The Bayshore Tea Party Group is preparing a primary slate to challenge 13th district legislators, Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon, and county office holders, Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso, according to the group’s co-founder Barbara Gonzalez.
Gonzalez told MoreMonmouthMusings that the group has six candidates who are clearing their potential candidacies with their families and employers. She wouldn’t name any of the candidates but expects to make a formal announcement next week. If the slate declares, they will bypass the Monmouth GOP convention on March 23 and file to run in the June 4 Republican primary.
Gonzalez said that former Highlands Mayor Anna Little, who twice ran and won in Congressional primaries with the group’s backing, is not one of the candidates.
Concerned about the potential impact on the Bayshore region’s economy of a prolonged closure of the Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area, Senator Joe Kyrillos (R- Monmouth) has introduced a resolution calling on the federal government to make reopening Sandy Hook a priority.
“Sandy Hook sustained enormous damage during Hurricane Sandy along with the homes and businesses of Bayshore residents,” Kyrillos said. “But there is more devastation in store if this economic engine for our region is not restored and reopened in time for the 2013 tourism season. The Sandy Hook Recreation Area is the source of millions of dollars of economic activity every year and an affordable summer getaway for tourists from near and far who will lose out on a treasured summer tradition if it is not reopened. We cannot afford to lose the economic activity generated by Sandy Hook as we seek to rebuild our shoreline.”
Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area is federally owned property that is maintained and operated by the National Park Service.
Governor Chris Christie’s choice of running mate for his 2013 reelection campaign will have little to do with Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno’s performance during the first Christie term. By all accounts Guadagno has done her job well. She’s been a good soldier, loyal and obedient surrogate and fine ambassador to the business community.
The hint of scandal that NJ Watchdog has been pushing about Guadagno during her days as Monmouth County Sheriff will have little impact on her status on the ticket. Just like U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s prostitution scandal, nobody in the media cares about the story Mark Lagerkvitz has been pushing for over two years about Gaudagno arranging for Mickey Donovan being able to collect a police pension while acting as her law enforcement chief in Monmouth. If Trenton Democrats were going to make an issue of Guadagno’s role in Donovan’s double dipping, there probably would already have been hearings in the Senate or Assembly into the matter already.
The imminent decision about Kim Guadagno’s future is all about 2016 and 2017 politics. It has little to do with the 2013 gubernatorial election.
There has been quiet speculation that Guadagno would not be the second term LG for months. A story was floated over the summer that she would become New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney if Mitt Romney was elected president.
If Christie runs for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination he will become a part time governor sometime in 2015. If he becomes the front runner for the nomination he could resign early 2016. Whether he resigns or not, New Jersey would need an acting governor who is really in charge. As often as Guadagno has been acting governor over the past three years, no one believes she was really in charge. If Christie runs for president in 2016, his lt. governor will be running for governor in 2017 as an incumbent, effectively.
Christie probably hasn’t made a decision about 2016. Yet, he undoubtably wants to keep his options open and to leave New Jersey is strong hands should he decide to run.
If Guadagno is the LG candidate in 2013, that would be a signal that Christie believes that she is ready to be governor and ready to lead the NJ Republican Party.
Bergen Record columnist Charles Stile posted a column yesterday speculating about possible Guadango replacements. Stile named Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan and six state senators as possible future acting governors; Joe Kyrillos, Tom Kean, JR, Jennifer Beck, Diane Allen, Dawn Marie Addiego and Kevin O’Toole.
Christie chose Guadagno over Donovan, Allen and Beck in 2009. He’s not likely to choose any of them as his running mate in 2013. Choosing Kyrillos would create a context for Joe’s lackluster campaign against Menendez for U.S. Senate this year. Other than Kean, son of the former governor and the 2006 U.S. Senate nominee, none of the other mentions significant statewide name recognition. Kryillos just spent a year and $5 million building statewide name recognition.
Kyrillos spends the day focus on supporting victims of Hurricane Sandy
US Senator Bob Menendez’s campaign manager told PolitickerNJ that his boss didn’t pay for sex while on a trip to the Dominican Republic last spring and that the story first reported by The Daily Caller is a product of the “right wing smear machine.”
The Menendez camp is blaming the Kyrillos camp for planting the story:
“It is disgusting that on a day when New Jerseyans are focused on responding to one of the worst disasters to ever hit the state, Joe Kyrillos and the right wing smear machine are peddling lies about Bob Menendez,” Soliman said. “Let’s be clear: the accusations Kyrillos and his friends in the right wing media are peddling are absolutely false. This unsubstantiated, untrue attack is a new low, and we hope that Kyrillos will pull his campaign out of the gutter and join us and other leaders in helping get this state back on its feet. Bob Menendez is going to continue to focus on helping New Jersey recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy and will not be distracted by desperate smears from a flailing campaign in the final days before an election.”
Democrats are furious with Kyrillos for responding to The Daily Caller’s article by asking Menendez to release his schedule and travel documents, and for even trying to win the election in the face of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation.
