BODY POLITIC

GOP CONVENTION FULL OF SURPRISES

As the dust settles from last weekend’s Monmouth County GOP convention, a couple of developments occurred that will affect the future of the party. The delegates nominated some fresh faces from the party for higher office and they also sent another strong message to the party chairman. These two factors will play a big role in what happens to our county as November rolls around.

The nomination of Manalapan Committeeman Andrew Lucas for Freeholder was not totally unexpected. Any time that you have five candidates running for a seat, there are going to be factions. Once three of the factions concluded that their choice was not going to win, the votes shifted to Mr. Lucas. Unfortunately for Howell Mayor Joe Dibella, delegates decided to buck Chairman Fred Niemann and vote for someone besides the chairman’s choice. Because Nieman openly backed Dibella in February for the Freeholder seat- and many believe the Chair should be neutral- the vote could be seen as a rejection of his choice.

Mayor Dibella probably deserved better but the delegates are clearly upset with the current leadership. It didn’t help matters that mixed signals were sent out hours after the convention regarding a recount and that rules and procedures weren’t in place prior to the convention. These were issues that should have been anticipated and it is the Chairman’s job to expect the unexpected. On the floor, there were delegates that were openly discussing possible challengers to Mr. Niemann at the June convention.

Chairman Niemann does not have an easy job in trying to bring this party together. After years of rule by a few in the party hierarchy, it seems that every Monmouth County Republican has an idea on how to run the show. It is a big job considering the fund raising that must be done, the number of constituencies to please, and by the way, running a full bore campaign in November.

If the GOP remains distracted by the squabbles through the summer, it could be easy pickings for the Democrats in November. Republicans are at a disadvantage in fund raising due to the pay to play laws that were written by state Democrats and the GOP has got to get the message out about our new candidates. The first step has been taken to show the people new faces; the next step is to help them win. Saturday achieved the first objective, now Niemann and company must take care of the second.