George Ajjan

Over the course of the next week, brand new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue will have a chance to cement his status as the Republican favorite to take on incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg in a marathon series of eight conventions.

Between tomorrow and next Wednesday, there are Republican county conventions coming up in Monmouth, Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Middlesex and Somerset. County committees will decide between Unanue, a businessman who's an heir to the Goya Foods fortune and the heir apparent to the campaign of former candidate Anne Estabrook, and his two Republican competitors: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin.

The person who each committee picks will be awarded a coveted spot on the party line, which typically provides a boost to the candidate whose name occupies it.

But Pennacchio, not to be counted out, is focusing on winning the line in traditionally Democratic counties where he believes he can appeal to a working-class "Reagan Democrat base" in the general election - specifically Mercer and Middlesex. He already has the line in Bergen County, although that may change if Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz meets with his executive committee and opts to give the line to Unanue, a personal friend who he recruited. He's also got the line in Hunterdon, Passaic and Union counties.

Their candidates are not expected to win in New Jersey, but Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul supporters are preparing for different kinds of victories.

Huckabee state campaign head Peter Kane spent part of the day working the phones and handing out flyers at supermarkets. He’ll hold a victory party tonight at the Scotchwood Diner in Scotch Plains.

Dr. Murray Sabrin, a longtime friend of presidential candidate Ron Paul, has entered the race for U.S. Senate

Yesterday may not have been the most ideal time for Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin to announce his Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Sabrin, who ran for the Senate as a Republican in 2000 and for governor as a Libertarian in 1997, is a friend of presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and has been one of his most visible New Jersey supporters. Sabrin even kicked off his campaign yesterday with a personal endorsement from Paul.

For a candidate who garnered low votes during his last two runs for statewide office -- 5% in his gubernatorial campaign and 13% in the 2000 Senate primary -- the Paul connection could prove beneficial. If Sabrin can attract even a small fraction of Paul supporters, who raised $6 million for their candidate in a single day last month, then he may be able to raise enough money to have a significant impact on the Senate race.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul continues to exceed expectations in the early presidential contests, holding his own with Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson in Iowa and New Hampshire.  Paul has an organization in New Jersey, albeit a small one, led by Assemblyman Michael Doherty, former gubernatorial candidate (and possible '08 U.S. Senate candidate) Murray Sabrin, and '04 congressional candidate George Ajjan.  This is the Libertarian wing of the New Jersey GOP, and insiders have always viewed that as a significant, though largely unorganized, block of voters.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has won the endorsement of Assemblyman Michael Doherty, one of the state's most conservative legislators. Doherty will join Paul during a campaign visit to New Jersey this weekend.  Paul also has the support of Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin, a former GOP U.S. Senate candidate and the 1997 Libertarian candidate for Governor, and George Ajjan, the 2004 Republican candidate for Congress in the eighth district.

State Senator Gerald Cardinale’s latest attack on Democratic state Senate candidate Joe Ariyan has drawn sharp rebukes by some Jewish Democrats as well as at least one Republican.

Last week, Cardinale accused Ariyan of having ties to the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), an advocacy group whose former communications director, Hussein Ibish, has made some controversial remarks in the past. Ariyan's law partner and campaign donor, Hani Khoury, served as president of the group’s New Jersey chapter in 2005 and 2006, and is still a member.

Recently, Cardinale sent out a campaign mailer saying that Ariyan has allowed “his firm to defend numerous illegal aliens detained by the federal government after 9-11 for suspected terrorism,” and noted Ariyan’s relationship with Khoury. Of the ADC, it said “This group has instructed its members to right (sic) letters in support of radical and extremist Palestinian attacks against the Jewish people and Israel.”

The Republican Party: Right for Arab-Americans
GOP activists court community after ethnic discrimination by Democrats

Passaic County, NJ – The NJ Arab-American Republican Caucus, a group of Arab-American GOP political activists and elected officials, today launched an aggressive outreach campaign to recruit additional members of their community into the Republican Party, touting the warm reception that Arab-American voters have always received as well as the embrace and support of Arab-American candidates by the NJ GOP. Their move follows the Democratic Party rudely snubbing a long-time Arab-American Democratic activist on ethnic grounds, blocking him from running for office, which has ignited a political shift within the Arab-American community.

"This week the leadership of the Democratic Party in Passaic County pulled a John Kerry! They actually voted for Sami Merhi before they voted against him," said the Caucus Chairwoman Sherine El-Abd, a decades-long Republican activist who served on the NJ Steering Committee for Bush-Cheney 2004. "It is disturbing that the leadership arrives at its decisions based on which way the wind is blowing that day. What is even more disturbing is the bigoted anti-Arab sentiment that continues to be perpetrated by the Passaic County Democratic machine. The orchestrated second vote against Merhi is nothing short of lynching and plain prejudice" El-Abd Said. Rutherford Republican County Committeeman and Co-Chair of the AARC-NJ, Hesham Mahmoud, added, “The New Jersey Democrats have always talked the talk but never walked the walk. The majority of Arab-Americans are socially conservative. They are small business owners and hardworking people. They believe in lower taxes and a responsible government. By nature, they belong to the Republican Party. The sizeable and growing Arab American community in Passaic County and in New Jersey will never forget this.�

GOP activists pointed out that while the Democratic Party in Passaic County has been busy discriminating against candidates because of their Arab origin, the Republican Party has in fact embraced the community, fielding Countywide Arab-American candidates in each of the past 3 years. One of those GOP nominees, 2004 8th District Congressional Candidate George Ajjan, added, “Each ethnic community in the Republican Party is an important pillar holding up the ‘Big Tent’. The GOP unites because of our common goals as Americans, without creating futile divisions along ethnic or religious lines like the Democrats. In my campaign, I was fortunate to have Arab-Americans, people of Jewish faith, and many other ethnic communities all working together to advance our shared conservative principles.�

The Arab-American Republican Caucus also announced plans to host meet-and-greet events in counties with sizable Arab-American populations, in order to get the message out and enhance its registration drive.

To our Democratic friends we have a message: cross over to the other side of the isle. The GOP is truly the party of inclusion. Arab Americans have been elected and appointed by Republican leadership to numerous positions on local as well as statewide positions. The Arab American Republican Caucus welcomes its friends from the Democratic Party home to the GOP.