GROUP ASKS FOR RUMANA TO STEP DOWN

Mike Ramaglia 201-697-7699                                                

Nowhere are the failings of the Republican Party more evident than in Passaic County, where the party chairman Scott Rumana has presided over a string of electoral failures that are disheartening and disappointing. 

The Passaic County Regular Republican Party has become an insular organization that is closed to new ideas, new people and new technology. The PCRRO exists merely to support the political career of Assemblyman Rumana. Little to no effort has been made by the chairman to run effective local and county campaigns, to raise money, or to conduct an effective media campaign against the county Democrats. The results speak for themselves.  In the election just concluded, Chairman Rumana failed to issue a single press release endorsing John McCain and Sarah Palin. He failed to run an effective campaign against the all-Democrat freeholder board that brought the county to a financial crisis.   

The drop off in votes speaks volumes about the weak effort Chairman Rumana put into the freeholder race this year.  

In neighboring Bergen County, the re-energized Republican Party under new chairman Bob Yudin did remarkably better with each candidate grabbing well over more than 48 percent of the vote against an entrenched, well funded county Democratic political machine while McCain gathered only  45 percent of the vote.  If New Jersey Republicans are to be successful in dethroning Gov. Jon Corzine and bringing sensible, fiscally conservative leadership to the state, we must have effective county party organizations that can rebuild and energize the party from the bottom up I can foresee no such effort coming in Passaic County.

Chairman Rumana is conflicted in his dual positions of chairman and Assemblyman. He is an ineffective fundraiser and a sheepish leader. He has failed to embrace or advocate for real Republican values. On matters such as affordable housing, government regulation, education aid and taxes Rumana sides more with Democrats  than with his own party. Obviously, he is more concerned with his re-election next year than in building an effective county organization. 

For the good of the county party and the state Republican chances of winning election in November – I am asking you to join me in calling on Scott Rumana to step down as chairman of the PCRRO.

ASKING FOR RESIGNATION 

We need to bring together the various interests in the party:   the young, the old, the experienced, and the novices. We need Pat Kramer and Walt Porter, Peter Murphy, and our GOP mayor and council people as well as Young Republicans like Mike Ramaglia and Mike Wilson of  Bloomingdale and Robert Cruz  of Pompton Lakes. We need people from upcounty like Joe Smolinski and Carmen Scangarello  from West Milford and we need Randy George of North Haledon and Jamie Alfano from Little Falls to be part of the rebuilding process.    We need to create a party that acts like a party that wants to win – not one that just goes through the motions. We need people to do the research into issues that the average voters care about. We need people who are unafraid to criticize county Democrats and expose their records to the public.

 As a former Party Chairman I understand that asking a sitting chairman to step down is extraordinary. But these are extraordinary times.  I am sure Mr. Rumana will be reluctant to step aside – surely I would. But I realized that I had too many competing interests and concerns to be an effective chairman. I too held public office as a chairman and I know hard it is to be a candidate and a chairman. I  had personal and business concerns that kept me from being as effective as I could have been.  I knew that when I lost three elections in arrow, it was time for a change. And Mr. Rumana has lost every county-wide election as chairman including freeholder, county clerk and sheriff races, Eventually, the truth overtook my desire to be a party leader and I stepped down as chairman – hoping someone else would carry the ball further than I could.

Eventually, the truth will dawn on Scott Rumana. He is ineffective in  his dual roles. He is ineffective as a representative for Republican values.   If he is truly concerned about the PCRRO and the future of the party in this county and in the state – he will listen to the growing chorus of critics who want more effective leadership. This criticism is not personal. it is not a slight at Mr. Rumana the person – it is an honest assessment of his shortcomings as a leader. Time is short. The new year is upon us and it will be a busy political year. We need all those who want to work to build a more effective county GOP organization to step up now and be heard. Please contact me at 201-852-1067 or email me at m1607@aol.com soon as possible. there is a lot to do. 

 Sincerely   Michael Mecca