John Loffredo (Forward Asbury Park ticket) and Amy Quinn (One Asbury ticket) are the top guns in the Asbury Park City Council race. That’s not news for me; I’ve known it for years and have let them both know they should be together.
In fact, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that they would run together since it makes so much sense. Had I known they would overlook the obvious I would have lobbied them vigorously over the past 4 years to create a political marriage (or civil union, if that’s your preference).
Just look at the last election. Tickets make it easier for candidates to win, particularly weaker candidates, but Amy Quinn fell just short of being elected while running as an independent. That means she carries a great deal of support on her own, perhaps as much as any individual candidate running this year.
How Loffredo didn’t see the benefits of scooping up Quinn and all her support befuddles me. She was clearly the off-season prize; the league’s most valuable free agent. How Quinn didn’t see the benefits of picking up support from the team who won for the past dozen years amazed me more. It’s like she passed up an opportunity with the Yankees to start her own team. That hasn’t worked out well for the Mets, has it?
Two weeks ago MMM gave the Trenton GOP a head slap over their idiotic strategy of trying to pick up seats in the Legislature by running against Corzine Democrats.
Evidently, someone heard us.
The Assembly Republic Victory Fund is paying PolitickerNJ to run their video, The New Republicans-Coming to a Voting Booth Near You
Call that a good first step. But it’s far from a winning strategy.
Back in February 2009 I had the honor of being one of 10-15 people in the country that was on the conference calls that planned the first round of tea party protests. There were only 50 cities and in Orlando, where I was organizing our rally, we only had about 100 people. From the beginning we developed a set of core values for the tea party that many groups ended up adopting. It was actually Justin from Cincinnati that came up with “fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets”. Many tea party web sites you visit will have those core values listed. I don’t know if the bayshore group uses the core values or not but it doesn’t matter if they do or not because those values become the core of the movement. How the bayshore group could so ignore these core values in their selection of endorsements astounds me.
The fact that they have decided to run against Declan O’Scanlon shows that they have different reasons for picking their endorsements. Our group in Orlando, and most tea party groups I know, encourage people to learn about all the candidates and talk to them. Ask them questions. Then decide. We avoided telling people who to vote for because that is the very thing that the establishment we hate so much does. Full disclosure: I worked for Declan for about 2 years in his legislative office. But I am not writing this article because I worked for Declan. In fact, it is quite the contrary. I worked for Declan because he is the kind of legislator about whom I would write such an article.
If Mom is a baseball fan, Seastreak is repeating its BOGO 2 for 1 special. This week they are sailing to the Met’s game on Sunday. The boat leaves from Atlantic Highlands Harbor at 10:30 am and arrives at CitiField in time for the first pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1:10 pm.
For many, taking Mom out to the ball game would lead to an out at home. If your Mom is foul on baseball or the Mets, here’s a tip for you.
The Inlet Café in Highlands reopens today after rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy. The weather is supposed to be beautiful on Sunday. Waterside dining on the Shrewsbury with views of New York City returns to this outstanding restaurant that is completely rebuilt and beautiful.
O’Scanlon calls on Bayshore Tea Party and their slate to withdraw support for Peters
Dan Peters
Three time Monmouth County Sheriff Candidate Dan Peters worked as an Account Executive for RedFlex, the ‘traffic safety’ company that has been implicated in an ongoing federal criminal investigation into a $2 million bribery scheme in Chicago.
Peters’ LinkedIn profile included the job on his resume from 2010-2011 yesterday afternoon. Today, the job has was removed from his LinkedIn profile. MoreMonmouthMusings called Peters twice yesterday and once this morning to ask him about his resume and education. He did not return the calls.
Peters admitted to working for the company on Saturday May 4 while speaking before a group of activists from Campaign for Liberty, according to Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon. O’Scanlon, the New Jersey champion of the fight against red light cameras, was an invited speaker for the group’s meeting. Peters and the LD 13 Tea Party backed candidates also spoke at the event which was held in Hightstown.
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:
We The Peopleof 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.
Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford overcame the scandal of his marital infidelity and abandoning his state. He was elected in a special election to the U.S House of Representatives last night.
Could former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey launch a similar comeback?
Sanford won by 9 points in a district that went for Mitt Romney by 18 points last November. Nate Silver argues that 13% of South Carolina’s 1st district voters withheld their support of Sanford over his sex scandal. McGreevey lives in Rush Holt’s 12 Congressional District of New Jersey. McGreevey could win that seat if it was open, unless Scott Sipprelle was the GOP nominee, but he wouldn’t challenge Holt in a primary.
But what about U.S. Senate? Senator Frank Lautenberg announced he is retiring. Newark Mayor Cory Booker won’t say if he is running, officially. Booker strung the Democratic Party along for too long before announcing he wouldn’t run for governor this year. McGreevey wouldn’t really be stepping on Booker’s toes if he announced a candidacy for U.S. Senate.
Congressman Frank Pallone says he wants Lautenberg’s job. He wouldn’t be too happy if McGreevey entered the senate race. But McGreevey offered Pallone the opportunity to become a senator in 2002 when Senator Robert Torricelli dropped out of his reelection campaign. McGreevey doesn’t owe Pallone anything.
Gay Rights is the progressive social issue of our day. Who would be a better standard bearing for Gay Rights in a New Jersey U.S. Senate race. Booker, Pallone or McGreevey?
McGreevey will appear with Governor Christie at the Hudson County Jail this morning. They are holding a press conference about the work that McGreevey is doing as a minister to incarcerated women. There will probably be YouTubes and spots on the evening news.
Timing is everything, they say, in politics. A governor driven from office in a sex scandal being elected to congress is good timing for McGreevey.
By Tommy DeSeno
