Steve Lonegan is unhappy – not with his LD-24 state Senate campaign, but with how Morris County Republicans plan to run their convention.

“I have grave concerns about the upcoming Morris County Republican Convention,”  is the signature line in a lengthy letter Lonegan dished off this week to Laura Ali, the county Republican chair.

Ali, in a quick response, noted that Lonegan was invited, but did not attend a Feb. 16 meeting among candidates to discuss the convention rules.

And a bit more bluntly, she told him:

“Moreover, much of what you state in your email is wrong.”

The back and forth spices up what already is a crowded – and contentious Republican – primary battle in LD-24. This is a mostly Sussex County district that includes parts of Warren and Morris counties; hence the need for a Morris convention.

Lonegan is vying with Parker Space, who is now an assemblyman for the GOP Senate nomination. The seat is open because Steve Oroho, the minority leader, is not running again.

There is also a contest for Assembly. (More about that later).

Among Lonegan’s gripes is that there are too many ways for people to vote at the convention, which is set for March 4. Or as he put it:

“First and foremost, I understand that the rules provide for multiple forms of voting – from mail in voters, in-person voters using electronic voting machines, in-person voters using an app on (a) phone, and off-site voters using an app on their phone.”

He said that “this scheme” makes it impossible for the convention to fully enforce in-person registration.

Ali contends that the only allowable mail-in voting will be via absentee ballots, which must be applied for in advance and approved by the chair. Her reply also stresses that a party convention is not an official election under state law, adding that in the remote possibility a volunteer sees how someone voted that individual is “duty bound”  to preserve the confidentiality of that information.

Lonegan’s letter of complaint also included a few general swipes at the convention rules, alleging that they would appeal to Hudson County Democrats and be embraced by such disreputable figures (in Lonegan’s view) as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Phil Murphy.

Ali didn’t take the bait, replying:

“I will not respond to the meritless and bizarre attacks set forth in the balance of your email. I assume these statements amount to merely overblown campaign rhetoric and that you do not intend them to be taken seriously.”
Of course, Lonegan probably does mean for them to be taken seriously.

Clearly, what his letter also suggests is that we may see a legal fight if the convention does not go Lonegan’s way.

Which brings us to the Assembly race and more bickering. Both seats are up; the aforementioned Space is running for Senate and Hal Wirths is not seeking reelection.

Space is running for Senate on a team with Assembly candidates Dawn Fantasia and Mike Inganamort.

There also is the Assembly team of Josh Aikens and Jason Sarnoski. So, are they running with Lonegan?

No, they are not.

So said Aikens in an email a week or so ago.

Nonetheless, the trio of Space, Fantasia and Inganamort, contend that Lonegan “will tell anyone listening that he is teaming up with Josh Aikens and Jason Sarnoski.”

Of course, it makes no real difference who is running with whom. Voters select individual candidates, not a group of them.

But as the trio points out in a release:

“Republican voters deserve some clarity here.”

Yes, and presumably that will come before people actually vote at the Morris convention and eventually, in the June primary.

Maybe.