Sipprelle re-enters the political fray

Five months after losing a House race to incumbent Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., former Republican candidate Scott Sipprelle is still looking to fix what he described as a “broken” political process.

In what is usually an overwhelmingly Democratic district, Holt won by a notably small 7 percent margin last November, the smallest margin of victory of any re-elected state incumbent. During the election, members of both campaigns noted that Sipprelle had brought a surprisingly strong momentum to the minority Republican presence in Princeton; he said he is looking to continue that momentum as the founder of the Lincoln Club of New Jersey, a new independent political club for Republican citizens, he said.

“The Sipprelle campaign was clearly a game-changer in central New Jersey,” Lincoln Club member Vicki Schorr-Coben said in an email. “Scott’s single-digit loss proved that large numbers of Independents and traditional Democrats are willing to vote for a Republican with a sensible platform.”

Sipprelle founded the Lincoln Club in February with the intent of educating the community about relevant issues and preserving the involvement of his large group of campaign volunteers, he said. The group’s current membership is around 200.

“Our political process is too partisan and it’s not idea- or solutions-centered,” Sipprelle explained. “We should be educating people on real choices and real decisions instead of bashing people personally.”

Sipprelle noted that the current political climate in central New Jersey is too focused on short-term issues because politicians neglect to think about long-term problem solving.

“Our politicians live from election to election and [the climate] tends to be very risk-averse because candidates are controlled by party bosses in both parties,” Sipprelle said. “There is very little wiggle room for people to be thoughtful to position themselves as problem solvers in our politics.”

Sipprelle hopes the Lincoln Club will change that, he said. He added that a main objective of the organization will be finding and supporting candidates who focus on public service during elections and working to break the status quo once they are in office.

“People need to understand our mission and the issues much more than they do today, which is why we created a marriage between issues of education and electoral positions,” Sipprelle said of the group. “The two need to be more tightly linked.”

As its first major event the club will host New Jersey Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff ’85 on May 6 at the Nassau Club for a lecture and group discussion about the state budget.

Schorr-Coben echoed Sipprelle’s goals, explaining, “We want to clarify the values and reasons behind Republican positions in order to reach across the aisle to both Independents and open-minded Democrats who share our concerns about responsible governance.”

While the club may act as a gathering point for local Republicans, the group will still have to fight to overcome the stigma against the conservatives present in such a liberal area, said Esther Mills, chairman of the Princeton Township Republican Committee.

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“It’s not socially acceptable to be a Republican in Princeton,” Mills said. “People kind of hide under the rocks, so it’s difficult to read Princeton sometimes.”

While there has been some progress in recent years, she noted, local voters still aren’t supporting the change they want.

“It’s been a one-party system for a number of years and a lot of things go unchecked because there is a lack of checks and balances,” Mills explained. “But when it comes to making the change and putting a different voice on committees, it doesn’t happen, which is strange because [local voters] seem to want it to happen.”

In the meantime, Sipprelle, who said he received considerable positive feedback about his campaign from both Republicans and Democrats because of its focus on the issues, will keep his attention on the Lincoln Club instead of planning for another run for Congress.

“I’m not planning to run for anything,” Sipprelle said. “But I intend to remain engaged in what is an important argument and I’m doing that as a private citizen, not a candidate.”