TOMS RIVER, NJ – According to a report today, New Jersey Assemblywoman Diane Gove said Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore is targeting her. Gove says Gilmore, in a coordinated scorched earth strategy against anyone who supported lifelong police officer and Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, made sure his new handpicked screening committee did not choose her for the party’s nomination for assembly in District 9.
Gove was one of a handful of Republicans to sign an endorsement in favor of Mastronardy over Gilmore in last June’s election for chairman. All of the signers have since been targeted by Gilmore.
In the interview with NJ Globe, a website run by Bridgegate mastermind David Wildstein, Gove said she will fight Gilmore for the party’s nomination in an anticipated floor vote at the GOP convention in March.
“I’m going to convention,” she said in the interview. “I’ve been planning to go to the convention since January. I was planning on it no matter what.”
Gilmore also unseated 10th District assemblyman Greg McGuckin and is alleged to be the reason why John Catalano announced he would not run for state office in 2023, instead, he will run for mayor in Brick Township. Brick Township is Ocean County’s only Democrat-controlled town.
Gilmore ousted GOP incumbent Brian Rumpf, who also signed the letter of support for Holman.
In place of McGuckin and Catalano, Gilmore is running Toms River School Board member Ashley Lamb, the wife of Toms River Councilman Justin Lamb, and Ruthanne Scatturo, the president of the Brick Township Republican Club.
In the 9th District, Gilmore will run Stafford Mayor Greg Myhre along with incumbent Brian Rumpf.
In other News, critics of Gilmore are claiming the chairman is trying to bar the Republicans for Toms River club chairwoman from voting at the GOP convention in a half-cocked plan to give himself the votes needed to unseat his opponents.
At this time, Gilmore’s candidates are the underdogs in the event of a floor vote. Gilmore will not have the support or votes of the Toms River club. He is also suspected of not having enough votes to decertify the Republicans for Toms River in favor of his own Toms River Regular Republican club.
The moves made by Gilmore are an all-or-nothing hail mary play with just a few seconds on the clock. Victory will solidify his return to politics after being convicted by the Department of Justice and sentenced to 364 days in federal prison for failing to pay payroll taxes and providing false information on a bank loan.
A defeat for Gilmore would signal a failure in the chairman’s plan to bring unity to a severely fractured Ocean County GOP by force.
In the end, as politics in Ocean County is more about public contracts and jobs for friends and family, all combatants might soon see the writing on the wall and unite for their own self-preservation.
Most of the GOP leadership in Ocean County are aging out and are a dying breed as the next generation of GOP leaders are emerging, such as Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina. Most of Ocean County’s GOP leadership and elected county and state officials are in their late 60s and early 70s.
Greg McGuckin and others targeted by Gilmore also announced they would fight back against the chairman’s attempt to unseat them.