Scott Rumana

All politics is local, and all local politics is business.  That’s one way to explain the intensity of support for Assemblyman Scott Rumana in Oakland, one of the Bergen County towns in the 40th legislative district.  Oakland Mayor John Szabo is the full-time planning director for the Township of Wayne.  Rumana, the Passaic County Republican Chairman, is the former Mayor of Wayne and wields considerable influence in local politics. 

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More importantly however, for Mr. DeCroce to point a gun to the head of Bob Yudin and threaten to withhold money for Assembly races in Districts 36 and 38 is a self-defeating threat and demonstrates that the minority leader is more intent on incumbency protection for the minor party than he is on trying to make the Republican Party a majority party in New Jersey.   

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Twelve New Jersey legislators, all from districts that are not especially competitive in general election contests, face potential obstacles in their bid to win party support for another term.

Click here to view the slideshow

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Twelve New Jersey legislators, all from districts that are not especially competitive in general election contests, face potential obstacles in their bid to win party support for another term. Click here to view the slideshow

BRIDGEWATER – If he runs statewide, it’s unlikely Chris Christie will resemble Andy Unanue as a candidate. 

But on learning that Passaic County Republican Chairman Scott Rumana tried to recruit Christie confidante Bill Palatucci to address municipal chairmen last week, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) feared the abrogation of process and quickly drew an analogy. 

“It’s exactly the Unanue fiasco I want to avoid in the election,” said Merkt, himself a declared GOP candidate for governor. “I don’t want a (state Republican Party Chairman) Tom Wilson candidate to drive away other candidates.” 

An unknown, wealthy Latino businessman who was backed by the upper echelons of his party in a U.S. Senate bid, Unanue last year began sealing county committee support in absentia, effectively making other Republican primary candidates like state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) feel helpless – at least until Unanue’s campaign imploded.

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New Report Further Demonstrates Need to Delay December 31 COAH Deadline

A new report on global warming issued by the Corzine Administration this month has only added to the mass confusion caused by a number of conflicting policies affecting development and growth that have been simultaneously championed and enacted by Governor Jon Corzine in recent years. The Draft Global Warming Response Act Recommendation Report, issued on December 15, 2008, represents the Administration's long-term plan to address global warming. The report includes recommendations for smart growth and housing development.

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A splinter group of Republicans in Passaic County has asked the county’s GOP committee members to encourage Chairman Scott Rumana to resign by January 1.

GOP Strong, which counts former Passaic County Republican Chairmen Mike Mecca and Peter Murphy among its leaders, issued a letter today to county committee members and “concerned Republicans” arguing that Rumana, who’s also an assemblyman, has failed to revive the beleaguered party.

“Nowhere are the failings of the Republican Party more evident than in Passaic County, where the party chairman Scott Rumana has presided over a string of electoral failures that are disheartening and disappointing,” read the letter, which is signed by Mecca.

Mecca said that after presiding over three straight election losses as a county chairman, he resigned, realizing that it was difficult to balance being an elected official and party chairman at the same time.

“I knew that when I lost three elections in arrow, it was time for a change. And Mr. Rumana has lost every county-wide election as chairman including freeholder, county clerk and sheriff races,” he said. 

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My decision to run or not to run for Assembly will be made on the facts – not on character assassination, not on meaningless, time wasting recalling of past failures or old hatreds. My decision to run for Assembly will be based on how I can help the Republican Party turn around a state in severe trouble.  

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My decision to run or not to run for Assembly will be made on the facts – not on character assassination, not on meaningless, time wasting recalling of past failures or old hatreds. My decision to run for Assembly will be based on how I can help the Republican Party turn around a state in severe trouble.  

 

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The internal fight in the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization took an amusing turn today.

First, a splinter Republican group called GOP Strong -- which has been highly critical of Assemblyman and Passaic County Republican Chairman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) -- issued a press release casting doubt on Rumana’s effectiveness and earnestness in his fight against Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) regulations.

Half an hour later, Rumana issued a press release announcing that he had been named “Legislator of the Year” by the Building Officials Association of New Jersey because of his opposition to the new COAH rules.

That drew a follow-up press release from GOP Strong, claiming that Rumana was touting the award as a “desperate attempt to demonstrate the he actually matters in Trenton,” and that the organization is “made up of a handful of bureaucrats who enforce onerous building codes in New Jersey.”

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