BurlcoGOP 
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Mon Mar 15, 2010 at 06:48:30 PM EDT
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We've written about the Burlington County Bridge commission before here at Blue Jersey. When we last left them, lobbyist Bob Stears was pleading guilty saying he got sucked into a "corrupt group of people."
The Philadelphia Inquirer had an in depth piece yesterday on the agency talking about how despite the notion they want people to believe that they are a model that has learned from past mistakes under the new leadership of John Comegno, they are still a prime source of business for many of the GOP donors and the game continues: The commission and its staff have a number of Republican ties. Comegno's law firm, the Comegno Law Group, is a GOP donor. The executive director is the son of a Republican political action committee treasurer. And the new chief financial officer is a former GOP councilwoman from Riverton. Comegno is the current chairman of the bridge commission and despite all of these ties to the county party, he described "the commission as a model of transparency and accountability, saying political relationships and donations are not related to agency operations in any way." This "model of transparency" still has deep ties to the county party:The law firm Capehart Scatchard, an influential backer of the Burlington County Republican Party, has received $2.2 million in legal fees since 2007. That's the equivalent of billing 13 hours a workday over the last three years. Capehart Scatchard is GOP party boss Glenn Paulsen's law firm where he is a partner. His neighbor is Bill Layton, the current chairman of the Republican party Burlington County. Follow me below the fold for more.
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Sun Mar 14, 2010 at 02:10:28 PM EDT
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We wrote about the heat the new Burlington County Freeholder administrator Paul Drayton has been taking since his selection by the Republican Freeholder board the other day. Now the board is coming under greater scrutiny because of the choice, a close friend of Party boss Glenn Paulsen. Their unwillingness to be forthcoming and inability to admit they made a mistake has led the Courier to offer this take on what they are doing:The Republican majority on the freeholder board appears to be ignoring what's in the public interest in favor of what's in their partisan interest. The Courier wants the Freeholder board to cut their losses and let Drayton go, but the Republican Freeholders haven't been willing to take that step yet. The editorial called the selection of Drayton a "highly partisan pick, and a bad one given some of what we know." Not only is the selection questionable, but the process by which he came about deserves further scrutiny. The Republican Freeholders have been unwilling to make public the names of the people who interviewed for the position and the finalists only met with the Freeholder Director and Deputy Director. That's far from the transparency they promised the voters.
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Sat Mar 06, 2010 at 02:01:04 PM EST
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 So my Mayor has switched teams again. Evesham Mayor Randy Brown initially managed the campaign of the former Republican Mayor, Gus Tamburro in 2003, but then ran against Tamburro as a Democrat in 2007 and won. It was a big pickup for the Democrats at the time to win all 3 seats and take a 4-1 majority on council for the largest municipality in the county.
Since that time, Republicans have retaken control of the council. Both the Burlington County Democratic Chair and Treasurer were forced to resign in scandal, which seriously undermined the charges of corruption the Democrats hurled at the Republicans, and the Party's still struggling to get back on track. The party has seen a fight over the Chair position, which after many stops and starts, will be chosen in June. In the mean time, Brown has used the divisions in the party and the shifting political winds as a chance to switch teams again.
The funny things is, the GOP ran ads against the last Democratic council candidates accusing them of being just a continuation of Brown's policies. They even attacked Brown in a mailer, calling him a liar (click to enlarge the mailer to the right). Chris Russell, spokesman for the County Republicans and defender of Brown's switch, still touts the mailers that he produced on his business website, though I doubt the'll be posted there for long. The GOP spent the last 3 years trashing Brown. But now that he's one of them, they're all good to keep him around.
