Matt Mowers

GOP operatives Ben DeMarzo, left, and Matt Mowers.

Somewhere out there in the bucolic netherworld of Holmdel, there's a counter-protest going on led by Republican operatives Matt Mowers and Ben DeMarzo.

Just in case there's anyone who didn't get it, the signs waving in the PNC Bank Center read: "Obama and Corzine: Working Together to keep New Jersey Working."

There's yet another Michael Jackson standard blaring through the speakers.

Far - but not as far as the next town- Mowers and DeMarzo and their GOP allies are brandishing their own anti-Corzine signs.

They finally encamped at the front gate of Holmdel Park, but they had started out believing they were going to be corraled somewhere on the grounds of the Arts Center.

Stymied, Mowers later sent out an email blast notifying volunteers that they would have to settle for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to make their statement.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Matt Mowers, who was 18 when he started his job as executive director of the Bergen County Republican Organization, has landed at the newly formed PAC Building a New Majority.

Mowers, now 19, lost his position at the BCRO after former Chairman Rob Ortiz, who hired him, lost his bid for reelection to former freeholder candidate Bob Yudin.  He’s spending the week in the Twin Cities for his new position. 

“It’s great. It’s fun. We’re targeting local races and a few county races, just trying to help them out with field plans, paper mailers,” he said.

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After less than six months on the job, Bergen County Republican Executive Director Matt Mowers is leaving his post.

Mowers, 19, will be replaced by Stephanie Derrig, 40, of Mahwah.

Mowers, a full-time student at Rutgers University who lives in Middlesex County, was hired in late December by recently ousted Chairman Rob Ortiz, who is expected to become the Republican State Committee’s finance chairman. His hiring was applauded by some who wanted to bring new, young blood into the party, but also brought criticism from those who felt that, as a student from a different county, he wouldn’t be able to devote enough time to the position.

Eighteen-year-old Matt Mowers has not yet started his second semester at Rutgers, but he’s about to begin a job as Executive Director of the Bergen County Republican Organization.

Mowers, who managed state Sen. Gerald Cardinale’s reelection campaign, will begin work on Wednesday, making him by far the youngest executive director in the state. He’ll do that while remaining a full-time student.