Sheep for brains

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Christine O’Donnell coming to Hazlet to raise campaign cash for Anna Little

 This is not what I had in mind when I called on John Bennett and Sam Thompson, the GOP chairmen of Monmouth and Middlesex counties, to fix Anna Little’s overdraft.:

Patriot Ticket
$250

Co-Host Sponsorship
$2,500

Other Sponsorships Available – Please Call for Details

~ RSVP TODAY – Space is Limited ~

Call 732-658-5461

Please Mail Event Contribution Checks To:
Friends of Anna Little
P.O. Box 382, Highlands, NJ 07732

Please Include: Employer and Occupation in the memo line
(Information Required by Federal/State Law – if self employed list ‘self’ and industry ie: Attorney)

~Thank You to Our Host Committee ~

Municipal Chair of Old Bridge, Anita Greenburg, Assemblyman Rob Clifton, President of Affiliated Republican Club Wayne Pomanowski & Mayor Fred Rast of Atlantic Highlands

In case you blocked it out, O’Donnell was the 2010 Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Delaware who scored an upset primary victory over former Governor Mike Castle  before going on to lose badly to Christopher Coons, costing the GOP the opportunity to take what had been Joe Biden’s Senate seat.  Castle was considered a sure victor in the general election had he been the nominee.

O’Donnell was a deeply flawed candidate.

The NJ media has compared Little to O’Donnell too often.  Once would have been too often.  Now the comparisons will inevitably start again.  The only thing that could prevent The Star Ledger’s Tom Moran or Politickernj from making such a comparison is if Little fails to get enough traction against Frank Pallone to warrant any ink.

The comparisons could start, mercifully, with failure to file notices from the FEC.

Governor Chris Christie campaigned for Castle in 2010.

He also appeared at least two fund raisers for Little in 2010.  Those weren’t catering hall fund raisers.  They were held at elegant waterfront private homes.  This news makes one wonder about Bennett’s and Thompson’s clout with the Governor.  This one makes one wonder if Christie will be stumping for Little in October.

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Unity or Strange Bedfellows in the Monmouth GOP?

Anna Little, with good reason, has been taking credit for John Bennett’s election as Monmouth GOP Chairman.  If not for Little endorsing her benefactor and encouraging the County Committee members who are also Tea Party activists to vote for Bennett, Christine Hanlon would be Chairwoman.

Little’s reward, whatever it is, will come sometime after she loses to Frank Pallone in November.

The biggest change that Bennett has made since taking over the helm of the Monmouth GOP six weeks ago is to start to make good on his campaign promise to raise the money necessary for county campaigns.   He has informed the Monmouth GOP ticket of Freeholders John Curley and Serena DiMaso, as well as County Clerk Claire French, not to worry about rasing money for the fall campaign.  He has instructed office holders not on the ballot this fall, including the legislative delegation and the sheriff, all of whom have campaigns next year, to suspend their fund raising activities effective August 1 so as not to compete with his efforts for the current campaign.

But how will he raise the money?

Read the rest of this entry »

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Anna Little Reports Negative Cash On Hand

Anna Little’s congressional campaign account is overdrawn $11,321.08, according to the FEC Form 3 Record of Receipts and Disbursements, that her campaign submitted to the Federal Election Commission yesterday.

$22,188.28 seems to have disappeared overnight, between May 16 and May 17, from Little’s meager coffers.  In  the pre-primary report of activity for the April 1 through May 16 period, “Friends of Anna Little” had $13,806.95 cash on hand on May 16.  The next day, her campaign’s beginning balance was negative $8,381, according to the report submitted yesterday.

Monmouth County GOP Chairman John Bennett, Middlesex County GOP Chairman Sam Thomspon and the Bayshore Tea Party Group need to step in and right the Little campaign before it does damage to the rest of the party.  Thompson thought his judgment was better than that of the Monmouth GOP screening committee when he awarded his county’s party line to Little when her home county leaders thought better.  Bennett, while not yet chairman, supported Little in the primary against Ernesto Cullari.  Bennett and Thompson headlined a fundraiser for Little.

When MMM questioned Thompson about Little’s FEC reports in May he said, “I have a hard enough time keeping my own campaign reports straight.”  That flippant attitude is no longer acceptable.

Bennett relied on Little’s support to win the chairmanship by three votes.  Little has been taking credit for Bennett’s victory at her weekly campaign meetings at the Keyport IHOP. 

The Bayshore Tea Party Group’s leadership, despite having well earned reservations about Little, chose to support her over Cullari as an act of defiance towards the Monmouth GOP.

Thompson, Bennett and BTPG gave us this mess.  They need to clean it up.  Fast.

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Little Files FEC Reports For Senate Campaign

Still No Reports For Her House Race

Friends of Anna Little filed an undated quarterly report for the period covering January 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012 which disclosed contributions and expenditures for Little’s campaign for U.S. Senate.   The report was marked received by the Secretary of the Senate on June 5, 2012, coincidently the same day that Little won the GOP primary for the House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 6th district.   The report can be found here.

According to the report, Little raised $161,151.95 and spent $147,371.46 during the 15 month quarter while running for U.S. Senate.  The time bending campaign had $13,834.49 cash on hand on March 31.

Little has no records on file with the FEC for her campaign to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone.  Her previous campaign committee, Anna C. Little for Congress Inc, filed a termination report with the FEC on April 2, 2012, 9 days after she received the Middlesex County GOP’s endorsement for the 6th district nomination.

