Stop Whining About Van Drew! It’s Not The First Nor Will It Be The Last Time The Party Has Lined Up Behind A Candidate.

Jeff Van Drew

Everywhere I go, every party event I attend, the conversation almost always comes to Congressman Jeff Van Drew. There are those who express happiness about his party switch and becoming the incumbent Republican Congressman in CD2 or I hear a bunch of stuff about how it’s completely unfair the way the party is lining up behind him along with a conversation that nearly always goes something like this: “They’re ramming him down our throats.”

Get over it!

Admittedly, I was less than kind to Congressman Van Drew when the news broke that he was going to become a Republican.

Guess what? I got over it!

The President of the United States has endorsed the man. President Trump is the head of our party. Of course, the party is going to line up behind the guy the President endorsed.

I’m not going to lie, I feel bad for Brian Fitzherbert, Bob Patterson and David Richter. Fitzherbert and Richter I consider friends and I have a decent relationship with Patterson even if I do have a tendency to break his stones a bit.

I think having been on the receiving end of the party lining up behind a candidate other than my preferred candidate is why I feel bad.

Remember the 2018 CD2 Republican primary? The story goes: A Republican insider got Hirsh Singh to move from the Senate race in an attempt to clear the field for Bob Hugin to CD2 where the field was supposed to be cleared for him. Even with that kind of effort to clear the field for Singh he did not get the line in half the counties in the district. Both Seth Grossman and Sam Fiocchi won counties running off the line and, as you know, Grossman was the eventual winner of the primary.

How about 2009? I was on the “ramming” side on this one as then candidate Chris Christie’s South Jersey regional political director. He was expected to have every county line, there was one holdout in South Jersey. I burned a lot of bridges to make sure he got that line – to this day there are people who will not speak to me.

Remember the 2008 US Senate Primary on the GOP side? That was the year that for some strange reason “the party” wanted anybody but Joe Pennacchio. I was on the receiving end of this disaster, I served as Pennacchio’s press guy and his South Jersey coordinator. The party wanted Anne Estabrook, she dropped out. Then they wanted Andy Unanue, he dropped out before he even made it back to NJ from a vacation. Then they wanted John Crowley, but he said no. Eventually they decided on Dick Zimmer. Pennacchio had already won lines, only to have them taken away. The then-Salem County chair scheduled Pennacchio as the speaker at the organization’s annual dinner, then took the organization’s slogan away after he spoke. It wasn’t all bad though – I met my co-host on the radio show, Bob Greco and former Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi, two guys I’ve been friends with ever since.

With all that said all the counties in South Jersey have a process to select the endorsed candidate for a particular office. It is my understanding that every county chair is going to stick to that process. It is also my understanding that Congressman Van Drew has told the chairs that he respects their process and will take part in it. You can’t be mad at a guy who says he respects the process and is a willing participant in that process.

I have chatted with Richter, Patterson and Fitzherbert. None of them appear to be dropping out of the race. Will they win any county lines? Having been on the receiving end of this kind of thing, I doubt it. What I do know is not dropping out means there will be a primary election which means, line or no line, you will have choices on June 2nd, or sooner if you vote by mail.

The other thing I know, as I demonstrated above, this is not the first time the party has lined up behind a candidate. Again, I have been on both sides of the party lining up behind a candidate. If you didn’t complain every single time the party got behind a particular candidate in the past, then complaining now makes you a hypocrite.

Don’t be a hypocrite! Do whatever you feel is right at the voting booth or on your mail-in ballot. But do not complain if you never complained before. I dislike hypocrites more than I dislike Democrats.

Finally, spare me the “he was a Democrat” stuff. I know the Congressman was a Democrat. I was Cumberland GOP’s consultant under Chairman Greco. I worked with former Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi. I spent years fighting against the man, I know he was a Democrat. The key word is “was.”

Congressman Van Drew is one of us now. He is a Republican. I am not suggesting you simply say “okay” to whatever he says. Still hold his feet to the fire, just like you would any Republican. There are Republicans with whom I disagree, that’s why we have primaries. But remember this, after a primary it is our duty as partisan politicos to support the nominee of our party, even if you don’t agree with them 100%. It’s the price you pay for picking a team. Don’t like that rule, pick another team.

REPORT: Turkavage Leaving GOP

Bob Turkavage

InsiderNJ is out with a report this morning that former congressional candidate in CD2 Bob Turkavage is leaving the Republican party. According to the report:

Robert “Turk” Turkavage, the retired special agent with the FBI who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the 2nd District in 2018 as an anti-Trump Republican, this morning said he’s done with the GOP, driven from the party by the President.

Good! Get out! Leave! Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.

