Ernesto Cullari of Asbury Park said that if he can raise $30,000 in thirty days he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge Congressman Frank Pallone at the Monmouth and Middlesex Republican nominating conventions on March 22.
The conservative Justified Right columnist for the triCityNews was the Monmouth GOP endorsed candidate in the 2012 6th district primary which he lost for former Highlands Mayor Anna Little who was tabbed by the Middlesex GOP.
Cullari said that he had hoped that Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden had run against Pallone. “Shaun is a great elected official and public servant. He was the candidate who could really have taken it to Pallone, ” Cullari said, “now that Shaun has said he is not running, I am taking a serious look at doing it. If I can raise $1000 per day for a month, I’m in.”
“I want to fight for my county. I’m too old for military service, but I would run against Pallone as if I were protecting our freedom, because I believe that ultimately that is what is a stake given what is going on in Washington.”
Cullari said he would file a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission this week and start calling his supporters for donations.
Posted: February 24th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, 2014 Elections, Ernesto Cullari, Frank Pallone | Tags: 2014 Congressional Elections, Anna Little, CD 6, Ernesto Cullari, Frank Pallone, NJ-6, Shaun Golden | 21 Comments »
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told MMM that he will not be a candidate for Congress this year.
Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett has been urging Golden to take on Congressman Frank Pallone due to the sheriff’s strong record of accomplishment and his popularity at the polls.
“I would love to see Shaun Golden run for Congress, ” Bennett said earlier this month, ‘Not only is he popular and a demonstrated vote getter, he has an outstanding record with a documented ability to get things done.”
Golden said that it is just not the right time for him to take on a congressional campaign.
Former Howell Mayor Joe DiBella said last week that he “would love to run against Pallone” if Golden doesn’t. Bennett told MMM that he received a message from DiBella expressing his interest. DiBella has not returned several phone calls inquiring about his candidacy from MMM this week.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 23rd, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, 2014 Elections, Anna Little, Frank Pallone, Joe DiBella, Shaun Golden | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Congressman Frank Pallone, Frank Pallone, Joe DiBella, John Bennett, Middlesex GOP, Monmouth GOP, NJ-6, Sam Thompson, Shaun Golden, Sheriff Shaun Golden | 15 Comments »
Former Howell Mayor Joe DiBella said he “would love to” run against Congressman Frank Pallone if Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden decides against running.
Golden has been considering a run, at the behest of party leaders, for several weeks, but has yet to make a decision. Sources close to the sheriff say he is leaning against running due to his agenda in the Sheriff’s Department and the impact a candidacy would have on his family. Golden was reelected as Monmouth County’s Sheriff last November by a 64%-36% margin.
A 23 year veteran of the health insurance industry, the charismatic and articulate DiBella would offer a sharp contrast to Pallone, the self-professed author of ObamaCare, in matters of both style and substance during a federal election when once again ObamaCare is expected to be the predominant issue nationally. DiBella is an Executive Vice President of Connor Strong & Buckelew, the prominent insurance broker run by South Jersey’s Democratic power broker George Norcross and Joseph Buckelew, the former Republican Mayor of Lakewood.
Posted: February 18th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, Congress, Frank Pallone, Joe DiBella | Tags: CD 6, Frank Pallone, Joe DiBella, NJ-6, Shaun Golden | 39 Comments »
Party leaders are encouraging Sheriff Shaun Golden to challenge entrenched ObamaCare defender
Former Highlands Mayor Anna Little told MMM yesterday that she is not running for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th congressional district this year and that she never had plans to do so.
The GOP nominee against Congressman Frank Pallone in 2010 and 2012 said that her November 1, 2012 email to supporters wherein she announced “I want to work for YOU in Washington” and asked supporters for contributions to help her “finish the job” was not an announcement of her candidacy, but rather a reaction to Pallone’s over the top defense of ObamaCare . In October, Pallone called a congressional hearing into ObamaCare that he was participating in a “Monkey Court.” Appearing on FoxNews with Megyn Kelly, Pallone shouted, insisting that President Obama had kept his, “If you like your healthcare, you can keep it, period, I guarantee it,” promise and said insurance companies were practicing capitalism by cancelling “lousy” “scam” insurance plans that people didn’t want to buy.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden
Sheriff Shaun Golden’s strong performance in last November’s election …a 64%-36% reelection victory with over 100,000 votes… was noticed by state and national Republican leaders, many of whom are encouraging Golden to take on Pallone.
The two Republican leaders who matter the most in determining who receives the GOP nomination, Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett and Middlesex County Republican Chairman Sam Thompson, like the idea of Golden running against Pallone.
“I would love to see Shaun Golden run for Congress, ” Bennett said, ‘Not only is popular and a demonstrated vote getter, he has an outstanding record with a documented ability to get things done.”
Thompson said, “Shaun would be a great candidate.”
Little said she would support Golden if he runs.
Golden wouldn’t comment when we asked if he was running.
Posted: February 5th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, 2014 Elections, Anna Little, Frank Pallone | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Frank Pallone, John Bennett, Middlesex GOP, Monmouth GOP, NJ-6, Sam Thompson, Shaun Golden, Sheriff Shaun Golden | 42 Comments »
Before running for Congress I was like so many people who had strong opinions on the way our country was being run, but I was contented doing my part as a conservative columnist and as a philanthropist. One evening in March, I was asked to do more for my community, when friends and acquaintances approached me to run for the Republican nomination for Congress. The opportunity would not have presented itself had I not been the writer of the Justified Right column in the TriCity News. My readers earned me that opportunity.