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Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 08:23:28 PM EST
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It's amazing to read sometimes the different takes that the op-ed pages of newspapers can have when covering the same issue. Take for example, the issue of Dual Officeholder Dawn Addiego. Last week I wrote that she had broken her campaign promise to not hold 2 offices if she was elected to the Assembly before she even took office. I felt like it was an April Fools joke to read the Courier Post Op-Ed the following day entitled, "Burlco officials set example", where they held Addiego and her running mate up as a model for others... We continue to urge other dual-office holders -- such as Assemblymen John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, who also is mayor of Paulsboro, and Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, who also is Washington Township's mayor -- to put the interests of New Jerseyans first. We urge them to follow the lead of Addiego and Rudder and give up one of their public offices. The editorial only mentioned that she was giving up her seat, not that she was going to wait until the Boss found his next stooge. It was also really nice of them to take the opportunity to hit the Democrats, but if those officials follow Addiego's lead, they'll continue to be dual officeholders and instead of trying to justify it, they'll just lie to the voters when asked. Luckily the Burlington County Times brought some truth to the situation with their Op-Ed entitled, "A pledge unmet". Follow me below the fold to see how the BurlcoTimes got it so right where the Courier went so horribly wrong.
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Fri Jan 04, 2008 at 07:26:52 PM EST
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Republican Dawn Addiego ran her campaign for Assembly telling the voters she would resign her freeholder position if elected. She railed against opponent Tracy Riley over the possibility that Riley would hold two offices if elected...I also want to see an end to the double-dipping and the pension padding. We have to bring confidence back to elected office. Maybe Addiego isn't the one to bring that confidence back. Before she takes the Assembly oath of office on Tuesday, she will have already broken her promise and will join the distinguished club of dual office holders. The watered down dual office holding ban exempts those who hold more than one office prior to Feb 1 allowing Addiego to remain a freeholder and become an Assemblywoman. Today she is singing a different tune and not complaining about loopholes...I want to give the party an opportunity to find a replacement, she said. Well isn't it convenient that the county ban Addiego championed also allows her to serve out the remaining year of her term while the party searches for a "suitable replacement", aka someone willing to take marching orders from Boss Paulsen?Not like the party hasn't had a couple months to be looking for someone, but I guess Dawn will just wait it out and enjoy collecting both checks. She'll probably cry all the way to the bank too.
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Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 03:18:10 PM EST
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Not like she does anything when she shows up, but since Marth Bark has run out of no-show jobs to be doled out for votes, she has decided to convert her full time employment into her latest no-show job allowing her to collect a little more from the public trough while she still can...State Senator Martha Bark is expected to resign her seat on Monday so she can qualify for benefits on January 1. If Bark, who did not seek re-election this year, were to wait until her term expires on January 8, she would not begin receiving benefits until February 1. That's right boys and girls, she is worried that she will miss out on a month of those pension payments. Even better, she is waiting until the last day to resign to squeeze out every last penny of pay. I guess we will only find out if her bark is as bad as her bite on payday, because that is the only time she will show up. Don't let the door hit you... on that taxpayer funded ass.
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Wed Dec 05, 2007 at 08:35:45 PM EST
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For all the talk of the huge ugly battle that would be the GOP primary campaign in NJ-3, Ocean County Boss George Gilmore could cut everyone off at the knees if he supports the Burlington County Boss backed candidate, Chris Myers. At the BurlcoGOP coup er county committee meeting hastily called at the behest of Boss Glenn Paulsen, who was seeking to regain his power by having puppet and next door neighbor Bill Layton serve as chairman, he showed his cards about where he'd be placing his money... Burlington County Republican boss Glenn Paulsen said Saturday that he is supporting Christopher Myers With Diane Allen out of the race thanks to the civil war that she was having with Paulsen, it looks like Myers will be the clear choice coming out of Burlington County. Camden County will accept whatever candidate the bosses tell them. So now Gilmore has to decide if he wants to stand up for his county or bow to the pressure of State Chair Tom Wilson and the Burlco Boss because Myers wants to go play there too...Myers, who lives in Burlington County and is the presumptive favorite to get that county party's nod for a congressional bid, has sent his resume to Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore and will participate in a candidate screening process this weekend. I won't hold my breath for the Ocean county candidates going through the Burlco screening process because Paulsen has already decided for everyone, but Gilmore seems to have an open mind..."I've said from the beginning that if the three county organizations can get behind one county candidate, that would be great," said Gilmore. So what will Gilmore do? Will he support one of his own, creating what many say will be a bitter primary battle or will he strike a deal allowing Burlington to be the Parent to Ocean's child status once again? Besides, what's the point of letting the voters decide when you can have 2 bosses agree for everyone that will be represented by their choice? You gotta love Jersey.
