Kyrillos was awakened by dirty trick robo call. Blames call on Bellew campaign

Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Mayor Fred Rast greeting voters in Atlantic Highlands. photo by Art Gallagher

In a get out the vote email to his supporters this afternoon, State Senator Joe Kyrillos said that he and his wife were awakened at 4am this morning by the dirty trick robo call, and that his primary opponents are responsible for the call.

I also want to address the 4 a.m. robo-call many are talking about. Susan and I were awoken by it as well, and I can assure you it’s not how we wanted to start our day either. The fact is it was a dirty trick by our opponents who wanted to make it look like it came from our campaign. The matter is being covered by several news outlets and the incident is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office. It is a shame politics has come to this.

No one from the Bellew for State Senate campaign or the Bayshore Tea Party Group have responded to multiple requests for comment on the robo call.

They have the right to remain silent.

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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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NJ Right To Life Defends Kyrillos And Handlin Against Bellew’s ‘Misinformation’

Pro-Life Advocate Endorses O’Scanlon In LD13 Primary

Marie Tasy, Executive Director of New Jersey Right to Life issued a statement last night refuting the “misinformation” being circulated by State Senate Candidate Leigh-Ann Bellew and her Bayshore Tea Party Group backed running mates in the 13th legislative district Republican primary.

Tasy was quoted in a mailer sent by the Bellew/Bayshore Tea Party slate as saying that Senator Joe Kyrillos voted in favor of partial birth abortion.

In her statement to MoreMonmouthMusings, Tasy went into painstaking detail to list Kyrillos’s votes against partial birth abortion. She said that bill cited in Bellew’s mailer that Kyrillos voted for, S1909, was a “bill filled with very technical, scientific jargon that was rammed through the Senate at breakneck speed.” The bill legalized embryonic stem cell research and cloning, NOT partial birth abortion.  Tasy said that many Senators voted for the bill without fully understanding it.  Subsequently, Kyrillos voted against the funding of embryonic stem cell/cloning research with increased taxes and bonding.

Tasy noted that Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon were not legislators when the partial birth abortion and embryonic stem cell/cloning research bills were voted on.

Tasy’s statement is particularly extraordinary because Kyrillos is pro-choice on abortion.  Tasy said she is not defending Kyrillos, but setting the record straight on the misinformation campaign.

 I am not writing to defend Senator Kyrillos’ record and well known position on abortion, but to set the record straight on the misinformation campaign that is being circulated regarding his voting record and the positions of Assemblyman O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Handlin.  It should be noted that Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin were NOT  in the legislature at the time these bills were voted on and  therefore did  not vote on any of these bills.

“It says a lot about our opponents who call themselves conservatives that someone as highly respected in the Pro-Life community as Marie Tasy would take the time to refute the misinformation in their literature,” said O’Scanlon, “This is further confirmation of what I’ve been saying throughout the campaign, Bellew, her running mates, and the Bayshore Tea Party Group’s leadership have no integrity.”

Neither Bellew nor Bayshore Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez responded to an invitation to comment.

Tasy’s statement can be read in its entirety below:

I am writing to set the record straight regarding some misinformation that is being circulated in mailers to voters in the the 13th legislative district. Read the rest of this entry »

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Crunch Time

As the LD 13 primary campaign enters its final days, the two competing slates seem to be employing very different strategies for getting their supporters to the polls on Tuesday.

The Bayshore Tea Party backed slate of candidates challenging the incumbent slate of GOP legislative veterans has taken to installing unreadable homemade ‘Column 3’ signs in front of the Kryillos, Handlin and O’Scanlon signs throughout Middletown.

The incumbents are knocking on doors and reminding supporters to vote.

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin canvassing for votes in Middletown

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O’Scanlon Endorsed By NRA PAC

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon has been endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund for the June 4th Republican primary in the 13th legislative district.

In an email to their members in the 13th district, NRA-PV said,

“Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon is rated “A” by the NRA-PVF and has been a proven Second Amendment supporter throughout his tenure in the state legislature.  He has been vocal in his support of your Second Amendment rights and has stood strong against anti-gun lawmakers pushing their radical agenda in Trenton.  Declan O’Scanlon has stood by gun owners in New Jersey by consistently voting against onerous gun proposals, including sweeping ammunition bans, magazine capacity restrictions, one-gun-a-month limitation, and more.

On Election Day, remember your gun rights are at stake and Vote Freedom First by voting to reelect Declan O’Scanlon for Assemblyman in District 13.”

O’Scanlon welcomed the endorsement as a confirmation of his conservative credentials by “one of the most effective advocacy groups in the nation.”

“This is confirmation that my opponents have be lying about my record and confirmation that my opponents have no integrity,”O’Scanlon said, “The NRA knows enough to say away from my opponents,

“As the only candidate endorsed by the NRA-PV in the district, I enthusiastically endorse Senator Joe Kyrillos and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.”

