Oxley Righted The Ship

Photo credit: Scarcini, Hollenbeck

When Joe Oxley was elected Monmouth County Chairman in June of 2008, by acclamation and with no opposition, he took over a party that had gone through six tumultuous years that left it in debt, fractured and on the verge of losing control of Monmouth County’s government for the first time in two decades.

Four years later, the Monmouth GOP holds all seats on the Freeholder Board, all Constitutional offices, all Legislative seats in the county and the vast majority of municipal offices throughout the county.  New Jersey has a Republican Governor who would not have been elected if not for the voter turnout in Monmouth County.

One year prior to taking on the Chairmanship, Oxley made the politically shocking and personally risky decision not to seek a fourth term as Monmouth County Sheriff.   Oxley had excelled as Sheriff.  He made a national name for himself and for the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department.  He was one of, if not the most, respected and popular elected officials in Monmouth County.  He was risking his career to lay the ground work for taking over the Monmouth GOP Chairmanship a year later in order to save the imploding  party from itself.

A hunger for leadership  and stability caused the various factions of the party to lay down their arms to acclaim Oxley the Chair without opposition.   Leadership, stability and winning is what they got, whether the faction leaders liked it or not.  Most often they didn’t as Oxley frustrated almost every party leader, ally or foe, during his two terms with an unorthodox but extremely effective leadership style that had nothing to do with building his personal popularity but everything to do with bringing leadership, stability and victory back to the party.  One could easily make an argument that he sacrificed much of his personal popularity for the good of the party. 

During his Chairmanship, Oxley earned his living as a municipal attorney.  He wasn’t greedy.  He didn’t abuse his political power for personal gain.  The level of work he took on was modest.  He and his new law partners lead the way in reducing legal fees on the county and municipal levels.

As Oxley moves on to the next phase of his professional life he still faces risks resulting from his 2007 decision to give up an office, Sheriff, that was securely his for as long as he wanted it, in order to provide a greater service to the county that he loves.   The obviously politically timed release of Solomon Dwek’s 2006 allegations against Oxley, allegations that had been released two years ago, albeit with less detail, will make Oxley’s confirmation as a Superior Court Judge more difficult.

As the Monmouth County Republican Party concludes a heated campaign to choose Oxley’s successor tonight, we should first lay down our arms, as we did in asking him for leadership in 2008, and thank him profoundly for a job well done.

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Negative Campaigning: The Monmouth County GOP Chair’s race, Part 5

As the Monmouth County GOP Chair’s race  crescendos on its way to a close tomorrow, several Republicans, mostly Bennett supporters, are bemoaning the negative nature the campaign.

Those who think this campaign was negative have limited experience in competitive campaigns.   Many, perhaps most, Monmouth County Republicans have limited experience in competitive campaigns.  If you want to experience competitive campaigns, spend some time in Bergen County.

John Bennett said he would run a positive campaign. He didn’t and he never intended to.  He ran a clever campaign designed to turn his substantial negatives around on his opponent.   Attempt to make his negative history out of bounds to talk about because he has a letter saying he didn’t do anything wrong and make his opponent’s government work a “conflict of interest”  to deflect attention away from his own piggish career.

That might have worked in the old 12th district against hapless Democrats .  It could never work in a competitive race.

John Bennett doesn’t know how to win a competitive race.  He’s never won one, unless you consider his 2003 primary against an unknown conservative by the name of Richard Pezzullo a competitive race.  Whenever John ventured out of his comfort zone in the old 12th, he lost.  

When Bennett was a “Chairman” as Leader of the Senate Republicans in 2003, he lost badly. Before that loss he fought back calls from fellow Republicans in Trenton to give up the Senate Co-Presidency and he fought back Chairman Bill Dowd’s call to step aside in his own race.  John knew better than everyone else.  Except he didn’t and he caused the loss of not only his own seat in the old 12th, but the Assembly seats too.  Worse, and something New Jersey has yet to recover from, he lost the Senate.

It’s not negative to say this.  It is just what is so. 

