By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
The U.S. Senate Primary is little more than two months away, Save Jerseyans, and as of right now, businessman Brian Goldberg boasts seven (7) county lines: Ocean, Essex, Atlantic, Mercer, Cumberland, Passaic and Somerset.
Rich Pezzullo has two (Union and Monmouth), and both Murray Sabrin and Robert Turkavage have one a piece (Middlesex and Hunterdon, respectively). Some of the other 10 counties are offering “open” primaries this time around, permitting someone who isn’t Goldberg to spend money (if they can raise it) and harvest votes elsewhere in places like Bergen and Cape May where ballot position won’t matter quite as much. Still, with a clear plurality of counties in his pocket, it’s safe to assume that Brian Goldberg is the man to beat as of today.
Murray Sabrin intends to make a fight out of it…
Issuing a handful of strongly-worded press releases in recent days on topics including foreign policy (e.g. Sabrin is an outspoken non-interventionalist who opposes any U.S. involvement in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict), the Ramapo finance professor unloaded with both barrels on Friday in the front runner’s direction by attacking his pro-choice stance on abortion, one which Mr. Goldberg shared in interview with Save Jersey and later PolitickerNJ.
Sabrin didn’t just put his criticism in a release; he forwarded a letter to the chairmen of each county that backed Goldberg.
Yup, the gloves are off.
The text of Professor Sabrin’s letter:
Hon. Keith A. Davis, Chairman, Republican Committee of Atlantic CountyHon. Robert Greco, Chairman, Republican Committee of Cumberland CountyHon. Al Barlas, Chairman, Republican Committee of Essex CountyHon. George Gilmore, Chairman, Republican Committee of Ocean CountyHon. John Traier, Chairman, Republican Committee of Passaic CountyHon. Al Gaburo, Chairman, Republican Committee of Somerset County March 28, 2014
Gentlemen:
It is the primacy of ideas over personality that makes our party — the Republican Party — different from others. Beginning with the Republican National Convention that nominated Ronald Reagan for President, Republicans have had a platform that reflected our determination to “protect the right to life for unborn children.”
Every Republican Party platform since has unequivocally re-affirmed this support.
Your county recently endorsed the candidacy of Brian Goldberg for the Republican nomination for United States Senator from New Jersey. Indeed, Mr. Goldberg will appear on the official county Republican Party “line” at the primary election in June.
Mr. Goldberg does not support the Republican Party platform when it “assert(s) the sanctity of human life and affirm(s) that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”
In contrast to this core Republican principle, Mr. Goldberg has adopted the same tired position put forward by liberals like former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy — that he “personally” opposes abortion but supports it otherwise. In other words, he’s really pro-abortion without any limits or restrictions, including on third-trimester or partial-birth abortions. Does any Republican anywhere in New Jersey want to be that much of a clone of Teddy Kennedy? Apparently Brian Goldberg does.Further, Mr. Goldberg has claimed that your county GOP’s endorsement of his candidacy is an endorsement of his policies and vision for the Republican Party.
Mr. Goldberg’s vision would scrap the Pro-Life Plank of the Republican Party Platform.
While there is some merit to Mr. Goldberg’s assertion that your support of his candidacy equates with support of his policies and vision, I cannot believe that you and your committee would simply reject a core tenet of our party so casually.So I am putting it to you directly: Do you and your committee support Mr. Goldberg’s position on protecting the lives of unborn children, or do you support the Platform of the Republican Party on this issue?
Please respond within a week as many Republican voters are concerned and want to know. If you fail to respond, we can only conclude that your endorsement of Mr. Goldberg is an endorsement of his policies and vision in this and other regards.
Thank you for your assistance.
Murray Sabrin
Murray Sabrin for U.S. Senate
And I say good! New Jersey is a pro-life state, and we don’t want a pro-choice Senator. All 5 of the guys in the primary field have a fairly similar chance to beat Booker, and it would take a miracle to get any one of them in. Assuming we get that miracle, I wouldn’t want to waste it on someone who’s pro-choice!
