Who Will Replace Marlon Brownlee on the Maplewood Township Committee?

Just a reminder again, folks. Anyone interested in running for the Township Committee or as a Democratic Party District Leader with the endorsement of the Maplewood Democratic Committee should submit a statement and resume to me by February 28. iangrodman@gmail.com. Many thanks.

Just another reminder. Please send any submissions for review by Sunday evening, February 28. Thank you and have a great weekend!

So the February 28 deadline has passed.  Who are the candidates?

@tomdevon  - the deadline was just for people to express their interest.  Now the Dem Party members will go through an interview and selection process.

yahooyahoo said:

@tomdevon  - the deadline was just for people to express their interest.  Now the Dem Party members will go through an interview and selection process.

OK, who expressed interest then?

If the people who expressed interest want it publicly known, I don't think there is any prohibition against them saying so, is there?

sac said:

If the people who expressed interest want it publicly known, I don't think there is any prohibition against them saying so, is there?

Is there something you would like to tell us?

sac said:

If the people who expressed interest want it publicly known, I don't think there is any prohibition against them saying so, is there?

I'm sure you're right, but I thought that the list of candidates who expressed interest would be made public (IIRC that has been done in the past).  A friend of mine who is a District Leader said only one individual contacted her this year to discuss his interest, as opposed to several for the open seat last year.  Just wondering who the folks who tossed their hats in the ring might be.

Thank you everyone for your interest. The following three individuals have submitted their requests to be considered by the Maplewood Democratic Committee for endorsement:

Dharmvir Gehlaut

Frank McGeehee

Hans Hummel

The full Maplewood Democratic Committee will meet with all three later this month, and endorse a candidate before the month is over.

Thank you.

Thanks Ian.  And this story from the Maplewoodian has a few more details too:

http://joestrupp.blogspot.com/2016/03/three-candidates-seeking-democratic.html

mrincredible said:

sac said:

If the people who expressed interest want it publicly known, I don't think there is any prohibition against them saying so, is there?

Is there something you would like to tell us?

Huh?

More background information on the candidates from the Village Green:

http://villagegreennj.com/towns/government/3-applicants-vie-maplewood-democratic-committee-endorsement-tc-election/

The article notes that Greg Lembrich and Fred Profeta have already endorsed Frank McGehee.  It will be interested to see whom, if anyone, other leading Democrats (Mayor DeLuca, Marlon Brownlee, Nancy Adams, India Larrier, Jerry Ryan, Tom Carlson, David Huemer, etc.) will support.  My District Leader friend told me that McGehee was the only candidate to reach out to her in advance to discuss his interest and ask for her support.

Do others have any thoughts on the candidates?  Who will the MDC likely nominate?  Do folks expect a contested primary this year?  Some of the posters here always seem to have some inside insight, which I'm be interested to hear if you're willing to share.

Frank McGeehee is part of the Village Keepers crew that sued our town.

as an independent, which may not be worth much, he just lost my vote. We don't need dividers. 

ArchBroad said:

Frank McGeehee is part of the Village Keepers crew that sued our town.

he won't have my vote if he runs

ArchBroad said:

Frank McGeehee is part of the Village Keepers crew that sued our town.

Wow.  I don't know much about any of the names, but I definitely will NOT support anyone that was part of that lawsuit against our town.

I'm assuming that if McGehee doesn't get the MDC endorsement, there's a good chance of VK endorsing him as a challenger in the primary.

ml1 said:

I'm assuming that if McGehee doesn't get the MDC endorsement, there's a good chance of VK endorsing him as a challenger in the primary.

Yes .  

I won't support a candidate endorsed by VK

ml1 said:

I'm assuming that if McGehee doesn't get the MDC endorsement, there's a good chance of VK endorsing him as a challenger in the primary.

That's a safe bet, in light of recent history.

I'm sure that Fred will dump as much money as allowed into the race, but will McGehee dump as much as Lembrich did into it?  

Steve said:

I'm sure that Fred will dump as much money as allowed into the race, but will McGehee dump as much as Lembrich did into it?  

So we are looking forward to another battle of the check books contested Primary?

Fred and the Bandits revving up for some more electoral malfeasance (that could be another band name !).

I'll never forgive Malfeasance for going electoral.

ArchBroad said:

Frank McGeehee is part of the Village Keepers crew that sued our town.

This is true, but may be considered old news by most people since the Post House is now a done deal.  I think any attempts to make this year's election about the Post Office development (pro or con) will be met with resistance by voters who have fatigue over the issue.  I'm sure some will feel strongly, but it's probably more along the lines of those who wrote in Jerry Ryan or voted for only Nancy Adams but not Greg Lembrich last November (i.e. 100+, but nowhere near 1000+).  

I agree with others here that McGehee will have a strong, well-funded organization, and may well run in a contested primary if he does not receive the MDC nomination.  The more interesting question for me is "who is the realistic alternative to McGehee?".  If McGehee is the only candidate with strong backing, and the only one who is doing active outreach to the District Leaders (my information on this is anecdotal), who else will the MDC support?  With respect to the other two candidates, neither seems like he was groomed or hand-picked by Vic DeLuca to run for TC.  They don't have the background, experience, community name recognition, etc. that Jerry and even Nancy had last year.  Unless one or the other of Hummel or Gehlaut turns out to have significant "establishment" support, McGehee may be considered the only viable candidate.

This is why I am interested to see who the Mayor (and other powerful local Democrats) will support.  Hard to imagine them on the same side with Lembrich/Profeta, but a consensus candidate might be just what the town needs to get over the bitterness and division of last year.  I guess we shall see over the next few weeks how this develops.  If anyone has insight (or even guesses), I for one would be curious to hear it.     

DaveSchmidt said:

I'll never forgive Malfeasance for going electoral.

You win the internet today.

^This.

tomdevon said:

ArchBroad said:

Frank McGeehee is part of the Village Keepers crew that sued our town.

This is true, but may be considered old news by most people since the Post House is now a done deal.  I think any attempts to make this year's election about the Post Office development (pro or con) will be met with resistance by voters who have fatigue over the issue.  I'm sure some will feel strongly, but it's probably more along the lines of those who wrote in Jerry Ryan or voted for only Nancy Adams but not Greg Lembrich last November (i.e. 100+, but nowhere near 1000+).  

I don't disagree about PO malaise for some, but I believe the issue others may have about the suit is less the subject than the act of suing the town itself.  Now a good PR spin (or at least a justification) on that might be possible, and may likely be warranted at some point, but it's not hard to see how that could be a sticking point.  Greg, at least, was not a member of VK (regardless of his direct association with Fred), and had what I assume to be a fair defense of plausible deniability when it came to the suit. (And yes, for reasons I'll not go into here, I do believe he was not aware of it in advance.)  McGeeHee has no such cover on either count it would seem, and has the basis for his flawed public comments about the PO to account for as well.

ctrzaska said:

McGeeHee has no such cover on either count it would seem, and has the basis for his flawed public comments about the PO to account for as well.

Good distinction ctrzaska.  Can you elaborate on what public comments McGehee made about the PO?  I recall his name among those on the VK board, but I don't recall him otherwise being outspoken at the public meetings.  Maybe his comments just weren't as commented upon or publicized as some of the others.  I'm not challenging your statement, just curious if you can recall what McGehee said that he may need to explain/account for in the coming race.  If he did make outrageous statements or allegations, I agree that they may haunt him even among those who are sick of hearing about the PO.

DaveSchmidt said:

I'll never forgive Malfeasance for going electoral.

Sounds like a lot of  MOL readers really like those lock step votes

That old canard again?