Friday, February 05, 2010

Sipprelle's Struggles With Rank and File, Grassroots

By John Menella

Last night I went to an East Brunswick Republican Club meeting. As I walked in, and to my surprise, who did I see sitting there but Scott Sipprelle. As the meeting Started Mr. Sipprelle stood up in front of the room and introduced himself. He began by telling everyone in the room that Mike Halfacre has been going around bashing him, and that he follows Regan's 11th commandment, and will never bash another Republican.

He then began to explain why he donated money to 5 Democrats and to Chuck Schumer. he explained that in 2009 he donated money in the hopes of getting them to vote no on the health care bill. He stated that 4 out of 5 of them did in fact vote no, and went on to say, "that was money well spent."

He then explained that he donated money to Chuck Schumer in 2002 and in retrospect made a mistake doing so. I then stood up and introduced myself and reminded Mr. Sipprelle that we had met a few weeks earlier at an event in East Brunswick. he remembered, and I refreshed his memory as to our conversation. I told him that when I asked him about his donation to Chuck Schumer, several week earlier, his reply to me was that he was told to by the senior partners at Morgan Stanley and ultimately resigned because of it.

I explained to him I had 2 problems with that, the first being that to cave into his bosses demands and contribute to Schumer, concerns me with how he would hold up to Pelosi's or Obama's demands. Secondly I informed him that he left Morgan Stanley in 1998 and donated in 2002.

At that point you could briefly feel the tension in the room as his mouthed tightened while he attempted to answer. The problem was he reiterated the love for his country, how bad things have become etc. etc., but never addresses the discrepancy about 1998 and 2002.

I then asked him a follow-up question pertaining to his contributions to the other 5 Democrats, and explained my concerns. I asked what would lead me to believe that if he were in congress a Democrat would not contribute to him to sway his vote in an attempt to get reciprocation for their votes.

Again he somewhat danced around that as well, although in fairness, he explained it by basically saying he won't do that, and again he did not seem to like that question very much

At one point another member of the group asked him how he believes health care should be fixed and what he would do. His answer was actually spot on, however after his answer yet another member told him that the answer was very good, but Mike Halfacre has been saying that exact thing for months now. He went on to ask him where he was six months ago, when Mike Halfacre was already doing what he is doing now. Mr. Sipprelle went onto say that 6 months ago he was running his business, and now he has received a different calling.

In the end we shook hands and I once again made it clear that my support would be for Mike Halfacre, but wished him well as we exited the meeting.

John Menella is a law enforcement officer and a Middlesex County Republican.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

He then began to explain why he donated money to 5 Democrats and to Chuck Schumer. he explained that in 2009 he donated money in the hopes of getting them to vote no on the health care bill. He stated that 4 out of 5 of them did in fact vote no, and went on to say, "that was money well spent."

That is an out and out lie.

First of all, when he made the donations, they were in the middle of debating cap and trade, so he might've wanted to ask them not to vote for that either, but three of them did.

Second, the healthcare bill wasnt even introduced until July 14th, so how did he know what he was asking them to vote against?

Basically his consultants told him that since the people he gave money to voted for all the things conservatives detest, claim you did it for healthcare, since only one of them voted for that.

And by the way..how bad is it when you have to ADMIT that you're giving money to directly influence legislation? Isn't that exactly the kind of nonsense we're fighting against?

Man, this guy's wheels are really coming off.

Artful Dodger said...

Lie #1:
When asked about his contribution to Schumer, Siprelle said his boss at Morgan Stanley made him do it, and he left Morgan Stanley as a result. Problem: He left Morgan Stanley in 1998 and opened “his own investment firm” according to his biography on his website. He made the donation in 2002, while working for himself.

Lie #2
When asked about his contributions to five Democrats in 2009, he said he “did it to influence the healthcare vote”. Problem: He made those donations in June, 2009, and the Healthcare bill wasn’t even introduced until July 14, 2009. He admits he gave political contributions to 1) influence a vote, and 2) Influence a vote on a non-existent bill.

Dodge #1
When asked to appear in front of the NJ Tea Party, he cancelled, as he was concerned about being treated uncivilly. Awwww "It's also notable to mention that Scott Sipprelle has repeatedly refused to meet with representatives of tea party groups and conservative grassroots organizations.”

