Filing Day Recap: Cruz wins signature fight but who won the N.J. delegate battle?

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

I was poolside on Monday, surrounded by palm trees and sunshine, while New Jersey political operatives, public officials, and patronage beneficiaries scrambled to meet filing deadlines for the 2016 ballot. Not trying to rub it in, Save Jerseyans! Just putting a fine point on exactly how much I detest the petitioning process. Thinking I’m going to make vacationing on petitioning day an annual thing…

In any event, here’s what I missed from the presidential race (and you probably haven’t heard yet):

Ted Cruz won the bragging rights-only signature battle with 3,042 state-wide, an effort driven by Cruz state chair Steve Lonegan‘s grassroots experience. John Kasich‘s forces finished a distant second with 2,107 followed closely by the Trumpies with 2,073.

On the delegate front? You can view the full list of at-large delegates here. The district delegate list is over here.

There are a TON of individual story lines that could warrant a full post but I’ll try to keep it brief; after all, it increasingly looks like our little state could decide this entire national contest.

To begin with, as predicted, the Trump slate is led by the Donald’s lead cheerleader: Governor Chris Christie. Things get much more interesting from there…

Evaluating the Christie-Trump Slate

For starters, the Christie-led Trump slate is weaker than one would expect at least in terms of “big” elected official names. The Governor’s former treasurer, Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff, is backing Kasich. Save for Christie and a handful of Senators – Joe Pennacchio, Mike Doherty, Kevin O’Toole, Gerald Cardinale and Sam Thompson, and Bob Auth over in the Assembly, the New Jersey Trump team is largely devoid of state-level elected officials. Not that there are too many GOP legislators left to begin with!

christie trumpThere are plenty of familiar NJ GOP names from the Governor’s orbit; for a sampling, there’s Donald DiFrancesco, Richard BaggerJon Hanson (the Morris County developer tasked with helping Christie fix the Meadowlands), Robert J. Hugin (a biopharmaceutical executive), and Francis X. Wentworth (managing principal at Normandy Real Estate Partners). The Governor’s son, Andrew, is also a delegate, as are South-Central Jersey GOP titans Glenn Paulsen of Burlington County and George Gilmore of Ocean County.

Winning CD3 establishment support is key to the Trumpian effort and, if I may say so, more than a little ironic for New Jersey Trumpies who thing a vote for the New York Pelosi Donor is somehow a knock at the establishment. Ocean in particular is home to many white working class and retired citizens as well as many military members: prime Trump vote territory. Gilmore’s support should raise a few eyebrows among Jersey political watchers, too, since as we’ve discussed here, the Ocean County chairman has been reluctant to back Trump as a battle rages between his organization and Team Christie over both an RNC committeewoman position AND the nomination of Ocean County’s Jack Kelly to the state parole board.

Will the plot thicken? Word has it that the Ocean GOP is getting ready to hold a presidential endorsement convention after electing to not pass judgment on the presidential race at last week’s regular convention as is customary. Has a deal been reached?

Trojan Horses after all?

One way to read the Christie list: the NJ GOP establishment is coalescing around Trump.

Another: that Trumpie concerns over ‘trojan horse’ delegates (bound to Trump on ballot one but disloyal – by design – if Trump fails to clinch on the first ballot) are meritorious.

trojan horseLook at a few of the county chairs (only 11 of 21) serving as Trump delegates. George Gilmore? Again, the veteran Jersey Shore power broker knows as much or more than Trump about deal-making and certainly has no great love for the guy even if he ultimately endorses him (see above).

Glenn Mortimer‘s Union county committee endorsed Kasich. Sam Thompson of Middlesex and John Traier of Passaice are also about as far from Trumpies as you’re ever going to find. I’ve looked at the district delegate list, too, and it’s full of folks who I personally know aren’t Trump fans. Not in the slightest.

Are they REALLY backing Trump out of fealty to the Governor and his organization? Or do they know Trump is likely to win New Jersey (but increasingly unlikely to clinch on ballot #1) and want to be a part of the action when things get crazy on the convention floor in Cleveland? Has keeping all options open been the Christie plan all along? Intrigue abounds!