I still don’t buy that Goldberg is the frontrunner. No one in the non-line counties will care that he won 7 lines because it isn’t 3/4 and thus he isn’t a definitive establishment favorite, as much as he’d like to be. The three most major GOP counties with lines- Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex- went three ways, to Pezzullo, Goldberg and Sabrin respectively. As far as I’m concerned, this is still a five-way primary. And that’s a good thing- each of these guys is worthy of consideration. Goldberg’s lines don’t mean much- look at the numbers. Goldberg has lines in counties consisting of 37% of Christie’s votes in 2013, compared to 15% for Pezzullo, 2% for Turkavage and 8% for Sabrin. That means 43% of GOP voters don’t have a line, and Sabrin, Pezzullo and Bell are the guys with the experience in statewide politics to pull in those counties while snatching votes from Goldberg in his line counties. Unless Goldberg files 6,000 signatures and a million dollars, I don’t see him as the frontrunner.
Firstly, I used to have some respect for Mr Sabrin, now I think he’s just a desperate loser. Anyone who takes the time to look a it closer will see that Brian Goldberg is NOT pro choice. Seondly, I agree that having more “lines” may not put you ahead in the primary, but it’s alot better than not having them. Murray made this quite clear by his panic attack.
Goldberg said he’s “personally pro life” but “supports a woman’s right to choose” and I think that opens it up to questioning, which is what Sabrin set out to do. Goldberg’s best move is to issue a strong pro life statement and quell the rumors, forcing Sabrin to double back.
Best position on abortions: Tenth Amendment. If New Jersey is as overwhelmingly anti-fetus as it lately appears to be, it makes sense to move to the center on an issue that isn’t clearly Constitutional in anticipation of November election. I’ll rather have another squish than another Todd Akin.
As for Murray Sabrin, a libertarian flanking a vanilla Republican from the right on a non-economic issue smells of sheer desperation; maybe Goldberg *is* a frontrunner, after all.
I don’t think it makes Goldberg the frontrunner so much as it makes Sabrin a fringe candidate- a position he wouldn’t have been in if he’d kept his mouth shut. In a 5-man race, I can’t call Goldberg the frontrunner simply because he has 0- zip, zero, nada, none, zilch- endorsements aside from his county lines. Sabrin has Ron Paul, Pezzullo has Beck and O’Scanlon and Bell has MPC, whereas Goldberg has – you guessed it, no one. Until he gets that under his belt, I hesitate to call this race anything but a dead heat.
Knuckleheads! Pro-Life Chris Christie is the only Republican to win a statewide General Election since 1997. Twice. Being pro-life is NOT a negative and especially not a negative in a Republican Primary.
Comparing Sabrin to Todd Akin is stupid. You might as well call Christie, Romney, McCain, Bush, and Reagan Todd Akin too. Sabrin’s view is no different than the mainstream view of the Republican Party. Ditto with calling him fringe. If Sabrin is fringe, so is Christie, so was Bush, Bush, and Reagan. In both cases that makes you, the name-caller, a liberal Democrat. Are you Goldberg or just one of his apprentices?
Finally, Sabrin’s endorsements include Senators Doherty and Oroho, Assembly members McHose and Space. All Pro-Life (and that doesn’t make them Todd Akin or fringe, Goldberg, you saying so just makes you a leftist).
Goldberg is a safe loser for the insiders to pick because he will disappear before the 2016 presidential race ever happens. This week Sen. Rand Paul announced campaign organizations in all 50 states. The last thing Christie wants is a Paul-leaning Sabrin to be the nominee against Cory Booker. They fear he will add to Paul’s field operation in the home state. The dream is still alive for Christie and his boys are working it. Pezzullo and Bell are wingers, so no telling what they will do. Turk is a conservative too, so that leaves libby-lib-liberal Goldberg, the specialist on “single mothers” as someone sure not to get in the way.
It can be argued that not everyone sees Ron Paul’s endorsement as a net positive.
Christie won because he ran against Corzine and public unions, and used his prosecutor experience to his advantage; even New Jersey can only take so much corruption. Being pro-life may buy you a ticket to better afterlife but it obviously is a political net negative here, or we wouldn’t be such a blue state.
As for bringing up Akin, it is an abject stupidity to bring up social issues in a race that should be decided by economic and constitutional issues, on which Sabrin supposedly enjoys a hefty edge as a libertarian.
I don’t think Sabrin’s position makes him fringe, I think using it as a bludgeon to try desperately to take down Goldberg is what makes him fringe. Goldberg is a pretty awful candidate, don’t get me wrong, I’ll take any of the other 4- Sabrin’s just making himself look bad.
Knucklehead. Christie won because of his campaign IN TOTAL. Period. That’s how it works in the real world. Corzine attempted to attack Christie on the Life issue and it failed because the strongly motivated pro-abortion people are already solid Democrats. Pro-abortion Republicans only fail to motivate their own Pro-Life base, they don’t switch any D’s to R. Christie Whitman found that out.