Barbara Gonzalez, co-founder of the Bayshore Tea Party Group which is supporting O’Scanlon’s opponents in the primary did not respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE

Gonzalez responded to MMM late last evening, declining to comment. “Nope….your blog has become trashy.  Just….nope,” she wrote.

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Which candidates are better known?

Why either LD 13 slate could still win

Provolone is cheese

By Art Gallagher

Monday night at the Two Rivers Republican Club of Fair Haven Meet the Candidates night, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assembly Candidate Edna Walsh got into it over which slate is better known.

While scolding the challengers for running against “the best, most conservative, delegation in the legislature,” and dismissing the Bayshore Tea Party backed candidates’ justification for running,  i.e., that Joe Kyrillos, Amy Handlin and O’Scanlon don’t share the conservative values of the district the challengers say,  O’Scanlon said, “Where have you been?  I haven’t heard from you and no body has heard of you.”

Walsh retorted, “As I go door to door, no one has heard to you.”  To which O’Scanlon scoffed.

Both O’Scanlon and Walsh are probably right.  Unless something has happened that nobody has accounted for in the last two years, very few of the legislative candidates in the district, and throughout the state, incumbent or not, are very well known.

In March of 2011, days before the new legislative map was announced, I was disgusted that Dr. Alan Rosenthal of Rutgers, the deciding vote on the commission that was designating the gerrymandered map that in all likelihood would determine the partisan composition of the legislature for the next decade, had on his own created a criteria by which the map should be determined; continuity  of representation.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Praise for Kyrillos, Prayers for Bellew

By Thomas Stokes, Middletown

With the June 4^th 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!

Read the rest of this entry »

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Handlin’s Legislation Will Spur Job Growth

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin

Legislation that would eliminate the scheduled 10% surcharge on employers’ unemployment insurance tax was cleared by the Assembly Labor Committee today.

The bill, A-4112/A-3675, sponsored by Assemblywomen Amy Handlin (R-13, Monmouth) and Alison Little McHose (R-24, Hunterdon, Morris, Warren and Sussex), postpones the implementation of the surcharge, which is currently scheduled to go into effect on July 1, for one year.  An identical bill, S-2404, passed the State Senate unanimously in February.

The Office of Legislative Services estimates that eliminating the surcharge will save employers $300 million in the coming fiscal year.

“The timing of this legislation is critical as we approach the summer season and with the effort to restore the Jersey Shore well underway,” stated Handlin. “Rebuilding communities involves both residential and commercial redevelopment. Companies who invest in our economy would face significant unemployment insurance increases which could impact their hiring decisions. This legislation ensures that the strides made in putting people back to work will  not be affected by the cost increases that would have been felt under this  surcharge.”

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Meet the Tea Party Candidates

Evidently, the Bayshore Tea Party Group leadership and their candidates don’t like the coverage MoreMonmouthMusings is giving their primary campaign.  Don’t take my word for it.  Listen to Barbara Gonzalez introducing sheriff candidate Dan Peters in the first video below.

Leigh-Ann Bellew stopped taking my phone calls a couple of weeks ago.  She told someone to pass along the message that I should deal with Dwayne Horner.  Now Horner is not returning my calls.  Freeholder candidate Ed Pekarsky asked that I post Tom Fitzsimmons’ email and if he could respond here.  I told him he could.  He hasn’t sent me his response.  It’s OK with me that he isn’t responding, but hey, Gonzalez wrote that I censored Tea Party posts, which I didn’t, and then her candidate doesn’t send it a post he that requested.

When I met Dan Peters in early April, he said he would sit for an interview.  I’m writing a story about him for publication later today or tomorrow.  Peters hasn’t returned three calls since yesterday.

It’s a lot easier to write “Bellew (or Horner, Peters, Pekarsky, etc) didn’t return a phone call,” than it is to write up their comments, but I’d really rather give them an opportunity to tell their side of the story.

In that spirit, here they are, telling their own stories on video:

Dan Peters, Sheriff Candidate

Read the rest of this entry »

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Marist/NBC Poll Is Bad News For New Jersey Tea Parties

We The People of New Jersey do not support the Tea Party or Second Amendment movements, according to an Marist/NBC poll released this morning.

72% of the 1080 self identified New Jersey registered voters who responded to the poll said “No” when asked if they considered themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement.  19% said “Yes” and 9% were unsure.

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3 % and only questioned 22% of the amount of people that Leigh-Ann Bellew’s campaign surveyed, just in the 13th legislative district, two weeks ago.

Bellew’s campaign said that 83% or their respondents favor Tea Party candidates in the 13th.  Campaign manager Dwayne Harris would not get into the specifics of the poll, like the margin of error or how many phone calls they had to make to reach 5000 people.

67% of registered voters think New Jersey needs stricter gun laws, per the Marist/NBC poll.  25% think New Jersey’s current gun laws should not be changed.  6% said New Jersey’s gun laws should be less strict.   Harris wouldn’t say if the Bellew campaign polled the gun question.

27% of New Jersey voters consider themselves liberal. 32% consider themselves conservative and 40% consider themselves moderate, according to the Marist/NBC poll.

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