Thompson will not seek another term as Middlesex GOP Chairman

Senator Sam Thompson

State Senator Sam Thompson will not stand for reelection as Middlesex County Republican Chairman.  Old Bridge Councilwoman Lucille Panos will seek the position, with Thompson’s support, when the County Committee convenes on June 14.

Thompson, the chairman since 2010, announced that he is stepping down at a Middlesex GOP fundraiser in Matawan on Tuesday evening.

The Republican senator from Old Bridge, 80, told MoreMonmouthMusings that he is not retiring. He is planning to seek reelection to the Senate in 2017.

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Candidate For GOP Nomination Against Pallone Is Democratic Fundraiser/Donor

Hari Eppanapally of Livingston will be seeking the Republican nomination for congress in the 6th congressional district next Saturday at the Monmouth and Middlesex nominating conventions. His prior political experience is as an active fundraiser for Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula’s 2012 congressional run against Republican Congressman Leonard Lance in the 7th congressional district.

Eppanapply contributed $2500 to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

MMM hereby endorses Eppanapally for the Democratic nomination for congress in CD-6.

Really.  Eppanapally has a better chance of beating Frank Pallone in the Democratic primary than he does of beating Pallone in the general election.

The Vice President and member of the Board of The Financial Policy Council, a free market oriented non-profit think tank and policy advocate, Eppanapally would be a much better congressman than Pallone.

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Golden Not Running Against Pallone

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told MMM that he will not be a candidate for Congress this year.

Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett has been urging Golden to take on Congressman Frank Pallone due to the sheriff’s strong record of accomplishment and his popularity at the polls.

“I would love to see Shaun Golden run for Congress, ” Bennett said earlier this month, ‘Not only is he popular and a demonstrated vote getter, he has an outstanding record with a documented ability to get things done.”

Golden said that it is just not the right time for him to take on a congressional campaign.

Former Howell Mayor Joe DiBella said last week that he “would love to run against Pallone” if Golden doesn’t. Bennett told MMM that he received a message from DiBella expressing his interest. DiBella has not returned several phone calls inquiring about his candidacy from MMM this week.

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Little not running against Pallone

Party leaders are encouraging Sheriff Shaun Golden to challenge entrenched ObamaCare defender

Former Highlands Mayor Anna Little told MMM yesterday that she is not running for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th congressional district this year and that she never had plans to do so.

The GOP nominee against Congressman Frank Pallone  in 2010 and 2012 said that her November 1, 2012 email to supporters wherein she announced “I want to work for YOU in Washington” and asked supporters for contributions to help her “finish the job” was not an announcement of her candidacy, but rather a reaction to Pallone’s over the top defense of ObamaCare .  In October, Pallone called a congressional hearing into ObamaCare that he was participating in a “Monkey Court.”  Appearing on FoxNews with Megyn Kelly, Pallone shouted, insisting that President Obama had kept his, “If you like your healthcare, you can keep it, period, I guarantee it,” promise and said insurance companies were practicing capitalism by cancelling “lousy” “scam” insurance plans that people didn’t want to buy.

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden

Sheriff Shaun Golden’s strong performance in last November’s election …a 64%-36% reelection victory with over 100,000 votes… was noticed by state and national Republican leaders, many of whom are encouraging Golden to take on Pallone.

The two Republican leaders who matter the most in determining who receives the GOP nomination, Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett and Middlesex County Republican Chairman Sam Thompson, like the idea of Golden running against Pallone.

“I would love to see Shaun Golden run for Congress, ” Bennett said, ‘Not only is popular and a demonstrated vote getter, he has an outstanding record with a documented ability to get things done.”

Thompson said, “Shaun would be a great candidate.”

Little said she would support Golden if he runs.

Golden wouldn’t comment when we asked if he was running.

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Another Democratic Mayor Defects To Christie Team

facebook photo

Save Jersey is reporting that East Brunswick Mayor David Stahl is endorsing Governor Chris Christie for reelection, leaving the Democratic Party and will run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Buono. Buono will be the Democratic nominee for governor, unless Carl Bergmanson or Willie Arajuo beat her in the June 4 primary.

