Sherrill Rivals Grumble about the Conventions
LAWRENCEVILLE - As delegates walked into Wednesday night's Mercer County convention at Rider University, they were greeted by Steve Fulop.
He, of course, is a candidate for governor, but he wasn't taking part in the convention.
That's because he says it wasn't fair.
After all, Janice Mironov, the county's Democratic chair, had endorsed Mikie Sherrill. Fulop put it thusly in a letter he was handing out.
"If this were to be a fair and open convention, the chairwoman would not have put her thumb on the scale prior to the convention, but instead would have allowed an open process that was balanced and allowed all to participate in the Zoom call prior - but that was not the case." He said Mercer's political leadership was "moving backwards."
Another candidate, Ras Baraka, expressed similar feelings. He, too, complained about some party leaders manipulating the process.
Baraka, however, took part in the convention - as did Sherrill and Sean Spiller.
Absent, along with Fulop, were Josh Gottheimer and Steve Sweeney.
A 3-person convention when there are six candidates seemed a bit odd. But with more than 400 committee members in the room, it went on.
Party officials used a new voting method. No more paper ballots and no more voting machines.
Each voter was sent a link with an unique password that allowed them to cast votes on their phones or tablets.
There was a dry run when voters were asked to cast ballots for their favorite ice cream among a handful of choices.
When the real voting began, Sherrill relied on her military background, saying it helped her develop "toughness," and that she has been trained to solve problems.
Baraka said he's the "real" Democrat in the room - and in the race.
"I'm not meandering in the middle," is how he put it.
Spiller, the head of the teachers' union, pledged to fight for working people.
The result, interestingly, was similar to what we saw a week or so ago in Hunterdon County.
Sherrill won, but Baraka was a fairly strong second.
"Two down," the congresswoman said afterwards.
She was asked about the suggestion that some of the conventions are not truly fair.
"Each county determines its convention rules," she said. "I'm going to compete everywhere."'
Sherrill said that includes Bergen County and counties in South Jersey where she may not figure to have widespread support.
The next Democratic convention is Saturday in Monmouth County.
And if you are wondering about the ice cream vote, the winner was chocolate, chocolate chip.
She must give the money back.
R Camilletti, I would take you seriously but you don't even know the name of your county chair (it's Mironov), and you clearly don't know what I am referring to. See Baraka's statement below where he refers to conventions where chairs endorse as, "stacking the deck" "process that feels rigged" but then bizarrely claims to simply want a "a convention where every committee member has a meaningful vote on a secret ballot" which is exactly what happened in Mercer County. So my original point stands, and it is quite frankly disrespectful to the plurality of Democrats, and majority of committee members who support Rep. Sherrill. The argument you and other supporters of losing candidates are making is that the people are too stupid to vote differently than county chairs, an argument that I find offensive, especially in the context Democratic primary. https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/baraka-slams-pre-ordained-democratic-county-conventions/
Baraka made the correct point and I did not see anywhere that he suggested the system was "rigged." As a voting Mercer County delegate I was dismayed by Malonov's early endorsement. A truly democratic process would have allowed the members to vote before endorsing Sherill. It was arrogant and dismissive of every voting member. Further, there could have been no greater proof that Sherrill's endorsement was a done deal before the vote. Party bosses are a sad reality and they illustrate a problem with the NJ Democratic Party. Sherrill-if she is nominated -will not have arisen from the people but rather, and same-as-it-ever-was, by the powers that be. Ras Baraka was calling for a truly democratic process.
Hey, Rain Man Makara--that's the only thing you ever post. I guess you are OK with Fat Hitler taking his money, though.
Sherrill has taken Elon Musk money to run her campaign. She must apologize for that mistake and give it back
"Grumble" is an excellent way to characterize the losers. They are really attempting to make a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose argument with the conventions, seemingly arguing that when they lose it's because the system is rigged and when Sherrill wins it's not because she's the most popular candidate (see every poll showing her in the lead) but rather because "bosses" forced people to vote for her. Maybe these losers should confront the fact that more people support Sherrill than them? Maybe Mr. Fulop should be competing at conventions because clearly his tactics aren't working (He has yet to crack double-digits in a poll).