Having Incumbents Screen is Bad for Party Unity and a Recipe for Defeat

As the candidate selection season enters full swing, the Monmouth County GOP is at a critical juncture, and faces a choice that is unprecedented in recent times.

For the first time in years, ever in my limited memory, we have two incumbent Freeholders up for re-election whose previous nominations were contested. The wounds of both of those contests, like the wounds from Operation Bid Rig, are not quite healed.

Rob Clifton was given the party line over incumbent Ed Stominski in 2004, by Chairman Bill Dowd, Senator Joe Kryillos, and a few others in Judith Stanley-Coleman's living room. While Rob defeated Ed in a contentious primary, his selection lead to the ouster of Chairman Bill Dowd, after 18 years of successful service. We have been in chaos ever since. Yet, we have won 8 of 9 contested county seats in three general elections.

Last year, Anna Little won a hotly contested race for the appointment to fill the seat Amy Handlin's seat when Handlin resigned after her election to the General Assembly. Little has been an active and controversial Freeholder, the likes of which we have rarely seen from a new comer. To the delight of her supporters and the consternation of "the establishment," she has ruffled more than a few feathers by refusing and returning what she considered to be tainted campaign contributions and with her vote not to reappoint Malcolm Carton as County Counsel. In a year when an angry electorate crisscrossed columns with their ballots, Little was elected to complete her term.

Clifton and Little both "defied marching orders" when they voted against the reappointment of Malcolm Carton. Anna defied two different Chairmen when she returned PAC money. Clifton also returned PAC money, though not during his own campaign.

Not unexpectedly, there are powerful people in our party, some of whom are on the screening committee, who want to replace Clifton, Little or both on the ballot.

Little has been subject to a baseless character assassination. There has been a whisper campaign about Clifton's electability, given our losses in Aberdeen and Matawan over the train station controversy, with some in the party discretely seeking candidates to oppose him at the convention or in a primary.

Now, both of them are conspicuous by their absence from the screening committee. If either of them are denied the opportunity to be voted up or down by the county committee convention , it will look like retribution for their independent actions and the return to the ways of the backroom deal which lead to Dowd's demise as Chairman. Their respective supporters in the party will be angry and act accordingly.

The Asbury Park Press and the Democrats will have a field day. In their endorsement of Democrats Barbara McMorrow and Greg Gibadlo last November, The Asbury Park Press said:

"This time last year, the two Republican candidates for the five-member, all-GOP Monmouth County freeholder board portrayed themselves as reformers — on ethics, on spending and on the pay-to-pay politics that have long characterized county government. We questioned their sincerity — with good reason, as it has turned out. Both Freeholder Director William Barham and Freeholder Lillian Burry have established their credentials as business-as-usual Republicans, most dramatically demonstrated by their vote to rehire longtime county counsel Malcolm Carton — the personification of patronage, taxpayer waste and abuse, and the arrogance that often afflicts entrenched officials.

Now, two other Republicans, incumbent Anna Little and Manalapan Committeeman Andrew Lucas, are seeking seats on the board in Tuesday's election, saying they are part of a new breed of Republicans, separate and apart from the old guard. We're dubious.


If either Clifton or Little are denied the party nomination without an opportunity to present themselves to the rank and file at a convention, I can imagine an Asbury Park Press editorial that starts like this:

This time last year we said that, "The best hope for badly needed reform is political opposition — something the Republican board hasn't had for nearly two decades." This is true now more than ever, as the Republican Party, in a backroom deal not approved by the County Committee has effectively fired the only two Republican Freeholders who were are part of a new breed of Republicans, most dramatically demonstrated by their vote not to rehire longtime county counsel Malcolm Carton — the personification of patronage, taxpayer waste and abuse, and the arrogance that often afflicts entrenched officials.

Can Dick and Jane be anything more than puppets for the old guard? Would they dare vote differently than the Freeholder Director or Deputy Director, after what happened to their predecessors? ...

I can't imagine how my friend Abe would argue with that one.

I have no problem with incumbents being challenged. But let those challenges be part of a democratic, "representational" process, not an "executive" fait compli.

Personally, I think Clifton and Little would be a lock for victory in November if they each declined to screen and ran in a primary. They would win the primary easily, and be free of the constraints of the "old guard." The Asbury Park Press would love it, and the Democrats would have to run against Rob and Anna's records, which are pretty good, instead of running against the "old guard."

The only thing that could stop them is the "old guard" withholding all their support, or worse throwing their support to the Democrats, like what happened when Brett Schundler was nominated in a primary to run against Jim McGreevey for Governor. Sure, the old guard was counting on McGreevey being a disaster and the old guard coming back to power after a four year hiatus. How did that work out? How have your tax bills been since then? Anyone remember who the State Party Chairman and Executive Director were then?

No, the best way to select our candidates for Freeholder, is to let the elected County Committee members decide. Let them choose between the incumbents, and any challengers the screening committee deems qualified, if we must have a screening committee.

What do you think? Let Chairman Adam Puharic know. His email address is info@MonmouthRepublican.org. His phone number is 732.431.6664. Or you can just post a comment here.

Either way, don't be negative or cast dispersions. This is not personal. It's for the good of the party and for the good of the citizens of Monmouth County. Really.