As the LD 13 primary campaign enters its final days, the two competing slates seem to be employing very different strategies for getting their supporters to the polls on Tuesday.
The Bayshore Tea Party backed slate of candidates challenging the incumbent slate of GOP legislative veterans has taken to installing unreadable homemade ‘Column 3’ signs in front of the Kryillos, Handlin and O’Scanlon signs throughout Middletown.
The incumbents are knocking on doors and reminding supporters to vote.
Assemblywoman Amy Handlin canvassing for votes in Middletown
I first met Sen. Joe Kyrillos in 2010 when I was a sophomore in college. Over the next few years I gained insight into Joe’s character and I learned just how great of a person he really is. Sen. Joe Kyrillos, like no other State Senator here in New Jersey, goes out of his way to make himself available to the people of his district. There had been countless times where I would send him an email late in the evening and within a few minutes I would receive a personal reply back from him.
Politically I am a very conservative person and while I do not agree with all of Sen. Joe Kyrillos’ views, there is much that I respect and admire about him. He always has his door open to hear all the opinions and all the facts on issues of the day, and from there he makes the best decision –not just for the people of this district –but for the people of the state of New Jersey.
The reason I decided to write this is because this morning on Facebook I saw something that really highlights Sen. Joe Kyrillos character. Eleven years ago today, my friend’s son had open heart surgery. One way or another Sen. Joe Kyrillos found out about this little boy’s surgery. Sen. Joe then wrote this little boy a hand written letter telling him to stay strong and that everything would be okay. Shortly after the surgery Sen. Joe Kyrillos personally called this little boy to make sure that everything was going well.
It is these qualities and characteristics that make Sen. Joe Kyrillos truly like no other State Senator here in New Jersey. Because he is a man of character and commitment I am voting for Sen. Joe Kyrillos in the Republican primary being heldTuesday, June 4th!
Editors note: A copy of Kyrillos’ letter to Kyle can be read below the fold:
Former Democratic Senate, Assembly and Freeholder candidate Lenny Inzerillo and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate posing with pizza this evening at a Middletown Democratic fundraiser. facebook photo
Today was another disastrous day for Barbara ‘Dawn Quixote’ Buono.
The presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s campaign announced this morning that the candidate would have a private meeting with President Obama in Asbury Park. They later retracted the statement when news broke that Buono was one of about thirty people to meet the president in Asbury Park’s Convention Hall prior to Obama delivering his public remarks.
When Obama met Buono, he did not know who she was, according to a source who was in the room. “Barbara had to introduce herself to the president,” the source told MMM.
“A senior admin official says that Barbara Buono, a Democrat running for NJ governor, was part of a group of approximately 30 state and local officials who met briefly with Obama before his speech in Asbury Park today. There were both Democrats and Republicans among the state/local electeds present. There was a photo line but no separate meeting,” according to a pool report from Obama’s trip.
‘Queen’ Barbara Gonzalez of The Bayshore Tea Party Group via facebook. Click for larger view
“There will be no double dipping when I am Sheriff,” Dan Peters, the Bayshore Tea Party backed candidate for sheriff said when he introduced himself to the group back in early April, and the last time he talked to MMM in person or on the phone. Peters was referring to retired police officers working for the Sheriff’s Office, while also collecting a pension.
After repeated attempts to question Peters, MMM was finally successful in engaging the candidate on facebook a couple of weeks ago. We asked him, given that he is collecting a disability police pension himself, if he would be working for free if elected Sheriff or if he would be giving up his pension.
Peters responded that he would implement a system whereby retired officers salaries are reduced by the amount of their pensions. This would be a significant savings for the taxpayers, he said.
Not a bad idea, if he could pull it off. But how could he? He couldn’t. Why would a retired police officer take a job with a $90,000 salary, for example, but only get paid $8000 if his/her $82,000 pension off set his salary? He/she wouldn’t, especially if a similar job where both a pension and salary could be collected was available in another county. Peters proposal would only result in Monmouth County losing out on the best talent.
For Peters idea (if it is indeed his idea) to work, would require statewide pension reform. It would require legislation to be passed in both house of the legislature and to be signed into law by the governor.
Well, it turns out there is legislation pending in both the Assembly and Senate now that would accomplish the goal. Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, who is also being challenged by the Bayshore Tea Party Group backed slate of candidates, is one of the primary sponsors of the bill.
Other Monmouth County legislators sponsoring the bill are Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande as primary sponsor and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini as cosponsor. Senator Jennifer Beck is a primary sponsor in the Senate.
Dan Peters: if you’re happy and you know it, don’t vote!
If you think Monmouth County is a great place to live, Bayshore Tea Party backed Sheriff Candidate Dan Peters doesn’t want you to vote in the primary on June 4, a week from today.
In a bizarre blog post on Middletown Patch, Peters, a former Middlesex County police officer collecting a disability pension and a former salesman for a red light camera company, said,
“If you think things are great here in Monmouth County then don’t vote — stay home. If you KNOW things can be better and want better vote for line 3. We are tea party approved!”
Voter suppression is the new credo of the Tea Party?
