| MIDDLESEX COUNTY GOP UPDATE Written and distributed since 2003 by Donald Katz, Esq., Republican State Committeeman for Middlesex County and Counsel, Middlesex County Republican Organization EAGLETON INSTITUTE OFFERS CAMPAIGN TRAINING FOR WOMEN: THIS YEAR IT’S FREE AND VIRTUAL! The Center for American Women and Politics (“CAWP”) at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics, is again running what it calls a comprehensive bipartisan campaign training program for women candidates and potential candidates called “Ready to Run”. Due to the Coronavirus, the sessions in the program are being run over a number of weeks, and they are being done virtually and at no cost to the registrants, so you should take advantage of this training, if you are interested and able. The sessions are being run weekly from January 21st through March 12th, and you can register and participate in each one separately. If you are interested, go to the Center for American Women and Politics website and register now for the sessions which may interest you. The website is at: cawp.rutgers.edu. In addition to some specialty sessions for Black, Asian and Hispanic women on January 21st, the subjects of each of the later sessions, (all of which are one and half hours long), include: What Women Candidates Need to Know (January 22nd), Launching Your Campaign (January 29th), Digital Strategies for Campaigns (February 5th), Strategic Campaign Communications (February 12th), Navigating New Jersey Political Parties for Candidates (February 19th), Crisis Communication (February 26th), Fundraising for Success (March 5th) and Getting Appointed to Office (March 12th). I AM RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION AS GOP STATE COMMITTEEMAN I, (Don Katz), am running for re-election in the June primary to the position of Republican State Committeeman for Middlesex County, a position I have held since 1992. My Republican Party service covers more than 56 continuous years in Middlesex County, (starting when I was 16 when I campaigned for Barry Goldwater in Perth Amboy), in numerous positions, including Municipal Party Chairman or other party offices in three towns; campaign manager for municipal, legislative and congressional campaigns; 51+ years as a Republican County Committeeman, special or general counsel over the years to more than a dozen Republican Municipal Committees and Clubs, as MCRO Counsel for almost 35 years and as MCRO Training Chairman. I have been there to help, over many years, whenever county Republicans at any level needed help. Whether it has been helping a local organization, chairman or candidate with his or her nominating petitions, training their committee people or election day challengers, writing and distributing the “Middlesex County Republican County Committee Handbook” (which is now in its 10th Edition), attending local fundraisers, or handling the odd election law problem, attending their functions, answering their questions or solving their problems, I have been there. All of you have received and benefited from these periodic e-mail newsletters I send out to Republicans throughout Middlesex County. My help at the county level speaks for itself, when five different GOP County Chairmen, over the years, have trusted and acknowledged my service, expertise, experience and judgment by appointing me to serve as Counsel to the County GOP Organization. I have: 1. Provided reports at all County Chairman’s Meetings about what is going on at the state level which might be of interest or use to Middlesex County. 2. Provided periodic detailed written reports, letters or e-mails to Republican municipal chairmen and other Republican leaders with relevant or interesting State GOP information, which became this “Middlesex County GOP Update” e-mail newsletter, which I have written and e-mailed on a regular basis since 2003. 3. Attended virtually every State Committee meeting held since I was first elected. I have the best attendance record of all of the members of the State Committee, barring none, since I feel that it is important that Middlesex County is represented. 4. Over the years, lobbied the State GOP for monetary and other support for Middlesex County Republicans. 5. Notwithstanding the fact that the state committee positions are unpaid, with no expense reimbursements, I have attended numerous local GOP organization and club functions whenever I could. In fact, a number of long-time GOP municipal chairmen have commented that I was the first state committee person who had ever attended any of their functions. I would appreciate your support for my re-election. I will be on the ballot in the June 8th Primary. POLITICAL TRIVIA: Here are some political trivia questions. I hope you enjoy them. The answers are below, immediately above the calendar: 1. Who was the first woman to emcee an inaugural ceremony? 2. When was the first time former U.S. President attended his son’s inauguration as U.S. President? 3. When was the first time an inauguration was broadcast live on the Internet? 4. Which was the first inaugural to fall on a Super Bowl Sunday? 5. Who was the only U.S. President to use a nickname when taking the oath of office? 6. When was the first time that both parents of the U.S. President-Elect attended/personally witnessed their son’s inauguration? 