Officials in the Ocean County Democratic organization were shocked to learn that former longtime party chairman Al L. Santoro had pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in an Operation Bid Rig scheme.
“I never expected Al would do anything like this,” said Vice Chairwoman Marta Harrison. “We’re shocked, surprised and disappointed.”
“Anytime somebody does something like that in government, it just kind of takes your breath away for a minute,” said party Chairman Wyatt Earp.
Santoro was removed as executive chairman from the party organization during the summer, Harrison said.
“He hadn’t been active,” she said. “He wasn’t doing the job. He wasn’t even active in his own club. It was really just a title given to him in deference because he was a former chairman.”
Santoro resigned his position as an Ocean County Board of Elections commissioner on Dec. 11, Earp said.
Gov. Jon Corzine will probably appoint his Democratic replacement to the bipartisan board before he leaves office, Earp said.
“I would assume it would take a couple of weeks,” Earp said. “He takes recommendations. There’s a lot of qualified, honorable people being talked about right now. I’m sure anyone of them would make us proud.”
And the county Democratic organization has been regrouping for the past several years, in an effort to provide more infrastructure, both Earp and Harrison said.
“We have a headquarters now, which we didn’t have in the past,” Harrison said. “We’ve provided candidate training for people who are running. We send out periodic newsletters. We’ve facilitated the use of technology.”
But they are realistic. It’s hard to win races in GOP-dominated Ocean County.
“No matter who is the head of the party, it’s difficult to win against strong resources, when you are under funded.
George Gilmore [Ocean County Republican Organization chairman] runs a
strong and successful political machine,” Harrison said. “However, we think with the right issues and the right candidates, we can build. It’s like being a Republican candidate in Camden County. You’d still be outnumbered and outspent. But that’s not to say you can’t build and be an effective opposition.”
Harrison served two terms on the Lakewood Township Committee and also served as mayor during 2001 and 2003. She was the first woman to be elected to the committee and the first woman mayor.
Santoro had not been active in the party for “awhile,” Harrison said.
“Although this was clearly a bad election cycle for us, it had more to do with people’s anger at Corzine than anything we could do at the local level,” she said. “Look at the numbers for Corzine versus Christie. It’s not something we in Ocean County had a lot to counter with. A lot of very good candidates went down.”
And in 2008, Ocean County went overwhelmingly for John McCain, not Barack Obama, she said.
“He was not popular in Ocean County,” Harrison said of the president. “That made it more difficult for local candidates to prevail. Next year, when we don’t have a national or gubernatorial candidate at the top of the ticket, I think it will be a lot easier for local candidates to get the message out.”
Earp agreed.
“I think when people focus on the local issues, they will look at the candidates and their qualifications,” he said. “We clearly had some candidates that were more qualified, would have done better jobs and been a new pair of eyes.”
They both pointed to what happened in 2008 in Stafford Township, when a Democrat ousted longtime Republican Mayor Carl W. Block and Democrats took control of the Township Council.
“When people take the label off, look what happened in Stafford Township,” Earp said.