HOUSTON V. DISHEROON HEATS UP

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If this were another Monmouth County publication, one we won’t identify by name, we’d be screeching in this space about how influential we were on politics from here to Tennessee.

That’s not us. We’re redbankgreen, the alternative to the alternative newspaper out of Asbury Park. And so we’ll acknowledge that it’s a pure coincidence that, one day after our last post on the race for city judge in Red Bank, Tenn., three relatives of the incumbent, Gary Disheroon, had a letter to the editor published in the Daily Chattanoogan in which they polish their guy’s apple.

If you missed it, we chided Disheroon on Saturday for letting a very public hugfest by the mother and wife of his opponent, Johnny Houston, go unanswered. Well, now the voters out in Red Bank, Tenn. are being served.

Under the headline “Proud of Gary Disheroon’s Campaign Conduct,” the latest missive appeared Sunday, over the names of Gwen, Jimmie and Preston Disheroon. They identify themselves as the judge’s sister and parents. “He is a loyal and supportive husband, step-father, brother and son,” they write.

In fact, the Disheroon camp seems to be stepping up its game. The family letter is accompanied by one from “a personal friend, a hunting partner, and a lawyer who has tried cases before his court” that also praises the candidate.

We saw something like this in the last gubernatorial race here, didn’t we? Except that, this being New Jersey, the most prominent relative to speak out was now-Gov. Jon Corzine’s ex-wife, and she did anything but try to buff his image.

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