June 8
...serving up your daily dish.
Sure, all those Republicans may look alike: silver hair, golf shirt, khaki pants, docksiders. But all that country club veneer didn't do much to hide one of the nastiest intra-party battles in recent memory. Art Dawson, who was the chairman of the Glen Ridge Republican County Committee, lost his seat on the committee tonight in a turnout that sounded more like a sixth-grade student council race than something that's part of the U.S. electoral system. (Brian Reach beat him 40-29). Meanwhile, Brian Fisher, the unsuccessful borough council candidate from last fall, who is vying to chair the Republican committee in Glen Ridge, tied in his district, in an even punier turnout: 16-16. His opponent was Karl Molin, president of the Glen Ridge Republican Club. How that will be decided, still up in the air.
The two candidates barely talked to each other while waiting for Glen Ridge borough administrator Michael Rohal to count the votes. "I don't like being called a whore," Dawson said to Fisher, referring to some name-calling that took place on NJ.com's Glen Ridge forum in the days before the election. (The post was from a Fisher supporter.)
The race was largely over whether Republicans in Glen Ridge should participate in the Glen Ridge's Civic Conference Committee system, rather than running their own candidates. The CCC is a consortium of town organizations that interviews candidates and selects a slate, which theoretically runs unopposed. However, in last fall's mayoral election, CCC incumbent Steve Plate lost to challenger Carl Bergmanson, the first time the CCC has ever lost a mayoral election since its inception in 1913.
Dawson is a CCC man who believes the one-party system resembles "old town meetings in New England." He supported the CCC candidates for council last year and campaigned against Fisher in that election, even though Fisher received the Republican nomination and ran on the official Republican County Party Line. Fisher, who isn't a CCC man, was also upset that Dawson supported Democrat Nia Gill last fall, and he thinks that under Dawson, Glen Ridge has lost registered Republicans.
"This should be a Republican town," Fisher said. "People in this town have Republican views and they vote Republican.”
No such fireworks on the Democratic side, but Dennis Kucinich did pick up 18 votes.
Nice pic.
Obviously first you vote, then you give blood.
Do you get orange juice afterwards?
And can you please switch on your Atom or XML feeds so us people who read pages via RSS news readers can keep up with you?
Us Jersey Bloggers in the Pacific Time Zone folks need to be informed.
Posted by: pops | Jun 8, 2004 11:04:12 PM
There's no politics like local politics. Here in Pavement Narrows prospective candidates need to present a signed petition with 50 names and a certificate of rabies vaccination.
The one-party towns are actually more fun. because everyone has to at least *try* to make nicey-nicey before they apply the knife.
Members of local Republican Municipal Committees remind me of Winston Churchill's phrase (in a different context), "They are either at your throat or on their knees."
Posted by: The Proprietor | Jun 9, 2004 7:56:13 AM
My parents-in-law state that where they're from, you don't vote in the primary - because there's no one to vote against. How quaint.
While The Prop is right about being "more fun" (I consider it "easier to make FUN of), it's pretty screwed up that some people sit there and say "this town is republican and has republican views - how can someone else win" - Umm, obviously because A) they don't like YOUR views, or B) they're not quite as elephantish as you think.
People need to get over themselves before running for office.
Posted by: Tom | Jun 9, 2004 12:53:39 PM
