Monmouth Dems Outraise Monmouth GOP

In their first quarters as party chairmen, Democrat Vin Gopal bested Republican John Bennett in the fundraising battle by over $10,000.

According to their reports filed with the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission, the Monmouth County Democrats raised $38,647.50. and spent $28,096.01.  The Democrats started the quarter with only $957 in cash. As of September 30th they had $11,509.

The Monmouth GOP ended the quarter with almost $2,000 less cash than it had when Bennett was elected.  The GOP reported raising $28,296 and spending $30,284.  Former Chairman Joe Oxley left Bennett with $34,790.  Of the $28K  Bennett raised, $6000 was donated by the Election Fund of Assemblyman Dave Rible and $3000 was donated by Senator Jennifer Beck’s campaign account.

Gopal’s large donors were Local Union 400 IBEW ($3500), the Middletown Democrats ($1850), Plumbers and Pipe fitters Local Union #9 ($1000) and the Uliano Law Firm of West Long Branch ($1500).

Gopal raised $20,710 in contributions of $300 or less.  Bennett raised $9,802 in donations of $300 or less.

“The Monmouth County Democrats are organizing at a grassroots level because residents across the county are beginning to realize there is a very clear difference between the two political parties,” said Gopal,   “At our convention last June, we had a turnout of over 90% of our county committee with hundreds of new county committee members entering the political process, many of them first time contributors to our party,”

” With party standard bearers like Barack Obama, Bob Menendez and Frank Pallone, people see that we are building and we are organizing.  The Monmouth County Democratic Party is fighting for middle-class taxpayers, fighting for small business owners and working to protect our environment.  There is a clear difference between the two county parties and our messages and people across the county are beginning to recognize these differences.”

Bennett did not return a call for comment.

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Little reports $52K in cash, $96K in debt

Anna Little’s 6th district congressional campaign reported $52,151 cash on hand and $96,366 in debt to the Federal Election Commission through the quarter than ended September 30th.

The campaign reported that it raised $203,573 and spent $156,155 in the quarter.  Of the $203,573 raised, only $33,689 was itemized by donor.  Most of the donors disclosed were from outside of New Jersey.  The required employer information is missing for many.

Little’s second quarter report indicated a negative cash balance of over $11,000.  The third quarter report, which was filed electronically on October 14, indicates that the campaign had a beginning cash balance of $4,734.

Little was criticized by the FEC in August for failing to disclose donor information, for math that doesn’t add up or jibe between reports and for reporting a negative cash balance but no debt.  She was required to amend her three prior reports by October 4th.  The prior reports were not amended and the violations apparently continue in the current report.

Of the $156,155 Little said she spent, $2,250 was paid to Constantine Financial Services of Oaktan, VA for compliance consulting. $1,800 was paid to Chris Walen, CPA of Matawan, NJ for accounting services.  Rick Trader of Deptford, NJ was paid $1950 for conservative commando radio and Jayson Solino of Ocean, NJ was paid $4000 for a website.  Little’s website is linked to a free blogspot site that hosts her press releases.

Other reported expenditures include $1748 paid to Lakeside Manor in Hazlet, NJ for lodging.  Lakeside Manor, a catering hall, does not have lodging rooms.

Little is making her second attempt to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone.  Pallone is seeking his 13th term in the House of Representatives.  For the quarter ended September 30, Pallone raised $1.6 million and spent $1.3 million in campaign funds.  He has $3.5 million cash on hand.

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Anna Little’s Campaign Falls to Respond to FEC Inquiry

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

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Obama caught between Iraq and a Myspace

By Ernesto Cullari

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Biden Channels Bill Clinton

AP photo

What is it with Democrats and channeling?

Last week in Charlotte at the Democratic convention Congressman Frank Pallone channeled Governor Chris Christie.

Yesterday in Ohio, in a town called Seaman, Vice President Joe Biden channeled former President Bill Clinton while campaigning in a diner.

I wonder how those biker dudes would have reacted if the Secret Service hadn’t been there.  Then again, maybe they were undercover Secret Service agents.

Biden opened his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with a effusive expression of his love for his wife, Jill. “I love you,” Biden professed to 20,000 in the convention hall and a national TV audience, “you’re the love of my life and the life of my love.”

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Pallone Spoofs Christie At Dem Convention

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ANNA LITTLE EARNS BIG SUPPORT

Red Bank, NJ – The newly formed American Tea Party Congress is not wasting any time in showing its political teeth. The statewide organization comprised of 31 statewide tea party and conservative groups, voted to unanimously support Anna Little in her congressional bid against the notoriously liberal Frank Pallone, best known for his support of ObamaCare.

