This morning we gave you the winners from the Battle for Monmouth. Without further adieu, the losers:
Vin Gopal. Underneath that boyish smile and pleasant demeanor is a nasty, dirty, ruthless political operative. The Monmouth Democratic Chairman showed his true colors in 2013 with his defamatory allegations against Sean DiSomma in the Red Bank Council race. Give him several hundred thousand dollars, which the NJ Democrats did this year, and he tries to destroy the good names of distinguished public servants simply because they hold offices he wants. Monmouth Republicans, particularly some in the legislative delegation, who are friendly with Gopal should reconsider their judgement about him. It no longer can be said that Vin is a wolf in sheeps clothing. He’s a wolf.
The NJ Democratic State Committee, Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin, Senator Cory Booker, Assemblyman Joe Cryan, various labor unions and anyone else who gave Gopal money. They got nothing for it.
The Asbury Park Press. Neptune Nudniks is no longer an appropriate moniker for them. They are not stupid or incompetent as “nudnik” implies. They are dishonest and lazy. Their coverage of the Monmouth County Freeholders race was spoon fed or edited by Gopal and his candidates Larry Luttrell and Giuseppe “Joe” Grillo. Gopal, Luttrell and Grillo used APP to counter MMM’s coverage of the race, which we find hilarious and complimentary. It didn’t work because APP no longer has influence in Monmouth County.
Their election night coverage was a disaster. While APP was reporting on software problems at the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, MMM was reporting election results.
The Monmouth County Clerk’s Office. The Monmouth County Election Results website is the New Jersey equivalent of HeathCare.gov.
In every election there are winners and losers. This year was no exception. On the national scene, the obvious losers will be written about by most pundits – Obama and the Clintons. Obviously Harry Reid has probably seen his last days of power in any form. But there are other losers. The entire Democratic platform — the so-called war on women, the freebie mentality, the irresponsible blind eye to international distress, the cowardly acquiescence of the Democratic congress to Obama’s war on Israel, are all losers. Republicans elected young people, African-Americans, women, as diverse a group as anyone would want to see. In many cases these were the first of such to be elected in their state — an accomplishment the Democrats never managed and never would manage. These Democratic campaign platforms were as fake as their claim for the last forty years that Republicans would overturn Roe v. Wade. The electorate is simply not as naive as they were in 2008 and 2012. No more. Obama has accomplished at least that.
The 2014 Monmouth County election is in the books.
After the most intense campaign in memory funded by out of county Democrats, Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal has nothing but IOUs to show for his duplicitous efforts.
There are literally hundreds of winners in this campaign county wide. From candidates making their first bid for elected office, to the seasoned pros defending their records, to the selfless volunteers who knocked on doors and made over 50,000 phone calls to voters. We congratulate the entire Monmouth Republican team.
On every championship team there are stars who get the accolades on behalf of the entire team. Here are five special mentions from this hard fought victory:
The top Winners of the Battle for Monmouth:
Lillian G. Burry. Burry has been elected county-wide 4 times. Three of those four elections were hard fought. None had the benefit of up ballot coattails. In 2005 she prevailed despite the anti-Republican sentiment generated by Operation Bid Rig. In 2008, Burry prevailed as the top vote getter over the Obama wave that saw an unprecedented Democratic turnout. The low turnout race of 2011 was relatively easy. In the campaign that just concluded, Burry’s integrity was maliciously maligned by Gopal and his henchmen armed with hundreds of thousands of Democratic money wheeled into the county from Trenton, Essex, Hudson, Union and Middlesex counties.
Burry stood tall and fought hard. She is a proven winner, in politics and life. A role model for women and men, Burry embraces the toughest challenges and prevails with honor.
Shaun Golden. Already a rising star after his huge reelection victory as Monmouth County Sheriff in 2013, Golden risked his career in taking on Chairman John Bennett last spring in-order to lead beyond the status quo .
Bennett boasted of his fundraising prowess in his campaign to retain the Chairmanship, but left Golden with an overdrawn check book on June 10.
Undaunted, Bennett’s turd was just another challenge for Golden to overcome.
Shaun has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in the face of adversity by doing what he said he would do. He assembled a strong team by appointing an unprecedented four Regional Vice Chairs. He empowered municipal Party leaders and candidates, expanded the Party’s demographic diversity, established a strong social media presence and fed the rank and file when they came out to work. He raised money and got the job done without wasteful spending. When all the money is counted the Democrats will have outspent the Republicans 3 or 4 to 1.
If the hapless NJGOP is ever to gain traction in the State, it will take a leader like Shaun Golden to make it happen.
With all districts and vote by mail ballots counted, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich have been reelected.
After a major software snafu with the tabulation software that kept election officials up all night, the numbers were reported on County Clerk M. Claire French’s website at 6:13:58 this morning.
