UPDATE
6:35 PM April 8, 2006
Late word is that Chairman Fred Neimann will make a statement announcing discrepancies in the voting at the convention and that to resolve the situation Andrew Lucas and Joe DiBella will both appear on the party line for the 3 year term of Freeholder, and that the voters in the June primary will decide who the nominee will be.
This may end up in court folks.
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In a stunning upset, Andrew Lucas of Manalapan was nominated by the Monmouth County Republican Committee, defeating Joe DiBella of Howell on the second ballot.After their first ballot defeats, Robert Kleinberg, Brian Reilly and Terence Wall announced their support of Lucas who won by one vote on the second ballot. Lucas joins Freeholder Anna Little on the Republican ticket.
Joe DiBella is reportedly considering a challenge. Whether the challenge is in court or in the primary has yet to be determined.
Rosemary Peters was nominated for Surrogate over Rick DeNoia.
Lucas's victory establishes Jim Giannell, Chairman of the 2 Rivers group and the Municipal Chairman of Red Bank as an unquestioned forced to be reckoned with in the Monmouth County Party. Giannell was instrumental in then selections of Lillian Burry, Anna Little and now Andrew Lucas.
In a major gaff, County Chairman Fred Neimann failed to collect signatures on the petitions for the nominees while the committee was assembled. The candidates are spending the rest of their weekends collecting 200 signatures. It is unknown if this was an intentional gaff or if the Chairman just quit.
Congratulations to Andrew Lucas, Rosemarie Peters and Anna Little.
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8 comments:
Let me add my congratulations to Mayor Robert Kleinberg, Councilman Brian Reilly and especially Committeeman Terence Wall. It is never easy to give up your personal dream for the good of an organization, but these gentlemen were a class act in agreeing to unanimously back the candidate that they felt had the best chance to win in November, because in the end that is what it is really all about.
Andrew Lucas is a Princeton University graduate with a degree in Economics who manages a 100 acre cattle farm in Manalapan and a principal in an investment firm. He is a fresh face eager to serve ALL the people of Monmouth County and has accomplished fiscal stability and preserved open space and curbed development during his term on the Manalapan Township Committee. He is the future of the Monmouth GOP, and with Freeholder Little and Surrogate nominee Rosemarie Peters will bring victory to the GOP in November.
I did not know Mayor Kleinberg personally at the beginning of this process, but came to have a great appreciation for what he has accomplished in Marlboro during a very difficult time in Marlboro's history. I knew Brian Reilly slightly through acquaintances and admired his financial expertise and ability to build consensus during his tenure in Spring Lake. By mid week both this gentlemen and Andrew Lucas had committed to throwing their support to the other should they be eliminated on the first round.
I knew Terence Wall through his long involvement in Monmouth County Republican politics. I will tell you I have had differences of opinion on policy issues and some actions he has taken in the past. However, I was impressed by his very personal approach to the selection process. Imagine my surprise to see him come walking down my street last Sunday to personally discuss what were the issues I felt need to be addressed by the Freeholders and what could the Freeholder Board to help Howell Township. We also talked about the "math" and what would he do if he was eliminated or could not become the Freeholder on the second round. He promised he would think about our conversation. I know during the week many others had similar conversations with him.
After the first round of voting, the numbers seemed to indicate that Terence would probably still be in third place, or at best second, after the second round of voting. In an truly statesmanlike action, Terence stopped the second round vote a minute before it was scheduled to start and demanded his name be removed from the ballot and threw his support to Andrew Lucas, Terence, his campaign advisers and Mayor Kleinberg and Councilman Reilly then walked the voting booth lines to ask their supporters to vote for Andrew because they understood it was really all about November and the future of the Monmouth GOP.
Allow me to congratulate Committeeman Lucas, Mayor Kleinberg, Councilman Reilly and Committeeman Wall for their integrity, ethics and sense of what was best for the Monmouth GOP. They built consensus and the big tent. Thank you.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the outstanding campaigns run by Rosemarie Peters and Rick DeNoia. It was a difficult decision for many people and either would have served the people of Monmouth with a great deal of professionalism. Rosemarie will be a terrific candidate and I know Rick will be right there working for her election.
For those of you who have not seen the official results. Here they are:
MONMOUTH COUNTY REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
Surrogate
Rosemarie Peters 233
Rick DeNoia 222
Freeholder - 2nd Ballot
Andrew Lucas 230
Joseph DiBella 229
Freeholder - 1st Ballot
Joseph DiBella 222
Andrew Lucas 101
Terence Wall 82
Brian Reilly 40
Robert Kleinberg 38
All of the candidates (even the ones I do not like) comported themselves in a honorable manner today. I could see that Joe Dibella was very emotionally invested in this process. He wanted this very badly. However, I will be very suprised if he challenges what has happened today.
Whatever else you can say about him he is obviously a smart guy, too smart to challenge this process.
The party has done a great thing. We have chosen candidates that are intelligent and have unquestioned integrity. Andrew Lucas will be an outstanding Freeholder. Win loose or draw in November we should be proud of our choices.
A lot of people in our party obviously have a lot of disagreements. I disagree with a lot of people in our party. I do however recognize that most of the people I disagree with do have good motives behind their beliefs.
Whatever our differences if we are to win in November we must put those differences aside and work to get our candidates elected.
Yes we must continue to work for better internal governance. We have to continue to work to build a culture that says if you want to get rich you can not use the Republican Party in Monmouth County or public Service to accomplish that. What we can not do is allow that process to be twisted and used against us by the Democrats.
So let us unite in the one thing we can all agree on. BEATING DEMOCRATS!
Teddy Roosevelt said... "So let us unite in the one thing we can all agree on. BEATING DEMOCRATS"
Well put.
I was there and I do not see how there was enough time for 20 people to vote and leave before Wall withdrew.
Even if that did happen it may have screwed up the process but it can hardly be called cheating.
This is a very unfortunate turn of events which I predict will cause the Monmouth County republican party to implode. the fanatics on both sides will go on a metaphoric killing spree.
The MONGOP will then either be destroyed or rise from the ashes even stronger.Either way it will be a long ugly road.
I am sure the Dems are very happy right now.
TR said:
"I am sure the Dems are very happy right now"
They probably don't even know yet..they're busy working on last years ELEC reports
"Cheaters said...
We can't beat the democrats with this ticket."
Regardless of the propriety (and final outcome) of the vote, here's the choice everyone has: Continue to raise the level of acrimony or deal with their disappointment rationally and productively. November is a long way off which affords plenty of time for the candidates to hit their stride.
Elephants_not_donkeys said...
And now that the convention is over, I request once more: Terence Wall, release the tapes you allegedly possess.
Enough already E D. We heard you over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Once more from you about the tapes and you are banned from this blog.
TeK said...
"Regardless of the propriety (and final outcome) of the vote, here's the choice everyone has: Continue to raise the level of acrimony or deal with their disappointment rationally and productively. November is a long way off which affords plenty of time for the candidates to hit their stride."
Very well said. Unfortunately, the acrimony and divisiveness is likely to get worse over the next couple of months. There is likely to be a primary and then there will be the June convention to select a Chairperson.
Fortunately there is a long time between June and November. Whoever is elected as Chair will need extraordinary leadership and diplomatic skills
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