Ron Paul

A Ron Paul supporter from Hawthorne is complaining that local officials forced him to remove a campaign sign from his lawn because a municipal ordinance requires signs to be taken down within seven days of the election.  But one election law expert thinks Hawthorne has this wrong.  While the New Jersey Republican presidential primary was held on February 5, the election isn’t actually over. 

A Hawthorne man and Ron Paul supporter is fighting the borough after he said local code enforcement officers told him to remove two Ron Paul for president signs from his lawn.

Andrew Gause said a few days after the Feb. 5 primary, officials visited his residence and cited a municipal ordinance outlawing the display of political signs more than seven days after an election.

Threatened with fines if he did not immediately remove the  offending display, Gause said he was determined to defend his Constitutional rights, and refused.

U.S. Marshal James Plousis has decided against seeking the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, becoming the third candidate promoted by party leaders to decline since Anne Evans Estabrook left the race last week.  Plousis, a former Cape May County Sheriff, told County Chairmen yesterday that he wants to continue as the federal marshal.

Remember Marc Moran, who resigned his seat on the Hopewell Borough Council in July 2003 after newspapers broke the story that he was the member of the National Alliance, a self-proclaimed anti-Black, anti-Jewish organization, with a long paper trail of essays that demonstrate some significant hatred toward minorities?  Moran hasn’t left politics completely: he gave $2,300 to Ron Paul’s campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

GOP insiders say it appears unlikely that another candidate will emerge in the race for United States Senator in enough time to stop Joe Pennacchio’s enormous momentum, although some Republicans have spent the morning mulling other potential candidates.  Pennacchio has already won organization lines in Union and Hunterdon counties, and this morning the Burlington GOP County Chairman – a supporter of Anne Evans Estabrook – said he was now likely to back the Morris County State Senator.  Pennacchio also has endorsements from Republican County Chairmen in Morris and Warren counties.

Prof. Murray Sabrin, a Ron Paul Republican, has stirred up the GOP primary with attacks on Anne EstabrookWhen Murray Sabrin entered the Republican U.S. Senate primary in January, the conventional wisdom was that, as a member of the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party, he would draw votes from State Sen. Joe Pennacchio’s conservative base to help the moderate Anne Evans Estabrook shore up her own support for the June primary.

Although it’s still early on in the process, the outcome so far has been the opposite.

Sabrin has turned out to be an attack dog, challenging Estabrook’s Republican credentials and leaving Pennacchio unscathed. That has helped Pennacchio rack up county committee endorsements after winning the hearts of the party’s rank and file at conventions, while some of Estabrook’s exploratory committee members have started wavering in their support.

“I know that in some circles they were probably doing cartwheels and high fives when Murray got into the race, but my focus wasn’t Murray. It’s just doing what I’m doing,” said Pennacchio.

Hunterdon County last night was significant: Hunterdon cast the seventh most number of votes in the 2006 GOP primary, and this was the first real intramural contest of the campaign for the chance to challenge four-term incumbent Frank Lautenberg in November. Pennacchio won 43-35, with 12 votes for Murray Sabrin, a Ramapo College professor and the Chairman of Ron Paul’s New Jersey campaign.

Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin may not be the best messenger for an attack on GOP U.S. Senate candidate Anne Evans Estabrook’s Republican credentials. In a statement released today, Sabrin accused Estabrook of “speaking out of both sides of her checkbook” by making past campaign contributions to Democratic candidates, including Bob Menendez for Congress, John Kerry for President, Linda Stender for State Assembly, and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.