Serena is the best choice for Monmouth County Freeholder

Serena DiMaso

Monmouth County residents are fortunate that the Republican party has such a deep bench of qualified talent.  Any of the four municipal office holders seeking to take Assemblyman Rob Clifton’s seat on the Board of Chosen Freeholders on Saturday can do the job and do it well.

Serena DiMaso of Holmdel has distinguished herself as the outstanding choice amongst very good choices.

Atlantic Highlands Councilman Peter Doyle and Manalapan Committeeman Ryan Green, both newcomers to county level politics, each have a great deal of promise.  Each has a future in higher office should they continue to pursue it.

Howell Mayor Bob Walsh was the early favorite of this blog.  We agree with everything that our friend James Hogan said about Bob in his endorsement, except Jim’s conclusion that Bob is the best candidate at this time.  We are impressed with Bob’s political accomplishments, his passion and his entrepreneurial creativity.  We appreciate his “big personality.”  We’re impressed that he has won over Joe DiBella, his former passionate political adversary.

But we believe that Serena DiMaso will be a better freeholder and a better candidate, at this time.

Serena’s personality is not as big as her heart.  She is a rare breed of politician; a truly humble public servant.   Her quiet demeanor masks a tough, tenacious and very smart conservative leader.

The Freeholder Board is already occupied by big personalities.  We believe that Serena is the perfect replacement for Rob Clifton’s calm, quiet leadership.

We also believe that Serena is the perfect running mate for Freeholder Director John Curley this year and for Freeholder Tom Arnone and Sheriff Shaun Golden next year.   As her speaking skills continue to improve…she’s improved remarkably during this brief campaign… Serena will be very difficult for the Democrats to run against.  Her record is impressive and she can sell it. 

One more thing about Serena that really impressed us.  In addition to her work as an elected official in Holmdel, on the stump she’s been touting her work as a member of the Board of Trustees of Meridan Health, Chair of the Bayshore Hospital Foundation and a volunteer for the Holmdel First Aid Squad.

We figured the First Aid Squad gig was a resume builder like many politicians who join their community fire departments so that they use pictures wearing gear in campaign materials.  Then we learned that Serena went on over 300 emergency calls last year.  What mayor or chair of a hospital foundation does that?  How does she do all that?  “Dinner is often late to the table and the laundry is done in the middle of the night,” was her answer.

Serena will bring a great, deep, balance to the next two general election tickets and to the Board of Freeholders.

A first ballot victory on Saturday is in order.

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DiMaso Wins Tea Party Straw Poll

Holmdel Deputy Mayor Serena DiMaso scored a surprisingly strong victory tonight at the Tea Party vetting of Freeholder candidates sponsored by the Bayshore Tea Party Group, the Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots and the East Jersey Tea Party.  The meeting of about 50 people was held at the West Park Recreation Center in Oakhurst.

DiMaso earned 50% of the vote in the four person race with 16 votes.  Atlantic Highlands Councilman Peter Doyle got 8 votes followed by Howell Mayor Bob Walsh with 6 votes and Manalapan Committeeman Ryan Green getting 2.

While each of the candidates promoted their accomplishments as municipal leaders and their plans for county government, the Tea Party members were more concerned with federal and constitutional issues, for the most part.

Jersey Shore Patriot leader Mark Falzon said that DiMaso won over the group, which he said was very impressed with all four candidates, on the strength of her commitment to fight to repeal ObamaCare.  

Joe Abbruscato of Tinton Falls expressed his frustration about Republican elected officials who seem resigned to the implementation of ObamaCare.  Walsh and Green expressed their opposition to ObamaCare.  Doyle said he was hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the law.  DiMaso said that as a member of the Board of Trustees of Meridian Health and as a physician’s wife, that she is actively fighting ObamaCare and was intimately familiar with the damage it will do to the country.

Brett Rappaport of Manalapan asked what Green said were the toughest questions of the campaign. 1) Name a Republican office holder who should be voted out of office, and 2) name an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that should be repealed.

All four candidates revealed that they are not terribly familiar with the Constitution they have sworn to uphold.

Regarding the “bad Republican” question, DiMaso hit it out of the park,  “I’ve done it twice in primaries in Holmdel.”  Walsh spoke of running against the party as an Independent in Howell.  Green and Doyle punted.

Assuming there is a quorum of 386 present, the Monmouth GOP Committee will elect one of the four candidates to fill the seat vacated by Assemblyman Rob Clifton on Saturday at Colts Neck High School.

The final opportunity to hear all candidates will be on Friday night at the Monmouth Affiliated Republican Club’s candidates night dinner at Doolan’s in Spring Lake.

