LAKEWOOD, NJ – Avi Schnall, the Director of Agudath Israel of America’s New Jersey Chapter on Thursday issued a get out the vote message to Orthodox Jewish residents in Jackson Township as the community plans to take control of the Jackson Township Municipal County Republican Council.
Last month, we reported that an organized effort to take over the Jackson Municipal County Council was afoot in the township by a group called “Republicans for Jackson”.
Through our investigation, it was learned that the effort is being orchestrated by Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina. The group has indicated they are supporting Reina in the November GOP election, but some hurdles exist for the long-time mayor of Jackson.
He is currently on the outs with Republican Club leaders Clara Glory and Todd Porter, who have signaled publicly they will not endorse Reina for a fourth term in office in November. Reina, then reach out to his old foes in the Orthodox Jewish community in Jackson, including Avi Schnall, who has an active federal civil lawsuit against Reina and the township ongoing.
Last night, Schnall issued a passionate statement for a ‘very important’ and upcoming election, which is the election for county GOP commissioners. Those commissioners control the power of the local Republican Club and if successful, “Republicans for Jackson”, led by Reina can seize power from Glory and Porter in time to make himself the Republican nominee in November.
The orchestrated effort however requires that newly minted Jackson residents register to vote and show up for the June Primary Election to cast their vote for Reina’s slate of commissioner candidates township-wide.
We originally reported a divided Jackson Township Republican Club is being challenged by a group of residents identified simply by their slogan as “Republicans for Jackson”. The group is challenging the establishment Republican Party in nearly half of all voting districts for seats on the coveted Ocean County Republican Committee. That committee helps to shape elections, pick party line endorsements, and each member will have one vote in the upcoming Ocean County GOP chairman’s election.
Sources within the Jackson Republican Club have confirmed that Clara Glory was irate after dozens of Reina supporters showed up at last Wednesday night’s Republican Club Meeting. Hours after the meeting in which Glory realized Reina has the numbers, after packing the room with religious Jewish members of the community, Glory listed her home for sale on the Ocean / Monmouth County MLS.This June, residents of the town have organized an attempted takeover of the GOP party, the local club that is currently in firm political control in the township with a 5-0 majority on the town council and the mayor’s seat in their possession.
The “Jackson Republican” ticket is aligned closely with Mayor Michael Reina in a last-ditch effort for Reina to grab control of power in the Jackson Republican Club. Club leaders have signaled they will not be endorsing Reina on the party line in November’s election. Reina has served three consecutive terms as Mayor over the past 12 years.In return for their support, in recent months, Reina has reversed his past course of signing laws aimed at keeping Orthodox Jews out of Jackson Township and is now actively working hand in hand with the community and developers seeking to build commercial and residential projects in town.
Complaints made by Glory and Porter to the Ocean County GOP have fallen on deaf ears and allegedly, GOP Chairman Frank Holman and Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy are in full support of the Reina led takeover of the Jackson Township Republican Club, which now appears to be split in half on religious and ideological beliefs between the Christians in the club and the large number of Orthodox Jews who recently joined in the past four months. Insiders in the club have said the Orthodox Jewish vote now outnumbers the Christian vote in the party.
The club is also split between two rival factions, the Glory faction, led by county committee chairwoman Clara Glory and the Reina faction, headed by Mayor Michael Reina. Reina and Glory have been feuding behind the scenes for many years, but this year, the rift between the two became evident when Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella released the candidate list for the Jackson Township Committee. Glory’s members are being challenged in nearly half of the districts in the town.
The 27 “Republicans for Jackson” candidates, aligned with Reina are seeking to unseat longtime party leaders, including County Committee Chairwoman Clara Glory and Club President Todd Porter. The Jackson Republican slate is also challenging republican Councilmen Andy Kern and Marty Flemming in the county commission races. Many other longtime Jackson residents and volunteers are at risk of losing seats, some have held for decades. Currently, the Jackson Republican Club is seeking to endorse either Councilman Alex Sauickie or Councilman Marty Flemming for mayor to succeed Reina. If Reina’s “Republicans for Jackson” can seize the power of the club before the screening process, Reina can be the official party nominee in the November election.Schnall took to the Lakewood Scoop to remind specifically Orthodox Jews to register to vote in time so they can cast a vote in the June primary election, signaling that the community may not have the numbers to vote to defeat longtime Jackson residents and incumbents.
“For anyone and everyone living in Jackson Township, voter registration is coming to an end shortly, it is imperative and crucial that every member of the community is registered to vote,” Schnall said. “There are going to be many critical and crucial elections coming up in the near future and it is extremely important that everybody, men and women are registered to vote in the next upcoming election.”