This is a Republican Primary, Knuckle. Was it abject stupidity for Chris Christie to run all those Pro-Life robocalls and send out all that Pro-Life mail in 2009. Read a poll once in a while. What a Knuckle!
Another Anonymous Hambone. Goldberg is on the wrong side of this issue in a GOP primary in New Jersey or anywhere else in America these days. Most of those wannabe Democrats, so-called “moderate” Republicans, switched to vote in the Obama-Hillary showdown in 2008.
What’s great about Sabrin’s letter is that all those fool Chairmen are going to be pulled out of their closets on this issue by their support of Goldberg. Take Davis from Atlantic as a for example. He actually voted for the anti-abortion plank in the National Republican Platform in 2008. Then he turns around and wants to send the most radical Pro-abortion U.S. Senate candidate probably in the history of the NJGOP to the U.S. Senate to vote on federal judges? What a flip-flop!
On this issue and on others Goldberg will end up defining his political supporters. Goldberg has nothing to lose. They do.
Greg must be Cory Booker or work for Cory Booker. Seen from Booker’s point of view, there are five desperate losers running against him for the GOP nomination. Elections, especially primary elections, who a party nominates as its public face, it is about bigger things than just beating Cory Booker (which is a way, way, way, way out there long shot).
Does anyone think that Brian “issues free zone” Goldberg should be the face of the Republican Party, TOP OF THE TICKET, in the federal election before the do or die Presidential election of 2016?
If the GOP establishment wanted to stop the outsider movements of Paulite Libertarianism, Movement Conservatism, the Tea Party, and Populist Conservatism (as represented by the candidacies of Sabrin, Bell, Pezzullo, and Turkavage) they should have found someone real to do it with. The lines get you far in a New Jersey primary, but if it gets you Brian Goldberg as your public face in the General Election the joke is going to be on you.
Sure Max, EVERY endorsement brings negatives with it. In a GOP primary, how well does the endorsement of a pro-same-sex marriage legislator go down?
The point is that endorsements work BOTH ways. The person making the endorsement of “issues free zone” Goldberg becomes responsible for EVERYTHING he babbles out there on the campaign trail.
Trust me. Everyone who supports Goldberg will be made to account for EVERYTHING he babbles out there on the campaign trail. Because he is the original man of air and it is THEY who have made him. Now they own him and their constituents will know them by him.
Andy, I vote in a Republican primary but I’m an agnostic, and fairly ambivalent on the abortion issue. Pound on the social stuff too much and I’ll “forget” to mark your name on the ballot. Pound more, and I’ll be spiteful enough to vote for your opponent – yes, an evil, corrupt Democrat – just to keep you out of my sight for the next few years.
If Sabrin (or Rand Paul, for the case) sticks to what Paulites do best, which is market economy, liberty, state rights, and Fed-bashing, he’ll own my vote and support. But if he wants to talk about gays and fetuses, I’ll bow out and take a safest bet with Goldberg or maybe Pezzullo.
PS: I would suggest you to lay off personal insults – unless, of course, your goal is to alienate people to your candidate.
Here is the official position of the Libertarian Party that Murray Sabrin represented when he ran for Governor in 1997: “Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.”
Max, you are a rarity in a Republican primary just now. Maybe in the future it will be a party dominated by people who question the existence of God and who have no particular feeling regarding the state’s role in protecting human lives from casual killing because they are inconvenient. But it is not this party, not the Republican Party of this moment, it is not today.
The insult is to life. To degrade it to the point that it can be casually washed away. So that the argument may be made and made soon that children who are not “perfect” in body or in mind might be put down as dogs are, and for convenience. Stewards of life are not owners of human life. Nobody OWNS a human life and nobody can end it as a convenience. It is not my candidate but my issue. I defend all candidates who stand with human life and who oppose abortion and slavery and murder.
I wonder if El Dopo has ever read Governor Ronald Reagan views on abortion before he became convinced that a human life is not something to be wasted simply as a convenience. He should go back and read Freeholder Chris Christie’s views on abortion, back when he was an annual contributor to Planned Parenthood. In the world we inhabit, in the real world, people grow up and they grow older and they learn new things. It is a mark of humanity, a mark of humility, when a man or woman can admit a mistake and change. Do a little reading and you will find this a commonplace among all our great leaders.