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No Speeches At Freeholder Election

The candidates to replace Assemblyman-elect Rob Clifton on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders will not address the Title 19 convention of Monmouth Republican Committee members when they convene on Saturday morning at Colts Neck High School.

Nominations will be accepted from the floor and then the balloting will commence.  

Several party leaders told MMM that Chairman Joe Oxley decided on this agenda for the convention out of concern for maintaining a quorum.   50% plus one of the committee’s 770 members must be present during the voting in order for the election to be official.

There is talk among some committee members about making a motion from the floor to allow the candidates to speak.

There will be no problem obtaining a quorum of 386 if the candidates’ head counts are accurate.  At a meet and greet hosted by the Atlantic Highlands Republican Committee last night, Howell Mayor Bob Walsh and Holmdel Deputy Mayor Serena DiMaso both told MMM they have 200 votes.  Manalapan Township Committeeman Ryan Green said that he counting on at least 150 of the 300 GOP committee members he personally visited.  MMM did not talk to Atlantic Highlands Councilman Peter Doyle about his vote count.

County Committee members who have not yet met the candidates or heard them speak can do so tonight, 7-9 , during the Bayshore Tea Party Group’s candidate vetting session at the Ocean Township Community Center or on Friday night during the Monmouth Affiliated Republican Club’s dinner at Doolan’s Shore Club in Spring Lake.

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Alex DeCroce Dies While Doing The Job He Loved

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce died last night shortly after the final voting session of the 214th legislature.  He was 75 years old.

DeCroce collapsed after 11PM in the legislative wing of the statehouse.

Governor Chris Christie said, “Tonight I lost a dear friend, colleague and mentor -– Assembly Republican Leader Alex De Croce.

“I have known Alex for nearly 20 years,” the governor said. “He helped to give me my start in elective politics in Morris County in 1993. He was one of the most kind, considerate and trustworthy people I have ever had the pleasure to know. He was an enormously accomplished legislator and a tremendous servant to the people of New Jersey.

“Mary Pat and I offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Department of Community Affairs Deputy Commissioner Betty Lou De Croce, and to Alex’s entire family,” Christie said. “This is an enormous loss for our state and for me personally.”

The ceremonial swearing in of the 215th legislature and the Governor’s State of the State address scheduled for today have been canceled.   There will be an informal swearing in and the Governor will briefly address both houses of the legislature in order to fulfill the constitution requirement that he address them today.

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No Vote In Assembly On Legal Ads Bill

S2072/A2082 will not be voted on in the Assembly today according to a report by State Street Wire, Politickernj’s pay site.

As today is the last day of the legislative session, Speaker Sheila Oliver and other Democratic caucus members have killed the bill.

Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-29, Newark), a former sponsor of the bill told State Street Wire that he would introduce a similar bill in the new session that also addresses concerns of those who opposed this bill.

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Hot Pants

If all press is good press, then Anna Little’s fledgling U.S. Senate campaign got a boost this morning when  The Star Ledger’s PolitFact gave her claims about Senator Robert Menendez’s spending and borrowing record a “MOSTLY FALSE” rating on the TRUTH-O-METER.

Little avoided the “PANTS ON FIRE” designation the Ledger gives for completely false claims, but earned the newly created Hot Pants designation from MMM.

What is most surprising about this morning’s PolitiFact post is that it has been up at NJ.com for two hours and it doesn’t have any comments from Rullo supporters, yet.

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Call Your Legislators: Stop Corporate Welfare For Newspapers

Legislation that ends the requirement of “Legal Ads” being published in newspapers, in favor of the ads being posted on government websites, is on the calendar in both the Senate and Assembly on Monday, the last day of the current legislative session.

Call or email your legislators right now and ask them to vote YES on S-2072 in the Senate and A-2082 in the Assembly.  You can find your legislators contact information here.

Classified ads in newspapers have gone the way of the horse and buggy.  The Internet has made them obsolete.  On most days Legals Ads make up the vast majority of the once thick classified section.  The private sector has already voted.  Taxpayers and those with proceedings before a court or board should not have to subsidize an antiquated practice.

Posting Legal Notices on municipal, county and state websites will lead to more people seeing them and will save the public between $12 and $70 million per year, depending upon who you believe.  The newspaper industry says they ads cost only $12 million per year.  Proponents of the bill says they cost $70 million.

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Menendez Denies Retribution In Blocking Shwartz’s Appointment To Appeals Court

Senator Robert Menendez denies he is preventing Federal Magistrate Patty Shwartz’s appointment to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals because her boyfriend is the federal prosecutor who lead the corruption investigation into the senator during his 2006 campaign, according to a report at Politico.