Turkavage is a chronic whiner who blames his problems on others. Remember when he tried to blame Cumberland County Chairman (and now state Senator too) Michael Testa for his own failure to file paperwork on time? I defended Testa and a radio show host on another station had to apologize to Testa for believing Turkavage’s story.

When defending Testa I wrote about Turkavage having a history of not filing paperwork on time:

It is and always has been the candidate’s responsibility to make certain all necessary forms are filed appropriately and on time. It was the Turkavage campaign’s responsibility to file and his campaign should have been in constant communication with Testa to be certain things were moving along as they should. On top of that, this wasn’t the first time Turkavege didn’t file paperwork on time. He was going to run for U.S. Senate in 2014 but didn’t file his paperwork because of traffic problems. My point? Turkavage already had a history of screwing up when it came to filing paperwork on time, and like the first time, he refused to accept responsibility. Testa did things properly.

Bob Turkavage whined as a congressional candidate and has cried since dropping out of that race. He refused to follow the lead of former Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi and Brian Fitzherbert and do the right thing last year and back the primary election winner in CD2, Seth Grossman, over Jeff Van Drew. Instead, Turkavage called on Grossman to drop out.

I’m happy to see you leave Turk, you’ll fit in well with all the other snowflakes on the left side of the aisle.

Note To Insurgent Democrats: There’s No Whining In Politics

This is probably the most boring Republican primary election season EVER in South Jersey. Because it’s so boring I’ve been watching the insurgent (“progressive”) Democrats in South Jersey, specifically Camden County. I’ve blogged about them twice, here and here.

I didn’t plan on writing about these insurgent Democrats again, but I stumbled onto this gem on social media:

The Facebook post links to a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article. It’s a good article and basically has a bunch of “he said, she said” regarding petition challenges. Reading the article, and the above snapshot of a social media post, I had to laugh when I came to this:

“In what country can you remove from the ballot your political opponents? Norcross Country,” Rena Margulis, a progressive candidate for county clerk, said in a recent interview.

Candidates get thrown off the ballot all the time in elections in New Jersey (and other states). Just last year Brian Fitzherbert was bounced from the GOP congressional primary ballot and given the facts that (a) Hirsh Singh’s campaign manager “was present for the court proceedings” to remove Fitzherbert from the ballot and (b) “filer Christopher Coleman, a Galloway Republican, said he reviewed the petitions of candidates Sam Fiocchi, Seth Grossman and Robert Turkavage,” according to New Jersey Globe I believe it had nothing to do with being in “Norcross Country.” Quite the opposite, it had everything to do with Hirsh Singh being afraid of competition.

Fitzherbert didn’t whine. He supported the eventual winner of the primary and worked hard to build the Atlantic County Young Republicans and continues to help build other YR organizations.

I can guarantee that back in 2012 when Gary Smith got thrown off the ballot in New Mexico’s GOP 1st congressional district primary that it had nothing to do with “Norcross Country.” Smith did whine, in fact, being removed from the ballot angered Smith so much he became a serial tire slasher (video at the end of this post). As I was the executive director of the Bernalillo County GOP at the time I remember this being quite a huge pain in the ass, as was replacing a couple of tires.

Having said all that maybe there might be a “Norcross Country” connection to the petition challenges filed against the GOP freeholder candidates in Gloucester County, but they aren’t whining about it and are working hard to ensure they get enough write-in votes to have their candidates on the ballot in November.

And, so I don’t sound like a hypocrite I will state again what I wrote in this blog previously:

I get it, challenging the signatures on nominating petitions is a part of political campaigns in New Jersey (and elsewhere). It’s a part of campaigns I dislike. No campaign I managed has ever challenged nominating petitions – that’s how much I despise the practice. I believe working to remove a candidate who meets the requirements to run for an office from the ballot is a gutless move that proves the person challenging signatures on a nominating petition has very little faith in their chosen candidate to win on ideas.

My intent is not to critique the Philadelphia Inquirer article nor is it to defend “Norcross Country.” Seriously, my only purpose here is to remind folks, especially challenger candidates, “There is no whining in politics!”

The Philadelphia Inquirer article is clear, there are many insurgent Democrats still on the ballot:

Most of the candidates on the progressive slate are running for a seat on the Democratic Committee, which is involved in party business and endorsements. About two dozen other candidates on the slate are running for Assembly, county clerk, and mayor or council in the county’s three biggest municipalities — Cherry Hill, Camden and Gloucester Township — and six other towns.

Rather than whining that your freeholder candidates were tossed from the ballot maybe you should get to work for all your other candidates. Be like Brian Fitzherbert or the Gloucester County Republicans and work. Don’t be a Gary Smith!