John Curley

Control of the Board of Freeholders is at stake in Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth and Salem counties. 

Republicans currently have a 6-3 majority in Atlantic, and are defending three seats tomorrow.  Democrats need to win two of the three to take control.  In Burlington, the GOP has a 3-2 majority and two of their incumbents are not seeking re-election; Democrats need to win one of the two to control county government. Democrats have a 5-2 majority in Salem County, where two Democratic seats are up; Republicans need to win them both.

Last year, Democrats captured control of the Monmouth Freeholder board for the first time in twenty years and now have a 3-2 majority.  Incumbent Democrat Barbara McMorrow is not seeking re-election; the GOP is running John Curley, a former Red Bank Councilman who narrowly lost last year, faces Democrat Sean Byrnes, a Middletown Township Committeeman.  The winner of that race will decide control.

Pa. Governor Ed Rendell today in Asbury Park

ASBURY PARK - The event at the West Side Community Center appeared to lack coherence from the beginning, as operatives with furrowed brows tried to figure out how to get more people burrowed in, while headliner Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell sat in a sedan outside in the rain and Newark Mayor Cory Booker was MIA.

"I told him whenever he needed me, I'd be there," said Rendell, referring to an August conversation he had with Gov. Jon Corzine, who's deadlocked in his reelection bid with GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie on the same day Corzine campaign manager Maggie Moran on "Power and Politics" for the first time blasted independent candidate Chris Daggett, who this past week inched up in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll to 20% behind the frontrunners' 36%.

Whatever the thrills provided last week by President Barack Obama and other Democratic Party luminaries, this particular rainy weekend campaign episode was not looking like the rally that would propel Gov. Jon Corzine into a second term on "the wheels of inevitability" described by Martin Luther King, Jr., in a favorite Booker quotation.

Middletown Township Committeeman Sean Byrnes, right.

FREEHOLD - The Monmouth County Freeholders' race just turned into a flashpoint, as the influential Asbury Park Press endorsed Democrat Sean Brynes, answered by Republican John Curley's charge of a conflict-of-interest against Byrnes, a Middletown Township committeeman.

Stunned by the Press's Sunday endorsement of his Democratic opponent, the same paper that endorsed the Republican last year, Curley turned around and condemned Byrnes for voting on Jan. 6th, 2008 against appointing Thomas F. Stokes to the Middletown Sewerage Authority.

Byrnes's recorded his "no" vote on the governing body for the failed township committee candidate while serving as trial counsel in a lawsuit brought by a client against Stokes.

“For Mr. Byrnes to vote on this man’s appointment, instead of recusing himself, is unethical and frankly, unconscionable," said Curley, a Middletown resident and former Red Bank councilman. "Anybody who has been a local elected official for five minutes could see that this is a total conflict of interest and that he had no business voting on this appointment. If Mr. Byrnes cant recognize a conflict on a matter as clear cut as this, how can anyone believe he’ll do it as a freeholder?”

The Asbury Park Press today endorsed Sean Byrnes, a Democrat and a Middletown Tonwship Committeeman, for a seat on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.  The APP's pick of Byrnes over Republican John Curley for he open seat of retiring Democrat Barbara McMorrow indictates their desire that control of the Freeholder Board remain Democratic.  Republicans need to pick up one seat to regain their majority.

RED BANK - Monmouth County Democrats, eager to hold the 3-2 Freeholder majority they won last year after being out of power for two decades, seldom use the words "Gov. Jon Corzine" in their campaign literature.

Democrats know it's going to be tough to win this year as Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie tries to flex base Republican voters and suburban independents in his challenge of Corzine, whose focus is mostly elsewhere in Democratic strongholds like Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Union and Middlesex.
 
So Democrats here keep their focus on the Freeholder Board and build around their candidate, Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes.

"We had 23 years of Republican rule - we can't go backwards. They're doing everything they can to pull the plug on us," longtime Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery told a crowd of party members at a fundraiser here at the Downtown Wednesday night for Byrnes, the man Democrats see as their most important player on the field in Monmouth County this season.

