Signing a petition in support of Mary Beth Jahn. Tuesday, March 27. Main Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ. Photo by Paul Goldfinger
March 27, 2012 by Blogfinger
Signing a petition in support of Mary Beth Jahn. Tuesday, March 27. Main Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ. Photo by Paul Goldfinger
I am not sure how many people in the Grove remember the late Jerry Meyer, a resident of West Nepune who was an avid environmentalist. During my first campaign in 2006, Jerry ran as an independent candidate, focusing on environmental and fiscal issues. Neptune suffered a great loss when Jerry succumbed to cancer late last year. He was active and passionate about both his favorite issues until he passed into the afterlife.
Fundamentally, both parties and all candidates want to serve the residents of Neptune, though perhaps in different ways. It is not easy to put yourself out there – you can’t make everyone love or even like you – and sometimes you are subjected to statements or actions that would make a thin-skinned person give up the ghost. However, having grown up in Philadelphia, where politics are, literally, a matter of life and death, we have it pretty good here in Neptune as a political climate.
Ken: As a registered Repub. in OG, I will vote for Mary Beth Jahn in Nov. She is an idealistic public servant who communicates with and sticks up for her constituents. She is the only one of that Committee who has the guts to interact with Grovers on Blogfinger.
It might be a system that could be easily infiltrated by determined residents with an eye to furthering their own agenda.
Separate thought: the Republican letter writers are always complaining that the Democratic Township Committee needs a voice on it to point out what should be done for the residents instead of what is best for the party. HELLO!!! JAHN is that voice!
If there were any political acumen among the outs….this is a no-brainer. Each Republican voter should split their vote, casting one for JAHN.
Deviously, ken
Since we’re all having this tutorial in local politics, I obtained a list of names of the district leaders from the Neptune Clerk’s office.
All of Neptune is divided into 20 voting districts, three of which are in Ocean Grove, and the party leaders in those three OG districts, according to the Clerk’s office, are:
— District 1: Repubs Matthew and Elizabeth Gannon; Dems Randy Bishop and (vacant)
— District 2: Repubs Ed Wyzykowski and Eileen Kean; Dems Paul Ristow and Carol Bernard
— District 3: Repubs Denis McCarthy and Grace Ann Shotwell; Dems Jeffrey and Caitlin Wood-Yesline
Each district is entitled to have two representatives for each party. However, not all those positions are filled. The Republicans have none at all in some districts, while the Democrats have only one in several districts, including District 1 in Ocean Grove. These vacancies make the system even more restrictive, as does the fact that in many cases the party’s two district leaders are husband and wife.
Given that this handful of people decide who is going to be on the ballot for Township Committee, it’s too bad so few voters know who they are or what they do.
Sally, you don’t have to be a registered D to go to club meetings. They meet the second Tuesday of every month at the VFW on Route 33. It’s not uncommon to have registered Rs there as well. I think people would be surprised how many married couples in Neptune do not share a political affiliation.
We used to be taught civics lessons in school and that’s how we knew how government operated, how our people get elected. Now, I had heard about these district leaders, some call them county committee people because I know a few. Few others do.
I did a little digging to find out how things work. It is the voters who elect these district leaders in our primary election in June.
Then, these district leaders are the ones that control the election process and determine who gets on the ballot in a favored position, and from what we see here; the system is rife with cronyism.
Maybe it’s time for fresh blood to step up in both parties because as I understand it the guys in charge of BOTH the democrat and the republican party have been there for years and we keep on getting much of the same.
No winners on the republican side and a seemingly polluted process on the democrat side where Mowzcan tells a Township Committee person how they have to vote.
It’s supposed to be the voters that are in charge.
My old town posts these names on their website, http://raritantwpdems.com/AboutUs.htm
Can an Independent registered voter attend these Club meetings or does someone have to be a registered D? When are they held? Are they always at Moms? Are you saying that the two Ocean Grove district leader votes that were tossed out could have put Mary Beth over the top? If someone had another appointment on Saturday and couldn’t stay they wasted their time that they were there? Harsh…
Sorry for the civic lesson but I appreciate the help. I’m embarrassed to say I barely know how my own government works. What part of the Grove is unrepresented by District Leaders? Maybe someone needs to step up.
Sally, in the Democratic Club, “district leader” and “county committee” are interchangable terms. In theory, they represent their own neighborhood, but one OG neighborhood has no district leaders. Another neighborhood has district leaders, but because they weren’t there for the whole dog-and-pony show on Saturday, their votes were tossed out. Of the remaining OG neighborhood, only one district leader showed up. And since it’s usually the district leaders who go to the club meetings, those two terms have become interchangable as well.
The rest of your summation is correct. Getting 18 signatures isn’t difficult. It’s even less to be a district leader or county committee – that would be 5 signatures needed.
Mr. Layton… it is my understanding that each of the 20 districts in Neptune has a male and a female resident that represents their district on what’s called the County Committee (or CC for short). In theory these CC people “represent” their own neighborhood when asked to vote in a meeting such as what was held Saturday. They are also asked to vote at their countywide Convention on other nominations when Freeholders, Sheriff and other positions are up. Most of these CCs are shills put in place by the local party leadership, called the Municipal Chair, in order to vote their way. I venture to say that most neighbors have no idea who is voting on their behalf because 99% of people don’t know the election process. Incidentally, James Mowzcan and Don Beekman are the D and R Chairmen for their parties.
Was Saturday’s nomination done by these CC folk or by the members of the Neptune Democratic Club as a whole? Also, just 18 signatures required to get on the ballot? That could be done by anyone in about 30 minutes. Seems a bit too easy for my tastes.
Sally is incorrect. The candidates selected this past weekend were merely endorsed by the township party. The county party can ignore their recommendation. Charles has it correct.
And that is Nagel’s, not Day’s.
SallyG — It was the Neptune Township Democrats, not the county ones, who voted to recommend Williams and Brantley but not Jahn to be the candidates. However, the procedure is that this recommendation goes to the next level, which is the county. The county party organization can either accept the Neptune party’s recommendation or not.
If the county party does decide not to give Jahn a place on the “line,” then she can still run in the Democratic primary. However, to be eligible to do that she must file a petition signed by at least 18 voters (who must be either registered Democrat or unaffiliated). That petition is due on April 2. The deadline is April 4 for the county party to make its decision. So to be sure of being a candidate, Jahn intends to gather names on the petition and file those by April 2.
This is not easy to explain or to keep straight, but I believe what I’ve just written is correct.
What am I missing here? There is a procedure to select candidates. The democratic county committee people got together and followed procedure. They selected Williams and Brantley and Jahn came in third. End of story as for as procedure goes. If people don’t like that decision they need to push to get named as their voting district county committee (in Neptune there are 20 of them). Then they can help select who gets the party line.
Just what is this petition asking for? A democratic vote happened and the “party line” candidates were selected. If Miss Jahn wants to challenge in the primary she can do it. She will be “off the line” and run the risk of someone voting without knowing the candidates and they just vote the line. Happens all the time.
Or she can file to run as an Independent and run unaffiliated to either party. Its harder but she could try that. No petition will get her back onto the ticket if the leaders don’t want it. She’ll have to earn it inside the voting booth, not in front of Days.