By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Any worthwhile county committee chairmanship contest revolves around winning the support of county committee members, Save Jerseyans. Hamlet-by-hamlet, door-to-door, 24/7. It’s retail politics at its purest level (even if the conversations themselves aren’t always substantively holy).
Sources in Monmouth County tell me that it’s going to be close – much closer than initially expected – when incumbent Chairman John Bennett and Sheriff Shaun Golden clash on June 10th to decide who will lead the organization forward in this year’s only competitive GOP chair battle.
On Thursday, Bennett announced the backing of Manalapan Mayor Jordan Maskowitz, Deputy Mayor Jack McNaboe, and Township Committee persons Mary Ann Musich and Susan Cohen.
“John’s first promise when running two years ago was to implement a new set of by-laws and move to a convention system when selecting candidates in order to make the entire process more democratic,” the officials declared in a joint release distributed by Chairman Bennett. “John has done this, and now County Committee members select our organization’s candidates, not political bosses in the back room.”
It’s a daily ever-evolving war for control of one of the state’s more robust Republican establishments in a county that leans right but is also always in danger of swinging left. This Wednesday, Freehold’s officials backed Bennett while Spring Lake’s committee chairman endorsed Golden. Stay tuned…
