June 10.

Undaunted, Bennett’s turd was just another challenge for Golden to overcome.

Shaun has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in the face of adversity by doing what he said he would do. He assembled a strong team by appointing an unprecedented four Regional Vice Chairs. He empowered municipal Party leaders and candidates, expanded the Party’s demographic diversity, established a strong social media presence and fed the rank and file when they came out to work. He raised money and got the job done without wasteful spending. When all the money is counted the Democrats will have outspent the Republicans 3 or 4 to 1.

If the hapless NJGOP is ever to gain traction in the State, it will take a leader like Shaun Golden to make it happen.

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Final: Burry and Rich win with a comfortable margin

With all districts and vote by mail ballots counted, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich have been reelected.

After a major software snafu with the tabulation software that kept election officials up all night, the numbers were reported on County Clerk M. Claire French’s website at 6:13:58 this morning.

147,150 ballots were cast.  Burry 72,050, Rich 72,754, Luttrell 63,922, Grillo 63,102

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Calling it for Burry and Rich

Monmouth GOP Chairman Shaun Golden announces Congressman Chris Smith’s victory and Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich’s lead

Monmouth County election officials said that it will likely take until 4am to complete the count of ballots in today’s election.

With approximately 60% of the vote counted, Republican Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich are leading Democratic challengers Lawrence Luttrell and Giueseppe “Joe” Grillo by over 6,000 votes.

Burry 51,211, Rich 51,594, Luttrell 45,123, Grillo 43,199.

MMM does not see a path for the Democrats to make up their deficit and calls the race for Burry and Rich.

Congratulations!

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Unofficial Results–Updated often

Monmouth County Freeholder results as of 11:12 PM: Burry 51,211, Rich 51,594, Luttrell 45,123, Grillo 43,199.

Monmouth GOP Chairman Shaun Golden announces Congressman Chris Smith’s victory and Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich’s lead

10:38 PM  Multiple municipalities are reporting that the electronic cartridges from the voting machines are not being read properly.  Paper printout of the results are being transported to the Board of Elections in Freehold.

MMM is reporting results from GOP headquarters at the American Hotel in Freehold. At 10:38 the County Results are as follows:

Burry 43, 940, Rich 44, 472, Luttrell 39,716, Grillo 37,773.

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Turnout will be the key in Monmouth elections

Gary Rich and Lillian Burry

The U.S. Senate race on top of the ballot between Senator Cory Booker and GOP nominee Jeff Bell has generated no excitement and little media attention.

The congressional races in CD 4 and CD 6 are not competitive.

The action, and the money, in the 2014 election cycle in Monmouth County has been in the Freeholder race where Democrats statewide have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a foothold in the county.

Republican incumbents Lillian Burry and Gary Rich have been fighting off a spirited and well funded challenge from Democrats Larry Luttrell and Giuseppe “Joe’ Grillo. When all the money is counted, the Democrats will probably have outspent the Republicans by more than 2-1.

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