Arnone Thanks Voters

Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholders Serena DiMaso and Tom Arnone at Christie fundraiser, facebook photo

By Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED Sheriff Shaun Golden, Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and myself through the many months of what turned out to be a very exciting and sometimes exhausting 2013 political campaign. We are very grateful and extremely blessed to have had so many people come out and volunteer countless hours of their free time to support and join us in our efforts to make certain that the progress that has been made over the last three years continues. As a direct result of the loyal support we received, we were afforded the ability to serve all the residents of Monmouth County for another three years. With that we would like to thank everyone involved because this is something we truly could not have achieved without the involvement from the multitude of residents.

          Ultimately, we would like to recognize and thank each and every resident that took time out of their day to vote on November 5^th and take part in what truly is the greatest aspect of democracy. For the next three years we promise to continue to represent all 600,000 residents of our great county with the same resolve and dedication they have come to know and expect. Thank you for having the confidence and the faith in what we are doing for the betterment of Monmouth County.

          As I said, we will continue our commitment to the businesses and the people who make up Monmouth County, and we will do so with the same energy and enthusiasm that we have demonstrated in the past.

          Once again, we applaud your dedication and your support. We are proud and honored to be able to continue to serve the 600,000 residents which comprise all of Monmouth County, and we will strive to ensure that Monmouth County continues to be the greatest county in the State of New Jersey.

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Republican Romp in Monmouth County

Monmouth County voters overwhelming elected  Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholder Director Tom Arnone to second terms yesterday.  Deputy Freeholder Director won her second election in as many years, earning her first full term as a freeholder.  DiMaso was elected last year to complete the term of Assemblyman Rob Clifton.

Golden defeated criminal defense attorney Rueben Scolavino  with 102,840 votes. 58,923 people voted for Scolavino.

Only Governor Chris Christie, who earned 70.6% of the vote in Monmouth County, 122,928, outpolled Golden.

Freeholders Arnone and DiMaso bested their Democratic opponents Brian Froelich of Spring Lake and Larry Luttrell of Holmdel by an almost 2-1 margin.  Arnone got 98,832 votes, Dimaso 95,829.  Froelich, who ran for the House of Representative against Congressman Chris Smith last year came in third with 58,450 votes and Luttrell, who was endorsed by the Asbury Park Press, received  56,394 votes.

In the legislative races, Republicans dominated.

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Predictions

Governor Chris Christie will be reelected with 59.9875% of the vote.  In Monmouth County, Christie-Guadagno will win 68% of the vote.

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden will be elected with 69% of the vote.

Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso will win by 68% and 68.4%, respectively. DiMaso’s extra votes will be attributable to the negative ads the Monmouth County Dems have run against her, and prove that the Asbury Park Press’s endorsement is meaningless.

Brian Froelich will get more votes for Freeholder than Larry Luttrell gets, proving that the Asbury Park Press’s endorsement is meaningless and that negative advertising doesn’t beat a quality incumbent.

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Stuff to know about Freeholders Arnone and DiMaso

By Tom DeSeno

Sen Jennifer Beck, her husband Dan Shields and Freeholders Serena DiMaso and Tom Arnone @ Highlands Mayor Frank Nolan’s Rally @Bahr’s Landing. November 3.

The Freeholder Board runs the county government.  It’s always been puzzling why political parties are so entrenched in the process of selecting candidates, because the job of Freeholder has so little to do with the center-right and center-left political ideologies that the parties have come to represent.

The Freeholder board transcends the purely political because the issues they deal with don’t lend themselves to the various divisive topics that get folks to arguing.  The reality of being Freeholder is this – delivering quality government services at the least possible price.

With that understanding, let’s take a look at two of the candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder.

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Political Fallout Of Birdsall Report Likely To Be Muted

Brian Froelich, a Democratic candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder, signaled that he wants to use the Birdsall Engineering scandal as an issue against his incumbent Republican opponents earlier this month when he told NJ.com’s cub reporter Christopher Robbins, “There’s no way that we’re going to out-fundraise a 30-year incumbent institution,” Froelich said. “They may not have Birdsall anymore, but they have a lot more people willing to support incumbents and entrenched leaders.”

If Froelich wants to make an issue of the no longer secret donations that Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso received from Birdsall employees, he will have to first question Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal.  Gopal received $1600 in Birdsall funds for his 2012 campaign for Chairman.  Gopal’s opponent in that race, Marlboro Councilman Frank LaRocca received $4000.

Kevin McMillian’s name will be above Froelich’s on the ballot in the 11th Legislative District.  The Democratic Assembly candidate received a ‘secret’ Birdsall donation of $300 for his 2011 campaign for Neptune Township Committee.

