In unusual step, Ocean GOP screening committee declines to endorse incumbents

Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove (R-9) has spent seven years in the Trenton.

Assemblyman Greg McGuckin (R-10) has been there for six terms.

Both got slighted on Monday by the Ocean County GOP’s screening committee. The panel (which is influential but only makes recommendations ahead of the March county convention) went for Stafford Mayor Greg Myhre over Gove in LD9 and, in LD10, ex-Brick Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro and Toms River school board member Ashley Lamb over McGuckin.

The incumbents could still win next month in front of county committee members voting in the convention, but their failure to secure the first – and usually close to automatic – threshold of support for elected officials seeking reelection is undeniably awkward at the very least.

Thing in Ocean County are a lot more interesting than they were even a few years ago. George Gilmore recently retook the helm of the Ocean Republican organization, but it’s been believed that his authority hadn’t quite returned to the point it was at prior to his 2019 resignation over federal tax charges. 2023 has already seen a high profile county commissioner retirement (Joe Vicari). His presumptive replacement: Frank Sadeghi, a close Gilmore ally.

Matt Rooney
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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.