George Gilmore expects 'hiccups' in bid to reunite NJ's most powerful county GOP

George Gilmore wants to reunite the deeply fractured Ocean County GOP now that he’s back at its helm, following an upset victory last week that reinstalled him in the position he held for decades before resigning in 2019 with three federal tax convictions hanging over his head.

“I will be successful in bringing the organization back together,” Gilmore said in an interview Monday, four days after narrowly defeating Sheriff Michael Mastronardy to replace retiring chair Frank Holman III for a four-year term. “There will be some hiccups.”

The first case of hiccups began immediately after Gilmore’s election Thursday night, when the Ocean County GOP’s website went down. It remains offline, which Gilmore blames on the party’s former executive director, Pat Lane.

Gilmore's suspicions were heightened shortly after the election, when Lane and County Commissioner Virginia Haines, who opposed his election, removed some items from county GOP headquarters in the dead of night.

“Why do it at 11:00 at night? Why not give notice?” Gilmore said. “They shut down the website. They deleted all the emails that belonged to the organization. All gone. Why do that?”

Gilmore also said that the day of the chair election, funds were transferred from the Ocean County GOP’s account to the campaign accounts of Mastronardy and Haines, leaving just $1,900 in the party account. It was unclear how much was removed, but Gilmore said the organization's operating expenses typically total around $15,000 a month when there are no elections on.

Haines said she accompanied Lane to the GOP headquarters to remove some personal items of hers and Holman’s, including her computer. She said they did not take anything that belonged to the organization.

The website went down because Lane had been paying for it with her credit card, Haines said.

“She deleted only what was being charged to her credit card,” Haines said, adding she did not know about any deleted emails.

Haines said she knew nothing about the transfer of campaign funds and referred questions to her campaign treasurer, who did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Attempts to reach Lane through intermediaries were unsuccessful.

And Gilmore has grievances to settle that extend far beyond the county’s borders. He blames the party’s last gubernatorial nominee, Jack Ciattarelli, and the state’s Republican chair, Bob Hugin for working against his election.

“Ciattarelli I know made phone calls against me because people let me know they received them,” Gilmore said, adding, “I had heard previously that Hugin was working to try to defeat me. Such is life.”

Gilmore, 73, is in the midst of a remarkable political rebirth after former President Trump, during his last day of office, pardoned him ahead of his sentencing for three convictions involving not paying his law firm’s payroll taxes and lying on a bank loan application. Gilmore owed his pardon in large part to Bill Stepien, Trump’s former campaign manager whom Gilmore kept employed through a PAC when Stepien suffered political fallout from the Bridgegate scandal.

Gilmore takes over a county party that may be fractured in its leadership but is still New Jersey’s most potent Republican county organization. Ocean County turned out huge numbers that helped usher former Gov. Chris Christie into office and helped make the last gubernatorial contest far closer than most expected — Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy won reelection by just a few points.

Gilmore has reclaimed the position he had before his legal problems — that of a power broker whose endorsement will be highly prized by any Republican who wants the run statewide, let alone in Ocean County. And Ciattarelli has already announced his intention to run for governor again in 2025.

Gilmore’s victory was immediately seen as a major blow to Ciattarelli. When Ciattarelli first ran for governor in 2017, Gilmore’s support of then-Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno helped her beat Ciattarelli for the Republican nomination. And in last year’s Republican gubernatorial primary, Gilmore helped raise money for far-right Ciattarelli rival Phil Rizzo in an unsuccessful effort to win him matching funds from the state to better compete with Ciattarelli. In the lead up to Thursday’s Ocean County GOP chair election, Ciattarelli’s former campaign manager, Eric Arpert, advised Mastronardy.

“Ciattarelli called me after I won, about half an hour after the election was over, to congratulate me,” Gilmore said. “I told him I’d be happy to meet with him … I’m waiting for him to call me this week and have a meeting.” Gilmore said Ciattarelli’s support for Mastronardy was an attempt to “guarantee the endorsement” of the Ocean County GOP in 2025.

Gilmore didn’t offer specifics on how he felt Hugin worked against him. He said that he went to get dinner at a Toms River restaurant after the chair election where Mastronardy supporters had also gathered for what Gilmore described as “a victory celebration had turned out to be a wake.” There, in the parking lot, Gilmore saw Hugin in his car. “He rolled down his window when he saw me. He said ‘congratulations,’ and he pulled out.”

“All I know is he was working against me… It was clear he supported Mastronardy,” Gilmore said. “I think the state chair should stay neutral. I don’t think he should get involved in contests for country chair.”

In a phone interview, Hugin said he was not involved in the election and did not make any calls on Mastronardy’s behalf. He went to the party, he said, because Mastronardy invited him.

“I have a lot of respect for Sheriff Mastronardy and for George Gilmore,” Hugin said. “It’s hard to respond to something if they don’t tell you what they’re specifically saying.”

Hugin added that he wasn’t trying to avoid Gilmore, but was in a rush to leave because the event started later than anticipated and his wife expected him home.

And then there are disputes with local elected officials. Gilmore noted that most of the party’s county- and state-level elected officials had worked against him, or at least signed on to a letter supporting Mastronardy.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the role Stepien played in Gilmore’s conviction. Stepien helped get him pardoned.