Where are the Republicans in the coming election?

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Republican Party will not have a candidate in the upcoming council primary election. Petitions with 50 signatures were required from candidates by Monday, April 9. Only one council candidate submitted a petition to the municipal clerk’s office and that was Democrat and incumbent Richard Rockwell.

Rockwell will be running for a one-year term. He was appointed in January by Mayor Michael Venezia to fill the seat of Carlos Pomares who was elected Essex County freeholder in another uncontested race.

But despite the absence of a GOP candidate in the council primary, Bloomfield Republican Chairman Russell Mollica said his party is alive and well in terms of this interim election.

“There were a number of people interested in running,” he said in a telephone interview earlier this week. “But the term is for one year and they felt they would put all their resources into the next election cycle.”

In a telephone interview last week, Essex County Republican Party Chairman Al Barlas said that Mollica is “busting his hump” every day, but with changing county demographics, it is getting harder to find qualified candidates from either party. He said getting 50 signatures for a candidate’s petition is the easy part.

“It’s hard to get someone to stick their neck out,” he said. “And people watch what’s happening in the world. You go to social media sites and there’s a negative stigma attached to politics. Sometimes you get a little gun-shy. We’ve gone from healthy debates to public attacks. Public office isn’t for everyone.”

In Bloomfield, Barlas said the GOP is still involved in community groups.
“They are out there to help grow the party and make it become younger,” he said. “It’s a process. Not that long ago, the Republicans were winning Bloomfield by 5,000 votes.”

The potential Bloomfield candidate the GOP is seeking, he said, is the one who can attract the voter registered as an independent. Another important factor in choosing a local candidate, he said, is to find one with roots in the community.
“Those are the candidates we look for,” he said.

Former Mayor James Norton took a dimmer view of the township GOP. Norton owns a Broad Street travel agency.
“There is no Republican Party in Bloomfield,” he said in a recent telephone interview.
Norton said he was a Democrat, but was asked to run as a Republican. He did and won in 1992.

“There is no leadership whatsoever in the Bloomfield Republican Party,” he said. “John Lazar was probably the last. The Republicans in Bloomfield have to face reality. There is no leadership. Anything can happen if you have leadership and belief in what you’re doing.”

He agrees with Barlas that younger people have to be drawn into politics, but understands that it is sometimes difficult for leadership to step down.

“That’s why I believe in term limits,” he said. “Look at Joe Di Vincenzo, the county executive. He’s a friend and doing a good job. But he’s been there for 100 years. There’re younger people with their own ideas. The people in charge have stayed too long at the dance.”
But Norton does not blame the old guard for everything.

“People have got to wake up,” he said. “The problem is us. We’re not getting up and voting for the issues instead of the party.”
Norton also agrees with Barlas that public office is not for everyone.

“There’s a lot to think about when you run for office,” he said. “There’s a lot more in the background then front.”
Norton said Mayor John Kinder, whom he called Bloomfield’s greatest mayor, told him you cannot please everyone but you do not have to — only 51 percent. For a Republican to get elected in Bloomfield, Norton said Kinder told him he had to stay close in the 1st Ward because he was going to lose the 3rd Ward. It was in the 2nd Ward where he had beat back his opponent to claim victory. But times have changed or maybe not.

Mollica said that in the last 20 years, the Democrats have drawn Line A in every general election.
“The odds of that happening are astronomical,” he said. “And people are so conditioned to pull the lever for Line A, they don’t look for an alternative.”

The Essex County Clerk draws one of two capsules from a bucket to determine what party gets the top line, Mollica said. Inside each capsule is either the word “Democrat” or “Republican.” Mollica said he witnessed it. The clerk puts the bucket over his head, even does a little jig, and pulls out a capsule: Democrat!

In an email to this newspaper, when asked how many times have the Democrats and Republicans been selected for Line A in the last 10 general elections, Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin said the Democrat Party has gotten Line A in each of the last 10 years.