Another Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things

It’s tough being a Republican in New Jersey. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that statement.

Unfortunately, no matter how tough it is to be a Republican in this state, there’s someone, somewhere, who wants to make it even tougher. Republicans have enough problems and we keep adding to them, uncertainty in the powerful Ocean County GOP organization because of the situation with its chairman and issues in Burlington County thanks to state Senator Dawn Addiego’s party switch and allegations that Assemblyman Joe Howarth tried to do the same.

Then there is the situation in Morris County, second only to Ocean in GOP strength, where it appears there is open revolt against the new Republican leadership where information from meetings appears to be getting leaked immediately. There’s going to be more on this later this week, but here at The Bob & Steve Show we’ve been treading lightly because it appears a certain Freeholder who once had me (and 3 candidates) charged criminally is involved with the revolt.

Despite all these problems it appears some people just want to make things worse, right here in South Jersey. South Jersey, probably the toughest place in the state outside of Hudson County to be a Republican, where we have to deal with the well-oiled George Norcross machine.

I don’t know why this issue has come to light, maybe it’s plain old jealousy, or maybe it’s a case of someone listening to the wrong people. Whatever the reason the South Jersey Young Republicans led by Jenna Evans decided to launch into attack mode at Brian Fitzherbert the chairman of the Atlantic County Young Republicans.

Evans, via social media, accused Fitzherbert of sabotaging a Trump event, “Make Saint Patrick’s Day Great Again,” she originally intended to hold at the Borgata this past weekend. The event was moved to the Golden Nugget. She shared a Joseph Rudy Rullo post to Facebook that went viral:

The problem with the attack is it is completely untrue. As I understand the situation, it turns out the Atlantic County Young Republicans Vice Chair, Maryetta Borkowski, works at the Borgata and was asked by management if a “Make St. Patrick’s Day Great Again” event, that happened to have the Borgata logo on it was an ACYR event and was told that if it was they could not use the Borgata logo. Borkowski gave a truthful answer, it was not their event. Eventually, Borgata sent a cease and desist to Evans regarding the unauthorized use of their logo. In other words, just a standard business practice. No one tried to sabotage anything.

The way I understand events appears to be true, even according to Evans’ own social media comments. Unfortunately, Evans mistakenly believed that Borkowski contacted Borgata management when, in fact, Borkowski works there:

Perhaps if Evans had bothered to investigate what happened she wouldn’t have gone off half-cocked and thrown out wild accusations.

Additionally, Fitzherbert filled in for Bob Greco on this weekend’s Bob & Steve Show and plugged Evans’ event on the air. I would have plugged the event if I knew of it, I likely would have included it here on the blog if we were asked.

Even worse than her undeserved attack on Fitzherbert, Evans thought it would be a good idea to lash out at Gloucester County GOP Chair Jacci Vigilante. Evans went so far as to accuse the chairwoman of “a lack of teamwork and support for one another.”

Not only is Evans wrong in her attack on Fitzherbert, but her attack on Vigilante is way off base. I serve as the municipal chair in Greenwich Township (Gibbstown) and have firsthand knowledge of how Vigilante is running the organization. Frankly, teamwork and support for one another are hallmarks of the Vigilante leadership team. Prior to Vigilante taking the reigns the thought was always that the Gibbstown organization took care of everything ourselves and the Township was ignored for the most part. Vigilante and her team have been very supportive of our municipal organization.

It is entirely possible Evans simply viewed the South Jersey Young Republicans event as “her” event and because she didn’t bother to investigate why Borgata sent her a letter to not use their logo she took things personally and lashed out.  Make no mistake, she did refer to it as “my event.”

Bottom line: If Evans is serious about running a Republican organization she should get all her facts straight before attacking fellow Republicans. In this case she is wrong and should be apologizing to Fitzherbert and Vigilante as publicly and aggressively as she was in attacking them.