NJ Right To Life Defends Kyrillos And Handlin Against Bellew’s ‘Misinformation’

Pro-Life Advocate Endorses O’Scanlon In LD13 Primary

Marie Tasy, Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life issued a statement last night refuting the “misinformation” being circulated by State Senate Candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew and her Bayshore Tea Party Group backed running mates in the 13th legislative district Republican primary.

Tasy was quoted in a mailer sent by the Bellew/Bayshore Tea Party slate as saying that Senator Joe Kyrillos voted in favor of partial birth abortion.

In her statement to MoreMonmouthMusings, Tasy went into painstaking detail to list Kyrillos’s votes against partial birth abortion. She said that bill cited in Bellew’s mailer that Kyrillos voted for, S1909, was a “bill filled with very technical, scientific jargon that was rammed through the Senate at breakneck speed.” The bill legalized embryonic stem cell research and cloning, NOT partial birth abortion.  Tasy said that many Senators voted for the bill without fully understanding it.  Subsequently, Kyrillos voted against the funding of embryonic stem cell/cloning research with increased taxes and bonding.

Tasy noted that Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon were not legislators when the partial birth abortion and embryonic stem cell/cloning research bills were voted on.

Tasy’s statement is particularly extraordinary because Kyrillos is pro-choice on abortion.  Tasy said she is not defending Kyrillos, but setting the record straight on the misinformation campaign.

 I am not writing to defend Senator Kyrillos’ record and well known position on abortion, but to set the record straight on the misinformation campaign that is being circulated regarding his voting record and the positions of Assemblyman O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Handlin.  It should be noted that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin were NOT  in the legislature at the time these bills were voted on and  therefore did  not vote on any of these bills.

“It says a lot about our opponents who call themselves conservatives that someone as highly respected in the Pro-Life community as Marie Tasy would take the time to refute the misinformation in their literature,” said O’Scanlon, “This is further confirmation of what I’ve been saying throughout the campaign, Bellew, her running mates, and the Bayshore Tea Party Group’s leadership have no integrity.”

Neither Bellew nor Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez responded to an invitation to comment.

Tasy’s statement can be read in its entirety below:

I am writing to set the record straight regarding some misinformation that is being circulated in mailers to voters in the the 13th legislative district. Read the rest of this entry »

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Crunch Time

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

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O’Scanlon Endorsed By NRA PAC

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon has been endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund for the June 4th Republican primary in the 13th legislative district.

In an email to their members in the 13th district, NRA-PV said,

“Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is rated “A” by the NRA-PVF and has been a proven Second Amendment supporter throughout his tenure in the state legislature.  He has been vocal in his support of your Second Amendment rights and has stood strong against anti-gun lawmakers pushing their radical agenda in Trenton.  Declan O’Scanlon has stood by gun owners in New Jersey by consistently voting against onerous gun proposals, including sweeping ammunition bans, magazine capacity restrictions, one-gun-a-month limitation, and more.

On Election Day, remember your gun rights are at stake and Vote Freedom First by voting to reelect Declan O’Scanlon for Assemblyman in District 13.”

O’Scanlon welcomed the endorsement as a confirmation of his conservative credentials by “one of the most effective advocacy groups in the nation.”

“This is confirmation that my opponents have be lying about my record and confirmation that my opponents have no integrity,”O’Scanlon said, “The NRA knows enough to say away from my opponents,

“As the only candidate endorsed by the NRA-PV in the district, I enthusiastically endorse Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.”

Barbara Gonzalez, co-founder of the Bayshore Tea Party Group which is supporting O’Scanlon’s opponents in the primary did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE

Gonzalez responded to MMM late last evening, declining to comment. “Nope….your blog has become trashy.  Just….nope,” she wrote.

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Why I am voting against Leigh-Ann Bellew on June 4

By Art Gallagher

Yesterday I was interviewed by The Star Ledger and went on the record saying that I would be voting for Joe Kyrillos for State Senate in the 13th Legislative District Republican primary on June 4th.   Consistent with my slogan of being fair and biased, it is appropriate that I tell you, my readers and the reason my opinion matters to The Star Ledger, that MMM is now part of the story and that I have made a decision that can’t help but color my coverage of the rest of the campaign.

MMM is part of the LD 13 story, instead of just covering the story, because we’ve provided the bulk of the media coverage of the primary campaign to date and because Kyrillos’ challenger, Leigh-Ann Bellew, attacked this site in a press release, according to The Star Ledger.

On many important issues, Life and The Right to Bear Arms in particular, I am in more philosophical agreement with Bellew than I am with Kyrillos.   Despite my philosophical differences with Kyrillos, the choice between him and Bellew has become a very easy one.  Kyrillos is a very good State Senator.  Bellew is a deeply flawed candidate.  She never should have exposed herself, her family, and friends who care about her deeply to the rigors and vetting of this campaign.

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Monmouth Republicans and the Tea Party Row – A National Problem in Local Form

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.

