By Charles Layton
About a dozen Ocean Grovers showed up at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Neptune Democratic Club, hoping to find out more about why the local party failed to endorse Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn for reelection this year.
They didn’t get as hostile a reception this time as at the Club’s previous meeting, on April 10. On that occasion the club’s president, Linda Johnson, refused to allow a discussion of Jahn’s candidacy and told a crowd of Ocean Grovers that they should leave. This time, Johnson allowed some of those Grovers to speak and ask questions. However, the questions weren’t answered to everyone’s satisfaction.
When Joan Venezia of Ocean Grove asked why district leaders of the Neptune Democratic Party had voted to endorse Nicholas Williams instead of Jahn in this year’s Democratic primary, Neptune’s municipal chairman, Jim Mowczan, said he had “no idea.”
He explained that the local party’s executive committee — composed of “district leaders” from the Township’s 20 voting districts — had decided which candidates to endorse. The Neptune Democratic Club and the party executive committee are entirely different entities, he explained, and the Club does not endorse candidates in the party’s primary.
The district leaders run for their positions in the primary — an election governed by New Jersey law. The Democratic Club is simply a group of local Democrats who elect their own officers and are governed by their own rules. There is overlap between the two groups, though; quite a few district leaders are also active members of the Club.
Mary Walton, an Ocean Grove resident and Blogfinger editor, asked about the procedure by which the district leaders chose their preferred candidates. Mowczan and others said the district leaders had met in March to decide on endorsements. Four candidates — Williams, Jason Jones and incumbents Jahn and Michael Brantley — had sought the leaders’ backing to run for two Township Committee seats. Each of the four spoke, after which the leaders voted by paper ballot. When the ballots were counted, the winners were Brantley and Williams.
Those names were then forwarded to the Monmouth County Democratic Chairman, Victor Scudiery, for his consideration.
Under the rules, Scudiery has the power to either accept or reject the decision of those local leaders. He usually accepts the local leaders’ suggestions, but in this case, at the urging of Mayor Randy Bishop, Scudiery rejected Williams in favor of Jahn. Because of that, the ballots in the June 5 primary election will carry the names of Brantley and Jahn as the party’s official ticket.
However, Williams has chosen to stay in the race, and Brantley has sided with Williams and against Jahn. This situation is highly unusual and perhaps a bit confusing for voters. During the campaign, which is only now getting underway, we will see yard signs with the names of Brantley and Williams as running mates, and competing yard signs with Jahn’s name alone. But when voters go to the polls, they will find that the ballot shows Brantley and Jahn as running mates, with Williams’ name appearing separately.
The Jahn-Williams fight has created a bitter split among Neptune Democrats. A major part of that bitterness stems from the fact that one of Williams’ main supporters, former Mayor Jim Manning Jr., is seeking to become the Township’s new business administrator when the present administrator, Philip Huhn, retires at the end of this year. Jahn and Bishop have refused to appoint Manning. Jahn has said publicly that he is unqualified. The job is one of the very top posts in Township government.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Manning’s father, Jim Manning, Sr., a long-time presence in the local party, passed around copies of a letter he had written to the county chairman, Scudiery, excoriating Bishop and Jahn for dividing the party by opposing Williams’ candidacy. In the letter, he called Bishop “an egotist and narcissist.”
“Randy won’t be around much longer,” he wrote, “and think of the carnage that he’ll leave behind when he is finally gone.”
Many Democrats think that the June 5 primary race between Jahn and Williams will determine which faction of the party will be in control going forward. And many Ocean Grovers who follow Township politics fear that a Township Committee without Jahn and with Bishop in a weakened position would be less favorable to the interests of Ocean Grove. However, it would bode well for Manning’s chances of winning the job of business administrator. The Township Committee has not yet made a final decision on that appointment.
During the discussion of the Jahn-Williams issue on Tuesday night, Bishop made a pitch for party unity. After the June 5 primary, Bishop said, he hoped that the party would “get over our differences and work for the right values.”
Post script: The Ocean Grove Home Owners Association recently invited Jahn, Williams and Brantley to participate in a candidates forum at its May meeting. This past weekend Williams declined, giving as his reason that “it is a holiday weekend [and] I have already made previous plans.” On Tuesday night Brantley also declined, telling the Home Owners president, Denis McCarthy, that he would not appear because Williams was not appearing, and “therefore I feel that it would not be a balanced forum.”
Since Jahn has agreed to participate, McCarthy said on Wednesday that the Home Owners would go ahead and hold the event, with Jahn as the only candidate present. The Home Owners meeting is on May 26 at 10 a.m. in the Community Room on Pilgrim Pathway.
Editor’s note: The Democratic district leaders in Ocean Grove are Randy Bishop (District 1), Paul Ristow and Carol Bernard (District 2) and Jeffrey and Caitlin Wood-Yesline (District 3).
