Oliver is running for Senate

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver. facebook photo

The Democratic Special Primary for U.S. Senate just got a whole lot more interesting and a whole lot more competitive.

The Star Ledger is reporting that Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver has collected 1500 signatures and will file as a candidate on Monday. She will compete with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressman Rush Holt in the August 13 primary for the Democratic nomination to fill the Senate vacancy cause by Frank Lautenberg’s death.

Oliver, of East Orange, cuts into Booker’s base of African-American and urban voters far more powerfully than the suburban congressmen, Pallone and Holt.

In the Republican Special Primary, former GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan and newcomer Dr. Aleita Eck of Piscataway are expected to file their petitions in Trenton tomorrow.

Bayshore Tea Party co-flounders Barbara Gonzalez and Bob Gordon, former State Senate candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew and former Assembly candidate Edna Walsh announced their endorsement of Eck on Sunday evening.  Bellew and Walsh lost the GOP primary in the 13th Legislative District last week by a 80-20 margin, with the support of the Bayshore Tea Party.

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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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Kryillos Confident, Working It Hard

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands. Photo by Art Gallagher. Click for larger view.

State Senator Joe Kyrillos said he won the U.S. Senate primary without the Bayshore Tea Party support, “by the largest margin in half a century,” and that he is confident that 13th legislative district Republicans will nominate him for another term in the June 4th primary election.

“We’re working hard,” Kyrillos said of himself and his running mates, “probably harder than we need to, but it is energizing and gratifying to meet with so many constituents.”

Kyrillos left the Golden, Arnone and DiMaso Armed Forces Day ‘friend raiser’ yesterday to hit the streets of Atlantic Highlands with Mayor Fred Rast.

Rast was a supporter of Bayshore Tea Party backed candidates in previous GOP primaries.  “Not this time,” said Rast as he and Kyrillos greeted residents at garage sales along Highland Ave.

Kyrillos said he saw no evidence that the BTPG backed challengers were making an impact on the campaign trail.

The challengers cancelled their door to door efforts today due to the weather.  Instead they made phone calls and had a picnic at Assembly candidate Edna Walsh’s house.

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Meet the Tea Party Candidates

Evidently, the Bayshore Tea Party Group leadership and their candidates don’t like the coverage MoreMonmouthMusings is giving their primary campaign.  Don’t take my word for it.  Listen to Barbara Gonzalez introducing sheriff candidate Dan Peters in the first video below.

Leigh-Ann Bellew stopped taking my phone calls a couple of weeks ago.  She told someone to pass along the message that I should deal with Dwayne Horner.  Now Horner is not returning my calls.  Freeholder candidate Ed Pekarsky asked that I post Tom Fitzsimmons’ email and if he could respond here.  I told him he could.  He hasn’t sent me his response.  It’s OK with me that he isn’t responding, but hey, Gonzalez wrote that I censored Tea Party posts, which I didn’t, and then her candidate doesn’t send it a post he that requested.

When I met Dan Peters in early April, he said he would sit for an interview.  I’m writing a story about him for publication later today or tomorrow.  Peters hasn’t returned three calls since yesterday.

It’s a lot easier to write “Bellew (or Horner, Peters, Pekarsky, etc) didn’t return a phone call,” than it is to write up their comments, but I’d really rather give them an opportunity to tell their side of the story.

In that spirit, here they are, telling their own stories on video:

Dan Peters, Sheriff Candidate

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Low turnout is a major risk for LD 13 incumbents

LD 13:Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Fair Haven, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Little Silver, Marlboro, Middletown, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Rumson, Sea Bright, Union Beach

The idea that State Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon could be defeated by their Tea Party challengers, Leigh-Ann Bellew for Senate and Edna Walsh and Stephen Boracchia for Assembly, in the June 4 primary is unthinkable, even laughable, to many Monmouth County Republicans.

But recent history and a look at the numbers indicate that an upset with statewide consequences could very well be in the making if the challenge is not taken seriously.

With only nominal competition in the governor’s race, voter turnout in the Republican primary on June 4 is likely to be very low.   Therein lies the danger for the incumbents. Even “good Republicans” rarely vote in primaries.  Even fewer if there is no perceived competition.

There are 34,216 registered Republicans in the 13th district. In the 2011 primary, the last time the legislature was on the ballot, only 2,274 Republicans voted.   The challengers know that.

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Bellew Comes Out Swinging

LD 13 GOP State Senate challenger Leigh-Ann Bellew wasted no time in kicking off her campaign to unseat incumbent  State Senator Joe Kyrillos.

“Negative” is not a strong enough word for the press release Bellew sent out this afternoon. “Scathing” is a more accurate description.

IN OFFICE SINCE THE 1980s, KYRILLOS TAKES HEAT FROM CONSERVATIVE PRIMARY CHALLENGE

Union Beach, NJ — State Senator and defeated 2012 U.S. Senate candidate Joe Kyrillos, a leading GOP “moderate” who has broken with most Republicans on taxes, abortion and gun control, is facing a conservative primary challenger backed by a full slate of candidates.

“Joe Kyrillos has been in office since the 1980s – that’s nearly 30 years – and his  ‘accomplishments’ have included tripling state spending, endorsing new and expanded gun control laws, and  supporting abortion,” said Leigh-Ann Bellew, a Union Beach educator and conservative activist challenging Kyrillos in the June 4 Republican Primary.

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Bayshore Tea Party Candidates for Legislature in LD 13

Former Congressional candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew of Union Beach filed petitions to run for the Republican nomination for State Senate in the 13th legislative district this afternoon.  Her petitions included 154 signature.  Bellew is attempting to unseat incumbent State Senator Joe Kyrillos.

Edna Walsh of Middletown and Stephen Boracchia of Atlantic Highlands are challenging incumbent Assembly members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon for the Republican nominations to be decided in the June 4 primary election.

The 13th district challengers and the county candidates for Sheriff and Freeholder are running together under the slogan Republicans for Conservative Leadership.

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