It’s important to mention that no elected Republican official or anyone else of note wanted the role. In fact, my former opponent, who won the primary, was registered at that time, and was still registered as a Senate Candidate and not a Congressional candidate with the Federal Election Commission on Election Day. When I was recruited to run it was apparent that the Republican Party had no one to represent the party in the race for Congress and so I took up the mantle.
Since that evening I have had a crash course on the inner-workings of the Republican Party, the various Tea Party groups, as well as grass roots organizations all across the 6th Congressional District, which now covers all of coastal Monmouth (from Asbury Park) through Middlesex County, ending in South Plainfield. But what made an impression upon me most was how too few people are involved in our two party system and how that reality means that voters have less and less of a significant voice in how their country is run.
For example out of the 95,071 registered Republicans in Monmouth County only 5,829 or about 6% voted for U.S. House of Representatives in Congressional District 6. So not only did no one want the job, but too few felt compelled to vote for either candidate.
I have to admit that I was once part of the overwhelming majority that did not vote in primaries, but if this country is going to salvage both its liberty and its free markets then more of us who are apathetic must become more involved in deciding who our candidates are going to be.
The Republican Party gets a bad rap in the press for being an old white guy’s club, but the party as a whole was one of the most inviting and supportive organizations that I have ever been a part of.
Posted: June 20th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Congress, Ernesto Cullari | Tags: CD 6, Ernesto Cullari, NJ-6 | 20 Comments »
Still No Reports For Her House Race
Friends of Anna Little filed an undated quarterly report for the period covering January 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012 which disclosed contributions and expenditures for Little’s campaign for U.S. Senate. The report was marked received by the Secretary of the Senate on June 5, 2012, coincidently the same day that Little won the GOP primary for the House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 6th district. The report can be found here.
According to the report, Little raised $161,151.95 and spent $147,371.46 during the 15 month quarter while running for U.S. Senate. The time bending campaign had $13,834.49 cash on hand on March 31.
Little has no records on file with the FEC for her campaign to unseat Congressman Frank Pallone. Her previous campaign committee, Anna C. Little for Congress Inc, filed a termination report with the FEC on April 2, 2012, 9 days after she received the Middlesex County GOP’s endorsement for the 6th district nomination.
Posted: June 12th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Anna Little, Campaign Finance, FEC, Frank Pallone | Tags: Anna Little, Frank Pallone, NJ-6 | 2 Comments »
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 »
Posted: June 4th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Congressional Races, Anna Little, Diane Gooch, Frank Pallone, Joe Kyrillos, Middlesex County Republicans, Monmouth County Republican Committee, Monmouth GOP | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Diane Gooch, Ernesto Cullari, Frank Pallone, Joe Kyrillos, Middlesex GOP, Middlesex Republicans, Monmouth GOP, Monmouth Republicans, NJ-6, Sam Thompson | 12 Comments »
Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth County GOP candidate for the 6th Congressional District of New Jersey has issued a debate challenge to former Highlands Mayor Anna Little, the Middlesex County GOP candidate for the nomination.
The Cullari campaign has arranged for a prominent academic venue within the district to host the debate and a prominent member of the New Jersey news media to moderate the debate, subject to Little’s acceptance of the challenge.
If Little accepts, the debate will be on Thursday, May 31, 7 PM, and open only to the press. It will be live streamed on the Internet and recorded for later viewing online.
Cullari issued the challenge via email yesterday, May 25. Little has yet to respond.
Posted: May 27th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Congressional Races, Anna Little, Ernesto Cullari | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Ernesto Cullari, NJ-6 | 21 Comments »
Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini Endorse Cullari in CD-6 Primary
In an interview with Politickernj, the Monmouth County GOP nominee in the primary for the 6th Congressional District, Ernesto Cullari, said that Anna Little, the 2010 GOP nominee in the 6th district and his primary opponent this year, was focused on herself and not the task at hand, defeating Congressman Frank Pallone, during the 2010 general election,
“What I saw was a candidate unwilling to go after (incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank) Pallone – like the fact that he got his wife a job at the EPA where she works while most people suffer an economic downturn,” Cullari said. “Frank Pallone and a slew of other leaders have been looking out for just themselves. I’ll make that case. I’m not ashamed to make it.
“What I witnessed in Anna was someone deeply focused on herself instead of the task at hand – namely advancing the small government ideology,” he added. “She missed that opportunity.”
Cullari went on to define himself as the true Tea Party conservative in the primary,
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 16th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Congressional Races, Anna Little, Congress, Elections, Ernesto Cullari, Frank Pallone, Jennifer Beck, Mary Pat Angenlini, Middlesex County Republicans, Monmouth County Republican Committee, Monmouth GOP | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Ernesto Cullari, Frank Pallone, Jennifer Beck, Mary Pat Angelini, NJ-6 | 17 Comments »
10 days since MMM reported that Anna Little was a candidate for U.S. Senate and had terminated her candidacy for Congress as far as the Federal Election Commission is concerned, the former Highlands Mayor has yet to file a Statement of Organization.
Little terminated her Anna C. Little for Congress committee on April 2, 10 days after she was awarded the Middlesex GOP endorsement for the 6th Congressional District primary. She filed a Statement of Organziation for U.S. Senate on February 13. There is no active record on Little being a candidate for the House of Representative with the FEC, as of this writing.
Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth GOP nominee in the CD-6 primary, filed his Statement of Organization on March 26.
Little’s treasurer, Brett Rappaport has yet to respond to an inquiry from the May 6 story. Little’s former treasurer, Jane Frotton, said she had nothing to do with the FEC reports, despite her signature. She also said to stop picking on Anna.
Posted: May 15th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 Congressional Races, Anna Little, Ernesto Cullari | Tags: Anna Little, CD 6, Ernesto Cullari, Jane Frotton, Middlesex GOP, Monmouth GOP, NJ-6 | 6 Comments »
