By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
It may be tourist season, Save Jerseyans, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t also an election year at the Jersey Shore. Still, it’s no small feat to draw a large crowd for a political rally at any Shore point between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
They pulled it off. Over 200 Monmouth County elected officials, County Committee members, and Party supporters were on hand at the Monmouth County Republican Party Headquarters on Saturday morning for a General Election kickoff rally. It was the first such large-scale event in Monmouth since Sheriff Shaun Golden was elected as the new Chairman on June 10th.
Freeholders Director and Deputy-Director Lillian Burry and Gary Rich (respectively), this year’s Freeholder Candidates, each gave speeches touting their accomplishments: specifically, passing four consecutive budgets with a 0% tax increase, all while maintaining the county’s enviable AAA bond rating.
Today’s strong turnout, coupled with Chairman Golden’s calls for increased volunteer and grassroots activity, seems to be a good start for the Burry/Rich campaign. By all accounts, this year’s Freeholder battle in Monmouth will be significantly more competitive than last year’s.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out in recent years, Save Jerseyans, Monmouth County is one that leans Republican but is always in danger of swinging to the left. Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal has quietly but surely built a bench of local talent throughout the County, something the Republican leadership seems to be taking quite seriously.
Also on hand for the festivities was U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Bell who was given a rousing introduction by former candidate Rich Pezzullo.
Pezzullo, a Freehold Township resident, had Monmouth County’s “line” in the June 3rd Republican Primary for U.S. Senate, but ultimately fell just short of overtaking Bell statewide. Since then, Pezzullo has arguably been Bell’s strongest surrogate in his bid to take down Cory Booker.
Bell’s breadth of knowledge regarding economic (and more specifically, monetary) policy was impressive, explaining his plan to the crowd and advocating for a return to paper currency backed by the “gold standard.” Bell also laid blame at Barack Obama’s feet for the anemic, six year economic “recovery.”
I scratch my head about Jersey politics.
Sure, I wasn’t born or raised here — as they say in Maine, I’m from “away.” But I cut my teeth in a political environment that is radically different than what I’ve seen in three years in New Jersey irrespective of ideology.
Two hundred — really? Where I come from, it’s routine to get two, three, four or five THOUSAND out for a rally.
That the 200 who came out were elected, party, official or whatever is also bizarre to me since those of us who did politics in the western United States would never tolerate that many apparatchiks in that small a space. The focus is, instead, on the grassroots — the people control the process, not the politicos. “Officials” are looked at with grave and deep suspicion since westerners are imbued with that 19th Century progress point of view that anyone elected to office is, by definition, a crook.
I am suspicious of any system that puts party over philosophy, yet that’s all I’ve seen in New Jersey is exactly that. Loyalty to the system is obligatory, while standing up for the citizen or for principle is mocked or derided. Too sad.
“It’s a club, and you ain’t in it….” – Eugene Martin LaVergne, “Democratic-Republican” for US Senate, 2014
If they are really “grassroots” they should put out a statement denouncing Cochran and his slimy campaign.
Hey Piper. It’s a start in reinvigorating a tired grass roots system. Give it a chance will ya instead of beating up on some very good moves by the new Chairman?
A few comments:
– Great rally, but Freehold is hardly a “shore point”
– We hear every year that this time it will be more competitive, but there’s no doubt Burry-Rich will win by about 2-to-1
– Piper: this is just a small county rally, a county where people don’t care much about politics (and a big majority has no idea what a “freeholder” is – which is a county executive) and usually just vote for the party that made the county a great place to live over the last 50 years