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Sun Dec 02, 2007 at 04:23:07 PM EST
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If you listen to the new Burlington County GOP Chair, it's time for the party to play nice and fight the neighbors. I guess outgoing Acting Chair Dawn Lacy wasn't ready to take the fight outside yet and had some scathing words for the party. First, she questioned the shady deal that gives the Party a headquarters in a building owned by the Party Boss...Lacy decided it would be foolish to challenge Layton, so received his assurance that he would hire an independent firm to review the organization's finances, including the questionable tax status of party headquarters, a building owned in part by Paulsen and treasurer Charles Lambiase. Second, she challenged the integrity of State Senator Elect Phil Haines after he undercut her efforts by backing off the plan to change leadership which she says he helped to start..."Unfortunately," Lacy told Haines, "I don't have much hope for Republicans winning the Statehouse anytime soon with such a lack of fortitude in the senator-elect." Then she gave a shout out to State Chair Tom Wilson sharing some of his political insight with the committee members...Our State Chairman who is here today told me that he thinks we really do want to be sheep and don't really want to be involved. So the GOP State Chairman thinks people want to be sheep? That's not a leader I want to follow, baaa. She had a parting shot for those who say the party has come together because no one will be publicly complaining anymore...But remember, silence is not the same as unity. This provides a great backdrop for some serious fireworks between the Ocean and Burlington County Bosses as the GOP looks to field a candidate to run against John Adler in NJ-3.
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Sun Dec 02, 2007 at 12:33:08 AM EST
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The Burlington County Republicans have a new chairman, sort of. Old Party Boss Glenn Paulsen's next door neighbor, Bill Layton has prevailed in the power struggle and tried to bring the party together giving us this gem in his acceptance speech...Friends," Layton told the crowd of 300 in the Wyndham Hotel in Mount Laurel, "families fight. They fight all the time. But they leave their house unified, and they go and fight with the neighbors. That's exactly how my family works. First, we fight. Then we make up leaving the house unified to kick the crap out of our next door neighbors. They know to watch out for my Aunt. I think the new chairman is stretching the fighting family analogy a wee bit far.
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Thu Nov 15, 2007 at 10:06:15 AM EST
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Glenn Paulsen has been busy trying to retain his Boss status in the Burlington County Republican Party and that fight is now front and center with the race for the 3rd Congressional District GOP Primary heating up. Today, he tries to tear down the perceived GOP frontrunner while puffing up his own choice giving us this beautiful spin... On State Senator Diane Allen: "I'm going to look objectively [at] who's the best candidate to win the primary and the general election, and I think there are some liabilities there that she's going to have to overcome," he added. "Her difficulty is that she's pro-choice, pro-same-sex marriage and anti-death penalty. Those are not issues that the national party has supported." On Freeholder Aubrey Fenton: Paulsen touted one possible Burlington County candidate, county Freeholder Aubrey Fenton as a possible contender. He said that Fenton, an African-American, would have "J.C. Watts-like appeal," though it is unclear if he is interested in running. Which one do you think Paulsen is supporting?
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Sun Nov 11, 2007 at 10:54:03 PM EST
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Republican State Senator Diane Allen appears ready to launch a bid for Congress in the 3rd District..."I'm very seriously considering it," Allen told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I'm certainly inclined to do it." Allen says she was contacted by State and National Republican Party members, which I'm sure won't make bosses George Gilmore and Glenn Paulsen very happy. Allen talked about what the bottom line will be for her decision on whether or not to make a run...Allen plans to meet with the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington this week to discuss financing for the campaign, which could cost $2 million or more. Before she jumps in with both feet, however, the veteran legislator said campaign financing issues must be settled.
"It's a big lift," she said of her probable congressional campaign. "It's going to require millions of dollars. I have to be sure that's obtainable." It's telling that she wants the seat, but before declaring, Allen wants to make sure she won't have to do the heavy lifting to get it. The national party is broke so she may be barking up the wrong tree. The DCCC smells blood with a candidate like State Senator John Adler already declared for the seat and Allen is talking $2 million just for a general challenge. That doesn't take into account the brusing primary it appears she will be facing to get to the general. Stay Tuned.
