Dear Editor:
As of Tuesday night, there is not a single Republican in Washington who represents one resident of Morris County. And for the first time since 1973, a Democrat will sit on the Morris County Board of County Commissioners.
Tom Kean Jr. lost the 7th. Joe Hathaway lost the 11th for the second time this year. Democrats now hold both congressional districts that cover this county. Then Chris Russo beat Tayfun Selen. No Democrat had won a county-wide office in Morris County since 1973, and that streak ended on the watch of the people currently running the county party.
I am a former Morris County Young Republican, chairman of the America First Republicans of New Jersey, and I was chosen by the Trump campaign to serve as a statewide delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention. I have given most of my adult life to this party. So let me ask the question nobody at the top of it seems willing to ask: how was this allowed to happen?
It was not a national wave, and it was not the voters. For years the people running the Morris County Republican Committee have presided over one collapse after another without once being held to account.
Last November we lost three Assembly seats. We lost Mine Hill, Wharton, Rockaway Township and Boonton. We lost Parsippany, the largest town in the county, the mayor’s office and the council in a single night, after a primary that split the local party in half while county leadership stood by and watched. In April we lost the 11th District by better than twenty points. On Tuesday we lost the rest of Congress and a county commissioner seat with it.
Infighting at the local level is nothing new. What is new is that nobody at the top lifts a finger to stop it. Strong county leadership steps in, brings the factions to the table, and makes sure Republicans walk into Election Day united. That is the job. Chairwoman Laura Ali and Vice Chair Peter King have not done it, in town after town, and it has cost us seat after seat.
What troubles me more is who has said nothing about it. Not one Republican who represents this county in Trenton has spoken a word. They have the platform and the standing to demand better, and they have chosen to sit quiet. Silence is a choice, and Tuesday night is what it bought.
Enough. Ali and King should resign, if not voluntarily, then forcefully, and the officials who would not say so when it mattered should expect real Republicans to challenge them in their next primaries.
Senator Anthony Bucco, this part is for you. You are not only the senator for Legislative District 25. You are the leader of every Republican in the State Senate, and that makes you our leader of Morris County. Show your leadership. Laura Ali and Peter King need to give up their positions. This is not about an election. It is about saving Morris County. Please show your leadership.
Yours truly,
Mike Crispi
Chairman, America First Republicans of New Jersey
