When we last left the Republican primary for Morris County surrogate, candidate Isabella Alfano was alleging in a social media post that one of her opponents, Heather Darling, had advanced her cause politically through a romantic relationship with retired Sheriff Edward Rochford.
Have things calmed down?

Not necessarily. Here are some recent happenings.

Morris County Democrats are paying attention. Prompted by Alfano’s post, the Morris County Democratic Women’s Caucus sent out a letter criticizing Alfano’s comments.

“Mudslinging about personal lives and physical appearances is an all too common obstacle women face when running for office, and we are unfortunately seeing that pattern continue in the Morris County Surrogate’s race and the Parsippany GOP,” the missive said, adding that Alfano should resign her position as corresponding secretary with the Parsippany Republican Committee.

Democrats have to be loving what’s going on with Republicans. Keep in mind that Democrats have a great chance to take control this year of the Parsippany Township Council. Three seats are up this fall and Democrats need to win only one to accomplish that. So any bad publicity they can drum up about Parsippany Republicans helps their cause.

Some Republicans didn’t enjoy the Dems’ entrance into the surrogate’s campaign.

Stephanie Sharratt of Montville responded with some comments of her own.

She said Republicans don’t take advice from the “hypocritical left,” adding that when it comes to women’s issues, Democrats should be worried about the governor’s office indifferent reaction to the alleged rape of Katie Brennan. (Just as an aside, that incident seems to have faded from public view).
Alfano herself said in yet another Facebook post that Democrats are defending Darling, because they think she’ll be easy to beat in the fall. Alfano said she’s happy Democrats are not defending her, adding that she’d rather have support from the likes of “Mark Levin” and “Rush.”

Really now? Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh care about the race for Morris County Surrogate?

Darling has kept relatively quiet about the more salacious aspects of the campaign.

But what she has been trying to do is to show voters that her credentials as an attorney, and also a current freeholder, make her the most qualified for the job.

The third candidate. Michael P. Carroll, who is giving up his Assembly seat to run for surrogate, has so far been left out of the crossfire. He has to be pleased.

The Morris County Republican Committee with an eye toward the future – that would be the fall – has scheduled a “unity breakfast” for June 22. That promises be an interesting way to begin the day.