What would be negative is to not say it loud enough, like John’s friends didn’t say it loud enough in 2003.

Whoever the next Chairs of the major parties are on Wednesday morning, Monmouth County is going to become a more competitive county.  Those who rationalize that this year is a presidential year and next year is a gubernatorial year, so we’ll do well anyway are short term thinkers who don’t know how to build an organization.  That’s the kind of thinking that lead to the loss of Republican dominance in Trenton.

The two men who are competing for the Monmouth Democratic Chair both have a great deal of respect for the organization that Joe Oxley and Christine Hanlon have rebuilt over the last four years.  Both men are preparing and thinking long term.

Ultimately the job of the county chair is to win elections.  The Chair is not a position to give as reward, an act of friendship or because someone’s earned it as a “capstone” to a career.  It is not a ceremonial post that someone can coast in for two easy years.  Not unless you’re willing to let the competition catch up during those two years

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Bennett responds to the Soprano State anonymous mailer

An anonymous mailing which included a copy of the book jacket of The Soprano State and the two pages of the New York Times Best Seller by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure that featured former Acting Governor John Bennett was sent, from Trenton, to members of the Monmouth County Republican Committee this week, presumably to hurt Bennett’s candidacy for Monmouth County GOP Chair.

Bennett’s opponent, State Committeewoman Christine Hanlon, has denied any involvement in or prior knowledge of the mailing.

Bennett responded by mailing the County Committee members a photocopy of a March 24, 2007 Asbury Park Press article, Feds: Bennett is cleared in billing probe, which included a handwritten note from the former Acting Governor in which he refers to The Soprano State as a “politically charged and intentionally biased novel.”

A copy of Bennett’s mailing can be downloaded here.

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Monmouth GOP Chair’s Race, Part 1: The way the game is played

Ultimately the job of a county chair is to win elections.

Unfortunately, much of the current campaign for Monmouth GOP chair has been focused on the spoils of victory—which lawyer would be a hungrier pig if he/she got elected.

That issue is a red herring.

John Bennett’s pledge that he, his daughter and his firm will forsake doing legal work for the county should he be elected chair would be impressive if he also pledged to forsake municipal work and pledged not to trade legal work at the county and municipal levels with chairs from other counties.  That will never happen.

Bennett has demonstrated over his thirty year career that he is a master of working the system for the benefit of himself and his family.  There can be no  little doubt that before he pledged that he and his daughter would not do legal work for Monmouth County should he be elected GOP County Chair, that he already had made a deal to replace and expand those billable hours and retainers in other counties.  To put it bluntly, if Bennett becomes Chair, his income will increase from Ocean County and Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore’s income will increase in Monmouth County. 

“That’s the way the game is played,” one Bennett supporter recently told MMM in defense of the obvious.

John Bennett’s career is a case study in “the way the game is played.”   From the high five figure state pension, plus lifetime health benefits, he is collecting from tacking together part time jobs, a practice that is no longer legal, to the jobs he has secured for himself and his family members on the state, county and municipal levels, to making the government work that his opponent in the Chair’s race, Christine Hanlon and her partners, do an issue in this race, Bennett is the maestro.

Talk to me about the potential conflicts of interest of your opponent after you’ve pledged to give up all government work for yourself and your family.  Short of that, please stop insulting our intelligence.

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Patrick Murray predicts that Cullari will defeat Little

Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray says on PolitickerNJ that Ernesto Cullari will defeat Anna Little in the CD-6 GOP primary based on Senator Joe Kyrillos coattails and “the bigger issue” that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the 2010 race.

I wonder who Patrick is referring to.

CD6 GOP
2010 nominee Anna Little hopes lightning strikes twice and she knocks off the Monmouth County organization’s preferred candidate – this time, Ernesto Cullari.  But it just ain’t gonna happen.  It’s not because the party has gotten any better at GOTV.  Fewer than 14,000 Republicans voted in the last primary – and the only reason more will vote this year is that native son Joe Kyrillos is running for Senate.  The bigger issue is that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the last race.  Winner:  Cullari

Murray predicts that 15% of partisan voters will come out on Tuesday statewide.   If the turnout is higher in Monmouth because of Kyrillos’ favorite son status, that should favor Cullari.  Little benefits from Kyrillos’s coattails in Middlesex where she appears under the senator on the ballot. 

