Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya;
Kum bay ya, my Lord, kum bay ya,
O Lord, kum bay ya.
Barbara’s Tea Party Group co-founder Barbara Gonzalez announced on her APP blog that she approves of the Monmouth GOP’s nominations of Anthony Wilkinson in CD-6 and Rich Pezzullo for U.S. Senate.
Someone’s laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya;
Someone’s laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya;
Someone’s laughing, my Lord, kum bay ya,
O Lord, kum bay ya.
Barbara’s Tea Party Group says they will work with Republicans to save the nation, so long as the Republicans do as BTPG says and nominates candidates that pass their litmus tests.
….there were no surprises out of the IBEW Local 400 Union Hall in Wall this morning.
Senator Cory Booker was endorsed for the nomination to seek his first full term in the U.S. Senate.
Congressman Frank Pallone was nominated for his 14th term in the House of Representatives.
In the 4th congressional district, criminal defense attorney Ruben Scolavino has agreed to take another one for the Democratic team. Scolavino lost to Sheriff Shaun Golden, 64%-36% last year. He will likely face a worse fate against Congressman Chris Smith who running for his 18th term. Scolavino is probably angling for a Judgeship.
For Monmouth County Freeholder, Larry Luttrell, a Holmdel attorney who came in last against Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso in 2013, hopes to do better this year against Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich who were renominated by the Monmouth GOP this morning. Joining Luttrell on the County Democratic ticket for freeholder is Joe Grillo of Asbury Park. Grillo is making his first run at elected office. He is the municipal chairman of the Asbury Park Democrats, the former executive director of the Monmouth Dems, and works for his family’s tile business.
CD-4 Candidate Ruben Scolavino, Larry Luttrell, Senator Cory Booker, Joe Grillo, Congressman Frank Pallone, NJ Democratic Chairman John Currie and Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal. Photo via Pallone’s facebook page.
Freehold businessman Rich Pezzullo has defeated Ramapo Professor Murray Sabrin from the nomination of the Monmouth GOP for U. Senate.
The final second ballot numbers were 153-101
Posted: March 22nd, 2014 | Author:Art Gallagher | Filed under:Uncategorized | Comments Off on Pezzullo Wins U.S. Senate Nod and Monmouth GOP Convention
Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and Deputy Director Gary Rich took a first ballot victory over Howell Councilman Bob Walsh at the Monmouth GOP Convention this morning.
The unofficial results are:
Gary Rich 294
Lillian Burry 227
Bob Walsh 199
In the race for the U.S. Senate nomination, there was no first ballot winner. Murray Sabrin and Rich Pezzullo qualified for a second ballot which is now being taken.
Sweeney: RCAs “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town”
Hornik: “No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working”
Senate President Sweeney rejected out of hand an idea brought forth by Marlboro Mayor Jonathon Hornik this week that could potentially release $184 million in dormant funds for the benefit of Superstrom Sandy victims.
Hornik called for the reinstatement of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA), in order to unlock $184 million in COAH funds to help residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy rebuild their homes in an OpEd piece published on MMM and PolitickerNJ.
RCAs were a practice that was in place to build affordable housing in New Jersey from 1985 through 2008 under the Fair Housing Act, whereby communities that had raised affordable housing funds through development could transfer those funds, and their obligation to build affordable housing within their own community, to other communities with an immediate need. The legislature and Governor Corzine outlawed RCAs in 2008.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon issued a statement commending Hornik and said,”When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.”
In an email to Middlesex and Monmouth County Republican Chairmen Sam Thompson and John Bennett, Hari Eppanapally withdrew his name from consideration for the nomination for Congress from the 6th congressional district this afternoon.
In his letter which can be read in its entirety here, Eppanapally said he made the decision to withdraw in the best interests of the GOP so that the party can put up a united fight against the incumbent, Congressman Frank Pallone, by rallying behind one candidate.