Stahl is the third Democratic mayor to endorse Christie’s reelection.  He is the first to join the GOP and become a Christie running mate.

Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long endorsed Christie last month. Harrison Mayor Raymond McDonough endorsed the governor in January.

Middlesex County Republican Chairman, Senator Sam Thompson told MMM that Stahl has his “100% support.” “I can’t think of anyone better to win Buono’s seat,” said Thompson, “Stahl was reelected in East Brunswick last year by a wider margin that Obama won the town.”

Christie narrowly won the normally Democratic Middlesex County in 2009.  Thompson said the GOP will field its strongest legislative ticket in memory in an effort to sweep the 7 districts that represent his county.

Stahl will make his formal announcement tomorrow morning, 10:30 am, at the Colonial Diner on Route 18, according to SaveJersey.

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Patrick Murray predicts that Cullari will defeat Little

Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray says on PolitickerNJ that Ernesto Cullari will defeat Anna Little in the CD-6 GOP primary based on Senator Joe Kyrillos coattails and “the bigger issue” that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the 2010 race.

I wonder who Patrick is referring to.

CD6 GOP
2010 nominee Anna Little hopes lightning strikes twice and she knocks off the Monmouth County organization’s preferred candidate – this time, Ernesto Cullari.  But it just ain’t gonna happen.  It’s not because the party has gotten any better at GOTV.  Fewer than 14,000 Republicans voted in the last primary – and the only reason more will vote this year is that native son Joe Kyrillos is running for Senate.  The bigger issue is that some of Little’s key supporters have fallen out with her since the last race.  Winner:  Cullari

Murray predicts that 15% of partisan voters will come out on Tuesday statewide.   If the turnout is higher in Monmouth because of Kyrillos’ favorite son status, that should favor Cullari.  Little benefits from Kyrillos’s coattails in Middlesex where she appears under the senator on the ballot. 

Despite Murray’s swipe at the Monmouth GOP get out the vote effort, the real key to this race is will be the turnout in Middlesex.   If Sam Thompson’s team gets 5000 or more voters to the polls, Little should win.   In the 2010 race less than 3800 Middlesex Republicans voted.  However the Middlesex portion of the district is much larger now since redistricting.  If less than 5000 voters come out in Middlesex and 6000 come out in Monmouth, Cullari wins.   If 10,000 come out in Monmouth because of Kyrillos, Cullari wins handily.

MMM’s prediction:  In a repeat of 2010, the race will go to a recount. 

Unlike 2010 the race, the recount won’t be resolved before the Monmouth GOP convention.  Little will get up at the convention and endorse John Bennett for Chair as a payback for headlining her $10 per head spaghetti dinner fundraiser in Keansburg.  Cullari will get up and endorse Christine Hanlon because she’s Christine Hanlon.

Little will be forced to concede on June 15 in order to pay her fines from the FEC.  She won’t have enough money to pay her recount team and the fines.  John Bennett, fresh off his defeat in the Chair’s race, will be in Florida and unable to host a spaghetti dinner to pay Little’s fines and pay the recount team.

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CD-6 Primary: It will all come down to turnout

On the day Anna Little won the endorsement of the Middlesex County GOP, she became the favorite to win the 6th congressional district nomination.  Despite that all of the candidates, Democrat and Republican are from Monmouth County, the new 6th is a Middlesex County district. 

With no presidential contest on the top of the ballot and the U.S. Senate race uncompetitive, turnout is likely to be very low.  13,000 voters decided the 2010 primary race between Little and Monmouth County GOP Vice Chair Diane Gooch by less than 90 votes.  This time out, I’ll be surprised if there are more than 6000 votes.

Based on name recognition, Little should be considered the favorite.  She scored an upset in the last primary. She was the general election candidate in 2010 and she was a countywide candidate for Freeholder in 2006.

Coming into the race, Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth County GOP endorsed candidate was a complete unknown, except for readers of the triCityNews where he was the token conservative columnist.   The nomination in both Middlesex and Monmouth Counties was his for the taking because no one else wanted it.  Little was running for the U.S. Senate nomination against Joe Kyrillos.