The feisty Little is known as a committed Constitutionalist, which resonates with Tea Party supporters who believe in limited government and fiscal responsibility.  New Jersey tea parties have learned the importance of networking and working toward a common goal.  Mayor Little will be the first candidate to benefit from their hard-earned knowledge.

Bob Gordon, spokesman for the American Tea Party Congress, said, “The unanimous vote to support Anna not only speaks volumes about her as a candidate, it also speaks volumes about what this group is capable of doing.  Three years ago when the Tea Parties erupted throughout this nation in response to an out-of-control government, many of our members were politically naive.  In a very short period of time we have been able to grow into a movement that will impact the future of this country.  Many were quick to report that the tea parties were no longer relevant and were disintegrating. Here in New Jersey, the reports of our demise were ill-informed and fictitious.  We are strong, we have united, and we intend to reclaim our country.  We will do this by vetting and supporting constitutional candidates and by speaking with one voice – loud and clear.”

Gordon continued: “Anna is the first of many candidates that will enjoy our support.  Others will soon follow.  Not only do we intend to support candidates, we also intend to keep them accountable once they are elected. We will not be ignored by the establishment any longer.  It’s time to reclaim America and the principles it was founded upon.  We believe wholeheartedly that Anna can help us lead the charge to achieving that goal.”

Gene Hoyas, the moderator and founder of the American Tea Party Congress also commented: “I am honored to be part of this historic alliance and to have had the opportunity to vote to supportAnna.  Organizing the Congress is a first and supporting Anna is another first. America is rising and we are determined that she will continue to rise until the land of the free and the home of the brave is safe from tyrants and despotic rulers.”

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Gopal calls out Little and Smith over Kyrillos tax stance

The following is a release from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal on behalf of Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (Monmouth-6) and Brian Froelich (Monmouth-4) – Democratic Candidates for US Congress in Monmouth County:

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Flooding in Highlands

Flooding is a serious problem in Highlands.

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.

There’s two problems with this scenario.

Read the rest of this entry »

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The Only Issue This Year

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

This election, like every Congressional election, will have nominees running around their districts and, in the case of Senatorial candidates, the state, spewing banalities and canards about what “they” have as a philosophy, what direction “they” will push for their country, what “they” will support and reject. As it has been for many years, it will all be nonsense.

There is only one issue in this year’s Congressional campaigns. There is only one issue in this year’s Senatorial campaign. Anything else is a myth. The only issue is whether in the next two years Congress will be run by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi or by two people with very, very different ideas.

Frank Pallone and Rush Holt wouldn’t vote against Nancy Pelosi if their lives depended on it – perhaps because they fully believe their political lives are totally dependent on the good will of Nancy Pelosi. In the entire time each has represented us, they have shown not a hint of a backbone, moral, ethical, intellectual, or otherwise. These two do not represent their districts in New Jersey. They never have. They never will. They represent their party, and only their party. More precisely, they represent the will of Nancy Pelosi. What their constituents should be demanding is that their representatives represent New Jersey, not Pacific Heights, California. Can anyone honestly say they are just tickled pink with having this country run by Nancy Pelosi? She is as intellectually stiff and dead as her surgically created face. No one who exclaims that we need to pass the most significant domestic legislation in fifty years in order to see what it says as opposed to actually reading the darn think before deciding whether it is worth supporting, is worthy of leading this nation. But a vote for Pallone or Holt is a vote for Pelosi. There is no getting around that.

As for Menendez, aside from his well-documented corruption pushed aside by the fourth estate that used to protect America, he is every bit as important for the continuation of Harry Reid’s dominance in the Senate as Al Franken. If one were suddenly to awake from a long sleep, they might be inclined to laugh heartily at the great satirical impression by Al Franken of a clueless, directionless U.S. Senator – until being informed it is not an act. Harry Reid himself has done nothing in four years to turn this economy around. He has spent every day blaming the Republicans. The fact is, the Republican House has sent Mr. Reid 65 bills, each of which would aid this economy in some way, providing jobs, providing fiscal sanity, providing the means of stabilizing an economy that currently threatens the viability of the dollar as the international standard. He has buried every one. He has never passed a budget during Obama’s tenure. His Senate even unanimously rejected the only budget ever submitted by Barack Obama – without ever producing an alternative.

The nation simply cannot wait until 2014 to take the Senate out of the control of Harry Reid. New Jersey cannot wait until Lautenberg runs again (no, seriously, he’s still there) to have a Senator representing New Jersey, not Nevada.

There is only one issue in this campaign. The voters of New Jersey need to plow through the posturing and supercilious nonsense and recognize that their choice is not about the candidates they see on the ballot. Their choice is to have the power in the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, or to elect candidates who will represent New Jersey, not Pacific Heights, California or Nevada.

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