“Looking at the big picture and being a responsible leader, I feel the party’s time and energy should be spent on the main election to win this race rather than diluting it on a primary which may divide the party.”
Anthony Wilkinson, an attorney from Old Bridge, is now the only candidate seeking the Republican Party endorsements at the Middlesex and Monmouth GOP conventions which will be held tomorrow morning. Monmouth’s convention is at Freehold Township High School at 9am, Middlesex’s at Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords at 10..
Eppanapally said the GOP in CD-6 and nationally should focus on Health Care, Education and the Economy.
Click for larger view
Eppanapally offered an explanation for his support of Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula’s 2012 congressional candidacy against Congressman Leonard Lance in the 7th congressional district.
I want to clarify my support to Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula during his 2012 Congressional race from NJ CD7. He is a
very close long-time friend of mine. I decided to support him purely on a personal level, not because of his Party affiliation. I
want to stand corrected on this so that people do not have any misunderstanding on my belief in Republican principles.
Eppanapally did not offer an explanation of his $2500 contribution to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in his letter.
Pallone can be beat in a primary, as Cory Booker proved last August in the Special Senate Primary. More importantly, Pallone’s campaign war chest was depleted by about 75% in that primary last year. Eppanapally can force Pallone to spend his resources while defending his Democratic nomination while the GOP candidate, presumably Wilkinson baring an unknown primary contestant, raises funds for the fall campaign. If Eppanapally agrees to enter the Democratic Primary, MMM will lead his petition drive to get him on the ballot.
UPDATED
Eppanapally told MMM that he became interested in challenging Pallone after being approached by the National Republican Congressional Committee. NRCC presented Eppanapally with statistics showing that almost 300,000 Indian Americans live in Middlesex County, over 100,000 of them in CD-6 and argued, based upon Anna Little’s 2010 performance against Pallone, that an Indian American candidate could swing enough votes to beat Pallone. Eppanapally said that he would only seek the nomination if there was no primary challenge. When Wilkinson got in the race and made it clear he would run a primary campaign regardless of the outcome of the Monmouth and Middlesex GOP conventions, Eppanapally bowed out.
Eppanapally told MMM that his $2500 donation to President Obama’s reelection campaign was the price of a ticket to an event at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 2011 that he attended as an employee of Financial Policy Council Inc. Obama spoke at the event. He said he was unaware that the event was an Obama fundraiser when he attended.
Eppanapally said he would not challenge Pallone in the Democratic primary.
UPDATED AGAIN
Eppanapally called to clarify his earlier remarks about his $2500 contribution to President Obama’s reelection campaign and the event at the Waldorf-Astoria. He said that his attendance at the event was “on the personal level” and not as an employee of Financial Policy Council Inc. He said he wrote a personal check to the Obama campaign to attend the event. Asked how he could not know that he was contributing to the Obama campaign or attending an Obama fund raisers if he wrote a check to the Obama campaign, Eppanapally said, “It doesn’t matter.”
Keansburg Deputy Mayor Jimmy Cocuzza, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Congressman Frank Pallone at Sweeney’s Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg, March 20, 2014
Senate President Steve Sweeney and Congressman Frank Pallone tried to feign non-partisanship yesterday at Sweeney’s Town Hall Meeting in Keansburg, the most recent leg on Sweeney’s Sandy Bill of Rights tour. “This is not about politics, or party,” Sweeney said as Pallone nodded “it’s about taking care of the people who need help and getting them the information they need.”
Sweeney’s bill seems to make perfect sense. It requires plain language explanations of disaster assistance programs and gives applicants the right to know where they are in the process, where they are on waiting lists, and how to appeal. The bill was cleared with amendments by the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, 4-0 with one abstention, Sen. Jennifer Beck, on Monday.
Hopefully, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez had no plans to summer in Moscow this year as he’s been banned from Russia. Menendez was one of six federal lawmakers who along with a number of advisors to President Obama, were banned from Russia in retaliation for…
