SAVEMORRIS COUNTY

We're Republicans from across Morris County, and we're writing to ask you to back Joe Bock for county chair.

You already know what happened on November 4th. Morris went for a Democrat for Governor for the first time since 1973. We lost three Assembly seats in districts covering this county, one of them a seat the party had held since 1978. Council seats went in Mine Hill, Wharton, Rockaway Township and Boonton. Parsippany, the biggest town we have, went top to bottom.

If you've knocked doors here lately, none of that surprised you. What's harder to take is that the county organization still won't say it out loud. We've spent the months since being told it's a great time to be a Morris County Republican.

Being chair isn't about speeches. It's recruiting in January, raising in March, and paying for a real program in the towns we've quietly stopped contesting. So look at the books. The committee ended the second quarter with $9,852 in the bank and $4,500 in debt, after spending more than it took in. The Morris County Democrats ended that same quarter with $88,971 and owed nothing. You cannot run a county this size on those numbers.

We want Joe because he's done this work where it's hard. He won a Boonton ward Republicans weren't supposed to win, beat a sitting Democrat to do it, and held the seat until he moved out of town. He ran a municipal committee for five years. He knows what a town chair needs from the county, and how often it never comes.

So here's the ask. The public doesn't choose this office. The members of the county committee do, in one room, at the reorganization meeting, and proxies aren't allowed. If you're a member, be there. Whatever you decide about Joe, don't let this get settled by whoever happens to show up.