RUMANA DESPERATE TO HOLD ON TO POWER DISENFRANCHISES MINORITY VOTERS IN PATERSON

PATERSON NJ April 28, 2009 -- Passaic County Regular Republican Party Chairman Scott Rumana, who claims he is trying to strengthen the party by cultivating support among minorities, today worked to disenfranchise scores of minority voters in Paterson.  

Rumana, for nearly two weeks,  has been spearheading a protracted court battle against Republican rivals from GOP Strong and the Passaic County Republican Organization  over county committee candidates and the use of the PCRO name --- which was the original name of the Republican organization decades ago, and the slogan GOP Strong has chosen to run under in the June 2 Primary Election.

Rumana and his team have been trying to remove possible GOP Strong  candidates from the county committee in order that he may retain his chairmanship of the party in June. The chairman is elected by a vote of the county committee a week after the Primary.  

Today, on a technical ruling by a Superior Court judge, Rumana had 23 possible county committee candidates from Paterson  removed from the ballot, essentially giving Paterson Republicans no choices in the June 2 Primary Election. GOP Strong won its efforts to keep the county committee candidates challenged by Rumana in North Haledon and West Milford.  

“Scott Rumana is a hypocrite,” said Michael Mecca, a co chairman of GOP Strong. “He’s says he is in favor of building the Republican Party’s minority membership except when it appears that those minorities may be a threat to his hold on the chairmanship.”

Mecca, as PCRO chairman, this week refused to pursue a challenge to five other county committee candidates in Paterson as a show of good faith with  Paterson residents.  

Ramaglia also said that Rumana’s ally in Paterson, former mayor Pat Kramer, has to answer for Rumana’s tactics. “I think Rumana’s selfish, draconian approach to the June Primary reflects very poorly on his chief backer in Paterson – Mr. Kramer.”

Ramaglia pointed out that Rumana was a big backer of convicted felon Jonathan Soto of Passaic and tried to get Soto to arrange county committee support for him early this spring just before Soto was convicted on federal bribery charges.

“Scott Rumana insulted the Hispanic community by working with a federally indicted person rather than reach out to the great number of honest Hispanic men and women who want to work with Republicans,” said Ramaglia.