Winegar Leaving State Party To Manage Kean’s Campaign

Theresa Winegar (stolen from Twitter)

Last night, at 8:03PM a press release landed in the inbox. The subject line was “NJGOP Chairman Announces New State Party Executive Director.” I flipped open my laptop with the intention of posting the release, but I got sidetracked and rather than post the release I sent a text to current Executive Director Theresa Winegar congratulating her on the new gig as the campaign manager of Tom Kean’s congressional campaign. Naturally, I threw in a little bit of the “colorful language” that my mother hates and many folks know me for:

It’s no secret we play favorites at The Bob & Steve Show and the Executive Director of the NJGOP is a favorite of mine. Theresa Winegar is one of the very few 2009 Chris Christie alums I’ve managed to stay in touch with since working that campaign as his South Jersey Regional Political Director. I have nothing but respect for her – she doesn’t talk trash behind anyone’s back, has the courage to say what she means, does her job extremely well and has bigger cojones than many of the men I’ve come across over the years in this business – Chairman Doug Steinhardt is losing a valuable asset who will be extremely difficult to replace. Tom Kean picked well!

Even better, my mayor likes her, and anybody good enough for Greenwich Township (the Gloucester County Greenwich) Mayor George W. Shivery, Jr. is good enough for me.

If not for Winegar I would probably still be railing against the party establishment. Only Theresa Winegar could have put my county chair, Gloucester County Chairwoman Jacci Vigilante and I into the same room and help us develop the working relationship we now have. Trust me, I was ready for a fight at that first meeting, Mayor Shivery was my second, today Vigilante and I laugh about it.

Winegar is the one who sold me on Chairman Doug Steinhardt. I’m glad she did because as I’ve said on the radio show he is the best state chairman our party has had since the days of Tom Wilson.

Bottom line: Winegar is a pro. I’m sure she’ll do well.

Tom Kean couldn’t have picked a better campaign manager. Congratulations on a great pick Senator. And, congratulations Theresa, now go kick some ass, I know you will!

Is Palatucci Screwing Up Another Congressional Primary?

Bill Palatucci (from Twitter)

Bob Greco and I thought long, but not very hard, about whether or not I should move forward with a blog post about Bill Palatucci. This past Saturday we discussed the email he sent “cautioning” fellow Republicans about wasting money on a candidate in CD7. (You can listen to episode #67 by going to the “radio shows” page of this website. The Palatucci portion starts at the 1 hour 20 minute mark). Anyway, the primary taking shape in CD7 is between state Senator Tom Kean and Rosemary Becchi. I may have met Kean a time or two over the years, but don’t remember it. Bob, as a former county chairman has dealt with Kean and likes him. Neither one of us would know Becchi if we tripped over her. I mention this because we have no dog in this fight and both feel Palatucci crossed a line by sticking his nose in this primary.

As we discussed on the radio show, this isn’t the first time Palatucci has angered us. When Bob was the Cumberland County GOP Chairman I was the organization’s consultant. We won elections. No one can deny that. Palatucci, on more than one occasion tried to get Bob to fire me. According to Bob, Palatucci would say, “You shouldn’t be using Kush” and “Maybe you should consider using somebody else.” And, to this day, Bob still believes it was on Palatucci’s order that the NJGOP’s former Executive Director told him to fire me. Listen to the show, you’ll hear Bob got so mad at that he fell out of his chair. He didn’t fire me.

Not only did Palatucci have a habit of interfering in how Cumberland County was being run, he also thought it was okay to threaten an assemblyman. As the story goes, the then assemblyman was asked to endorse Chris Christie’s presidential campaign and the assemblyman said he had to think about it. Shortly after saying he had to think about it the assemblyman received a threatening phone call from Palatucci. The assemblyman was added to the list of endorsers.

And, let’s not forget that the mess of a primary in CD2 last year was the fault of Palatucci. It was Palatucci that led the brain trust that went to Hirsh Singh and talked him out of the U.S. Senate primary and led him to believe he would have a clear path in the congressional race. Palatucci pressured chairs to get behind Singh, some have privately admitted to this.

Apparently, Palatucci’s email angered a lot of Republicans. A GOP women’s organization weighed in on the issue. Saturday night I was at the Camden County GOP fundraiser. I expected to take some heat over what we had to say about Palatucci on the radio show earlier in the day. I was surprised when I took no heat, but was instead congratulated by many for saying what needed to be said.

Obviously, Palatucci has a history of attempting to bully people into doing what he wants. And, since Palatucci already screwed up one congressional primary the question needs to be asked: is Palatucci’s meddling in CD7 going to create another mess?

While we wait for the answer to that question we are hopeful that Palatucci will finally realize his best friend is no longer governor, which means he no longer has any power. Maybe he endorsed Hirsh Singh for U.S. Senate because he needs a puppet. Time will tell.