“Kyrillos’s career is over,” a angry Democratic operative said on the condition of anonymity, “Obama and Christie did the right thing, and he’s (Kyrillos) talking about prostitutes. While his legislative district is in shambles from the storm, he’s off campaigning in Bergen and Ocean Counties. Even my Republican friends are disgusted with him.”
Kyrillos visted with residents and local officials in Middlesex, Bergen and Passaic counties today. He stopped at the Peterpank Diner in Sayreville, the Police Athletic Leaue in Wayne where hot meals were served to those without power, and the Christian Health Care Center in Wyckoff.
“This infamous storm has caused more destruction and devastation among our residents than anything I’ve witnessed or care to see again,” Kyrillos said.“This process of physical and emotional mending will certainly be arduous. But as my meetings continue, I’m starting to notice a sense of ‘Jersey strong’ resilience coming out of residents and community leaders, saying we will get through this. We will rebuild and be stronger from it.”
Individuals and Business Invited to Drop-off Needed Items
LINCROFT, NJ – Monmouth County has established a donation site for desperately needed items to assist the victims affected by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. The site has been set up at Thompson Park, 805 Newman Springs Road (Route 520) in Lincroft.
The donation center is located at the service entrance of the park. It is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to receive donated items.
Items needed include:
• Bottled Water
• Non perishable food
• Pet food
• New clothing
• Blankets
• Personal hygiene items including baby items
Thompson Park is a donation site only – no distribution will be made there. Items will be sorted and taken to three distribution sites in strategic areas in Monmouth County which will be announced as the items have arrived at those locations.
“This is a way for residents to help out during this time of need,” said Sheriff Shaun Golden. “Through this process, donations from those who were fortunate during Hurricane Sandy can assist those who were less fortunate.”
For monetary donations, please use your preferred non-profit organization.
Kyrillos calls on Menendez to release his travel records
A prominent reporter with one of New Jersey’s largest media outlets told MMM that The Daily Caller’s story about US Senator Bob Menendez covorting with prositutes in the Dominican Republic and paying them $400 less than agreed is “extremely thin, our resources are spread thin.” The reporter said that it will be the editors’ judgement about what to do with the story.
The Daily Caller story included video of the women who charged Menendez paid them less than agreed for sex, and referred to aircraft records of a Menendez donor’s private airplane landing at Teterboro Airport, a short drive from Menendez’s Hudson County home, and flying to the Dominican Republic during the time last spring when the incident is alleged to have occurred.
State Senator Joe Kyrillos’s campaign spokeswoman called on the incumbent to release his schedule and travel documents for the time of the alleged incident.
“Like the recent Secret Service sex scandal in Colombia, the allegations reported today are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions,” said Kyrillos Campaign Communications Director Meaghan Cronin. “Senator Menendez must do the right thing and help settle this matter by immediately releasing his schedule and travel documents from the time the alleged incidents occurred. The people of New Jersey deserve answers today.”
“My baseball career spanned almost five decades—from 1925 to 1973, count them—and in all that time I never had a boss call me upstairs so that he could congratulate me for losing like a gentleman. “How you play the game” is for college boys. When you’re playing for money, winning is the only thing that matters. Show me a good loser in professional sports, and I’ll show you an idiot. Show me a sportsman, and I’ll show you a player I’m looking to trade to Oakland so that he can discuss his salary with that other great sportsman, Charley Finley.”
If Joe Kyrillos overcomes the double digit lead that several polls give Bob Menendez in the U.S. Senate race over the next two weeks without going negative, he not only will be making political history, he will have transcended human nature and rewritten the “how to win an election as a challenger” campaign books.
As much as people complain about negative political ads, they are the only ads that work for a challenger or candidate behind in the polls.
Vice President George H.W. Bush’s “Willie Horton” ad against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential campaign is probably the most memorable political ad of all time. It is arguably the most negative…and effective…as it propelled Bush to overcome a 17% deficit in the national polls and win the White House.
Kyrillos’ campaign has been complaining that the mainstream NJ media has not been covering the campaign enough. That changed this weekend as The Star Ledger/NJ.com featured Monmouth County’s senior state senator and the U.S. Senate campaign three times in the last two days. NJTV’s Reporters Roundtablededicated a third of this weekend’s show to the Senate race.
If Joe K’s objective was to introduce himself to New Jersey as the nice guy that he truly is, his campaign is working. If he’s out to beat Menendez, it does not appear to be working. The predicate of the campaign was if Obama wins New Jersey by less that 10%, Kyrillos could beat Menendez. Yet, based upon recent polls, Menendez is outperforming Obama in New Jersey. Put another way, Kyrillos is under-performing Romney in New Jersey.
Even the jabs Kyrillos threw at Menendez in their three debates were nice. His press releases leave the harsh quotes to his campaign manager. His TV ads are nice.
If nice gets voters’ attention and overcomes a double digit deficit in the current New Jersey race, it will be a first.
