Monmouth GOP Headquarters. Who's missing? Click on photo for full view
Anna Little’s congressional campaign has failed to respond to the Federal Election Commission’s demands for accurate information about the campaign’s finances.
As reported by MMM on September 12, the FEC wrote Little’s husband and campaign treasurer, Rob Little, three separate letters in late August regarding serious deficiencies in the campaign’s April 2012 quarterly report, the 12 day pre-primary report, and the June 2012 quarterly report. The April and pre-parimary reports lacked donor information. The July report, which reported a negative cash balance of over $11,000, did not jibe with the previous two reports. The FEC demanded that all of the reports be ammended and that they be filed electronically. The deadline for the April amendment was September 28. The pre-primary report amendment was due on October 1 and the July amendment was due yesterday. None of the amendments are posted in the FEC website.
The FEC’s letters stated in bold print that requests for extensions would not be considered and that failure to comply could result in audits and enforcement action.
The FEC analysts who wrote to Little referred MMM to the press office. The press office spokewoman told MMM that reports that are filed electronically are posted to the commission’s website “almost immediately.” Reports that are submitted via paper are posted “within 48 hours.” The spokeswoman twice suggested that MMM contact the campaign. “It will be interesting to hear what they have to say,” she said.
Rob Little told MMM that he received the letters and referred them to the campaign’s compliance officer. Little declined to give the name of the compliance officer, stating, “you’re going to twist whatever I say.”
Speaking of twisted….
The Little campaign yesterday emailed a fundraising appeal declaring that her race against Congressman Frank Pallone is winnable based on Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press polling data.
The email, signed by “Anna,” cited Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray’s statewide poll released last week that measured the favorability ratings to potential Democratic gubernatorial challengers to Governor Chris Christie in 2013. Pallone scored a statewide favorability rating of 16% statewide (17% among Republicans), 9% unfavorable and 75% had no opinion. Little compared that poll to a October 2010 Monmouth survey of the old 6th congressional district that indicated Pallone was beating Little in that race by 53% to 41%.
Little’s email told her prospective donors:
THE RACE IS WINABLE
These polling numbers mean that the number of Registered voters that view Pallone as ‘favorable’ have droped 31% since we last sqaured (sic)off against him in 2010.
These polling results mean that we have 34 days to engage with the 75% of voters who are undecided and help them form an opinion about the self proclaimed author of Obamacare before they head to the polls on Nov. 6th
These polling results mean that victory in the 6th district will be awarded to the campaign that reaches that 75% first!
iPad’s are great. Like most Americans who own one, I use mine to check work and personal e-mails. You probably check sports scores, update your Facebook status and send out an occasional Tweet. But you and I wouldn’t dare to think that it takes the place of human relationships and personal interaction. But did you know that President Barack Obama uses his iPad to read the Top Secret President’s Daily Brief (PDB), rather than attend these critical and time sensitive meetings with seasoned intelligence officers in person? Despite the turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere, author and investigative journalist Bob Woodward recently reported that President Obama does not “regularly attend security briefings”.
According to History.com, PDB’s are like a laundry list of sensitive intelligence matters, configured in order of importance. They are vital lists containing time sensitive data that are pertinent to both our imminent and long-term national security. Each morning the head of the CIA and other intelligence branches are to meet with the President, so that they can explicate in detail any development that would catch the Commander in Chief’s eye. In fact, every President since JFK has attended the President’s Daily Brief in person, with the exception of Barack Obama.
Marc Thiessen and the Government Accountability Institute report that Obama has attended only 38% of all PDB’s in the last 3 years and 9 months.
That’s right, the leader of the free world prefers what amounts to treating America’s national security like a social network, where he can simply log on and log off or change his status to “offline” when he doesn’t want to be bothered with defending the nation. Resorting to simply reading the brief rather than meet with its authors amounts to gross negligence and dereliction of duty.
