Monmouth meets to elect Chair amid long-shot challengers
Monmouth meets to elect Chair amid long-shot challengers
Despite perennial challengers, Chairman Shaun Golden is expected to remain leader of the red county's GOP organization
FREEHOLD - While President Trump declares New Jersey in play for his 2024 bid, the road to victory comes through Monmouth County — and Shaun Golden has announced his intent to be in the driver’s seat. In a letter sent to county committee members, Golden announced he will seek another term as the county’s top republican leader.
“We are known around the State as a strong pillar of Republican leadership and values fighting each and every day to grow the party and win elections,” Golden writes.
Golden is making his case to committee members tonight during a time where a more engaged republican party is demanded. According to Golden, Monmouth is the model for republican action statewide.
Registered Republican voters beat registered Democrats 154,642 to139,580 in Monmouth, with over 194,000 being unaffiliated. When Golden first took office, Monmouth Commissioner Director provided the reason for overwhelming Republican victories in the county, especially in 2023’s commissioner’s race where Commissioner Erik Anderson and Ross Licitra won by over 20,000 votes. Golden also cites strategic investments that have “helped to make Monmouth the top Early Voting county since the establishment of early voting in New Jersey.”
Golden, Tom Arnone, and Nick DiRocco handily won their elections to Sheriff and Commissioner post, respectively, in 2022. Golden, co-chair Christine Hanlon, and Finance Chair Tom Arnone also hosted a door-busting Lincoln Day dinner earlier this year that broke annual attendance records.
While Golden is wildly popular in the county among Republicans, he and his electoral priorities will be challenged by two others at their reorganization in Freehold on July 27th: perennial candidate Gary Rich and Marlboro leader Renzo Kolenovic.
Gary, Renzo, and Merla.
It sounds like an ABBA tribute band born out of the Soviet Union, but joking aside, the former two will make their case before Monmouth Republicans while former Keyport mayor John Merla gambles on his coordinated effort to take out Golden.
Rich is a former Freeholder (now commissioner) whose bids for U.S. Senate, Sheriff, and a rumored desperate plea for the Lieutenant Governor role with then-gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno was each met with little enthusiasm. Rich and his son Steven are allegedly behind the controversial Trenton News Network, a Twitter account that has been prominently anti-Golden and an attack dog for liberal State Senator Vin Gopal. (The Senator actually sicked them on CJN when we called him out for his anti-police sentiments and his less-than-ideal driving record).
Kolenevic, the municipal chair for the Marlboro GOP, was a fundraiser for longshot CD-3 candidate and immigration activist Shirley Maia-Cusick, an immigration attorney specializing in providing undocumented immigrants green cards and asylum services. He lost his bid for Marlboro Township Council in 2023, garnering the least amount of votes. Renzo, an emigre from Brooklyn and immigrant from parts unknown, has been sending unhinged text messages to supporters and raging with committee members on the phone.
Michael Clancy, a committeeman from Tinton Falls and former Young Republican Chair, was on the receiving end of a call from Kolenovic.
“This guy who I never heard of ‘til today called me attempting to get my vote. Zero political instincts. In 30 seconds he pissed me off enough to insult him and hang up on him,” Clancy posted on his Instagram story
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CJN followed up with Clancy who offered his full support of Golden while slamming Kolenovic. “This is a guy who called out the blue and told me that Shaun does nothing. I told him that Shaun has won every county election since he took over. [Renzo] said that it didn’t matter,” Clancy told CJN.
”That and building our party is what matters,” continued Clancy.
Kolenovic has also been making rounds with unhinged text messages and post-it notes. One Two River area committee member, speaking to CJN under anonymity, said Kolenovic, often presenting poorly and difficult to understand, “looks like a f***ing criminal.” One Eatontown committeewoman received a scribbled post-it note on her door from Kolenovic.
The challenge by Rich and Kolenovic doesn’t come as a surprise. Rich and Kolenovic didn’t just randomly appear: they’re players in a larger game, and this is a game their puppet master, Keyport’s John Merla, knows well.
Operation Rigged Bid
Disgraced Keyport Mayor John Merla, who rose to prominence as the posterchild for public corruption, has been yearning to make a comeback in Monmouth County politics. The albatross of his 2005 arrest Operation Bid Rig, the FBI's probe into political corruption in Monmouth County, hangs around his head. A Republican at the time of his arrest, Merla renounced his party when called upon to resign and served the remainder of his term as an independent. Accused of accepting $24,000 in bribes from undercover agents, Merla pleaded guilty in 2007 to accepting a $2,500 bribe in exchange for a lucrative municipal contract.
Joseph “Jo-Jo” Merla, the little brother of John, was actual caught up in the FBI sting that nabbed his brother. According to the complaint, he laundered some $75,000 for a 10 percent fee, accepting “collections,” and at least six conversations regarding illegal loan sharking were recorded between March 2003 and March 2004. In virtually all instances, the Merla brothers used their restaurants as mechanism to launder money.
Now, they’re laundering votes for a comeback. Joseph Merla has already made a comeback with the help of his brother, winning both a county committee seat and garnering a primary victory for town council. Joseph, now chairman of Keyport’s planning board has caused residents to wonder whether or not a convicted felon can hold public office.
Both Rich and Kolenovic, as well as other far-right VIPs such as Bill Spadea, a foil of Shaun Golden, have frequented and helped host multiple events at McDonaghs, theKeyport pub owned by the brothers Merla. Part of Golden’s pitch to Monmouth GOP committee members is one of maintaining law and order in the party, something he was elected to do as Chairman after the Merla brothers shamed the party and cast Monmouth County into Democrat reign.
Whether or not Rich and Kolenovic know they’re potentially being used as part of a larger operation to destroy the Republican party from within as part of political retribution is unknown. They’ll each have three minutes to make their case before Monmouth republicans tonight.
As for Chairman Shaun Golden, who has thus far moved a 5,000 voter registration deficit into an 18,000 GOP voter registration advantage for republicans in Monmouth County, he remains unfazed.
When asked about being challenged, Golden tells CJN “there are always those who want to tear down success. Typically it is individuals who have a record of losing.”
Monmouth Republicans will elect their chair this evening in Freehold.
*CORRECTION: A previous typo was made regarding Mr. Clancy’s statement. He is a proud supporter of both Shaun Golden and President Trump, citing efforts to elect both when they have appeared on the ballot.
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