Perhaps Mr. Goldberg is one of those very consistent creatures who, upon getting an idea at age 15 or so, holds on to it forever. If so, then he should be pitied. Adolescence should be a stage not a platform.
The fact remains that TODAY, here and now, the Republican Party Chairs in 7 NJ counties had the opportunity to stand with their own Party’s Platform and, more importantly, STAND WITH HUMAN LIFE. When given the opportunity to select from 4 candidates who stand with human life, they made the decision to go with a fifth candidate who did not.
A fifth candidate who happens to be the least qualified greenhorn of all the candidates. Someone running for the United States Senate with neither the funds or experience or standing necessary for such a venture. But THEY selected him anyway. He who rejects their party platform and who thinks human life means nothing. These chairs had the opportunity to educate Mr. Goldberg but instead the reinforced him in his position. It is their fault even more than his.
Max, you are a rarity in a Republican primary just now. Maybe in the future it will be a party dominated by people who question the existence of God and who have no particular feeling regarding the state’s role in protecting human lives from casual killing because they are inconvenient. But it is not this party, not the Republican Party of this moment, it is not today. – See more at: https://savejersey.com/2014/03/sabrin-goldberg-abortion-senate-primary/?replytocom=956531#respond
Oh, and your readiness to vote for something “evil” out of “spite” is well noted. All I can say is that in a democracy you get to spend your vote in any way you see fit. But when you do, as you do, do not complain when the fruit of your investment is bitter.
Rich Pezzullo was pro-life before it was cool- Sabrin only came on board in 1997 when he realized it might help him in the Governor’s race, and even now he only uses it as a political jab for his own gain. It’s Pezzullo who’s been going to the March for Life for decades. If you want the best politician, go see Goldberg or Sabrin. But if you want the best candidate, vote for Pezzullo.
Andy, we could discuss whether a fetus is, in fact, a human life, but it will likely be a long and fruitless discussion in which you’ll talk religion and I’ll talk science and we won’t agree with each other. And even if it is, honestly, there is a whole lot of human lives in New Jersey that I could perfectly do without if it were legal.
I don’t recall “Maverick Murray” ever repudiating the Libertarian Party’s platform on abortion or any other issue, or that he was ever “pro-choice”. As I recall he was always pro-life even when he ran on the LP platform in 1997. In fact, he used his pro-life stance to differentiate himself from his other two opponents, Whitman and McGreevey. Murray had no problem promoting the LP platform when it suited his purposes, just as he had no problem ignoring it when it didn’t.
Nope Max, I think I’ll be the one talking science and you will be talking fashion. You see, science keeps moving that boundary of viability (life) and this is something that the oh-so-cool wine & cheese crowd just don’t want to accept. Abortion is an invasive, expensive, and barbaric form of birth control that is to some an article of faith handed down by Saint Margaret Sanger and the other holier than holies.
“There is a whole lot of human lives in New Jersey that I could perfectly do without”. Thanks for the honesty Max. What part of middle Europe did you get your politics from?
Well they don’t call you El Dopo for nothing. Murray Sabrin’s position was categorically stated in the article you are commenting on. Did you read it first before commenting?
When has it been “cool” to be Pro-Life? From about the mid-1960’s onward chic society, the media, and its culture merchants have been beating the drum loudly for abortion as an act of liberation. It goes back further of course, but post WWII and the revelation of the atrocities committed by people who had no regard for human life kind of toned down the band for a while but from the 1960’s until today it’s been going strong and is today a touchstone of polite opinion. Nobody will raise an eyebrow at the firm’s Winter Holiday party if he or she goes on and on about the “right to choose”. But mention that maybe a life is in the balance and you will hear glasses tumble out of hands and gasps of shock. It is ALWAYS tough to stand in defense of human life.
I have no beef with Pezzullo. My beef is with seven RINO county chairs who had Pezzullo, Bell, Sabrin, and Turkavage to choose from and instead they found Goldberg.
You’re right, but being pro-life has become more and more acceptable as time has went on.
And I agree whole-heartedly, not just because of his abortion position but because he is a dangerously new candidate- he figured out the formula for winning county conventions, but as a neophyte he has no earthly idea what to do going forward. Those county chairs are going to look really stupid when the other candidates come in and manage to post 30, 40, 50% in Goldberg’s line counties. Because it isn’t “regular republicans” who come to vote on primary day, especially in counties like Atlantic and Cumberland where there’s not any other really contested primaries. I don’t know who will win- but it won’t be Brian Goldberg. And if he does manage to pull it off… I hope God forgives us.
