"You'll Have to Talk to Glenn About That": Chris Myers and The Politics of Patronage in BurlCo

by: Martin

Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 04:30:10 PM EDT

A few months ago, Blue Jersey's Jason Springer detailed Republican congressional candidate Chris Myers' selective amnesia about GOP corruption in Burlington County. It was when Myers was pressed by a reporter about his campaign contributions from de facto BurlCo GOP boss Glenn Paulsen and Garfield DeMarco, former BurlCo Bridge Commission boss, that he rather incredulously said "You'll have to talk to Glenn about that." Besides being stunned by Myers' refusal to acknowledge corruption in his own party - I've gotten used to Myers demurring from answering tough questions in public - I was struck at how one of the state's most corrupt party bosses was on a first name basis with a congressional candidate.

Martin :: "You'll Have to Talk to Glenn About That": Chris Myers and The Politics of Patronage in BurlCo

One doesn't have to work hard to make the connections between Myers and Paulsen. BurlCo GOP Chair Bill Layton is Boss Paulsen's neighbor and an unofficial Myers' aide; his campaign manager, Chris Russell, is known as a Paulsen lackey and Party insider. And that's not even counting campaign contributions: When Paulsen gives the legal limit for campaign contributions to Myers, he merely funnels the money to his wife Jeanne to give to the campaign, as he's done in the past.

But it is Paulsen's lawfirm, the all-powerful Capehart & Scatchard, that takes in millions each year from BurlCo taxpayers that is at the heart of Myers' relationship with Paulsen. To review

Paulsen is a partner at Capehart & Scatchard a politically connected law firm. Since 2006 Capehart & Scatchard received more than $9 million in government contracts. In 2007, over $2 million dollars of these contracts came from entities controlled by Paulsen and the Republicans

Connected companies give Capehart their business, BurlCo government retains Capehart for services almost invariably, and in turn the BurlCo GOP get donations from the aforementioned companies. This is the way that BurlCo government has functioned for years; this is the patronage system that led to the Paulsen "Family" flowchart being created just to keep up with the Machine and its cohorts.

Capehart is, surprisingly enough, bond counsel for Medford township, and has been so during Myers' reign as Deputy Mayor. In fact, during a 10 January 2006 the township meeting, then-councilman Myers approved that Capehart be retained for bond counsel; not surprisingly, no separate bids were offered for these legal services, at least at this meeting. Fellow Medford resident and Assemblyman Scott Rudder, a "Paulsen 20" member who was a fellow councilman at the time, gave large loans to the BurlCo GOP and, not coincidentally, then received jobs from local public entities. Rudder has been a long-time political partner of Myers'. Finally, would you be surprised if I told you that at least one Capehart lawyer is kept on legal retainer for Medford in the capacity of some nebulous "supervisor"?

So, Myers does not, seemingly, take illegal donations nor does he have no-show jobs, like some of New Jersey's corrupt politicians. But he has shown to be more than willing to look the other way while the politics of patronage are alive and well in Medford and BurlCo and has even helped further the finances of Paulsen's lawfirm while also taking donations from said firm. His allies are at the highest echelon of patronage and corruption in the county, and yet Myers' says nothing, nor does he even acknowledge that such corruption exists. In that regard, Myers has tacitly approved of corrupt practices in his own political party, and that should be condemned.