The Morris Imbroglio
A Karaoke sing-along was ongoing downstairs as Republican hopefuls in the 11th Congressional District converged Wednesday night in the top room of the Homestead Rest in Sparta, a Western-themed roadside eatery known for its burgers. The politicians at times were hard to hear over the music, but one of them, Susan Enderly, made a comment that easily cut through the din.
“It’s simply not mandated that Morris County will have this seat,” said Enderly, a state committeewoman from Passaic County.
So there.
On one hand, that’s a pretty obvious observation. Clearly, congressional seats are not, or should not be, reserved for any one town or county.
Conventional political talk, however, long has seen the 11th as a “Morris County district.”
After all, the late Dean A. Gallo, of Parsippany, won the seat for the GOP in 1984 and Rodney P. Frelinghuysen of Harding replaced Gallo in 1995. That’s more than 30 years of Morris control.
Redistricting after the 2010 Census moved the district a bit to the east. About 60 percent of it is still in Morris, but the district now includes chunks of Essex and Passaic counties, including such places as North Haledon, Wayne, Fairfield and Verona.
It may be debatable if average people care that much about where their congressional representative lives, but politicians certainly do. It’s been mentioned more than once by active Republicans on the political circuit that there is a risk this year that Morris County, one of the largest and most affluent locales in the state, may not have a resident in Congress come next January. Those looking beyond the primary are aware that Mikie Sherrill, the leading Democratic candidate, is from Montclair in Essex County.
Of the five GOP candidates looking to replace the retiring Frelinghuysen, three are from Morris. Most Morris Republicans have coalesced around Jay Webber, an assemblyman from Morris Plains.
But then there is Antony Ghee of Totowa in Passaic County. He has party organizational support in both Essex and Passaic counties, although Webber supporters say they have a ballot position that can dilute that perceived advantage.
Which brings us back to Enderly who spoke on Ghee’s behalf Wednesday night, noting that he’s a businessman, an attorney and a major in the Army Reserves,
Ghee also seems to be gaining traction in Sussex County. Only five Sussex towns are in the district – Byram, Hopatcong, Ogdensburg, Sparta and Stanhope – but quite obviously, every vote counts.
Jerry Scanlan, the Sussex GOP chair and a resident of Hopatcong, says Ghee is doing well among Sussex Republicans.
“It’s split between Tony and Webber,” Scanlan said.
For his part, Ghee has the support of Sussex Freeholder Sylvia Petillo, also of Hopatcong, who briefly toyed with the idea of running for Congress herself. Ghee said in a phone interview that he’s worked hard to convince Petillo and other Sussex Republicans that he’s the best candidate in the GOP field.
A Sussex Republican source confided that Ghee is an intriguing candidate and as a newcomer to politics, may be in a better position than more established Republicans to attract independent voters this fall. And holding the seat for the GOP is what it’s all about, regardless of where the new representative may live.
That is getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, The first leg of the race is the primary.
But it seems clear that the only people who consider the 11th District a “Morris seat” are the ones who live in Morris County.
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