Menendez said it wasn’t appropriate to debate a potential judges qualifications in the press, before he went on to malign Shwartz:

“It is incredibly disappointing and unfortunate that my real concerns over the suitability of Judge Shwartz to serve a lifetime appointment as circuit court judge have been spun as some petty political vendetta by some of her supporters,” Menendez said in a statement to POLITICO.

“I proceeded to ask her substantive legal questions and was not fully satisfied with her responses,” Menendez said. “In my opinion, Judge Shwartz did not adequately demonstrate the breadth of knowledge of constitutional law and pivotal Supreme Court decisions such as Citizens United that we should expect from a United States Circuit Court judge.”

“In the interview with Judge Shwartz, in my opinion, she misapplied the application of strict scrutiny versus rational basis review to the questions at hand,” Menendez added. “She did not express substantive knowledge as to the scope of the rights of corporations under the Constitution or jurisprudence on the constitutional limits of Executive Branch powers.

Menendez lied to me personally and didn’t respond when I called him on it,  in the months after Jon Corzine appointed him to the Senate.  Thus my bias makes it difficult to believe anything he says.  He’s just not trustworthy.

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An On The Ground Report…

From The First In The Nation Primary State Of New Hampshire…

Friday, January 6^th    “One Renegade Campaign Volunteer”

Having been to this wonderful state so many times, I was briefly introduced to the Primary Campaign process up here during the 2008 election season while on a trip picking up campaign collectibles. As a political junkie, I became enamored of what I saw. So, this year; because of the importance of defeating Obama, I decided to volunteer up here for a few days with the primary candidate of my choice, Newt Gingrich.

So, prior to leaving for New Hampshire on Thursday, I sent a note to Art suggesting that if I had time, I would pass on my thoughts about the process up here during the final days of this primary. So, despite the lateness of the hour, actually 12:15 in the morning after my day started at 8 am, subsequent to a 6 hour drive up Thursday night; here we go.

I’m going to remain anonymous though, as it’s the content that’s important; not the person writing it. There are some lessons to be learned from New Hampshire. Most of them will be random thoughts as they come to me.  

Where Do I Begin?

First of all, New Hampshire voters take their primary SERIOUSLY, VERY SERIOUSLY. I can not even think of when I have seen this kind of Republican fervor in blue New Jersey. Perhaps it has something to do with it being the first in the nation primary, or it having to do with this region being one of he cradles of our democracy, voters get involved.

There’s lots of Town Hall style meetings schedule across the state and seem to be well attended. One event for Newt this evening produced a crowd 20% larger than expected. People listened intently and asked great questions. Nearly a third of the crowd stayed to ask other questions of Newt or make a comment.

A county fund raiser with multiple Presidential candidates was similarly “sold out.”

Here’s one other novel thing about New Hampshire campaigns…

It’s called a “sign wave.”

Betcha you are scratching your head, now, wondering what in tarnation is that?

Well, 10 or so volunteers get together and wave their candidates campaign signs at intersections and roundabouts in their towns, most often at rush hour. The first time I saw that was in 2008 in Keene, N.H. at about 6:30 am when a bunch of Hillary supporters were on the main square. Sometimes, they are just regular signs. Many times, there are three or 4 signs stapled to a 1 x 3 so that they can be seen from a distance in traffic.

Mind you, it’s really cold when you wake up here in they morning.

Try asking some of our County Committee people in Monmouth County to do that in more reasonable weather. Bet you they will look at you like you’ve got horns growing out of your head.

But, they certainly do it here.

Volunteers also come from all over. I’ve met several people from Pennsylvania and New York. One intrepid volunteer, and I guess well off volunteer even flew his twin engine plane from San Francisco to Iowa to volunteer for a week; and then on to Manchester, N.H to help out here. One wonders if we do this for the thrill of a Republican campaign that we don’t often see in blue states such as these.

Saturday, I’m advancing two events and then heading off to the big debate Saturday evening. I hope to be inside for a bit to pick up on what I feel the candidates are about. Yes, perhaps from my jaded view point; but without the twist of the media.

One last thought for the evening. Before you ever complain about putting out campaign signs; just imagine how difficult it is in New Hampshire this time of year; trying to plant your thin wire frame into frozen soil.

I know. I did it, at least 50 times today.

New Hampshire natives, adapt, perseveres and overcome. Perhaps that’s another lesson for all of us. It’s a shame more of us couldn’t come up here and learn something about real campaigning.

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Maybe the $1.2 billion is in France

Jon Corzine says he simply doesn’t know where the missing $1.2 billion of MF Global customers’ money is.

Maybe it’s in France.  In a preview of their February issue, Vanity Fair  (hat tip to bluejersey), reports that the former master of the universe and his wife, Sharon Elghanayan, were shopping for a beach house in the South of France two weeks before MF Global collapsed and the $1.2 billion was discovered missing.

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