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Sat Nov 10, 2007 at 08:30:51 PM EST
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 The sudden decision by Congressman Jim Saxton to retire after this term opens the door for an ideological, geographical and egotistical fight within Republican party the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time.
The 3rd Congressional District contains parts of Camden, Burlington and Ocean Counties. The Camden County GOP is relatively weak compared to the Boss factor of Burlington County power boss Glenn Paulsen and Ocean County power broker George Gilmore. Both Paulsen and Gilmore will surely want a say in the candidate, but first Paulsen will have to do battle within his county party that is currently raging over just who's calling the shots. Burlington County In Burlington County, likely candidates appear to represent the factions developing within the county party. You have the "moderate" Republican State Senator Diane Allen who has run before, been contacted by the national party and has expressed interest in the seat. She has had a rather public spat over money and power with GOP boss Glenn Paulsen who is trying to have his next door neighbor serve as chair of the party so he can pull the strings in the background and maintain his power to dole out taxpayer dollars. He seems to have made his choice... Paulsen said yesterday he considered BurlCo Freeholder Aubrey Fenton of Willingboro the best choice for the Republican candidate.
"If the national party cares about inclusion and African Americans, Aubrey Fenton should be someone they should get behind," Paulsen said. County Sherriff Jean Stanfield said she won't seek the seat. Freeholder Bill Haines would also be a possible consideration.Ocean County But it doesn't look like Ocean County is very anxious to see another candidate from Burlington... It's high time (we) got a congressman from Ocean County, said Mayor Leonard ConnorsCounty GOP Chairman George Gilmore said Ocean County has more Republican voters than either the parts of Burlington or Camden counties in the 3rd District. According to the Ocean County Observer... Among those he said who he expects are interested in the nomination from Ocean County are Freeholders John P. Kelly, Joseph H. Vicari and Gerry P. Little, County Clerk Carl W. Block, State GOP Committeewoman Virginia Haines, and Connors and Rumpf. Kelly has all but said he will run for the seat and would probably be the lead candidate from the county. Little said it was to early to think about it, but he was flattered to be considered. This'll probably move fast so he better start thinking. Haines wants to clear it with Boss Paulsen before deciding. Block will keep his eye on the local scene for now and Vicari wasn't available for comment in the story.Ultimately, the question will probably be who can raise the money to mount a credible challenge to Senator John Adler who has already declared his candidacy and has raised over $200,000. The national Republican Party is pretty much broke and Saxton could retire with his money meaning the potential GOP candidate will have to bring something to the table and get busy to raise the necessary funds for the Republicans to maintain their hold on the seat? How will the intra-party squabble between Paulsen & Allen affect her ability to fund what is shaping up to be a difficult primary. Will Paulsen be able to call in enough favors to finance an effective campaign with a candidate of his liking that will appeal to the voters of the district? It's unlikely that Paulsen would let Ocean County have the candidate and clear that Ocean County is ready to have their say. The question of who is the more powerful GOP boss will certainly be tested in a matchup of Gilmore and Paulsen and while primaries are a good thing, this would appear to be shaping up as a bruising contest for power. With Allen being Pro-Choice, you would figure groups will be helping fund a candidate against her. The Club for Growth may look for a candidate they could back. Those fun "marriage protection" folks will be looking to save society as well. Who knows what other fun activists may want to have their voices heard. You have gender, race, ideology, money and all the makings for a hotly contested primary campaign on the Republican side of the aisle. You can visit Senator Adler's Congressional Website while you watch the show.
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Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 08:48:00 PM EDT
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Today, the U.S. District Court Judge hearing the case of the alleged attacks against Fort Dix had the pleasure of viewing the despicable flyer put out in the 8th district against Tracy Riley by her Constitution hating opponents trying to tie her to terrorists and he wasn't pleased..."It's pretty despicable stuff," the judge said, noting that Dawn Marie Addiego, one of the Republican candidates, is a lawyer. "She should know better." He's exactly right, she should know better. They all should know better. In an ironic twist, now the judge has to decide if the mailer has the potential to not only sway a political election, but taint a whole jury pool in the process.