~Ronald Reagan, July 1, 1975

By Tommy DeSeno

Self-identified Tea Party groups are supporting primary candidates against Republican incumbents Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, Monmouth Freeholder Director Tom Arnone, Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and Monmouth Sheriff Shaun Golden.

Normally I’d say to the challengers nothing more than, “Hey it’s a free country so have at it,” but to call America a “free country” now is becoming more cliché than reality, isn’t it?  Between Democrat Obama’s view that he has a right to kill American citizens without due process of law and Republican John Roberts ruling that I can be “taxed” on ObamaCare for not buying it, it is becoming increasingly hard to know who to trust in matters of American freedom.

When people ask me nowadays if I’d like to see a third party in politics, I tell them I’d settle for a second one.  The Democrats and Republicans are becoming that much alike.

So let me start by saying to Tea Party folks that I understand your frustration.  I too feel the need to have political ideology inform political judgment rather than concerns over electoral identity.  

The problem, my friends, is the “Tea Party” was never intended to be a third political party, and the local folks in Monmouth County are treating it like it is.  There seems to be a need to serve a full slate of candidates without regard to whether the Republican in question should be challenged, and that makes you look more election driven than ideology driven.  

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Which candidates are better known?

Why either LD 13 slate could still win

Provolone is cheese

By Art Gallagher

Monday night at the Two Rivers Republican Club of Fair Haven Meet the Candidates night, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assembly Candidate Edna Walsh got into it over which slate is better known.

While scolding the challengers for running against “the best, most conservative, delegation in the legislature,” and dismissing the Bayshore Tea Party backed candidates’ justification for running,  i.e., that Joe Kyrillos, Amy Handlin and O’Scanlon don’t share the conservative values of the district the challengers say,  O’Scanlon said, “Where have you been?  I haven’t heard from you and no body has heard of you.”

Walsh retorted, “As I go door to door, no one has heard to you.”  To which O’Scanlon scoffed.

Both O’Scanlon and Walsh are probably right.  Unless something has happened that nobody has accounted for in the last two years, very few of the legislative candidates in the district, and throughout the state, incumbent or not, are very well known.

In March of 2011, days before the new legislative map was announced, I was disgusted that Dr. Alan Rosenthal of Rutgers, the deciding vote on the commission that was designating the gerrymandered map that in all likelihood would determine the partisan composition of the legislature for the next decade, had on his own created a criteria by which the map should be determined; continuity  of representation.

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O’Scanlon On Offense

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

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.

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Bellew, Gonzalez, Boracchia Attack LD 13 Incumbents, Blogs

By Art Gallagher

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.

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Bennett: “We’re fighting this primary as if we’re down 25%”

Monmouth County GOP Chairman John Bennett sounded a rallying cry to about 125 Republican faithful on Saturday morning in Hazlet at a Armed Forces Day ‘friend raiser’ held at the Red Oak Diner for county candidates Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso.

“We’ve had primaries before in Monmouth County that we did not take seriously,” Bennett said,”and bad things happened.  This time we’re running as if we are 25 points behind.”

State Senator Joe Kyrillos asked the assembled Republicans to make sure their friends and families come out and vote on June 4 for himself and Assembly members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon, in addition to Golden, Arnone and DiMaso.

Deputy Freeholder Director Serena DiMaso, former mayors Eddie Farve or Bay St. Louis, MS and Brett Warr of Gulfport, MS and former CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch

DiMaso introduced former CNN correspondent Kathleen Koch, former mayors Eddie Farve of Bay St. Louis, MS and Brett Warr of Gulfport, MS, as well as former Congressman Gene Taylor.  The group was visiting New Jersey to support the Bayshore Conference of Mayors, touring the destruction of Superstorm Sandy in Mantoloking and the rebuilding of the Seaside Heights boardwalk.

Golden used the presence of the guests from Mississippi to talk about his department’s response to Sandy. “We had no deaths or serious injuries in Monmouth County.  In Katrina, there were almost 2000 deaths,” he said.

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Handlin’s Legislation Will Spur Job Growth

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin

Legislation that would eliminate the scheduled 10% surcharge on employers’ unemployment insurance tax was cleared by the Assembly Labor Committee today.

The bill, A-4112/A-3675, sponsored by Assemblywomen Amy Handlin (R-13, Monmouth) and Alison Little McHose (R-24, Hunterdon, Morris, Warren and Sussex), postpones the implementation of the surcharge, which is currently scheduled to go into effect on July 1, for one year.  An identical bill, S-2404, passed the State Senate unanimously in February.

The Office of Legislative Services estimates that eliminating the surcharge will save employers $300 million in the coming fiscal year.

“The timing of this legislation is critical as we approach the summer season and with the effort to restore the Jersey Shore well underway,” stated Handlin. “Rebuilding communities involves both residential and commercial redevelopment. Companies who invest in our economy would face significant unemployment insurance increases which could impact their hiring decisions. This legislation ensures that the strides made in putting people back to work will  not be affected by the cost increases that would have been felt under this  surcharge.”

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