| Written and distributed since 2003 by Donald Katz, Esq., Republican State Committeeman for Middlesex County and Counsel, Middlesex County Republican Organization VISIT AND HELP OUT AT THE GOP BOOTH AT THE COUNTY FAIR The Middlesex County Republican Women’s Club and the Middlesex County Republican Organization, on behalf of our state, county, and local candidates, will have a double booth at the Middlesex County Fair, which is being held this year from Monday, August 4th through Sunday, August 10th, at the fairgrounds on Cranbury Road in East Brunswick. Volunteers are needed to staff the booth during the fair. For several years, different municipal GOP organizations and GOP clubs have taken the responsibility for staffing the booth for an entire evening/day. It doesn’t take that many people to adequately cover an evening or a day, and if any local chair or local GOP club would like to cover a day as a project, they should contact Tonia Kulberda at 973-885-1930 or tonia@kulberda.com, who is coordinating the booth. Interested individuals are also definitely invited and encouraged to come and help. (Fair hours: Monday-Friday 5-11 pm, Saturday 11 am–11 pm, Sunday 11 am–10 pm). POLITICAL TRIVIA: Here are some political trivia questions. I hope you enjoy them. The answers are below, immediately above the calendar: 1. Bill Clinton was born in a town called Hope. True or False? 2. Which First Lady did Amelia Earhart once pilot around? 3. Who was the only U.S. President to receive the Purple Heart? 4. Who was the first U.S. President to be assigned an official code name by the Secret Service, and what was it? 5. How old was Alexander Hamilton when he first became Secretary of the Treasury? 6. Who was the first female Secretary of State? 7. Which U.S. President came up with the term “Cabinet”? SUMMER PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES In the spirit of the summer reading lists many of us remember from our school days, here are some activities or projects you may want to consider for this summer: * Committee people or others interested in organizing or strengthening their election districts might want to hold small backyard barbecues and invite their poll clerks and/or other Republicans in their district, who are prospects, to help work for the Republican cause in their election district. Soft sales pitches permitted! * Update your phone lists. Many of us have older lists of voters with phone numbers we have acquired or looked up at one time or another. Now, before the fall campaigns heat up – and you might want to call voters – why not get an up-to-date voter list and look up the phone numbers for those voters for whom you do not yet have phone numbers in your records, or which are not correct or are not on GOP Data Center? (This would similarly apply to updating other parts of your voter records.) * This is also a good time to knock on the doors of houses without registered voters to find unregistered Republicans and register them and, of course, to find out if they need or want a vote-by-mail ballot. * Any time is appropriate to knock on doors of the registered Republicans in your district to: a) find out if there is anyone else in the household who is unregistered (elderly parents coming to live with them, children who have just turned 18, etc.) and register them if they are likely to vote Republican; b) find out if they might help the Republicans in the fall campaign – if in no other way but to agree to have a sign on their lawn or a bumper sticker on their car, (assuming any campaign will have any bumper stickers!); c) find out if they need or want a vote by mail ballot. (Try hard to pitch “voting by mail” to the registered Republicans who only vote occasionally – this may be a way to get them to vote in a year when they otherwise usually don’t.); d) get more information about the voter. (Perhaps they will give you their unlisted phone number and/or their e-mail address if you ask them in person, etc.) * Attend the “Town Meetings” or similarly titled events, which may be held by the Democrat elected officials in our area, and ask them hard questions, with hard follow-ups. * Visit the Middlesex County Fair, and while you are there, spend some time helping out at the Republican booth. * Contact Republicans who are on the permanent vote-by-mail list but are not voting. Many of them may not want to be on the vote-by-mail list and really want to vote in person. If that is the case, have them complete and sign a Request to be Removed from the Permanent Vote by Mail List Form and make sure it gets to the County Clerk promptly. (You don’t have to use a form, but it is usually easier for someone to use a form than write a request letter independently. There is a copy of the form on the Middlesex County Clerk’s website, and this is how you get to it: Go to middlesexcountynj.gov, then under the “Government” tab, click on “Departments” and then click on “Office Directory A-Z” and then click on “County Clerk”. Once you are finally there, click on “Election Services”. Once there, under the “Vote By Mail” section, find the form called “Remove Name from Mail-In-Ballot List,” which is under the “Additional Resources” section near the bottom of the section.) * Find out if any street fairs or similar events are coming up in your area, either during the summer or this fall, and help your local GOP municipal committee or the appropriate Republican candidates sign up for a booth/table and help work the booth. * Write and send letters to the editor to the local newspapers and post them on social media, supporting our Republican candidates and Republican elected officials, or criticizing what the Democrats are doing. Considering what the Dems are doing, this should be easy. If you need some ideas, speak to any of our Republican candidates, who virtually all would love to see more letters to the editor printed or posted on social media. * Look at the registered voters in your district and see if you can identify any that you know have moved and see what you can do to get them removed from the voter registration list. (Several families currently registered at the same one-family house, children who are now in their late 20s or 30s who you know are not still living at home with their parents, but are still registered at their parents’ home, etc.) SOUTH PLAINFIELD LABOR DAY PARADE, (ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st), NEEDS VOLUNTEERS The South Plainfield Labor Day Parade is the traditional kickoff of the County GOP and other GOP campaigns, even though we know that our candidates have been, and will continue to be, out there campaigning for quite a while prior to Labor Day. The following is a message from April Bengivenga, the South Plainfield GOP Chair: The MCRO county candidates, along with the Ciattarelli for Governor campaign, are looking for walkers to join them in the South Plainfield Labor Day Parade (September 1st). Chairman Rob Bengivenga is asking everyone to please consider coming out to support them. We are also in need of a convertible car or a truck, along with a driver. Please let April Bengivenga know if anyone has one available at 908-251-4066. Volunteers & Candidates are to meet at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, 2900 Norwood Avenue, South Plainfield 07080 at 8:30 a.m. We will then walk to the parade line-up which is only a few blocks away. Line up starts at 8:30. Parade starts at 10:00. Attire: Please wear something patriotic, i.e.,red, white, and blue, or you can wear any other candidate’s shirt who will be walking with us. We will have signs for you to carry. IMPORTANT – The parade ends at the South Plainfield Middle School. Please make sure you have transportation at the end of the parade to get home or back to Kennedy School. Please note that Plainfield Avenue and Maple Avenue will be closed off at 9:00 am. Email aprilnbob@aol.com or call 908-251-4066 if you are attending or for more info. CONDOLENCES… Deepest Condolences to the family of Jesal Amin, who died of a heart attack on July 8th. Jesal was a long-time active member of and generous contributor to the Republican party, and previously served as the East Brunswick Republican Chair. ANSWERS TO POLITICAL TRIVIA: 1. True. Clinton was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, and moved to nearby Hot Springs in 1953. After graduating from Yale Law School, Clinton returned to the state to teach at the University of Arkansas and serve first as attorney general and later as governor. Clinton won the presidency in 1992, becoming the first and only Arkansan to occupy the White House. 2. Eleanor Roosevelt 3. John F. Kennedy. He received the Purple Heart for his service during World War II, where he captained a motorized torpedo boat, PT-109. In 1943, Kennedy’s boat collided with a Japanese destroyer. He dragged two crewmembers to safety on a nearby island and spent six days signaling for help, even carving an SOS message on a coconut husk, which he later proudly displayed on his White House desk. 4. Harry Truman was assigned the code name “General” in 1945. Truman, who chose the code name himself, despite never achieving that rank during his military service, was also assigned the code name “Supervise.” He was possibly given this alternative name because “General” could refer to someone of that rank accompanying the president. 5. 32 (The youngest cabinet secretary in history.) 6. Madeline Albright, who became Secretary of State in 1997 during the Clinton administration. 