It's Byrnes' face, not Corzine's that fronts the party's website in Monmouth.

After years of GOP control, the Monmouth County Freeholder Board landed in 2008 in the hands of the Democrats, who after a rugged year of in-fighting now hope to fend off an amped-up challenge from former Red Bank Councilman John Curley.

Observing the battle in the no man's land of neither party, Stan Rosenthal of Holmdel doesn't think he was ever an affiliated D or R.

"I'm 65," he says. "Is it possible that I could have been a registered Democrat when John F. Kennedy ran for president? Possibly."

Would you believe this is Victor Scudiery?

PolitickerNJ.com strongly stands by our report that State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) are involved with a legal defense fund for Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, despite denials by Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.

"I've known Charlotte for years. She's a friend of mine. She called and asked me to help her and I agreed. I don't know where the Lesniak and Cryan stuff is coming from," Scudiery, the Treasurer for the legal defense fund, told the editor of moremonmouthmusings.com, a political web site. "Charlotte sends me the checks and when there are bills to pay I pay them out of the fund."

It's possible, according to sources familiar with the fund, that Scudiery doesn't know who is raising the money to pay DeFilippo's legal bills. 

Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes, right, defeated former Neptune Mayor Mike Beson

RED BANK - Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes defeated former Neptune Mayor Mike Beson here today at Local Carpenters Union 2250 for the backing of the Democratic Party to run for Freeholder this year.

The county committee vote tally was 147 votes for Byrnes and 41 votes for Beson.  “We have a candidate for freeholder who wins in Middletown, and who has a great background – check his resume,” Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery said of Byrnes, a Georgetown University-educated attorney, father of five, retired Coast Guard Commander and Red Bank native.

Byrnes will run against Republican John Curley of Middletown to try to succeed Freeholder Director Barbara McMorrow. Curley last month won his party's backing in a 36-27 matchup against former Atlantic Highlands Borough Councilwoman Kim Spatola.  

“My background is strong,” admitted Byrnes, 46. “I did a lot of strategic planning in the Coast Guard, which I introduced on the Middletown Township Committee. I would like to introduce (and see passed) more efficiencies at the county level. What happened here is the Republicans controlled county government for so long, they got lackadaisical and inefficient.”  

Calling him an "outstanding choice to serve the Jersey Shore families," U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) today endorsed former Neptune Mayor Mike Beson for the Democratic nomination for Monmouth County Freeholder. 

Beson and Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes will face off at a Democratic convention on Saturday for the chance to run for the Freeholder seat currently held by Democrat Barbara McMorrow.  McMorrow is not seeking re-election to a second term, and Democrats must hold her seat to retain control of the Board of Freeholders.

"Throughout almost 20 years that I have known Mike, he has demonstrated constant dedication and commitment to protecting and defending the public interest," said Pallone, the senior Democrat in the New Jersey congressional delegation.  "In recent years, Mike has become a local small business owner who sees first-hand the struggles that hard-working families face in this economic climate.  He will undoubtedly combine his decades of public service with his experience in private sector businesses to be a strong representative for Monmouth County."

Beson was Pallone's district director from 1990 to 2000.  After serving a Mayor of Neptune, he moved to Ocean Township and now serves on the Board of Education.  He is also a prominent Democratic operative, and ran Howard Dean's New Jersey campaign in 2004.  He was the PolitickerNJ.com Politician of the Year in 2003 after Dean locked up the endorsements of most of New Jersey's Democratic establishment.

"It is an honor to have the support of Congressman Pallone not only as a candidate but as a friend for many years.  His leadership and tenacity to represent our state in Washington has served us well in fighting for quality health care, preserving and cleaning up our waterways and open space, and advocating for working families," said Beson.  

"While we are well represented in Congress, it is important that we have strong countywide representatives that will be independent in pushing for our residents and ensuring that our voices are heard," Beson said.  "Every day, I see the frustration felt by residents given the challenges facing our state and nation.  I will work as hard as they do to make the choices necessary to move our County forward."