In NJ, Tea Party Slates Target Three GOP Strongholds

CNJpolitics.com – Rubashov

New Jersey’s Tea Party movement is a study in contrasts. Against three different Republican organizations, the movement has put forward three very different strategies.

Morris County has been the scene of the Tea Party’s greatest success. Lacking a line, the county has been witness to the Tea Party victories of State Senate candidate Bill Eames and Freeholder candidate Hank Lyons in 2011. Although Eames was defeated in the general election, Lyons is now a serving Freeholder, and the movement is looking to add a couple more of its activists to the seven-member board.

This year it’s Barbara Eames (Bill Eames’ wife) and Stephen DeHart who are carrying the Tea Party banner. Well, not quite. Unlike 2011, when Bill Eames ran and won a primary as a “Tea Party Republican”, this year Eames and DeHart have opted for the slogan: “Conservative Republican”. Has the phrase “Tea Party” really gone this toxic?

In contrast to Morris County’s more targeted approach, in Burlington County the movement has organized a full slate of Republican primary candidates from State Assembly down to State Committee. Under the leadership of the West Jersey Tea Party’s Bill Haney, these slates had fundraising pledges lined-up before the filing deadline.

In Burlington County, the Tea Party movement’s candidates are talking about the county party insider corruption that affects more mainstream conservative concerns like spending, debt, and property taxes. This focus on reform issues could broaden the movement’s appeal as it too has determined not to use the “Tea Party” label.

Going after the party machine isn’t really an option for the Tea Party movement in Monmouth County, as Tea Party county committee members provided the margin of victory to elect moderate Monmouth County Republican Committee Chairman (and former Senate President and Acting Governor) John Bennett. Bennett also serves as the Treasurer of the Republican State Committee.

In Monmouth County the Tea Party appears to have settled on a top down approach, running a full legislative slate in just one of the county’s districts along with a slate of county candidates. The lynchpin of that slate is their candidate for State Senate in District 13, Leigh-Ann Bellew, with the movement counting on her coattails to pull in the rest of the slate. They may have a lemon however, as Bellew only recently emerged from a personal bankruptcy brought on by consumer debt.

In another observation this week, we noticed that Steve Lonegan has been moved from New Jersey State Director of Americans for Prosperity to something called an AFP “senior fellow”. It’s on the AFP website.Whether this is a demotion or a lateral transfer is anyone’s guess.