2012 Predictions

Serena DiMaso will be elected Monmouth County Freeholder at the Title 19 convention of the Monmouth GOP Committee on January 14.   Bob Walsh will withdraw during his speech before the convention.

Bill Spadea defeats Donna Simon and John Saccenti at a Title 19 convention of the 16th legislative district to fill the assembly seat vacated by the death of Peter Biondi.  After recounts and law suits, the November special election for the seat is declared a tie between Spadea and Democratic Princeton Committeewoman Sue Nemeth.  Another special election is scheduled for January of 2013.

Joe Oxley will be named Township Administrator and In House Attorney for Wall Township.  The appointment will forward a statewide trend of municipalities hiring either attorneys or engineers as their administrators as a cost saving measure.   Oxley is reelected GOP County Chairman by acclamation.  Senator Jennifer Beck will give the nominating speech.  Christine Hanlon will be Vice Chair.

Middletown will get a new Parks and Recreation Director.  It won’t be Linda Baum or Pam Brightbill.

Jim McGreevey is ordained an Episcopal priest.

Jon Corzine remembers where he put the $1.2 billion.

Senator Joe Kyrillos will be the GOP nominee for U.S. Senator, defeating Anna Little and Joseph Rudy Rullo in the primary. 

Congressman Steve Rothman defeats Congressman Bill Pascrell in the Democratic primary for the 9th Congressional District nomination.  In the only surprise of the primary, former Bergen County GOP Freeholder Anthony Cassano, who had agreed to take one for the team in the 9th, was defeated when the Bergen County Tea Party Group organized a write-in campaign for Anna Little.  Little was on the ballot as a U.S. Senate candidate.  Having lost the Senate nomination to Joe Kyrillos, Little accepts the nomination, asks Kyrillos to host a fundraiser for her, and promises to move into the district if she wins.   She doesn’t.

Maggie Moran defeats Vin Gopal and Frank “LaHornica” LaRocca in a close election for the Monmouth County Democratic Chairmanship.

James Hogan of Long Branch is the GOP nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District.  Frank Pallone is reelected by 8%.

Jordan Rickards of North Brunswick  is the GOP nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.  Rush Holt is reelected by 15%.

On August 28, the second day of the Republican National Convention, the National Weather Service warns that Hurricane Chris is heading towards the Jersey Shore.  Acting Governor Kim Guadagno gets on TV and says, “Get the heck off of the beach please.”

Mitt Romney will be the GOP nominee for President of the United States.  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will be the Vice Presidential nominee.

President Obama nominates Vice President Joe Biden to be Secretary of State.  Biden submits his resignation as VP effective upon both houses of congress confirming his successor.  President Obama nominates Hillary Clinton as Vice President.   Speaker of the House John Boehner refuses to schedule confirmation hearings for the VP nomination on the constitutional grounds that their is no vacancy in the office.   Obama makes them both recess appointments.  Clinton is nominated for VP at the Democratic National Convention and Secretary of State Biden spends October in China.

Despite losing their home states of Massachusetts and New Jersey, the Romney-Christie ticket wins the electoral college by one vote, 270-269.   The winning vote comes from Maine, one of two states that awards electoral votes by congressional district.  Romney-Christie lose Maine 3-1 but win the election.  Obama-Clinton file suit to challenge Maine’s method of awarding electoral votes.  Romney-Christie counter with a suit in Nebraska, which they won 4 electoral votes to 1, using the same arguments that Obama-Clinton use in Maine.  The U.S. Supreme Court decides both cases for the plaintiffs, 5-4, and determined that in all future presidential elections that electoral votes are awarded on a winner take all basis nationally.  Tea Party leader Dwight Kehoe calls for the impeachment of the Justices who voted affirmatively, claiming that they don’t understand the 10th Amendment.

Robert Menendez defeats Joe Kyrillos for U.S. Senate by 1%.

U. S. Senator Frank Lautenberg resigns.   In one of his last acts as Governor before ascending to the Vice Presidency, Chris Christie appoints Kyrillos to Lautenberg’s Senate seat.

What do you think will happen?

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Judge Oxley?

The worst kept secret in Monmouth County politics became news today when Politickernj reported that “Monmouth County GOP Chairman Joe Oxley is poised to leave his chairmanship for a superior court judgeship.”

Politickernj’s story is premature.

“If it happens, it won’t be during this legislative session,” said State Senator Joe Kyrillos, “Joe is an excellent chairman.  Monmouth County is important to the party statewide going into 2012 and 2013.”