You can imagine what I think but we’ll find out soon enough…

Kasich’s Garden State backing highlights 2016 establishment schism

So much of the social media and new media chatter in recent months pertains to how Trump has split the Republican base. A less discussed angle? How he’s split the establishment, too. That schism is clearly evident in New Jersey.

christie and kasichI already mentioned the former treasurer earlier. Fran Franks, widow of the popular former Congressman Bob Franks, is a Kasich delegate (her husband and the Ohio Governor were close allies in the U.S. House). She’s joined by former Governor Christine Todd Whitman, GOP fundraising giants Gail Gordon and Lawrence E. Bathgate, former congressional candidate and venture capitalist Scott Sipprelle, lobbyist and former GOP Assembly executive director Donald Sico, state Senator Jennifer Beck and Atlantic County Freeholder John Risley are among the “establishment” defectors.

It’s easy to overstate the rift since we’re fast approaching the deal-making and, potentially, post-convention kumbaya phase of the nomination process. Still, if I had told you that the NJ GOP would be this split two years ago, would you have believed me? No, you wouldn’t have. Don’t b.s. a bullshitter!

The split is particularly pronounced in the key Republican county of Monmouth where Tony Fiore, the county committee’s vice chair, is backing Kasich as are Red Bank Chair Sean DiSomma and GOP operate and attorney Brian Nelson while Claire French, popular former County Clerk and close ally of Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno is a delegate candidate for Trump.

Cruz’s support is spirited (but limited?) in New Jersey

ted cruzI do NOT want to offend Cruz-ites with this post; saw a lot of good friends on that list. Honest, hard-working conservatives. Ideologically, I lean strongly in the Senator’s direction out of the remaining options.

It’s also arguable that county committee compositions don’t always reflect the “base” as accurately as one might expect. Internal power politics and a shocking number of vacancies contribute to that conclusion.

HOWEVER, will of that said, here’s what we do know: Trump has swept county committees with one exception (Union went for Kasich), and Trump has led every New Jersey primary poll by solid margins with the caveat that we haven’t had one since the race shrunk to three. Cruz doesn’t appear likely to win New Jersey as of this writing. That could change. He has one legislative endorsement albeit a persuasive one (Michael Patrick Carroll). Lonegan’s team will put up a fight but they don’t have the money people; Cruz will need to commit to N.J. if he wants to play here, something that’s not easy to do with California, New York, and other key expensive media market races happening around the same time.

I’m thinking out-loud here: if June 7th arrives, and Cruz isn’t close in N.J. but Kasich is clos(er), do I vote my ideology or tactically? Stay tuned.

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Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

3 Comments

  1. My money is on Kasich — he has the experience and is rational, I will take Cruz however but never TRUMP. I find it totally amazing how many people are still kissing up to Christie by following his lead, I guess after all these years they still haven’t learned he is only out for himself.

  2. R00ney writes: “I’m thinking out-loud here: if June 7th arrives, and Cruz isn’t close in N.J. but Kasich is clos(er), do I vote my ideology or tactically? Stay tuned.”

    Oh please…where you are concerned, “thinking out loud” is a euphemism for breaking wind. Kasich is delusional. Then again, you are an effete, ambulance-chasing, Establishment hack.

    By the time the convention arrives, the delegate count between Cruz and Trump will be close enough for a contested convention. If that’s the case, then Cruz will likely take it on the second ballot (hence his campaign with the delegates all this time).

    The G0Pe will be faced with a dilemma: do they let Cruz grab the brass ring or do they broker the convention?

    Long story short: no matter what happens, if he isn’t handed the nomination on a silver platter, Trump will run third party and the Lizard Queen will be elected.

    End of the Republic and beginning of Thunderdome…where there will be no palm trees and umbrella drinks for YOU. Matty.

  3. Let’s not only save NJ, but also the USA and the world.

    This year, when the NJ vote matters more than ever, delegates who vote for Donald Trump only help keep NJ the laughing-stock of the nation.

    Gov. Christie et al: Make America Great by making sure we have a great GOP candidate, in other word, stop pledging your allegiance to corrupt cronyism!

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