On September 11th 2012, Al Qaeda operatives stormed the American Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. Terrorists then reportedly raped and murdered US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. Two former Navy Seals were also murdered in the terrorist attack. After the embassy was stormed, a black Al Qaeda flag replaced the American flag.
Highlands resident Derek Gordon street kayaking after this afternoon's storm. Photo credit: Brian Cobb
The center of town, which is both residential and business, is at a lower elevation than the shore line. During a storm, water comes from the Sandy Hook Bay/Shrewsbury River and storm water comes rushing down to the below sea level downtown from “the hill,” the highest elevation on the east coast of the United States which includes parts of Highlands and the Monmouth Hills section of Middletown. During a big storm at high tide and a full moon, downtown Highlands looks like Venice without the charm and romance.
Councilman Chris Francy convinced the rest of the governing body to have T&M Associates, the borough’s engineers, design a flood mitigation system that includes new pumps and pipes to get the water out of town and back into the bay/river. The project is said to be “shovel ready” and will cost roughly $4 million dollars. The governing body is applying to FEMA to cover $2.2 million of the cost. Congressman Frank Pallone is on board to advocate for the project with FEMA. At a town hall meeting on Monday night, Francy, Pallone and Mayor Frank Nolan said that Highlands is currently number three on FEMA’s list of such projects in New Jersey but that only two will be approved. Pallone is working to get Highlands bumped up on the list and secure the funding. That might be good for Highlands and bad for a community along the Passaic River.
The governing body is set to vote on a resolution tonight that will put the project on the ballot in November as a non-binding referendum. The referendum would ask the voters consent to fund the entire project without FEMA money.
6th District congressional candidate Anna Little’s claim that she “made history” and “came the closest in 24 years to defeating Frank Pallone” in 2010 is a fib, according to research compiled by The Star Ledger’sPolitFactNewJersey.
PolitFactNewJersey found that while Little’s margin of defeat was smaller than most who have taken on Pallone, the 2010 election was not Pallone’s closest and that Little’s timing was wrong.
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.
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.
On the day Anna Little won the endorsement of the Middlesex County GOP, she became the favorite to win the 6th congressional district nomination. Despite that all of the candidates, Democrat and Republican are from Monmouth County, the new 6th is a Middlesex County district.
With no presidential contest on the top of the ballot and the U.S. Senate race uncompetitive, turnout is likely to be very low. 13,000 voters decided the 2010 primary race between Little and Monmouth County GOP Vice Chair Diane Gooch by less than 90 votes. This time out, I’ll be surprised if there are more than 6000 votes.
Based on name recognition, Little should be considered the favorite. She scored an upset in the last primary. She was the general election candidate in 2010 and she was a countywide candidate for Freeholder in 2006.
Coming into the race, Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth County GOP endorsed candidate was a complete unknown, except for readers of the triCityNews where he was the token conservative columnist. The nomination in both Middlesex and Monmouth Counties was his for the taking because no one else wanted it. Little was running for the U.S. Senate nomination against Joe Kyrillos.
Little has been once again running against the Republican establishment who turned her away for the congressional nomination twice and never wanted her as freeholder candidate. She won the office of Freeholder by one vote at a raucous January 2006 convention and was denied the nomination for reelection in 2007.
But it was during a meeting with Kyrillos in early March, before the Monmouth County screening/candidate selection and after Cullari announced his candidacy, that Little give up her Senate bid and decided to make another run for Congress. Kyrillos did not want a primary challenge from the pesky Little. Little did not want her career to end with a primary loss to Kyrillos. The independent minded elected officials and municipal chairs of the Monmouth GOP were not going along with the deal. They knew Little was no more of a threat to Kyrillos than Badar Qarmout.
Fresh off her 2010 defeat at the hands of Congressman Frank Pallone, former Highlands Mayor Anna Little blamed the fact that she lost in her hometown by 55* votes on the lack of sophistication of her constituents and colleagues on the borough’s governing body.
