Local GOP committee snubs local hopeful

County chairman says local endorsement

is not essential

BY TARA PETERSEN

Staff Writer

If former Millstone Mayor Evan Maltz hopes to run for the 12th District Assembly, he’ll have to do so without the blessing of the Millstone Township Republican County Executive Committee (RCEC).

Last week, RCEC Chairman Roger Staib sent a letter to Monmouth County Republican Committee Chairman Fredrick Niemann saying the group would not endorse Maltz as a candidate.

Maltz is vying for what will likely be two spots on the 12th District Republican ticket, and Niemann is the key decision-maker.

Whoever is selected will run against Democrat incumbents Michael Panter and Dr. Robert Morgan in the November general election.

The RCEC claims Maltz “lost his standing with the Millstone Republican Party through his action,” and called him “an outcast in his own community.”

The letter is signed by Staib, Vice Chairwoman Diane Morelli, representatives from each Millstone district, and Mayor Elias Abilheira, Deputy Mayor Nancy Grbelja and Committeeman Robert Kinsey.

The group lists several reasons for his loss of standing, which include claims that he supported a Democrat over a Republican in the 2000 Township Committee election and organized an attempt to defeat Republican candidates in elections over the past four years.

In addition, the letter claimed that Maltz “abandoned a Republican running mate to join forces with the Democratic leadership” in 1999, and that during Maltz’s tenure, he “failed to control spending or eliminate waste and wasted taxpayer money on personal vendettas.”

Maltz had said prior to the RCEC’s stance that during his 2000-2002 term, his administration “cut the tax rate in half and kept a huge multimillion-dollar surplus.”

In response to these claims, Maltz’s campaign called into question Staib and Grbelja’s loyalty to the party.

The Maltz campaign claims that Staib contributed $300 to Democratic Assembly candidate John S. Wisniewski in 1995, and $500 to congressional Democratic candidate Susan Bass Levin in 1997. According to the campaign, the information can be found through the Federal Election Commission or the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.

“The Maltz campaign feels that Roger Staib has no standing by which to judge another Republican as disloyal to his party, unless he intends to take the line that it takes one to know one,” the rebuttal said.

Staib said that if Maltz’s defense is to discredit him, then “he truly is unfit to run for Assembly.”

“Over 30 years of Republican support speaks for itself,” Staib said.

The letter, from Maltz campaign spokesman Bill Winkler, goes on to claim that Grbelja helped Panter by allowing her name to be included on one of his recent mailers.

Grbelja said Tuesday that the mailer had to do with state police coverage in town, not politics, and that her dealings with the district’s representatives are part of her responsibilities as an elected official.

The letter also mentions that Grbelja’s employer, the New Jersey Education Association, endorsed Panter in 2003 over Republican Assemblywoman Claire Farragher.

Grbelja said her employer’s decision to endorse a candidate has nothing to do with her personal views.

Winkler disputed the claims that Maltz has supported Democrats, and said later with regard to the claims that the RCEC “should put up the kind of evidence that we’ve put up.”

He also said the RCEC’s efforts to campaign against Maltz hurts the party because the committee should spend its resources on trying to defeat Panter and Morgan rather than someone in its own party.

The RCEC members are being misled by Staib, according to Winkler.

“I don’t believe the people that signed the [RCEC] letter are in full possession of the facts,” Winkler said. “After we revisit these issues and others, we will have a very different accounting and will see people change their positions and ... apologetically change their minds.”

Niemann told the Examiner Tuesday that the county committees for each town, such as the RCEC, will all come together on April 9 to vote for two candidates to run as the official party nominees. Currently Maltz, Farragher, Mike Fitzgerald, of Colts Neck, Declan O’Scanlon, of Little Silver, and Jennifer Beck, of Red Bank, are vying for the two Republican lines.

Each town has a certain number of votes based on its population, according to Niemann, which means a local endorsement is not essential.

“Certainly, it’s something a candidate would want,” Niemann said. “Is it fatal for their candidacy? Not necessarily.”

He said Maltz would need to persuade a majority of Republican Committee members to vote for him in April in order to gain the official party nod.