By Art Gallagher
Over the Memorial Day weekend I noticed that Sean Byrnes, the establishment candidate for State Senate in the 13th District Democratic Primary, has put up lawn signs to get people to vote for him on Tuesday, June 6. Byrnes is being challenged for the nomination to compete with Republican Declan O’Scanlon in November by Joshua Leinsdorf of Atlantic Highlands. The winner of the LD 13 Senate election will replace Senator Joe Kyrillos in the Senate.
Given that Byrnes is taking the primary challenge from Leinsdorf seriously, I thought I should too. I invited Mr. Leinsdorf to sit with me for an interview. He surprised me. I thought Leinsdorf was an attention seeking gadfly perennial candidate. I found him to be a sincere, smart and thoughtful man who has common sense ideas on how to solve New Jersey’s many fiscal problems. Win or lose, he wants to influence public policy. He claims that even his losing campaigns have made a difference.
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Posted: June 2nd, 2017 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, 2017 Elections, Monmouth County News, New Jersey, Opinion | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, endorsement, Joshua Leinsdorf, LD 13 Democratic Primary, LD 13 primary, Monmouth County News, New Jersey, Opinion, Sean Byrnes | 1 Comment »
Joshua Leinsdorf and Sean Byrnes will compete in the Democratic Primary for State Senate in LD 13
Joshua Leinsdorf of Atlantic Highlands has filed as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Senate from the 13th legislative district.
The former Princeton Board of Education member ran for Assembly as an Independent in 2015 and for Governor as a third party candidate in 2009. As a gubernatorial candidate, Leinsdorf called for cutting taxes, fixing the schools, making public transportation usable and the elimination of county government.
Leinsdorf is the first candidate in the 13th district to file petitions with the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections. His petition contains 170 signatures. 100 are required. Petitions are due in Trenton on Monday April 3 at 4p.m.
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Posted: March 28th, 2017 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, 2017 Elections, Monmouth County News | Tags: 13th legislative district, Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon, Joshua Leinsdorf, LD 13, LD 13 primary, Monmouth County News, Monmouth Democrats, Monmouth GOP, Sean Byrnes, Senator Joe Kyrillos | 2 Comments »
By Thomas Stokes, Middletown
With the June 4th primary rapidly approaching, I wanted to share why I’m supporting Republican Joe Kyrillos for State Senate.
I began working for Conservative candidates in High School when Barry Goldwater ran for President. In college, I founded the first Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter at NYU. I served as a Municipal Chairman of the NY State Conservative Party and worked hard to elect Ronald Reagan (Chair, Taxpayers For Reagan) before moving to New Jersey many years ago.
Joe and I have been good friends for a number of years. I have been proud to support him in every election. Now, he’s facing a new primary opponent – and what I have discovered about his opponent is alarming, and is something that should also concern you. By the way, contrary to claims she’s an attorney, Joe’s opponent never even went to law school, let alone pass a bar exam.
Leigh-Ann Bellew claims she is a champion of fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, it’s just not true. Three years ago, she racked up almost $140,000 in credit card debt on 20 different credit cards – including payment to a vacation timeshare company in Las Vegas – and didn’t pay the bills. Instead, she filed for bankruptcy. How can we trust her to be the conservative leader we need when she can’t even be responsible for her own finances?
To make matters worse, the Monmouth County Democrat Chairman has now confirmed reports that Ms. Bellew’s campaign has sought funding and other assistance from the Democrats in this primary!
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Posted: May 16th, 2013 | Author: admin | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, 2013 Election, Joe Kyrillos, LD 13, Leigh-Ann Bellew, Monmouth County, Primary Election, Thomas Stokes | Tags: Joe Kyrillos, LD 13 primary, Leigh-Ann Bellew, Thomas Stokes | 44 Comments »
Won’t Say Who Is Doing The Polling Or Reveal Data
UPDATED: 1pm
townhall photo
Bellew for State Senate campaign manager Dwayne Horner called from Texas to say that the campaign polled 5,000 Republican voters in LD 13 on Sunday evening and that 83% said they favored replacing the incumbents. Horner refused to name the polling firm, saying only that its a well respected Republican firm that worked for the Romney campaign in Florida and several Texas congressional campaigns.
Horner declined to say what questions were asked of those polled, saying he would not get into the specifics of the poll. Twice MMM asked if the incumbents were named in the polling questions. Twice Horner declined to answer.
“83% said the incumbents should not be re-elected,” Horner said. “Did you tell them who the incumbents are?” we asked. “I’m not getting into the specifics of the poll, but Leigh-Ann Bellew’s name was mentioned,” Horner responded.
Horner challenged Senator Joe Kyrillos and the anonymous Republican political operative quoted below to go door to door and find 8 of 10 voters who plan to reelect Kryillos.
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The slate of candidates challenging LD 13 legislative incumbents, Senator Joe Kyrillos, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon claim they have polling data that indicates “voters overwhelming want to fire the incumbents.”
An email sent to Bayshore Tea Party Group members by co-founder Barbara Gonzalez reads, in part, as follows:
Momentum is on the side of the candidates of R4CL. Voters overwhelmingly say they are ready to fire the current incumbents. Internal polls show that voters are ready to support a new slate of candidates.
Gonzalez told MoreMonmouthMusings that she does not know who is conducting polls for the primary challengers led by state senate candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew or what the numbers say. “That message was sent over by the campaign, I just cut and paste and sent it out,” said Gonzalez, “but my internal poll agrees with it. Everyone I talk to wants a change.”
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Posted: April 24th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Election, Amy Handlin, Barbara Gonzalez, Bayshore Tea Party Group, Declan O'Scanlon, Joe Kyrillos, LD 13, Leigh-Ann Bellew | Tags: Amy Handlin, Declan O'Scanlon, Dwayne Horner, Joe Kyrillos, LD 13, LD 13 primary, Leigh-Ann Bellew | 16 Comments »