State Senator Jennifer Beck said she’d heard rumblings about an Oxley judicial nomination but assumed it was a rumor.  “Joe has never mentioned an interest in being a judge,” said Beck, “there are three Republican and one Democratic vacancy on the Monmouth Court now.  The workload is significant. About 60 lawyers have expressed interest in those positions, but the Chairman is not one of them.”

Rumors of Oxley moving to the Monmouth Vicinage were rampant in the legal community and among GOP politicos the week before Thanksgiving as several people who received calls from the State Police performing a background check on the former sheriff spread the word.

Oxley passed the background check, according to sources.  The bar association and the Monmouth Senate delegation still need to give their blessings before Governor Chris Christie will announce the nomination, which must be confirmed by the Senate.

“Nothing is official until the Governor makes his nomination,” Oxley told MMM in November, “as of now, I am completing my term and running for reelection as Chairman.”

Speculation for Oxley’s successor as chairman has centered around State GOP Committeewoman Christine Hanlon, State GOP Treasurer and former Senate President John Bennett, and former Assemblyman Steve Corodemus.

A source close to the former Assemblyman told MMM that Corodemus does not want the position.

Bennett and Hanlon could not be reached for comment.

Jim Giannell, the Kingmaker without a portfolio, told MMM that he won’t be a candidate for chairman should Oxley get benched.  Giannell ran for chairman against Adam Puharic in 2006.

Howell Chairman John Costigan, who challenged Oxley in 2010, also said that he would not be seeking the office.

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Monmouth County Ahead of the Curve

Celebrating Monmouth’s GOP Women during Women’s History Month

By Christine Giordano Hanlon, Esq., Monmouth County Republican State Committeewoman

This is not your grandfather’s Republican Party…at least not in Monmouth County.  For years, women have been making big strides within our party as elected officials, local party leaders and activists.  While the number of women in elected office is generally on the decline, Monmouth County Republican women continue to move ahead with the backing of party leadership both at the local, County and State level.

Monmouth’s GOP women have a strong presence in State government, perhaps the strongest of all of the 21 counties.  Former Sheriff Kim Guadagno made history when she was elected to serve as the first Lieutenant Governor in 2009.  In the legislature, 36% of the female Republican legislators are from Monmouth County.  Senator Jennifer Beck (D-12) is one of only three female Republicans in the State Senate.  Of the eight Republican women in the State Assembly, three call Monmouth County home.   Mary Pat Angelini, Caroline Casagrande and Amy Handlin represent Monmouth County’s 11th, 12th and 13th Districts, respectively.  

At the County level, two of the three Monmouth County constitutional officers are Republican women.  County Clerk M. Claire French and Surrogate Rosemarie Peters have served the citizens of Monmouth County for many years.  Freeholder Lillian Burry has been a trailblazer for women across our County, having served as Mayor of Colts Neck, Freeholder since 2006 and the first woman in County history to serve as Freeholder Director in 2008.  And the Republican controlled Board of Freeholders have appointed women to some of the most important positions in our County – County Counsel, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board.

In our towns, Monmouth Republican women serve as local elected officials, Municipal Chairs and grass roots activists.  Mayors Nancy Grbelja (Millstone), Ann Marie Conte (Wall), Janet Tucci (West Long Branch), and many more GOP women serving on the governing bodies of 23 of our 53 municipalities, have demonstrated that Republican women are electable leaders who are making significant contributions to local government.  Approximately 30% of our 53 local Municipal Chairs are women, a number that has grown dramatically in the past three years.  Women have also taken on leadership roles in volunteer efforts, spending countless hours doing the ground work on campaigns and forcefully advocating on important issues. Their efforts help advance the success of our party at every level of government.

Monmouth County’s Republican Women’s Federation is the one of the strongest and fastest growing county Federations in the State of New Jersey, boasting an increase in membership from 49 members in 2007 to 200 members in 2010.  In addition, for the first time in the history of the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club, traditionally the male counterpart to the Women’s Federation, a woman was elected Vice President in 2011.

March is National Women’s History month.  It is the perfect time to recognize both the Republican women who have accomplished so much, and the County and local party leadership that supports them.  Monmouth County’s Republican Party is certainly ahead of the curve with respect to women in government, and it is with great respect and admiration that I congratulate all of the Monmouth GOP women who have stepped up to lead, to inspire, to serve.  I am very proud to be a Monmouth County Republican.

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