Politics & Government

Woodbridge Republican Candidates Get County Tea Party Endorsement

But the two factions of the party still hold a bitter animosity toward one another.

It's still the dog days of summer, but there are stirrings abroad that autumn - and political campaigns - are waking from their warm weather siestas.

Woodbridge residents will get to choose a mayor and council candidates in November. The Democrat incumbents - Mayor John McCormac and his council slate - are running for reelection, or for appointed candidates, a first time election.

On the Republican side, Chris Struben heads the ticket locally. Struben is running for mayor, along with his council candidates: Walter Kazmarek, Jr., Debra Reinhart, and Eduardo Ascolese.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

There are four at-large seats up for grabs. The fourth Republican who won in the June primary is Susan Boros. She was the high council vote-getter from the Bob Luban ticket. Luban, a long time Fifth Ward Councilman from Colonia, ran against Struben for the Republican nomination and lost, but Boros tallied enough votes to knock one of the Struben nominees, Aaron Stange, off the ticket.

But Boros doesn't appear in any Struben literature or on his website.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Struben and Luban factions of the township's Republican party have not melded back together since the primary. On Struben's website, The Right Choice for Woodbridge, Boros' name isn't in evidence.

The Right Choice website, which showcases the Struben team's accomplishments, isn't shy about differentiating itself and its candidates from the township Republican party: "The Right Choice For Woodbridge Team is not indebted to any political party."

"We are not the township Republicans," the site exclaims, stating instead that they are 'grass roots Republicans' who seek to earn the votes of all Woodbridge residents.

The first step in declaring their independence might be the endorsement the Struben team obtained on Aug. 9 from the Tea Party of Middlesex County. "Together they make up The Right Choice for Woodbridge Team and are committed to bringing transparency, fiscal responsibility and a more business friendly government to Woodbridge," the Tea Party endorsement reads.

Struben and the three members of his slate who won are listed. Boros' name is not mentioned, even though she will be on the Republican Party's ticket in November.

Struben was anxious to differentiate his website from one with a similar-sounding name. That site, therightchoice.com, "was purportedly established as a Democratic site for President Obama's campaign," Struben said.

Therightchoice.com - the name lacks the hyphen in the middle that Struben's website sports - has pictures of both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on it, but a search of the whois directory shows the site has been owned by a California concern since 2000, well before Obama's presidential run.

The site apparently hasn't been updated since Obama won the presidency in 2009.

"The irony of the similar website names shows the voters the McCormac policies are as wrong as the Obama policies and the only choice is 'The Right Choice for Woodbridge'," Struben said in a statement after he found out the other site wasn't set up to distract Woodbridge voters. "America made the wrong choice in 2008, Woodbridge will make the right choice in 2011." 

Luban has been silent since the primary about the acrimonious split in the township Republican party. He said he didn't think Struben should worry if people should click on the wrong site by mistake.

"I wouldn't worry if I were [Struben]," Luban said. "It's not like anyone is going to go to either of the sites, anyway."


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