10/21/2026
Hey Voters, quick question: is there a Holmdel BOE candidate forum organized by anyone outside the usual progressive groups, or is this it?
CILU, a longtime left-leaning Holmdel group, sent an email saying they were organizing the upcoming BOE forum—then had to send a correction that it’s actually sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Monmouth County. So who is actually running this event, and why the mix-up?
The League of Women Voters calls itself nonpartisan, but the record shows otherwise. It has received millions from left-of-center funders including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Joyce Foundation (where Barack Obama once sat on the board), the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Tides Foundation. Its policy positions track progressive priorities on abortion, gun control, progressive taxation, environmental regulation, and expanded voting access. Associated political contributions tracked by OpenSecrets go almost entirely to Democrats.
Locally, the only BOE forums on offer this cycle come from this same circle. Jen Ashkar is currently on the Board of CILU, in charge of … publicity. The same publicity board member that sent this email? Jayme Lowenstein was president of SEPAC. And those are the only outlets putting on forums. 🤦
Voters are supposed to show up, watch, and treat this as neutral. Meanwhile the candidates with ties to the groups hosting or historically tied to the forums get the stage, and everyone else is told this is the process. And don’t get us started on the neutral questions they sent to candidates….thats for another day…
Save Jersey
Central Jersey Newswire
Monmouth County Republican Committee
Wake Up NJ