The Star Ledger this morning published a list of the illicit donations throughout the state from Birdsall employees that were reimbursed by the company in a scheme to get around New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws.  Both Democrats and Republicans statewide received donations.  Of the 1476 illegal campaign contributions made between 2008 and 2012, 761 were made to Democrats. 651 were made to Republicans and 64 are listed as “Other.”

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Democratic Freeholder Candidate Sues Monmouth County Over Lucas Farm Deal

Lawrence Luttrell, a Holmdel attorney, has filed suit against Monmouth County on behalf of a new non-profit corporation, Residents Against Government Exploitation (RAGE), over the government purchase of the development rights to Manalapan Township Committee Member Andrew Lucas’ farm for $1.152 million.

The plaintiff non-profit could be called LAGE, Luttrells Against Government Exploitation.  The trustees of the entity are Luttrell, his wife and his mother.

Luttrell is a Democratic candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder.

The all Republican Monmouth County Board of Freeholders passed a resolution by a 3-2 vote on February 28 to join the Township of Manalapan and the State of New Jersey in purchasing the development rights to the Lucas property for farmland preservation.  The county contributed $277,920, Manalapan paid $186,969 and the State picked up $687,111 of the purchase.  Freeholders Lillian Burry, Gary Rich and Serena DiMaso voted in favor of funding the purchase.  John Curley and Freeholder Director Tom Arnone voted no.

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It’s Over

With over 62% of the voting districts in LD 13 reporting, State Senator Joe Kyrillos has won the GOP nomination for another term in Trenton’s upper chamber, according to MoreMonmouthMusings’ statistical expert team.

Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon have also been renominated.

Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso have been renominated with over 80% of the vote with 80% of the districts reporting in the county.

Monmouth County GOP Chairman John Bennett, celebrating with about 250 supporters at the Lincroft Inn in Middletown has declared victory of the LD 13 legislators and counter incumbents.

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What if Christie picks…..

Could John Bennett be heading back to Trenton?

…Senator Joe Kyillos?

By virtue of his long term friendship with Governor Christie and his campaign for U.S. Senate last year, State Senator Joe Kyrillos is on every Christie mind reader’s short list of possible U.S. Senators to replace the late Frank Lautenberg.

Assuming Kyrillos defeats Leigh-Ann Bellew in the primary today, his move to the U.S. Senate would create a vacancy for the nomination for State Senate in LD 13.  If either Assemblywoman Amy Handlin or Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon move up to the Senate slot, as would be expected, there will be an Assembly nomination vacancy.

Neither Handlin nor O’Scanlon will say if they want the State Senate seat, which probably means they both want it. Even so, I would expect that they would work that out amongst themselves rather than have a convention fight.

A nominating convention for the resulting Assembly vacancy would bring out a wealth of Republican talent.

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Primary Turnout

The weather is predicted to be beautiful on Tuesday, temperatures in the high 70’s and no change of rain.  If there is a low voter turnout in the primary, it won’t be because of the weather.

There will be no suspense in the GOP Freeholder races.  The incumbents, Freeholder Director Tom Arnone and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso ran a hard campaign.  Their opponents did not.  Tom and Serena will win easily in the county wide race.

Likewise, Sheriff Shaun Golden will once again easily defeat Dan Peters, and by a larger margin that he did in 2010.  Peters benefitted by the Tea Party wave in 2010 and by being bracketed with Anna Little in the 6th Congressional District and David Corsi in the 12th Congressional District.  Outside of the 13th legislative district, most of the county, Peters is bracketed with only his Freeholder running mates this time around. He’ll get no help from them.

Peters has run harder, and spent more money than his freeholder running mates, but he has made no justification for electing him to the job.  Shaun Golden is clearly qualified and is doing the job well.  Peters has not demonstrated that he is qualified. Hopefully Peters won’t need a job in 2016 and we won’t have to put up with a nonsense challenge to Golden again.

This entire primary race has always been about Joe Kyrillos and the 13th district.  Joe and his running mates, Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon worked hard and spent the money necessary to win. The very likely will win comfortably.   If the turnout in the 13th is 10,000 or more votes (out of about 35,000 registered Republicans) Joe, Amy and Declan will win by a landslide.  If the turnout is between 7,000 and 10,000, their margin of victory will be comfortable.

If the turnout is 7,000 or less, there will be some nervous people at the Lincroft Inn tomorrow night.  If it is 5,000 or less, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Vote.

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SUPER MEGA ROADSIDE RALLY

The Bayshore Tea Party Group’s SUPER MEGA ROADSIDE RALLY inspired our friend Charles Measley to hold one of his own.

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