Despite Murray’s swipe at the Monmouth GOP get out the vote effort, the real key to this race is will be the turnout in Middlesex.   If Sam Thompson’s team gets 5000 or more voters to the polls, Little should win.   In the 2010 race less than 3800 Middlesex Republicans voted.  However the Middlesex portion of the district is much larger now since redistricting.  If less than 5000 voters come out in Middlesex and 6000 come out in Monmouth, Cullari wins.   If 10,000 come out in Monmouth because of Kyrillos, Cullari wins handily.

MMM’s prediction:  In a repeat of 2010, the race will go to a recount. 

Unlike 2010 the race, the recount won’t be resolved before the Monmouth GOP convention.  Little will get up at the convention and endorse John Bennett for Chair as a payback for headlining her $10 per head spaghetti dinner fundraiser in Keansburg.  Cullari will get up and endorse Christine Hanlon because she’s Christine Hanlon.

Little will be forced to concede on June 15 in order to pay her fines from the FEC.  She won’t have enough money to pay her recount team and the fines.  John Bennett, fresh off his defeat in the Chair’s race, will be in Florida and unable to host a spaghetti dinner to pay Little’s fines and pay the recount team.

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CD-6 Primary: It will all come down to turnout

On the day Anna Little won the endorsement of the Middlesex County GOP, she became the favorite to win the 6th congressional district nomination.  Despite that all of the candidates, Democrat and Republican are from Monmouth County, the new 6th is a Middlesex County district. 

With no presidential contest on the top of the ballot and the U.S. Senate race uncompetitive, turnout is likely to be very low.  13,000 voters decided the 2010 primary race between Little and Monmouth County GOP Vice Chair Diane Gooch by less than 90 votes.  This time out, I’ll be surprised if there are more than 6000 votes.

Based on name recognition, Little should be considered the favorite.  She scored an upset in the last primary. She was the general election candidate in 2010 and she was a countywide candidate for Freeholder in 2006.

Coming into the race, Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth County GOP endorsed candidate was a complete unknown, except for readers of the triCityNews where he was the token conservative columnist.   The nomination in both Middlesex and Monmouth Counties was his for the taking because no one else wanted it.  Little was running for the U.S. Senate nomination against Joe Kyrillos.

Little has been once again running against the Republican establishment who turned her away for the congressional nomination twice and never wanted her as freeholder candidate.  She won the office of Freeholder by one vote at a raucous January 2006 convention and was denied the nomination for reelection in 2007.

But it was during a meeting with Kyrillos in early March, before the Monmouth County screening/candidate selection and after Cullari announced his candidacy, that Little give up her Senate bid and decided to make another run for Congress.   Kyrillos did not want a primary challenge from the pesky Little.  Little did not want her career to end with a primary loss to Kyrillos.   The independent minded elected officials and municipal chairs of the Monmouth GOP were not going along with the deal.  They knew Little was no more of a threat to Kyrillos than Badar Qarmout.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Curley: “None of the above!”

Freeholder Director John Curley told MMM that he does not support either former Senate President John Bennett or State Committeewoman Christine Hanlon becoming the next chair of the Monmouth County Republican Committee.

“If I had a vote I wouldn’t vote for either one of them,” said Curley, “The chair should not be someone who is hussling for government contracts.”

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Cullari Challenges Little to First Debate of Primary Season with No Response

Press release

Asbury Park, NJ – On Friday, May 25th and again on Saturday, May 26th, Ernesto Cullari, Republican Candidate for Congress, personally invited former Freeholder and Mayor Anna C. Little to a debate scheduled for May 31st at 7pm. This marks the first time that either campaign has directly contacted the other to seek approval on terms and format. The debate, as proposed by Cullari, will be held at a prominent local university with a moderator, who is a well respected journalist. Members of the press are encouraged to attend.

