A "Wireside Chat" from Chairman Adam Puharic Update

01/15/2007

Dear fellow Republicans:
Over the weekend, I’ve received a large number of calls and emails offering support and encouragement for our decision to reform the candidate selection process and re-introduce a screening committee that has been in place, in one form or another, for the winning part of the last 20 years. I am grateful for the positive energy and messages of praise. Please keep it up, as it is the only salary I draw from this position.
I’ve also received three emails by critics. So in the hopes of clarifying any part of the process that may be murky, I’d like to take a few moments of your time to expand upon the screening process for the 2007 general election:

1. This only applies to the 2007 election. There will be revisions to the process, based on your input, before we re-apply the process for 2008. My intention is to take the amended candidate selection resolution, along with the outline of the party organization we have put in place, and create bylaws to submit for committee input at the conclusion of my first term. But please know that bylaws are secondary to winning elections. Winning in 2007 must come first. There are many democrat-controlled counties with strong Republican bylaws.

2. The County Committee has all of the authority it always had. There will be a convention, and committee members will chose the candidates who represent them. The role of the screen is to do the homework so the committee has only qualified choices before it. The role of the committee is to choose the candidate.

3. The screening committee is not a representational body, it is an executive body. Our great nation has worked very well with a strong executive branch, and a deliberative body (the Congress) to act upon the leadership mandate. Our Republican committee should work the same way. The screening committee is made up of chairs, elected officials, and my executive board members. It is divided roughly equally among the three groups. No one owns this vote.

4. There is no secret behind the membership of the committee. I was not able to reveal it until all of the members were contacted, and consented to participate. Truth be told, I had a five-year old birthday party on Saturday that prevented me from sending this email over the weekend, but such is the life of this Chairman.

5. The screening committee membership is:
Chairman Sal Alfieri
Chairman Tom Apostle
Freeholder Director Bill Barham
Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck
Chairman Michael Borg
Freeholder Lillian Burry
Political Whip John Cantalupo
Chairman Peter Carton
Second Vice Chair Caroline Casagrande
Chairman Rick DeNoia
SERC Chair, Tom DeSeno
County Clerk Claire French
Leadership Council Chair Tom Gagliano
Vice Chair Molly Giamanco
Assemblywoman Amy Handlin
Assemblyman Sean Kean
Chairman Norine Kelly
Senator Joe Kyrillos
Finance Chair Andrew Lucas
Moderator, Council of Chairs Steve McEnery
Chairman Bob McKenna
Rosemarie Peters
Legal Council Michael Supko
The Chairman (votes to break a tie)

All incumbents will screen. I am especially proud of County Clerk Claire French, Assemblyman Sean Kean, and Senator Kyrillos – who all voiced vocal support for submitting before this committee.
I am grateful for Assemblyman Thompson’s council on this policy. He has been extremely helpful, with his prior experience as the Middlesex County Chair, in pointing out ways to improve this process going forward. His recommendations will help to create an improved plan for this and future elections.
I hope this answers some questions. Now, I have two questions for all of you:

1. Will you please forward the names of four municipal chairs from each legislative district who will join the screening committee for their respective potential assembly and senate candidates? I will wait to hear from you before deciding.

2. When you learned about this plan, was your first instinct to trust that if was done in the best interest of the party, or was it to cast dispersions and be negative? Where you sit on this point goes a long way to describing who you are.

Thanks for giving me a few moments to better explain the process.
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Adam Puharic, Chairman
Monmouth County Republican Party
www.MonmouthRepublican.org
info@MonmouthRepublican.org
732.431.6664