Both you and Andy the Butt-Hurt Troglodyte (whom my private sources say has a different first name) seem to have a huge chip on your shoulder when it comes to Brian Goldberg. What is exactly your problem with him, besides being a political newbie? Being sick and tired of professional pols, I’m willing to overlook that particular flaw.
We can’t have a newbie running against Cory Booker. All of the other 4 have run statewide races, including 1 as a major party nominee and 2 with excellent performances on a third-party ticket. Brian Goldberg, on the other hand, has no idea how to run a statewide race. We need our best shot to take out Cory Booker. Two candidates- Rich Pezzullo and Bob Turkavage- aren’t professional pols by any stretch of the imagination, if you’re worried about that. I like Goldberg, but the fact is, establishment mainstream Republicans aren’t what anyone wants. Look at Joe Kyrillos 2012 or on a national scale John McCain 2008. Brian Goldberg is a Joe Kyrillos wannabe. And if what you’re hoping to live up to is a 20-point loss, than Goldberg is your guy. If you’re hoping to win, check out Rich Pezzullo, Bob Turkavage, Jeff Bell or Murray Sabrin.
Thanks for the explanation. Having checked their respective websites, I didn’t like what Bob Turkavage has to offer, so that one is off my list. Murray Sabrin, if I read it correctly, is pretty much a Ron Paul wannabe without Ron Paul’s sense of purpose (and with highly annoying supporters to boot), so there goes another. Jeff Bell, I like his opinion on issues but so far he doesn’t seem to be in the race. Of the remaining two, Rich Pezzullo looks better but my mind is still open.
Honestly, abortion is a non issue. For a Libertarian/Republican to come out and say he is in favor of government meddling in the affairs of private citizens is a huge turn off. I am 100% pro-life. Don’t have an abortion, because you are MURDERING innocent LIFE. But the government has 0% say in it. As far as I am concerned, the baby is attached to the mother, not the government. Sabrin lost a voter here.
In that respect, Sabrin is showing how much of a sore looser he is because he was expected to take the race because of his “name recognition”. And 4 other (well, 3, Bell doesn’t count) unknowns pretty much upstaged him.
Goldberg ‘is’ the frontrunner. I am not just saying that because I feel like typing more either. He won 7 counties handily, Pezzullo 3, and Sabrin 1. He is more than likely going to pick up some credible endorsements within the next few weeks. And he is genuinely a Republican with some Libertarian mindsets. Sabrin = Lonegan. He cannot win in a Liberal state like NJ even if he tried. Goldberg is really the only candidate that I can see getting money poured into his campaign from hardcore GOP insiders and supporters.
Do we want Cory Booker to be our Senator and future PRESIDENT or do we want Goldberg, the guy who has no chance in hell at becoming President or any other prominent political positions to represent the GOP values. To me, Goldberg seems to be getting more credibility.
Turk wants to increase taxes. Bell is barely in it and out of touch with NJ. Pezzullo is too angry and just wants some power. And Sabrin is a complete looser nutjob who is whining because Goldberg upstaged him in the Committee process. Who the hell wants those guys to represent you? I mean, if you do, there are 49 other states where you can move to and have the same exact thing represent you.
Thanks, that’s the most honest and detailed description of the doodoo pile New Jersey Republicans find themselves in. Being unable to leave the state for professional reasons, I have kinda resigned myself to being represented by an underage prostitute banger and a Hollywood character with a Twitter account. I want to believe that there must be someone able to rouse the taxpayers (however few still remain in NJ) to fight – gee, I sure hoped Chris Christie will – but there sure isn’t one among this sorry bunch.
People keep saying Pezzullo just wants power. But I know the guy, and that isn’t what he’s about. He wants to do some good and take out a useless Senator. I don’t think any of these guys are greedy per se, they’re all decent people. No need to make unsolicited character attacks. Let’s talk issues, because let’s face it-Cory Booker is too beloved to be beatable based on character. Let’s talk issues, because that’s his weak point, and in my view, Bell and Pezzullo are the best guys to do that-it’s exceedingly difficult to beat Ivy League education (Columbia and Cornell, respectively) and the real world experience they’ve racked up to help them take down Booker on the issues. Sabrin is smart too, but he’s a bit of an ideologue.