The invitation to the Little Team clearly lays out the format of the event being proposed. This is in stark contrast to an event, which was to be hosted last week by Democratic Tea Party Leader and Little endorsee, Mark Falzon. Cullari agreed to attend Falzon’s Candidates Forum more than eight weeks prior to the event. Only through third party sources as the event neared, did the Cullari Campaign learn that the format had been changed to a debate without any communication or agreement from Cullari or his surrogates.

Every aspect of the debate proposed by Cullari is to ensure that each candidate has an equal opportunity to be heard by the voters and that no one candidate has an unfair advantage over the other. If any facet of the venue, format, or the stipulations surrounding the debate changes, the Cullari Campaign pledges to notify all involved parties to discuss the proposed changes immediately.

The Little Team has not responded to Cullari’s debate request.

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Monmouth Legislators Endorse Christine Hanlon for GOP Chair

The majority of Monmouth County’s legislative delagation has signed a letter endorsing State Committeewoman and Ocean Township Municipal Chair Christine Hanlon in her quest to become the next Chair of the Monmouth County Republcian Committee. 

Senators Joe Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck were joined by Assembly Members Amy Handlin, Mary Pat Angelini and Dave Rible in signing the letter that was mailed to county committee members and candidates.

We are writing to you today to endorse State Committeewoman and Ocean Municipal Chairwoman Christine Hanlon as the next Chair of the Monmouth County Republican Party and ask you to vote for her on June 12^th.

Christine has been an integral part of our recent Republican successes at every level.  She has served as the Monmouth Coordinator for both the McCain-Palin presidential campaign and the Christie- Guadagno gubernatorial campaign. She has run the last three Monmouth County Republican Victory Galas, and many other fundraising events, raising in excess of $500,000 for the party.  For the past three years, she has assisted the Chairman in the coordination of our county campaigns, and worked with him to develop campaign plans, including strategy and voter targeting, direct mail and our county wide vote by mail program.

Just as importantly, Christine has worked to develop and sustained grassroots network, increased volunteer participation and increased communication from the organization to people like you, the lifeblood of our party. As Chair, she will continue her efforts to keep you informed and involved and continue to raise the money needed to win aggressive campaigns.

With the recent nomination of Monmouth County Republican Chair Joe Oxley to become the Superior Court bench, we must find a new Chair who will continue his recent successes in leading our party. Christine Hanlon has played an integral part in those successes and we are writing today to ask you to vote for Christine  to succeed Chairman Oxley as Monmouth County Republican Chair.

We strongly endorse Christine Hanlon for Chairwoman, and ask that you vote for her at the upcoming Monmouth County Republican Convention.

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Shameful, blatant sexism

By Art Gallagher

I am ashamed to have some of you as readers and commenters on this blog.  If the shoe fits, please go away and don’t come back.  I don’t care if you’re one of the many who visit here 20 times per day and drive my traffic up.  You make me sick.

Disrespectfully, the number of children Mr. and Mrs. Hanlon are raising is irrelevent to anybody expect the Hanlons, as far as Christine seeking the office of Monmouth County Republican Chair is concerned.

The blantant sexism exhibited in the comments in the various posts about the chair’s race, especially from women, is shameful.

As the eldest of four children of the first, if not the first, woman to serve as President of a Board of Education in New Jersey, while my father was a council member in our town, I am deeply offended by these comments. That was in the 1960′s and 1970′s.

How will Christine handled it? None of your business. That’s how. Unless the Hanlons want to share that information in order to empower other couples to serve, its none of your frickin business.

Public service, when it is service, is a family endeavor, enterprise and sacrifice.  When it is service, it is a noble calling and a family affair.

The next person, and each and every other, who brings up the Hanlon family, as if it is a detriment to Mrs. Hanlon’s candidacy, is banned from commenting. Forever.

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