Dodge #2
When asked issue-specific questions by a reporter for US1, he avoided the questions with non-answers about being a “holistic candidate”.

Houston, we have a problem.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the Halfacre campaign effort has retreated into the bunker, clinging to an internet connection where they can continue to tap out SOS via twisting words and outright deceptions. Swallow the cyanide capsule fellas.

Anonymous said...

Corsi is about to make them both irrelevant

Anonymous said...

Right that is what we need more professional campaigners like Obama who spend all there time campaigning. Lord save us from party players and professional politicians. And people wonder why things never get better

Anonymous said...

Reality check #1-infinity:

Sipprelle is the only candidate in this race who can beat Holt.

Anonymous said...

As a conservative, I feel less confident than ever in Sipprelle. Politically, if he's not able to answer questions within the party, I wonder how he'll do when Holt's guys start in on him. Nonetheless, while I support Mike Halfacre, his campaign has clearly gone off the rails. His last release was the first substantive piece we've seen in a while. I hope he rights the ship before it's too late.

Jim McMahon said...

There are about 300 million people in America. Our Federal government -- at least those that are directly elected by "We The People" -- is made up of only 537 individuals. Personally, I'd be ashamed to say that I lived in a Congressional district that elected Mike Halfacre to be one of those 537.

Jim McMahon said...

Halfacre is full of shit. Halfacre willingly took campaign contributions from Michael Gooch of Rumson. Gooch will contribute to the political campaign of any whore that he thinks that he can influence if not eventually OWN outright. In addition to supporting Halfarce, Gooch has contributed to the campaigns of all sorts of whores -- MANY liberal and even some RINOs:

Some of Michael Gooch's Political Contributions

Why hasn't Halfacre returned the money that Gooch has contributed to his campaign? If Halfacre is so offended by those that contribute to the Democratic candidates that he finds offensive, why hasn't Halface, a hypocrite to be sure, refused to keep the contribtuions of those (e.g, Gooch) that do what he faults Scott Sipprelle of doing? Why is Mike Halfacre keeping the political contributions of liberal, serial infulence peddlers like Mr. Gooch?

Middletown Conservative said...

I think the donation thing is a non-issue. For those of you who have held executive positions in medium to large companies you know that you are required to give to certain causes and yes, political candidates.

United Way provides the best example. If the president or executive "C" level of your company makes a commitment to a certain giving level, you as management are expected to give. If you don't give "enough" in the boss opinion, you increase your commitment. Don't think for a minute you can "stand up to the boss" on something like this. It's highly political.

The same goes for political contributions. Companies want to be on the good side of politicians in regulated industries, construction, real estate, banking, etc.

If and when some of you who comment reach the upper levels of management, you will see and you will give.

Anonymous said...

Art ,Tom and Mike & Astute Law enforcement official;
# 1 Question,First and Last Question;
Which candidate has the necessary resources to run a campaign in five counties so that the ticket under him or her is strengthened ?
We have one bite at the apple to get rid of Rush Holt!!!

Anonymous said...

amen,and well-said, 9:31!!!!

Anonymous said...

I saw Sipprelle and with his background and knowledgeable ability to address questions at the Tea Party meeting in Ocean Township I wish we had him running against Pallone. If I was in Holt's district I'd go for Sipprelle. I am a die hard Republican but if a Dem candidate runs and needs contributions you bet I'll give. This is a no brainer I saw this guy ask the same question tonight. Give it up Sipprelle is by far the more feasible canidate here. It's not that I don't like Halfacre it's just that mouthing the same canned answers and not giving specifics will not give us the edge. Hopefully the RNC will see this and choose Sipprelle.

Anonymous said...

I saw Sipprelle this evening. With his background and knowledgeable along with the ability to address questions at the Tea Party meeting in Ocean Township I wish we had him running against Pallone. If I was in Holt's district I'd go for Sipprelle. I am a die hard Republican but if a Dem candidate runs and needs contributions you bet I'll give. This is a no brainer I saw this guy ask the same question tonight. Give it up, Sipprelle is by far the more feasible canidate here. It's not that I don't like Halfacre it's just that mouthing the same canned answers and not giving specifics will not give us the edge. Hopefully the RNC will see this and choose Sipprelle. Now if you can point to other areas that would support your argument beyond this then people should question his loyality. But as he said he gave 91K to Republicans and less than 10K to Dems.