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Still a Little Paperwork To Do

6th congressional district GOP nominee Anna Little has yet to file as a candidate for Congress with the Federal Election Commission, according to an FEC spokesperson who spoke to MMM this morning.

Little’s husband, Rob, told PolitickerNJ last week that all required reports would be filed with the FEC prior to the primary.

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Little Thanks Her Supporters, Endorses John Bennett For Monmouth GOP Chair

6th congressional district nominee Anna Little sent the following email to her supporters this afternoon, thanking them for her victory and encouraging them to support John Bennett for Monmouth GOP Chair:

Congratulations on your decisive victory in Congressional District 6! You sent a clear message to your Republican leadership that We The People are in charge, and WE will direct our government. Your hard work paid off. It is my honor to work side by side with you as we take back the people’s seat in Congressional District 6, replacing a liberal progressive incumbent with a true representative of the people this November.

Defeating Frank Pallone is serious business. We must present a unified front if we are to accomplish our goals. I urge each and every one of you to reach out to someone who did not vote in this Primary election, or who may have voted for someone else. Encourage them to work with us as We The People defeat our common enemy, Frank Pallone. Working together, grass roots organizations, Independent voters, Unaffiliated voters, Conservative Democrats, and Republicans will send a people’s representative to Washington from New Jersey. The General Election Campaign begins today.

Within the Republican Party in Monmouth County we have the opportunity to select a new Republican Chairman on June 12. It is urgent that all County Committee members in Monmouth County attend this Convention and select a chairman who will return Monmouth County’s Republican Organization to an open convention candidate selection process. Former State Senator, Former Governor John Bennett will lead the Monmouth County Republican Organization in this manner. When Monmouth County’s selection committee chose an unknown, unvetted candidate to face Frank Pallone in District 6, John Bennett courageously took a stand supporting Anna Little, the candidate chosen by the people of Monmouth County in both the 2010 Primary and General Elections. John Bennett’s leadership will unite Monmouth County Republicans, Independents, and Unaffiliated voters working with grass roots organizations to defeat Frank Pallone and Bob Menendez in November. We must ensure that John Bennett becomes the new Chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Organization.

As I write this email we are assembling a list of Republican County Committee members in Monmouth County. Please consider visiting these folks door to door to remind them to attend the Convention on June 12 and to vote John Bennett for Chairman. In this way we can ensure Monmouth County Republican support for our campaigns against Frank Pallone and Bob Menendez this fall.

Thank you for all you do for your families, your county and your nation. You are an inspiration to me. God Bless you and God Bless America. Let’s go win an election!

 

Sincerely,

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Anna Little Wins GOP 6th District Nomination

MoreMonmouthMusings is projecting that former Highland Mayor Anna Little as the 6th congressional district primary winner.

With 76% of the districts reporting in the Monmouth County portion of the district, Little leads Ernesto Cullari 61% to 39%.

With 30% of the districts reporting in Middlesex County, Little has 85% of the vote to Cullari’s 14%.

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Little leading in Middlesex mail in count

MMM has learned that Anna Little is ahead of Ernesto Cullari in the Middlesex County mail-in votes by 124-32.

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Patrick Murray predicts that Cullari will defeat Little

Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray says on PolitickerNJ that Ernesto Cullari will defeat Anna Little in the CD-6 GOP primary based on Senator Joe Kyrillos coattails and “the bigger issue” that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the 2010 race.

I wonder who Patrick is referring to.

CD6 GOP
2010 nominee Anna Little hopes lightning strikes twice and she knocks off the Monmouth County organization’s preferred candidate – this time, Ernesto Cullari.  But it just ain’t gonna happen.  It’s not because the party has gotten any better at GOTV.  Fewer than 14,000 Republicans voted in the last primary – and the only reason more will vote this year is that native son Joe Kyrillos is running for Senate.  The bigger issue is that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the last race.  Winner:  Cullari

Murray predicts that 15% of partisan voters will come out on Tuesday statewide.   If the turnout is higher in Monmouth because of Kyrillos’ favorite son status, that should favor Cullari.  Little benefits from Kyrillos’s coattails in Middlesex where she appears under the senator on the ballot. 

Despite Murray’s swipe at the Monmouth GOP get out the vote effort, the real key to this race is will be the turnout in Middlesex.   If Sam Thompson’s team gets 5000 or more voters to the polls, Little should win.   In the 2010 race less than 3800 Middlesex Republicans voted.  However the Middlesex portion of the district is much larger now since redistricting.  If less than 5000 voters come out in Middlesex and 6000 come out in Monmouth, Cullari wins.   If 10,000 come out in Monmouth because of Kyrillos, Cullari wins handily.

MMM’s prediction:  In a repeat of 2010, the race will go to a recount. 

Unlike 2010 the race, the recount won’t be resolved before the Monmouth GOP convention.  Little will get up at the convention and endorse John Bennett for Chair as a payback for headlining her $10 per head spaghetti dinner fundraiser in Keansburg.  Cullari will get up and endorse Christine Hanlon because she’s Christine Hanlon.

Little will be forced to concede on June 15 in order to pay her fines from the FEC.  She won’t have enough money to pay her recount team and the fines.  John Bennett, fresh off his defeat in the Chair’s race, will be in Florida and unable to host a spaghetti dinner to pay Little’s fines and pay the recount team.

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