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Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 10:50:21 PM EDT
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Former Evesham Councilwoman, turned Freeholder, turned 8th district Assembly Candidate/Constitutional Coward Dawn Addiego wants the voters to trust her to make sound decisions with their tax dollars in Trenton, but let's take a closer look at her legacy from her time on Evesham Town Council. From the Philadelphia Inquirer, Addiego would have you believe she saved the town by building a new lavish clubhouse at Indian Springs Public Golf course...The ballroom at the Indian Spring Country Club is called the Aurora Room, named for the Roman goddess who rises from the ocean in a chariot to bring on the dawn and is a reminder of former Councilwoman Dawn Marie Addiego's role in its construction.She said she was proud of her efforts "to turn around what was a struggling club, rife with corruption, and set it on the course to become a well-regarded golf facility and highly sought after banquet facility that will be a revenue generator for Evesham Township's recreation programs and its residents." Now for the real story. This course that was "rife with corruption" helped Addiego play a shell game to avoid taking the blame for her financial mismanagement of the town. The golf course allowed she and council to avoid raising taxes by borrowing from the golf course fund until she left to become a Freeholder in 2000 leaving a financial mess. More below the fold...
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Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 10:37:05 PM EDT
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 The Burlington County Republican Party has spent the last five months denying that Boss Glenn Paulsen had any connection with their current leaders. A funny thing happened on the way to the polls on election day: their little secret got out and has turned into a public fight over support, funding and power between the county power boss and the county's Senior Senator.A smoldering feud in the Burlington County Republican party caught fire Tuesday when, in a private letter to local party chairmen, state Sen. Diane Allen said GOP boss Glenn Paulsen had tried to withhold $150,000 from her campaign.
Paulsen, she said, ''is not working in the best interests of the organization.''
''His actions have divided this county and alienated many,'' she wrote in the letter, dated Oct. 21.
In an interview Tuesday, Paulsen said Allen was thinking only of ''her own self interest and not the interest of the party.''
He tried to withhold the money from her, Paulsen said, because other candidates in tighter races needed it more. Wait, who's that, Boss Glenn Paulsen making decisions about funding? That's not what "Chair on Paper" Dawn Lacy says is going on..."Whomever spoke to PoliticsNJ.com's Wally Edge purporting to convey the opinion of the Burlington County Republicans regarding the 7th District Assembly campaign was wrong. As Chairwoman of the Burlington County Republican Committee, I would like to go on the record as saying that the BCRC has conceded nothing in this race, and we believe that we have an opportunity to elect two excellent candidates for Assembly on November 6th. It seems like the puppet is trying to talk out of turn from the puppetmaster. Now 2 weeks before the election, when politicians are fighting for their political lives, a fight over money has forced Paulsen's shadowy role pulling strings behind the scenes into the public light. More from Diane's letter... ''Unfortunately, our campaign ultimately had to hire an attorney to help us wrest control of these funds from Glenn. After a month of legal wrangling, we were finally able to get most of our funds transferred -- a bit more than $150,000 in total.'' Not only are they not turning away Paulsen's tainted funds, they are seeking legal avenues to gain access to it. Two weeks out, Diane Allen decides to finally go public with the news that Paulsen has been calling the shots all along because she's not gonna get the money she thought she had coming. That's the Burlington County GOP for you, more concerned about keeping their power than doing what's in your best interest. It'll be interesting to see how this internal fight plays out going forward on the County and State level this cycle and with the big elections in 2008. Traditionally, Burlington County had been a Republican base, but now it appears to have some very visible cracks.
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Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 07:09:45 PM EDT
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PoliticsNJ has an interesting article today on the current state of the race facing the GOP candidates in the 7th district who were very excited about their prospects when they recruited former Philadelphia Flyer Brian Propp...But Propp may be the victim of limited GOP resources. One year after Democrats won the Burlington County Surrogate race, the Republicans are on the defensive: their main goal is hold their two Freeholder seats and re-elect Sheriff Jean Stanfield. And a party switch has made the normally Republican eighth district a little more competitive -- Assemblyman Francis Bodine, a Republican elected official for the last thirty years, switched parties earlier this year (after the GOP dumped him) and is now running for an open State Senate seat against County Clerk Phil Haines. That has also put the two open Assembly seats in play.
