Greg’s List: Things to do in Monmouth County this weekend, November 7-9, 2014

By Greg Kelly

Friday, November 7

• Our Town by Thornton Wilder at Monmouth U (WLB) – MORE INFO
• Jersey Shore Restaurant Week – MORE INFO
• Angels & Ministers of Grace at NJ Repertory Theatre (Long Branch) – MORE INFO
• Neil Simon’s Barefoot In the Park at Jersey Shore Arts Center (Ocean Grove) – MORE INFO
• Story of Harness Racing by Currier & Ives Exhibit (Upper Freehold) – MORE INFO
• Quartet at First Avenue Playhouse (Atlantic Highlands) – MORE INFO
• SCAN Brain Health Fair at Monmouth Mall (Eatontown) – MORE INFO
• Live Harness Racing at Freehold Raceway – MORE INFO
• Nearly New Rummage Sale (Morganville) – MORE INFO
• Kids Night Out (Fair Haven) – MORE INFO
• Safe Sitter Class at RMC (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Bus Stop at Center Playhouse (Freehold) – MORE INFO
• “Grass Roots” Art Show (Belmar) – MORE INFO
• Yoga for Adults (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Stocking Stuffer Sale at Allaire Village – MORE INFO
• Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood at Count Basie Theatre (Red Bank) – MORE INFO
• Brookdale-Wide Food Drive (Lincroft) – MORE INFO
• Medicare Open Enrollment Discussion (Shrewsbury) – MORE INFO
• Val Emmich at The Saint (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO
• An Evening with Pete Yorn at The Stone Pony (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO
• Fall Affair with Secret Sound at The Wonder Bar (Asbury Park) – MORE INFO
• Toys For Tots Drive (Morganville) – MORE INFO
• Pre-Holidays Bargain Hunting Rummage Sale (Aberdeen) – MORE INFO
• “American Girl Tea” (Middletown) – MORE INFO

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Losers: The Battle for Monmouth

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.

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Now and then, Good does prevail

By Stuart J. Moskovitz

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.

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Winners: The Battle for Monmouth

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.

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Final: Burry and Rich win with a comfortable margin

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.

147,150 ballots were cast.  Burry 72,050, Rich 72,754, Luttrell 63,922, Grillo 63,102

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Calling it for Burry and Rich

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.

Burry 51,211, Rich 51,594, Luttrell 45,123, Grillo 43,199.

MMM does not see a path for the Democrats to make up their deficit and calls the race for Burry and Rich.

Congratulations!

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Unofficial Results–Updated often

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:

Burry 43, 940, Rich 44, 472, Luttrell 39,716, Grillo 37,773.

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Turnout will be the key in Monmouth elections

Gary Rich and Lillian Burry

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.

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Interactive Map: Where Are NJ’s Safest Hospitals — and Which Were Rated ‘Poor?’

Zoom in and move the map to see facilities in areas where a number are close together or search by municipality. More than half of New Jersey’s hospitals aced the safety report card issued twice a year by a healthcare watchdog organization, but that doesn’t mean patients are completely safe from preventable errors. Earlier this week,… Read the rest of this entry »

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Booker Condemns False Endorsement in Asbury Park Mayoral Race

In Asbury Park, a post card purported to be from Asbury Park Democrats, LLC has been mailed to voters with Senator Cory Booker’s endorsement of A-Team candidate for mayor Redmond Palmer.

Booker took to twitter to deny he endorsed anyone in the race.  Asbury Park Democratic Chairman Joe Grillo took a break from his fledgling campaign for Monmouth County Freeholder to say that the Asbury Park Democrats have not endorsed anyone in the mayoral race.

Media mogul Dan Jacobson has the full story at AsburyOverheard.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor should investigate this incident.  It is similar offense to the 4am robo call in the 13th legislative district primary in June of 2013 for which Leigh-Ann Bellew’s campaign manager Dwayne Horner was indicted.

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