Bye Bye Mennen. Really

Hunterdon County Freeholder William Mennen, heir to the Mennen deodorant fortune, has dropped his bid to to run for the 16th district Assembly seat vacated by the untimely death of Assemblyman Peter Biondi, according to a report on Politickernj.

Mennen was the GOP establishment choice for the seat.  He does not live in the district.  A proposed legal challenge from Bill Spadea, Princeton, also running, doomed Mennen’s candidacy.

Spadea still faces competition.  Donna Simon, a Readington Township Committeewoman announced her candidacy upon Mennen’s withdrawal, according to Politickernj.  South Brunswick Health Board Member John Saccenti is also running.

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Bye Mennen

By Harold Kane

Hunterdon County Freeholder William Mennen wants to run for the NJ State Assembly from the 16^th district. However Mr. Mennen has a problem in that he does not live in D16. To rectify this situation he plans to move shortly into the 16^th district.

There is one other issue he must face that a moving van cannot resolve. That is the NJ State constitution requirement that the candidate live in the district for one year before Election Day. Since the election is less than one year away, Mennen is not-qualified to run in the 16^th district. However, Mennen does not plan to let some minor irritant such as the constitution get in the way of his run for office.

Mennen has used his inherited fortune to hire Alan Zakin to be his spokesperson. According to Zakin, the 14^th amendment to the US Constitution is violated when voters cannot vote for who they want. The Equal Protection clause of the 14^th amendment was written to preclude voter suppression of former slaves. In this case no one in the 16^th district is being denied the right to vote. Voting is being encouraged. Zakin’s argument is a perversion of the US Constitution. The state of NJ is well within its rights to set a reasonable time frame for a candidate’s residency. If Mennen had a grasp on reality he would have moved into the 16^th district before November 2 since the new districts were determined this past spring. But he didn’t, and now he thinks that he can buy a nomination.

The Republican parties in the 16^th district portion of Hunterdon, Somerset, Mercer, and Middlesex counties have the opportunity to nominate a highly qualified candidate for the 16^th district Assembly seat and that candidate should be Bill Spadea of Princeton.

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