Republican Primary voters put their Two Cents in

This will be a long five months. Math alert deep thoughts required in analyzing what is to follow:
I have met people around the District who have been loyal Democrats or Republicans for years, and who
are wholly disheartened by the choices they are being offered this November in the General Election for
Congress. They are all looking for another direction and Im bringing them one.
By now, everyone is suffering from primary paralysis and their attention span for thoughts political
has been severely reducedfrankly, just what the bosses would prefer.
The two primary winners are a disappointment to all but their base supporters. There are 215,363
persons registered to vote in Burlington County, and 377,658 registered voters in Ocean County.
Broken down further, Republican voters are only 28.38% of the available voter population in November
in Ocean County, long considered a deep-R stronghold.
The core problems in our Nation can be summed up in the hard numbers from this primary.
Lets start with OCEAN COUNTY (If youre from Burlington County, you could skip this, but dont
invest five minutes of reading in your Nations future.)
MacArthur garnered only 7468 lever pulls (59.25% of REPUBLICAN ballots cast) from Ocean voters
who felt strongly enough about voting in the primary, and Lonegan eked out only 5102 (40.28% of
ballots cast).
59.25% to 40.28%...
Sounds like a sound beating, doesnt it?
Wait theres more to know.
Even if we include the write-in ballots, the 12,605** total votes cast represents only 11.75% of the
REPUBLICAN Ocean County base of 107,176 registered REPUBLICANS.
Put another way, only ONE THIRTIETH (0.0334) of the potential voters in the November General Election
voted REPUBLICANand, of those, only 1.98% of the voting population cast a vote for MacArthur. (or
against Lonegan)
(**Thats right only 11.75% of potential Republican PRIMARY VOTERS turned up. Did the rest just feel
their vote wasnt necessary, or were they as disappointed as the bloggers in their choices, and stayed
home in protest?)
Thats a WIN?
That number becomes even more telling when factored against potential GENERAL ELECTION voters.
One FIFTIETH of the voting pool
On Primary day, party-machine-anointed MacArthur gathered fewer votes than the population of
Randolph!
1.98%?
Thats right - less than 2% of the potential November voters.
If the whole county of Ocean were a Dollar, MacArthurs support in the primary is worth < 2 cents.
Heres an even more embarrassing statistic
With 2 million spent, MacArthurs total vote tally is less than ten times the ballots cast for Aimee
Belgards primary opponents, who collectively spent a pittance
Kleinhendler and Todd garnered a total of 881 votes in Ocean County 11.80 percent of MacArthurs 2
million dollar result.
Is it safe to say that the less than 7500 people who were loyal to MacArthur (or just didnt want Steve
Lonegan as their representative.) will vote for him again in the Fall?
Barring any discovery that their emperor-appointed candidate has no clothes, we could make that
assumption.
So with 2% a lock, that means that 98% of you can keep that from happening.
Aimee Norcross doesnt get a pass, here, either. For starters, there are only 73,750 registered
Democrats in Ocean County 19.53% of the potential voters in November.
Effectively unchallenged, Belgard, on the NORCROSS line, got 3424 Ocean County voters to show up.
Thats 0.91%.
Put in perspective, the Republicans have TWO cents to the Democrats ONE.
0.91% of Ocean County Registered Voters who may cast a ballot in November.
In overall terms, the Democrats posted a meager 1.14% percent of eligible November voters from Ocean
County when adding up all three of their primary candidates.
Democrat party leadership has all but written off Burlington and Ocean County and CD3 in the Federal
Race, choosing, instead, to focus on the opportunity created for the Party Emperor, Darth Norcross, to
appoint his younger brother to a Congressional Seat in District One, following Rob Andrews resignation
in disgrace.
Ms. Belgard, initially chosen as a sacrificial lamb to run against presumed incumbent Jon Runyan, was
quickly given the tentative endorsement of the party establishment I say tentative because, once
Runyan announced he was not seeking re-election, there were many establishment democrats who, in
private circles, groused that their endorsement of Belgard was premature, as it prevented their OWN
run at the now-vacant seat. Having publicly endorsed the sacrifice, they could hardly change their
minds without backlash from the party leadership.
