Looking ahead to the post-Gov. Chris Christie era in New Jersey Republican politics (while not discounting that the sitting governor is still in charge for two years), 11 Republican county chairs have put together a coalition to maintain relevance into the future.
Representing nearly 50% of all Republican voters throughout New Jersey, the chairs hail from Burlington, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Mercer, Monmouth, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren.
They formed in part, said a source close to the never center of the decision -making process , to offset the immense party power traditionally wielded by Ocean County Republican Committee Chair George Gilmore, who sometimes single-handedly hauls the party where he wants it to go.
This is not meant to crunch the toes of the governor in any way, a Republican source maintained. The coalition is meant simply to assert the powers of those chairmen who might at times have felt like underlings peeping about the huge legs of a political colossus (that’s Shakespeare, New Jersey) in Gilmore.
“As county chairs, we will be called upon to make important decisions regarding the future of our Party over the next few years and our goal should be that all 21 of us work together,” a source explained. “However, some may make decisions based on the best interest of their respective counties; the purpose of this coalition is to work, in unison, as we put the Republican Party – statewide – ahead of all other interests.”
Pictured above, from left: Burlington County GOP Boss Bill Layton; Somerset Pooh-Bah Al Gaburo, and Essex Chair Al Barlas.
