JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – The rift between Jackson Mayor Michael Reina’s “Republicans for Jackson” and the old-time leaders of the Jackson GOP has been taken to a new level this week, a courtroom. That comes after longtime Reina advisor Richard Egan joined forces with Shimshon Heller to sue the club in an attempt to force the courts to uphold the nomination of Michael Reina for the GOP’s endorsed candidate in the upcoming general election.
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Club leaders Clara Glory and Todd Porter have said a floor-based nomination by Tzvi Herman, a former Jackson School Board member was invalid and not done in accordance to the club’s by-laws.
Shimshon Heller and Richard Egan believe their rights were violated by the Jackson GOP when Club President Todd Porter nullified the vote in favor or Reina.
Heller and Egan are also claiming the club has not promoted enough Orthodox Jewish residents to management positions within the township and the club board.
“The club has grown in numbers since 2020, with the majority of the new members being of the Orthodox community whose only intent is to make this club the biggest and strongest united club in Ocean County,” Egan a retired New York City police officer and Heller claimed in their lawsuit. “Each new member naturally has a clean background, is a hard-working person with a family-oriented background.”
Egan and Heller argued that despite the rapid growth of Orthodox community members in the club over the past year or so, only one Orthodox Jewish woman was appointed to a leadership position. Egan and Heller suggested discrimination may be a factor in that policy.
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“With the exception of just one Orthodox woman being placed on the screening committee on the 11th hour before Mayoral and Council screening interviews there has not been any open dialogue with the new members to bring anyone else into the executive board other than the usual hand-picked cronies of Glory and Porter,” Egan claimed in his lawsuit claiming religious discrimination against the club.
Additionally, Egan and Heller are suing Glory to tie up over $40,000 in campaign funds donated to a political action committee to support the political campaign of Marty Flemming, Alex Sauickie, and Andy Kern.
The lawsuit asks the court to force the nomination of Reina and to seize campaign funds held in a PAC operated by Glory outside of the purview of the club.
Insiders close to the lawsuit have admitted they don’t intend to win this case, but the goal is simply to drain Glory’s political campaign fund with legal expenses so it can’t be used against Reina in the general election.