Peters is making his third attempt to direct the Sheriff’s Office, since he moved to Monmouth County. He withdrew his 2007 candidacy because he did not qualify under the three year residency requirement. Maybe the next time he runs, the Black Panthers will support him.
Peters said that the “sheriff’s department” (it is actually called the “Sheriff’s Office”) has not had a change in leadership in 25 years.
“The sheriff’s department has had the same leadership for over twenty five years. As a matter of fact until recently there has not been a Sheriff in Monmouth County that had any police or public safety experience. In that time there has been no change in its direction or vision.”
When he withdrew his 2007 candidacy due to not meeting the residency requirement, Peters called the “department” a “premier law enforcement agency.”
Our vision is clear for safety and security here in Monmouth County and enabling the Sheriffs Department to continue being a premier law enforcement agency.
In fact, Monmouth County has had four sheriffs in the last 33 years. William Lanzaro was elected in 1980 and served through 1995 after being defeated by Joe Oxley in the Republican primary. Oxley, a former prosecutor, declined to seek a fifth term in 2007 as a protest over the direction then Monmouth GOP Chairman Adam Puharic was leading the Party. Oxley went on to replace Puharic as chairman a year later.
The Bellew for State Senate campaign issued a press release this morning wherein they refer to MoreMonmouthMusings and its commenters as “a sympathetic band of faux journalists who could appear on campaign reports for in-kind contributions as paid communication staff.”
The Kyrillos campaign issued a childish response to a serious issue regarding the hypocrisy of Joe Kyrillos, Declan O’Scanlon, and Amy Handlin using a taxpayer funded website to praise a group in the face that they have been stabbing in the back politically. Calling the Tea Party silly and outrageous, the Kyrillos continues to demonstrate a distain for citizen patriots fighting to make New Jersey and America stronger. He knows that the voters are not warming up to him as they learn about his liberal voting record. So instead of engaging them at a candidate event, he and his campaign have turned to a sympathetic band of faux journalists who could appear on campaign reports for in-kind contributions as paid communication staff.
MMM is the only media outlet that carried the Kyrillos campaign’s statement calling Bellew “silly and foolish” over her press release attacking Kyrillos, O’Scanlon and Handlin for their release condemning the IRS and the Obama Administration for their illegal targeting of Conservative and Tea Party groups.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said the Bayshore Tea Party Group backed challenge of the 13th Legislative District incumbents and the Monmouth GOP county-wide incumbents, is inspired by nothing more than the need for attention and the desire for relevance on the part of the challenging candidates and of Barbara Gonzalez, co-founder of BTPG. O’Scanlon flat out challenged the group’s integrity.
O’Scanlon made his charge directly to the faces of the challenging candidates who showed up last night, Leigh-Ann Bellew for Senate, Edna Walsh and Steve Boracchia running for Assembly, BTPG co-founder Barbara Gonzalez, along with approximately 30 other Republican primary voters at a Meet the Candidates Night hosted by the Two Rivers Republican of Fair Haven.
O’Scanlon was representing himself and his running mates, Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin at the gathering. Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Sheriff Shaun Golden spoke on behalf of themselves and Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso. All three men defended the conservative records of the incumbents and called out the challengers for running against the wrong candidates, dividing the party, and distorting their records to the Republican primary voters.
O’Scanlon went after the challengers aggressively on the content of their campaign, without personal attacks.
The Senator’s spokesman, Niles Barnhart, issued the following statement to MMM:
It is a silly press release from a silly candidate who told people she was a lawyer, yet never went to law school, and tells people she is a conservative, yet court records show she took out 20 credit cards running up nearly $140,000 in debt and then filed for bankruptcy.
Senator Kyrillos believes the IRS abuse is outrageous. He is preparing a resolution in the Legislature that urges the appointment of an independent counsel to get to the bottom of this unfair attack on Tea Party and conservative organizations.
Barnhart said that Kyrillos would not be responding “every time Bellew issues a foolish press release.
MMM did not call Bellew or her campaign for a response, because they haven’t returned our last 11 phone calls.
Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez pinning Sen. Joe Kyrillos during happier times.
After over three weeks of media silence, the Bellew for Senate campaign issued a scathing 920 word press release this afternoon accusing State Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assembly members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon of hypocrisy, liberalism, slander, ducking debates and being mean.
Also blasted by Bellew Jersey, was “an organized army of cronies (that) have waged a campaign of personal attacks and character assassination on members of the Tea Party.”
“They have used surrogates in a legion of non-journalistic blogs and Internet attack machines to call the Tea Party “nut jobs.” To the Tea Party, this closely resembles Obama campaign style tactics of personal destruction. In fact, it mirrors what the IRS is now in trouble for doing – trying to silence their critics. Conservatives know this destroys any credibility Joe Kyrillos, Declan O’Scanlan, and Amy Handlin and their liberal Republican establishment team could possibly claim to have in support of the patriots fighting for limited government.”
The release, which was sent out by and paid for by Bellew for State Senate, quotes Senate Candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew, Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez, and Assembly Candidate Steven Boracchia. Assembly Candidate Edna Walsh was mentioned but not quoted in the statement which can be read in its entirety here.