Little has been once again running against the Republican establishment who turned her away for the congressional nomination twice and never wanted her as freeholder candidate.  She won the office of Freeholder by one vote at a raucous January 2006 convention and was denied the nomination for reelection in 2007.

But it was during a meeting with Kyrillos in early March, before the Monmouth County screening/candidate selection and after Cullari announced his candidacy, that Little give up her Senate bid and decided to make another run for Congress.   Kyrillos did not want a primary challenge from the pesky Little.  Little did not want her career to end with a primary loss to Kyrillos.   The independent minded elected officials and municipal chairs of the Monmouth GOP were not going along with the deal.  They knew Little was no more of a threat to Kyrillos than Badar Qarmout.

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Sam Thompson on Anna Little’s FEC Reports: “I have no idea”

Middlesex County GOP Chairman, Senator Sam Thompson, is as puzzled as the rest of us as to why Anna Little has not registered with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for congress.

Little has the Middlesex GOP endorsement in her primary battle with Ernesto Cullari, the Monmouth County GOP endorsed candidate for the nomination for the 6th congressional district seat in the House of Representatives.

Asked why Little would have terminated her congressional campaign account, “Anna C. Little for Congress Inc.,” with the FEC, which she did on April 2, while maintaining her U.S. Senatorial candidate status through her “Friends of Anna Little” account, Thompson said, “I have no idea.”

Asked why her “Termination Report” would indicate $71 thousand more in receipts than expenditures yet show a zero balance, Thompson said, “I have a hard enough time keeping my own campaign finance reports straight.”

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Cullari Challenges Little to First Debate of Primary Season with No Response

Press release

Asbury Park, NJ – On Friday, May 25th and again on Saturday, May 26th, Ernesto Cullari, Republican Candidate for Congress, personally invited former Freeholder and Mayor Anna C. Little to a debate scheduled for May 31st at 7pm. This marks the first time that either campaign has directly contacted the other to seek approval on terms and format. The debate, as proposed by Cullari, will be held at a prominent local university with a moderator, who is a well respected journalist. Members of the press are encouraged to attend.

The invitation to the Little Team clearly lays out the format of the event being proposed. This is in stark contrast to an event, which was to be hosted last week by Democratic Tea Party Leader and Little endorsee, Mark Falzon. Cullari agreed to attend Falzon’s Candidates Forum more than eight weeks prior to the event. Only through third party sources as the event neared, did the Cullari Campaign learn that the format had been changed to a debate without any communication or agreement from Cullari or his surrogates.

Every aspect of the debate proposed by Cullari is to ensure that each candidate has an equal opportunity to be heard by the voters and that no one candidate has an unfair advantage over the other. If any facet of the venue, format, or the stipulations surrounding the debate changes, the Cullari Campaign pledges to notify all involved parties to discuss the proposed changes immediately.

The Little Team has not responded to Cullari’s debate request.

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Little still not registered as a candidate for Congress

“Terminated” campaign committee report has a $71K discrepancy.  Where did that money go?

The primary is one week from today and former Highlands Mayor Anna Little, the Middlesex County GOP candidate for the 6th district GOP congressional nomination, has yet to file as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission.

MMM first reported that Little’s FEC paperwork was not in order on May 7th.  Jane Frotton, her former treasurer said she never had anything to do with the FEC reports. Brett Rappaport, the treasurer listed on Little’s web site, has not responded to a request for comment.

Little’s Anna C. Little for Congress Inc. campaign committee was opened for her 2010 race and continued to be active in the 2011-2012 election cycle.  A “Termination Report” was filed with Frotton’s electronic signature on April 2, 2012.  No other reports, statements of candidacy or statements of organization have been filed by or for Little, despite the fact that she is on the primary ballot and received the Middlesex County GOP endorsement on March 24, 2012.

The Termination Report indicates total contributions from 2010-2012 of $485,364.57 and expenditures of $414,295.70.  Despite that $71,068.87 surplus, the report indicates a zero balance in the Little account.  Frotton could not explain the difference and Rappaport has not responded.

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