I busted poor Scott Sipprelle’s chops for his Democrat donations back during the 2010 NJ-6 GOP Primary, Save Jerseyans. And he’s an exceptionally nice dude.
So how can I ignore the Democrat legislative donations of John O. Bennett, former state senate president, acting governor and current candidate for the Monmouth GOP chairmanship?
The list (from what I could find via ELEC):
Nicholas Scutari -$3,000.00 (2007-11)
Lou Greenwald – $2,800.00 (2005-07)
Dick Codey – $2,000.00 (2008-10)
Herb Conway – $500.00 (2011)
Barbara Buono – $500.00 (2006)
Harvey L. Smith – $300.00 (2007)
Gary Schaer – $200.00 (2008)
Former Governor Bennett’s adversary in tonight’s chairman vote, attorney and GOP State Committeewoman Christine Hanlon, is younger and consequently enjoys a less-extensive ELEC rap sheet. Yes, I checked in the interest of being equitable. It is nevertheless notably devoid of Democrat donations.
Now, many Monmouth county committee members will take issue with $9,300.00 worth of Democrat legislative donations going back to 2005. Others will verbally shrug it off as “part of the game.” Our old buddies and Monmouth blogging aces Art Gallagher and Tommy DeSeno have been going back ‘n’ forth over it at MMM. Plenty of issues will keep both rival camps warring until the bitter end later this evening, and the best they can say for themselves is that Monmouth GOP still has nothing on its Bergen County counterpart.
There’s still no getting around the fact that some of the aforementioned recipients are verified New Jersey liberal supervillains. Asm. Lou Greenwald is, of course, the Democrat Assembly Budget Chair and a notorious South Jersey Machine stooge. State Senator Nicholas Scutari serves as his chamber’s judiciary committee chairman and played a central role in the sinking of Governor Christie’s Supreme Court nominees Philip Kwon and Bruce Harris. State Senators Codey and Buono also require no introduction for our regular readers; they’re huge Christie critics, giant pro-union liberals, and both widely-discussed as possible general election opponents for the Governor in 2013.
Aiding and abetting the enemy?
Are Bennett’s donations automatic disqualifiers?
When Scott Sipprelle’s donations were at issue, I wrote that “[b]ase voters are called on to weigh these considerations against a candidate’s overall message.” My position hasn’t changed. Past donations aren’t always dispositive of a candidate’s character and/or fitness. They are, however, an absolutely legitimate line of inquiry for any committee member in a chairman’s race or primary voter in a primary race. We expect party leaders to put their money where their mouths are and exercise a higher-than-normal degree of loyalty to party principles. They are, after all, seeking party leadership positions in the context of party election! Wouldn’t McDonald’s shareholders question a new CEO who had donated heavily to vegan pedagogical charities?
And no, I don’t think it’s facile analogy. We live in interesting times. Much is at stake both this year and next. Being a Republican should and must mean something, Save Jerseyans.
None of this is up to me. We’ll see what the Monmouth GOP Committee thinks it means tonight!
Stop calling me old!!!
Old = Length of Time
So stop complaining, old man! 😉