Republicans are starting to pick sides in the 2021 gubernatorial primary and the field hasn’t even been set. As for me, I will remain solidly on the fence until the field is set.

There are two announced candidates, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and former beauty pageant winner Hirsh Singh. Other potential candidates are Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, NJGOP Chairman and former Lopatcong Mayor Doug Steinhardt and retired landscaper/washed-up out-of-work actor/keyboard warrior Joe Rudy Rullo.

Ciattarelli, Singh and Rullo all ran four years ago when former Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno won the primary. I was a Ciattarelli supporter in that primary and am still impressed at the amount of mileage Guadagno got out of showing up at all the county party rubber chicken dinners before the primary season kicked off.

Ciattarelli obviously decided he isn’t letting that happen to him again because the guy has been everywhere, fundraisers, happy hours, county party breakfasts.

Singh, the other announced candidate, didn’t learn the same lesson. While he’s been seen at a few rallies he mostly stuck with social media and filing lawsuits, though he did recently turn up at the Camden County GOP fourth quarter meeting and holiday party. Maybe his strategy is changing.

But, back to Ciattarelli. The guy has been busy! On December 1 he rolled out a list of “Nearly 90 Republican leaders” across Somerset County who have endorsed his candidacy for Governor. Admittedly, I ignored it because Somerset is Ciattarelli’s home county.

Then, on December 4 I received a Jack4NJ email with the subject “Introduce Myself.” It was from Mike Friedman who served as the lone Republican on Voorhees Township Committee from 2011-2019. Admittedly, I ignored that too, because I already know Mike and didn’t feel the need to be introduced. I probably should have read the email because Friedman informed readers he has “…stepped up to serve as the Camden County Coordinator for the 2021 Jack Ciattarelli for Governor campaign.” That’s a pretty solid endorsement out of Camden County.

Yesterday and the day before, Jack Ciattarelli got my attention! His campaign walked into Hirsh Singh’s Atlantic County backyard and scored some big endorsements. Ciattarelli’s first stop was in western Atlantic County where he scored key endorsements in Hammonton. I know some of the folks in Hammonton, they were very supportive of former Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi in his 2018 bid for Congress. Experience has taught me the Hammonton folks will work hard for who they endorse.

Scoring the Hammonton endorsements wasn’t enough. Ciattarelli then headed east the next day and rolled out endorsements from the “Republican Club of Atlantic City, as well Atlantic City Councilman Jesse Kurtz.”

Atlantic is Singh’s home county and he allowed the only other announced candidate in the race to walk into his county and score big endorsements. Perhaps he should have learned form Jack and made sure to protect his home turf first, just like Ciattarelli did in Somerset.

The field is still taking shape but it looks like 2021 could get exciting, so stay tuned. And, eventually I will learn how to spell Ciattarelli without going to his campaign website to copy and paste it.

Update: New Jersey Globe reports Bramnick will not run for Governor.

CCGOP Chairman Rich Ambrosino ain’t having it. He called out Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt, again, for her silence on the Arthur Barclay issue. His press release follows:

HADDON HEIGHTS – “Typically I would never consider weighing in on an Assembly race two hours north of my county, but Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt had the audacity to stick her nose in it and I refuse to let her, or any Camden Democrat, get away with it,” Camden County Republican Chairman Rich Ambrosino said.

At issue is a published report in which Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt accuses Assemblyman Jon Bramnick and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz of exaggerating their support of New Jersey’s equal pay law.

“It’s nauseating that Assemblywoman Lampitt would use the equal pay law, an important women’s issue, as a way to score cheap political points in a North Jersey Assembly district when for over a year she has remained silent over the fact that one of her fellow Camden County machine Democrats, former Assemblyman Arthur Barclay, who admitted to punching his girlfriend still has a county job,” Ambrosino said.

Ambrosino added, “Even worse, Lampitt dragged an Assemblywoman from Burlington County, Carol Murphy, into this. One has to wonder if Assemblywoman Murphy is aware that we’ve been trying to get Lampitt to break her silence on the Barclay issue for over a year.”

Ambrosino asked, “Is Assemblywoman Murphy aware that Lampitt, like every other Camden County Democrat, is supportive of a confessed domestic abuser?”

Answering his own question Ambrosino said, “Obviously not considering Murphy made a remark about ‘a woman who is clearly afraid of losing her seat.’ No doubt if the women of LD 6 knew Lampitt was supportive of a confessed domestic abuser she would be afraid of losing her seat.”

“Maybe it’s time for Pam Lampitt to stop worrying about races in North Jersey and start explaining to folks in her own district why she supports a confessed domestic abuser being transferred to a new job in county government,” Ambrosino said. “If she wants to continue to refer to herself as a ‘leader’ perhaps she should start leading.”