The Shark River Hills Property Owners Association would like that opportunity, however we don’t have a meeting this month because we hold our annual Memorial Day parade in its place. 9am on South Riverside, finishing up with a brief ceremony at the park near the SR Yacht Club. ALL are welcome as its held prior to the township parade.
Will other Home Owners Associations hold candidate’s debates and invite the 3 Dems? That might give Ocean Grovers a opportunity to ask Mr. Williams some questions.
Complaints about the Neptune Dem Club seem to be misplaced since the vote of the District Party Leaders chose Brantley & Willams. Primary voters (us) select the District Leaders.
Disheartened: People don’t seem to be beating down the doors to get one of these district leader jobs. On Tuesday night, one of tne district leaders explained how he got the job. He said he wrote himself in on the ballot, and he wound up being elected. His was the only vote cast for that position. Quite a few of those positions are vacant because nobody runs for them. This is true in both the Democratic and the Republican parties.
Naive question: What do the Democratic district party leaders get out of all of this backstabbing and polarization (besides the controversial township administrator appointment and its cushy salary when Phil Huhn retires).
Why is nobody talking about changing the system? We continue to endorse a system that allows a select few to pick who gets to run. It is a system that encourages cronyism. Instead we only complain about who they select, not how they are selected. We deserve bad politicians, politicians whose loyalty is to party leaders and not to the public.
West Neptuner – I’m pretty sure the “higher ups” have already endorsed their candidates and it ain’t Williams. If he wants to replace one of them, he better start doing some convincing talking because all he has going for him now is whatever bad advice Jimmy Manning is whispering in his ear. Why would I, as a tax payer, choose to willingly dismantle the team that has managed to get our bond credit raised in the middle of a worldwide credit crisis?
The irony of someone directing people to Nick Williams’ FaceBook page being that the reason the Neptune Dems turned on Ms. Jahn being her use of social media.
(Also, am I using irony correctly? Or is it something else?)
Maxster, it was Mr. Tom Catley in a 5-1 minority, preceded by Mr. Catley, Mr. Golub and Mr. Iadanza (who was subsequently replaced by a gentleman who’s name does not immediately spring to mind). It wasn’t all that long ago, about five years I think? Tom spent one year in the minority before declining to run again.
West Neptuner
You can make it Dems victory EVERY time, since I can’t remember who the last Republican was on the committee. It’s YEARS now.
And to follow up on Chuckie & Sal, Williams seems to think he’s “owed” and yet no one knows what he wants to do for the town, or maybe against the voters.
He has a Facebook page. Maybe if you send him a private message he may/may not respond. That’s how I correspond at times, or the email is sometimes listed in their profile.
team bishop and jahn
go team go
Williams doesn’t need to say anything. His “fight” or election is to get on the Dem ticket, period!!!! If the higher ups get him on he wins. Party line vote in Neptune = Dems victory every time. OK, almost.
Chuckie B raises a VERY good point. Neptune Democrats are supposed to go to the polls next month and select their two best candidates to run against the Neptune Republican ticket of Beckman and Sheehan. How can someone decide if Williams is worthy of their vote when they don’t hear from him? One [term] and done on the School Board is not stellar. Its seems Williams lost that election based on his running mates and this time it’s looking strikingly similar.
Disheartened,
Jim Manning Jr. knows. The letter apparently accompanied the petition of district leader support Mowczan and Manning Jr. sent to the county office after the county notified them they would not support Williams’ candidacy.
And still no word from Nick Williams on why anyone should ever vote for him in the first place … I mean seriously, all I know about his guy is that he was on the school board for three years and got voted out. This guy hasn’t said word one as to why any person in their right mind should vote for him over a candidate who has been extremely successful. And I’m sorry, but because the Manning Family said so isn’t a good enough reason for me.
Oh Gee…
The problem is that while Neptune Republicans may be jumping up and down with glee, there is no way they can win in the fall. I can’t remember when the Neptune Republicans last held a seat or won an election.
Sorry I wasn’t able to attend last night’s meeting. Thanks for this great reporting.
Just curious: Can Mowczan be believed? Do Grovers who attended last night’s club meeting feel that he spoke truthfully?
Guess I’ll be giving the Monmouth County Democrats another phone call. This time, to find out what’s what with Jim Manning Sr. and his negative letter writing. I wonder if Jim Manning Jr. has a clue –or even cares?–how Dad Manning’s letter campaign reflects poorly on him, his past service on the township committee, and his aspirations.
All this from the party that is in control totally, 5-0. All they have to do is “show up” at the polls & they are in. It really is time for a change
Congrats to Jim Manning Sr. Let’s see, your letter contained both name-calling and implied threats to oust the Mayor of Neptune. Jim Mowczan… another winner… claiming he has ‘no idea’ why District Leaders chose Williams over Jahn, is laughable. These two ‘leaders of the community’ are an embarassment. Democrats town-wide are holding their heads in disbelief.
Neptune Republicans are jumping up and down with glee……. can you blame them?