Wanted: Passaic County GOP Chairman to pick candidates

You would think that if a district was considered extremely competitive and vital in giving your party the majority, and you represented 30% of a district's constituents as a party chair, you would have say in candidate selection right? Well not if your name is Scott Rumana.

According to reports on Politicker NJ, the 36th District which includes the Meadowlands area of Bergen County, Nutley in Essex and Passaic in Passaic, is considered a battleground in the war for control of the Assembly in what is highly likely to be the most competitive statewide race since 1997. While Democrats currently hold all three seats, the incumbents, particularly Gary Schaer of Passaic, are thought to be beatable.

Considering that Passaic has kept the district in the Democratic column for the last eight years, and that Republicans like Paul DiGaetano were once successful in winning the old mill city, you'd think that Scott Rumana would try to have some influence over who the nominee would be right? But in a recent PolitickerNJ story on the district's likely candidates, Joel Brizzi of East Rutherford and Carmen Pio Costa of Nutley, Rumana was not mentioned at all, whereas his counterparts Kevin O'Toole and Bob Yudin figured heavily in the selection process. This despite the fact that Nutley is much smaller than Passaic and the only Essex town in the district. Isn't there someone in Passaic who could at least credibly cut 

So where is Scott?  If he is punting responsibility in the 36th, what is he doing to find candidates in the heavily Democratic 34th and 35th, which he also shares with other counties? We need leadership in these critical times, not chairpeople on the side of milk cartons.