7. James Madison. In Italian, “cabinetto” means a small, private room for meetings, and James Madison used it to coin the term for the President’s principal advisors. Although the Cabinet is mentioned in the Constitution as a source of presidential counsel, forming one is a tradition, not a requirement. UPDATED CALENDAR What follows is an updated calendar. If you have any municipal or countywide fundraisers or functions you would like me to include in my e-mail calendar from time to time, please contact me at dkatzlaw@aol.com. Please note that organizations and campaigns sometimes provide added information, change dates, or cancel events, which I include in this calendar if I receive the information in time. Therefore, if you plan to attend an event, please make sure you review the calendar listing in my latest e-mail and, to the extent you may not have pre-registered for the particular event so the sponsoring group will be able to contact you about any changes, you may want to check with the sponsoring group before you go to make sure the information has not changed. Also, please be aware that these e-mails are not official MCRO notices or mailings; they are just something I do, voluntarily, to help our Republican Party. July 16 (Wednesday 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm) – “Remembering Rick” (Rosenberg, Jr)” Dinner, Ria Mar Restaurant, 25 Whitehead Avenue, South River. $50.00 per person. Includes Buffet and Open Bar. To benefit the Rick Rosenberg, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund set up in his honor at Rowan University. Rick was born and raised in South River and was an excellent campaign consultant who helped South River and other Middlesex County Republicans, often for free or for a small charge, who had an untimely death at a young age. RSVP to Monica Rosenberg at MMRBUG98@aol.com or 732-406-5013. Checks payable to Rick Rosenberg, Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund should be mailed to Monica Rosenberg, 125 Brian Oaks Trail, Conway, SC 29527. July 25 (Friday 7:00 pm – ) – Anjan Karnati for Commissioner Kickoff Fundraiser, 11 Preservation Drive, Monroe Township. Special Guest: Gubernatorial Candidate Jack Ciattarelli. Checks payable to Anjan Karnati for Commissioner or donate at https://tiny.url.com/2kyfhuuz. RSVP to karnati305@yahoo.com. August 4-10 (Monday through Sunday) – Middlesex County Fair at the Middlesex County Fair Grounds, Cranbury Road, East Brunswick. Volunteer at the Republican booth. The Middlesex County Republican Women’s Club (“MCRWC”) and the Middlesex County Republican Organization co-host the booth. If a GOP Municipal Committee or GOP Club would like to take a night, please contact MCRWC President and MCRO 2nd Vice Chair Tonia Kulberda at 973-885-1030 or tonia@kulberda.com for more info and to sign up for a night. August 11 (Monday 3:00 pm) – Drawing of Ballot Positions for General Election Candidates by the County Clerk. August 26 (Tuesday) – Last day for a candidate to withdraw from the ballot for the General Election. (The last day to replace a withdrawn candidate is 2 days later – Thursday, August 28.) September 20 (Saturday) – Statutory date by which the County Clerk is supposed to mail out the first vote-by-mail ballots. October 14 (Tuesday) – Last day to register to vote in the General Election. October 14 (Tuesday) – Deadline for filing your list of Election Day challengers for the General Election with the Board of Elections. (Middlesex County Board of Elections, 26-B Kennedy Boulevard, East Brunswick, New Jersey 08816) (Note, this date is one week earlier than last year, since a recently adopted law moved the challenger filing deadline earlier by one week.) October 25 (Saturday) – November 2 (Sunday) – Early Voting Period (Any voter registered in Middlesex County can vote at any of the 10 Early Voting Sites in Middlesex County.) October 28 (Tuesday) – Last day for vote-by-mail ballot applications to be received by the County Clerk by mail in order to vote in the General Election. (Middlesex County Clerk, P.O. Box 1110, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1110). November 3 (Monday 3:00 pm) – Last day to apply for a mail-in ballot in person (or by authorized messenger) at the County Clerk’s office (26-C Kennedy Boulevard, East Brunswick, New Jersey), in order to vote in the General Election. November 4 (Tuesday 6:00 am – 8:00 pm) – General Election Please forward this information to any Middlesex County Republican, or other individuals, who you think might be interested in seeing it, but, before you forward it, make sure you delete the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of this e-mail, otherwise one of the people you forward it to may unsubscribe you and the program will not let me add you back to my mailing list. Further, if you know of any Middlesex County Republicans who would like to receive periodic reports about Republican-related information I believe might be interesting or useful, please have them send me, Donald Katz, an e-mail to dkatzlaw@aol.com, and I will add them to my e-mail list. By the same token, if you ever wish to be removed from my e-mail list, click “unsubscribe” at the foot of this e-mail. Donald Katz, Esq. Republican State Committeeman – Middlesex County and Counsel, Middlesex County Republican Organization dkatzlaw@aol.com 119 Leeds Lane Monroe Township, NJ 08831 (C) 908-227-9239 Copyright © 2025 Donald Katz, All rights reserved, except forwarding of entire newsletter to Republicans is permitted and encouraged and excerpts may be used for non-commercial purposes provided the excerpts are attributed to Donald Katz |
MIDDLESEX COUNTY GOP UPDATE
