The New Jersey Republican Party: a flawed organization

Lately, I have learned more about the primary process for the Republican Party here in New Jersey. Counties apparently have screening committees or conventions of local Party leaders, municipal chairs and a few community delegates that choose who gets "the line" in that county's ballot. From what I am told, it means you are on a list of Republican Party candidates that I guess are preferred while the rest are just listed below that individually.

Essentially, if you are a primary voter and don't know a whole lot about the candidates, you could just pick the Party line candidates and move on. So really, it is the local party leadership that is really making the decisions.

Who are these local party leaders? From what I can tell they are municipal chairs, freeholders, mayors, county assemblymen and chairmen. Basically they are local politicians and party loyalists. They trade in clout and influence at the local level so much that they really feel it is more valuable than money. They probably trade in money and "favors" too. They have egos, special interests, and their own agendas when they make decisions on who gets the line. It is not fair and it is not open.

To sum up, Republican candidates that are mostly likely to win get the line, or they get the backing of local party leaders. Where are the people in this? Where are the Republicans out there that aren't directly involved in local party politics? The only way to break through this is to become familiar with the candidates and decide for yourself if the County "line" has the best person for the nomination or if there is someone better. How many Republicans do that? How often does the person with the County line lose, I wonder???

Here, you get nominated if you have the most buddies at the local level. Do they care if you win the general election? Maybe, maybe not. For federal elections in particular, they probably don't see much value in a Republican winning the general election. Their interests are at the state level. And it appears Republicans try to establish their own little fiefdoms within State and Local Government while Democrats have their own. They gerrymander district lines and cut deals so that incumbents and party leaders are protected, minimizing competition and minimizing the influence of the people. The people really don't have much influence unless they learn for themselves about the people on the ballot.

This is a sad state of affairs for a Party trying to make progress, regain a couple House seats, challenge for a Senate seat, or maybe even retake the State Legislature. Their strategy protects their 40 or 45% but minimizes the potential growth. Sure they are now all safe, but unless some miracle happens they aren't going to get 55% or 60% of anything.

If you want to move up to the majority and play with the big boys, I suggest the Republican Party eliminate the heavy hand of Local and County Party bosses. Get rid of "the line" and have county committees and conventions only make endorsements.

From what I have seen, I certainly understand why Republicans are demoralized and made physically ill by the process and getting involved in politics. It is why good people don't get involved in general. If you are all happy with your little fiefdoms, by all means keep hijacking the primary nomination process and protect yourselves. If you want to win, you will have to try something else.