Little told Politickernj her Highlands loss “was likely to involve some borough employees” who would could be effected by a layoff plan she had agreed to support. One month after the election, lame duck Little killed the layoff plan by voting with the Democrats on the governing body over the objections of her fellow Republicans.
“The council is not politically savvy,” Little said, “They were running too.”
“I think there’s some feeling that I left them behind, too,” she said. “I’m their mayor, and I’m off doing something else. (But they don’t understand), everything I do outside of Highlands will relate back to Highlands.”
Little was the only Republican on the ballot in Highlands who lost in 2010. Republican Frank Nolan was elected Mayor to replace Little. Shaun Golden was elected Sheriff. Rob Clifton and Tom Arnone were elected Freeholder. We’d give you their numbers in Highlands, but the County Clerk’s Office hasn’t gotten around to posting the official election results of 2010 and 2011 on their website.
* News reports at the time indicated that Little lost Highlands by 76 votes. When mail in and provisional ballots were counted the loss was by 55 votes.
Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini Endorse Cullari in CD-6 Primary
In an interview with Politickernj, the Monmouth County GOP nominee in the primary for the 6th Congressional District, Ernesto Cullari, said that Anna Little, the 2010 GOP nominee in the 6th district and his primary opponent this year, was focused on herself and not the task at hand, defeating Congressman Frank Pallone, during the 2010 general election,
“What I saw was a candidate unwilling to go after (incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank) Pallone – like the fact that he got his wife a job at the EPA where she works while most people suffer an economic downturn,” Cullari said. “Frank Pallone and a slew of other leaders have been looking out for just themselves. I’ll make that case. I’m not ashamed to make it.
“What I witnessed in Anna was someone deeply focused on herself instead of the task at hand – namely advancing the small government ideology,” he added. “She missed that opportunity.”
Cullari went on to define himself as the true Tea Party conservative in the primary,
A New Year, A New District, Same Old Republican Antics
With each New Year we find ourselves reflecting on the past and setting goals for the coming year.
2011 was a year of tragically partisan politics in DC. The new Republican majority made it clear that fulfilling their backward social agenda was more important than putting Americans back to work. Rather than advancing any legislation that would continue the American recovery, they spent the entire year trying to roll back health care reform, proposing changes to Medicare and Social Security that would effectively end both programs as we know them, and manipulating the facts, trying to convince Americans that common sense environmental protections are hurting the economy.
As we enter into 2012 I re-new my commitment to you that I will continue to fight to protect Social Security and Medicare and stand strong against the Tea Party controlled Republican leadership. Most importantly, I, along with my Democratic colleagues, will work to implement our Make it in America agenda to put Americans back to work and ensure a sustainable recovery for our American economy.
2012 promises to be a year of many changes.
Some of these changes were made clear last week when the new boundaries of our Congressional districts were finalized. I continue to be disappointed that New Jersey lost a Congressional seat. We must not forget the lesson learned from this census and continue to fight for an accurate count looking forward to the 2020 census.
The new map poses challenges for our Party, but I am committed to my service to the residents of the 6th district and am eager to get to work. I am saddened that the new map moved towns that I am proud to represent into other districts, but am excited at the opportunity to introduce myself to residents of newly included towns, earn their votes and represent them in the new Congress.
We will be hitting the ground running with my 2012 campaign and I ask that you take a minute to sign up here to get involved. There is plenty of work to be done and, with your help, I have no doubt that we will celebrate a tremendous victory for our party in November, when we re-elect President Obama, re-elect Senator Menendez, regain a Democratic majority in the House and win offices throughout our state, county and local governments.
Thank you for you help in 2011 – your efforts for resulted in solid victories for the Democratic Party in the legislative elections, sending a clear message to Governor Christie, and a reminder to anyone who doubted it, that New Jersey is a Blue State. Let’s continue the hard work and move to even more victories in 2012.
Happy New Year and many wishes that 2012 brings health and happiness to you and your family.