Monmouth GOP Chairman Shaun Golden announces Congressman Chris Smith’s victory and Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich’s lead
Monmouth County election officials said that it will likely take until 4am to complete the count of ballots in today’s election.
With approximately 60% of the vote counted, Republican Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich are leading Democratic challengers Lawrence Luttrell and Giueseppe “Joe” Grillo by over 6,000 votes.
Monmouth County Freeholder results as of 11:12 PM: Burry 51,211, Rich 51,594, Luttrell 45,123, Grillo 43,199.
Monmouth GOP Chairman Shaun Golden announces Congressman Chris Smith’s victory and Freeholders Lillian Burry and Gary Rich’s lead
10:38 PM Multiple municipalities are reporting that the electronic cartridges from the voting machines are not being read properly. Paper printout of the results are being transported to the Board of Elections in Freehold.
MMM is reporting results from GOP headquarters at the American Hotel in Freehold. At 10:38 the County Results are as follows:
The U.S. Senate race on top of the ballot between Senator Cory Booker and GOP nominee Jeff Bell has generated no excitement and little media attention.
The congressional races in CD 4 and CD 6 are not competitive.
The action, and the money, in the 2014 election cycle in Monmouth County has been in the Freeholder race where Democrats statewide have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a foothold in the county.
Republican incumbents Lillian Burry and Gary Rich have been fighting off a spirited and well funded challenge from Democrats Larry Luttrell and Giuseppe “Joe’ Grillo. When all the money is counted, the Democrats will probably have outspent the Republicans by more than 2-1.
A new program by the Middletown Veterans Affairs Committee will add deeper meaning and clarity to the remembrances of the brave men and women who gave their lives for our freedom.
For years, many communities, including Middletown, have named streets after fallen heroes. Now in Middletown there will be a commemorative sign under the official street signs that identifies the hero, their branch of service and the conflict in which they were sacrificed.
Wednesday afternoon in Port Monmouth, Congressman Chris Smith joined Mayor Stephanie Murray and Committeeman Tony Fiore joined Veterans Affairs Committee Members James Guerrieri, and Tom Garretson and William Bouw in honoring the life and heroism of Army Sgt Richard Belicose who died as the result of injuries sustained in Vietnam in May of 1967. Sgt Belicose’s brothers Ron and Robert were on hand for the ceremony.
ASBURY PARK — For weeks, I’ve been blasting the A-Team slate for taking custody and control of hundreds of vote-by-mail/absentee ballots, with their supporters and paid operatives delivering them to voters. The voter then completes the ballot and mails it back for counting — or the A-Team delivery person can even take them back. It’s absurd.
The A-Team led by Mayoral candidate Remond Palmer is on track to deliver 500 of these ballots, known as vote-by-mail [VBM] ballots. That’s the election right there. Of course, this law was originally for invalids or shut-ins who had trouble getting their mail and wanted an absentee ballot. The A-Team is trying to drive hundreds of votes through that loophole.
I’ve consistently said they’re doing it wrong. In fact, we went down this road last year, with the Board of Elections disqualifying 250 ballots the A-Team organization delivered to voters in the 2013 election. A Judge agreed and said the applications for the ballots were flawed and the ballots can’t be counted.
Monmouth County Democratic Freeholder Candidate Lawrence W. Luttrell, like all bullies, can dish it out but he can’t take it.
The litigiouslunger has spent two years campaigning for Freeholder (he came in last in 2013 and is heading that way again this year) by lying and distorting the records of his opponents, particularly over the farmland preservation deal involving Andrew Lucas. Yet when the truth about his own inglorious past gets revealed, Luttrell threatens legal action.
At the candidates forum sponsored by Lincroft Village Green last week in Middletown, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry was so upset that Luttrell blamed her for Operation Bid Rig that she would not shake his hand after the debate. “You’re taking this stuff too personally,” Burry reported Luttrell as saying.
At issue are Monmouth GOP radio ads and robo calls that refer to Luttrell and his running mate, Giuseppe “Joe” Grillo, as “Lawbreakers” and announce that Luttrell’s law license was “suspended” and “taken away.”
Vin Gopal. Underneath that boyish smile and pleasant demeanor is a nasty, dirty, ruthless political operative. The Monmouth Democratic Chairman showed his true colors in 2013 with his defamatory allegations against Sean DiSomma in the Red Bank Council race. Give him several hundred thousand dollars, which the NJ Democrats did this year, and he tries to destroy the good names of distinguished public servants simply because they hold offices he wants. Monmouth Republicans, particularly some in the legislative delegation, who are friendly with Gopal should reconsider their judgement about him. It no longer can be said that Vin is a wolf in sheeps clothing. He’s a wolf.