7. Who was the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20th and what was the inauguration date before that year? CANDIDATES WANTED This year we will screen for 2 Freeholder Candidates and a Candidate for Surrogate, as well as a Candidate for State Senate and 2 Candidates for State Assembly in 5 or 6 of the 7 legislative districts, part or all of which are in Middlesex County. (We have incumbent Republicans in the 12th Legislative District, so we are not looking for candidates in that district and, in the 16th Legislative District, we have an incumbent State Senator so we are not looking for a State Senate Candidate in that District.) Of course, we will also be screening for a Gubernatorial Candidate, but there are already several running, so we are not looking for more at this time. If you are interested in running or being considered to run for one of the open positions, (or you know someone who is), you, or they, should contact MCRO Chair, Lucille Panos, at 908-208-7978 or at lp956@aol.com. There are also opportunities to run for local office in many of our municipalities and, if you or someone you know is interested, you or they should contact your local GOP municipal chair. “SECRET ELECTIONS” COMING UP IN APRIL IN SOME OF OUR TOWNS. LOCAL FIRE DISTRICT ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 20TH – WITH A FIRE DISTRICT COMMISSIONER PETITION FILING DEADLINE OF MARCH 22ND Based on a recent Governor Murphy Executive Order, in addition to any School Board Elections still being held in April and any Special School Board Referendum Elections which would have been held earlier in the year, all Fire District Elections will be held this year on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 from 2:00 to 9:00 pm in the following Middlesex County municipalities: East Brunswick, Jamesburg, Monroe, Old Bridge, Piscataway, Plainsboro, South Brunswick, and Woodbridge. If you live in one of those municipalities, you will have an election without the benefit of mailed sample ballots, advertising, (except for the minimum legally required legal advertising), anything even telling the voters where the polling place is located and, in most instances, without the Fire Districts even mentioning the date of their election on their website, let alone including the names of the candidates running or their budget to be adopted at the election on their website. Not surprisingly, the voter turnout is often less than 50 votes and, what passes for a hotly contested race, could easily draw perhaps a hundred votes. A turnout of perhaps 2% of the registered voters is not uncommon. If you or someone you know may be interested in running for Fire District Commissioner in your district, the deadline for filing a petition to run, as noted in the headline to this article, is March 22nd. The voting hours of any April School Board Elections or Special School Board Referendum Elections on April 20th should be confirmed with your local School Board. GOOD AND WELFARE… Condolences to the family of Alsdorf “Al” Smith. Al was elected to the Highland Park School Board and then to the Highland Park Council as a Democrat. He subsequent switched to being a Republican and ran for Mayor of Highland Park and for 17th LD State Assembly. He subsequently moved to Raritan in Somerset County in 2001 and successful was elected to the school board there three times and was a Republican Candidate for Mayor of Raritan. ANSWERS TO POLITICAL TRIVIA: 1. Senator Diane Feinstein, at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration 2. In 2001, when George H.W. Bush attended George W. Bush’s inauguration 3. Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1997 4. Ronald Reagan’s 1985 inauguration 5. Jimmy Carter in 1977 6. John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961 7. Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 20, 1937 pursuant to the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Prior to that date, the inauguration date was March 4th. UPDATED CALENDAR What follows is an updated calendar. If you have any municipal or countywide fundraisers or functions you would like me to include in my e-mail calendar from time to time, please contact me at dkatzlaw@aol.com. Please note that organizations and campaigns sometimes provide added information, change dates, or cancel events, which information I include in this calendar if I receive the information in time. Therefore, if you plan to attend an event, please make sure you review the calendar listing in my latest e-mail and, to the extent you may not have pre-registered for the particular event so the sponsoring group will be able to contact you about any changes, you may want to check with the sponsoring group before you go, to make sure the information has not changed. Also, please be aware that these e-mails are not official MCRO notices or mailings; they are just something I do, voluntarily, to help our Republican Party. April 5 (Monday 4:00 pm) – Candidate petition filing deadline for Primary Election April 20 (Tuesday) Fire District Elections (For those municipalities who have Fire Districts.) (Rescheduled to this date by Executive Order) and Annual School Board Elections (for those municipalities which have not moved their school board elections to November or who have moved them back.) June 8 (Tuesday) – Primary Election November 2 (Tuesday) – General Election Please forward this information to any Middlesex County Republican, or other individual, who you think might be interested in seeing it. Further, if you know of any Middlesex County Republican who would like to receive periodic e-mail reports about NJ Republican State Committee meetings and other information I believe might be interesting or useful, please have them send me, Donald Katz, an e-mail to dkatzlaw@aol.com, and I will add them to my e-mail list. By the same token, if you ever want to be removed from my e-mail list, click “unsubscribe” at the foot of this e-mail. Donald Katz, Esq. Republican State Committeeman – Middlesex County and Counsel, Middlesex County Republican Organization dkatzlaw@aol.com Office: Huff, Moran & Orron, LLC 1246 South River Road Cranbury, New Jersey 08512 (O) 609-655-3600 x 106 or 732-521-3666 x 106 (F) 609-655-5825 Home: 17 Buffalo Run East Brunswick, New Jersey 08816 (H) 732-251-3804 |
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