The necessary dollars will be spent there to insure that Norcross JUNIOR delivers the CD1 seat to the
hands of his older brother. Aimee Belgard will be lucky if they give her a check toward yard signs, and
some WaWa gift cards for gas money.
And, in OCEAN, perhaps, the most embarrassing statistics of all
(as a reflection of the approval rating of the Republican Establishments incumbent Freeholder and the
utter lack of support for his Democrat Challenger)
In the Republican Freeholder Primary, where only one seat is up for grabs, 1209 people pulled a lever for
Congress in either CD2, CD3, or CD4, and chose not to support any Republican Freeholder Candidate at
all.
With a record spanning two DECADES, current Freeholder Vicari, with 14689, managed to garner the
support of only 3 out of 4 Republicans in the abysmal turn-out.
Tim Ryan, the D choice, got 6326 voters to pull for himless than 1/3 of the Republican turn-out.
On to Burlington County
In Burlington County, the story is very similar.
MacArthurs support was a mere 15.07% of the Republican base, and that number represents ONLY
3.63% of the total Burlington County voting population. Lonegan, by the same measure, fell only 2599
votes short, without the 2 million dollar war chest.
That spread is easily explained away by a likely 2500 NOT LONEGAN votes.
Belgards tally is actually slightly higher, with 12.36% of the Democrat base, and 3.82% of the total
Burlington County voting population.
In Burlington County, Democrats represent 30.89% of all registered voters, where Republicans number
just 24%.
There is a further, and very telling, statistic in the Belgard result, however. She was challenged by two
virtual unknowns, who managed garner double-digit tallies (16.32% for Todd, 13.03% for Kleinhendler)
in spite of Ms. Belgards decided monetary advantage AND the ballot line. This means that nearly 1 in 3
of the voters who showed up for Belgard were matched ballot for ballot with NOT BELGARD voters.
As the local bosses fight for scraps from Gilmores and Norcross tables, the general public is left with
the choices you see before you after last nights primary but you can choose another path.
The percentage of ballots cast is far from the whole story when were looking at a Primary Election,
however. In the Republican race, for example, what we dont know is how many voters went into the
booth and, rather than casting a vote FOR one candidate, cast a vote AGAINST the other? How many
Lonegan votes were really only Not MacArthur, and how many MacArthur votes were actually cast for
Anyone but Lonegan?
How many stayed home, not only out of apathy, but out of disgust?
While it is true that MacArthur spent north of $ 135 dollars PER VOTER in the abysmal turnout, we will
never be sure how many of those who pulled the line lever were simply pulling for The Line or pulling
against Lonegan.
If we are to believe the buzz on the many conservative Republican blogs, such as SaveJersey, the
electorate is completely dissatisfied with the choices they were given.
The leadership of the Republican Party managed to drive only 6.96% of eligible REPUBLICAN voters in
Ocean, and 15.06% of registered Republicans in Burlington, to actually cast a ballot for their winner
with over 2 million spent for the primary election for a job paying $ 175,000 a year.
Sounds like a bad investment, until you factor in what their candidate will deliver back to the party in
terms of street cred in local and county races where the real profiteering takes place.
Republican values and Democrat values arent the real issue, here. Rational persons can sit down and
come to an agreement, or, at least, an understanding, on virtually any issue one could raise that is
addressed by our representation at the Federal Level in theory, Congress does this every day they are
in session.
It is the partisan bickering of the LEADERSHIP the self-appointed king-makers that create the
failure-ship we witness daily in poor decision-making from both sides of the aisle, by those
representing the SPECIAL interests who bought them into their seat, rather than the interests of
those they are sworn to represent.
Fortunately, for those of you who have had enough there is an answer.
This November, District Three will have a fiscal conservative, social moderate on the ballot me. Im
Frederick John LaVergne, a man who has actually lived in the district for a quarter century, and is a
lifelong Jersey resident. Further, I wear no party handcuffs.
If youre tired of a two-horse race, where the same stables owns BOTH horses, you may want to get to
know me, and what I stand for.
Reach me at upholdtheconstitution@hotmail.com to know more.

Stand for whats right, or settle for whats left Frederick John LaVergne, Democratic-Republican for
Congress, NJ CD3 2014