Red Bank Official Withdraws Petition For Independent Mayoral Challenge

RED BANK, N.J.— The Monmouth County Democrats organization has announced full support for the winner of the Red Bank mayoral primary Billy Portman, who challenged the organization line, and now a councilperson's petition to run as an independent against him has been withdrawn.

In this latest development in the Democratic feud in Red Bank, the organization criticized the head of the Red Bank Democratic organization, Councilman Ed Zipprich, for notarizing a petition by Democratic Councilwoman Jacqueline Sturdivant to run as an independent in November.

The organization announced Monday it had filed the challenge to Sturdivant's petition with the Monmouth County Clerk. But by Monday evening her petition was withdrawn, according to Zipprich.

Zipprich said he will provide a statement by Councilwoman Sturdivant about her withdrawal and Patch will update the story when that is made.

And it appears that in the election of two county committee representatives in each of the borough's nine districts, Portman's supporters will also succeed. Votes are still unofficial, but Zipprich said so far Portman's team has won 11 spots compared with 7 won by the Zipprich team.

Meanwhile, in response to the Sturdivant withdrawal, Portman said yesterday evening that "Assuming I win in November, I look forward to working with Jacqueline Sturdivant on behalf of the residents of Red Bank."

Portman will face a Republican challenger (Brian Irwin, as of the June 7 primary) in November, although the borough Democratic have prevailed for many years.

So it seems, for now, the divisiveness in the Red Bank Democratic mayoral race has cooled down.

But earlier in the day Monday, the Monmouth County Democrats were scathing in their news releases about the move by Zipprich to run an independent candidacy.

"The Red Bank Democrats and outgoing municipal chair Ed Zipprich had Sturdivant file to run as an independent candidate on primary election day after it was clear that their original candidate for Mayor Michael Ballard would lose the primary to off-the-line candidate Democratic Billy Portman," the statement reads.

It continues:

"Zipprich, who claims to have not signed the petition, was actually the notary to who signed off on the petition before its filing on Tuesday. Never before has the Monmouth County Democrats seen a sitting Municipal Democratic Chairperson notarize the petitions of an Independent Candidate for Mayor while outwardly rejecting the choice of 61 percent of Red Bank Democratic Primary voters.

"In a shocking move, also signing the last minute petition was Democratic candidate for
Mayor Michael Ballard, along with 28 other individuals who signed Michael Ballard’s
petition. Democratic nominees for Council, Angela Mirandi and John Jackson, were also
signers of this petition and the Monmouth County Democrats will be evaluating their
support of other Monmouth County Democrats endorsed candidates.

"Voters cannot sign two petitions for one position in the same election. In this case, the signatures on the second petition would be thrown out, taking Sturdivant’s signature count under the required number of signatures needed to get on the ballot," the statement by the Monmouth County Democrats said.

Portman said he is happy to have the support of the Monmouth County Democrats.

"That's how it's supposed to work," he said.

The statement referred to the actions of Democratic Municipal Chair Zipprich as "egregious."

“Ed didn’t support the Democratic ticket in 2021 after Kate Triggiano won the primary and it is clear he is not supporting the Democratic ticket again in 2022, rejecting the will of 61 percent of the Democratic primary voters - simply over personality conflicts and personal feelings. He is and has not put the Democratic Party first - he continues to put his personal agenda first,” said Monmouth County Chairman David Brown in the statement.

“The time for petty politics has passed. It is imperative that the Red Bank Democrats come together to do what is best for the residents of Red Bank who have spoken clearly on their rejection of this divisive behavior.”

The statement from the Monmouth County Democrats also said:

"We are extremely disappointed that the current Democratic Municipal Chairman in Red Bank (Zipprich) notarized an independent candidate for mayor's petition and appears to not support the Democratic nominee for mayor - ignoring the overwhelming will of the Democratic Primary voters in Red Bank," the statement said.

It continued in the statement to make its support for Portman "crystal clear.":

"The Monmouth County Democrats make it crystal clear - we support our party nominee Billy Portman and are asking all of our donors, supporters and members to support Billy and the entire Democratic ticket - not any independent candidates running in Red Bank," the organization said in an emailed news statement.

Democratic Councilman Michael Ballard had the support of the Monmouth County Democrats in his bid to fend off the challenge from Portman in Democratic primary June 7.

Portman, who ran on the Democrats United for Red Bank line, defeated Ballard by 762 votes to Ballard's 498, as of unofficial results on Friday.

They were seeking nomination for the seat currently held by longtime Mayor Pat Menna, who was not endorsed by the Red Bank Monmouth County Democrats and chose not to run.

"I am thrilled to have the support of the Monmouth County Democrats. That's how it is supposed to work," Portman said when contacted by Patch on Monday.

"The voters of Red Bank overwhelmingly supported me, and the Democratic party has gotten behind me at the county level.

"Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Democratic party at the municipal level. Ed Zipprich, Michael Ballard, Angela Mirandi, John Jackson, and Jaqueline Sturdivant have all decided to ignore the will of the voters of Red Bank," Portman said.

Ballard was quoted from a statement he provided the Red Bank Green news site as expressing concern about Portman's support from charter school supporters.

But Portman yesterday responded to Patch, saying he wants the best for public schools in town:

"As for the charter school," Portman said that he supports "the right of the charter school to exist. It is not hard to understand why I had the support of those families. I have reached out to Dr. (Jared) Rumage, (schools superintendent) and I am hopeful that I can help to heal the divisions in our community over this issue.

"I am not naive. These divisions are deep and have been here for a long time. And we are talking about our children, which increases the stakes dramatically. But I'd like to state clearly that I support our public schools, and I am looking forward to doing everything in my power to make sure our children are given every chance to succeed," Portman concluded in his statement.

Meanwhile, the organization also said it "appears as though a majority of county committee members will change as a result of their contested elections also." Those figures are unofficial as of this time.

Zipprich said it appears that his role as chairman of the Red Bank Democratic organization will come to an end, but he is still waiting for all votes to be counted for the county committee seats.

He said his supporters so far retain only 7 seats compared to 11 seats won by the Portman supporters on the Democrats United for Red Bank line in the borough's nine districts. Each district elects two county committee members.

The new slate of Democratic county committee members will select their municipal chair and vice-chair at their reorganization meeting once election results have been certified, the news release said.

In the meantime, the Monmouth County Democrats are in the process of organizing a “Red Bank Unity” event on June 22 at 6 p.m. and will release more details on that soon.