As a result, the county GOP organization -- where former GOP County Chairman Glenn Paulsen effectively dumped successor Mike Warner in June and replaced him with lobbyist Bill Layton -- has pulled out of the seventh district. Its amazing what a difference a few wins make. If I would have told people that the Burlington County GOP would be on the defensive 2 years ago, I would have been laughed out of most political circles.It looks like it will be up to Diane Allen to carry the water in the 7th, where she already has ads up on cable, while the party loads up all its ammo to trash the constitution in the name of winning an election against Candidate Tracy Riley and her running mates. It'll be interesting to see how the 8th District Democrats respond to the GOP shift in resources since we know that money will be used to trash them.
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Fri Aug 10, 2007 at 10:46:48 AM EDT
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The Sixth Amendment is pretty clear in guaranteeing the right of counsel to the criminally accused in America:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Given such Constitutional clarity on the matter, why is it that Republicans continue to attack Assembly candidate Tracy Riley for a judge assigning her husband to defend one of the accused Fort Dix Six? In an article featured in Campaign & Elections yesterday, here's what Riley opponent Dawn Addeigo had to say:
"I do believe everybody is entitled to legal representation," said Republican candidate Dawn Addeigo, a practicing attorney. "But there is an inherent conflict in representing this man who threatened Fort Dix and those who live in the surrounding area. [Riley] wants to represent those same people [in the Assembly]."
How is there a conflict of interest here? Since Mr. Riley is committed to defending one of the most important Constitutional rights that exists, his wife is somehow a terrorist-coddler? That's just laughable! Every accused person, in the American legal tradition, gets a defense attorney. Everyone. Period. Mr. Riley didn't choose this case; he was assigned to it by a judge. He's just fulfilling his civic duty-- defending the Constitution.
The Burlington County Times has already slammed the kind of sleazy attack Addeigo is peddling, calling it "political manuevering at its basest" that assumes "Burlington County voters are stupid." Joe Pinto, President of the County Bar Association has already said folks making this kind of attack "need a civics lesson on what the Constitution provides."
Such shameful attacks are repugnant to founding spirit of the American legal system. And they reek to high heaven of a desperate GOP, willing to slime even the Constitution to try and score a cheap political point.
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Sun Aug 05, 2007 at 06:04:22 PM EDT
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Here's my question: Does it matter if the work you have done is better than it has been done in the past if people perceive the way you got that work to be bad? The Republicans have been seizing over recent reports of the hiring of engineering firms to do a portion of Evesham Township, Burlington County's work saying that it is an example of pay to play because Assemblyman Fran Bodine works for one of the companies which received a contract. Bodine for his part has denied any connection besides his help as a sitting official trying to elect candidates during the campaign."I had no input into this," Bodine said. "I didn't talk to anyone on the transition team (that awarded contracts). My participation in this whole thing was zero." So the cynic will say how could this man not try to get his employer a contract. The hardcore supporter will say he did nothing wrong without questioning. Some will ask to see how he influenced the contract and how he will benefit from the work. I have to say that I'm really not trying to pass judgment on that because until we have a full time legislature, we are going to have situations where people involved in their profession end up having the appearance of a conflict regardless of whether one exists unless their employer does not seek any public business. Reading the article further however, I find this nugget of information that the new firm, despite the way they got the contract, actually saved the town almost $200,000 just on that one deal.The firm has already proved to be cheaper than competitors, Brown said. For a parking lot project at Evesboro Downs, the company bid $172,000. The former township engineer, Alaimo Associates of Mount Holly, bid $350,000. On just one contract, the town saved 178k and last time I checked, that's a good thing. Also, lets note that this is the same Alaimo Associates who when the Republicans controlled the town received contracts such as this one while contributing through every branch of the Republican apparatus in the county.So back to my question: does the fact that they allege an appearance of a conflict negate the savings to the town? Isn't pay to play where there isn't a competitive bidding process and the company charges the town whatever they want because they can? It seems to me like Evesham taxpayers made out regardless of whether you believe the claims of a conflict. Your thoughts?
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Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 09:41:34 AM EDT
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 Not like there aren't enough real issues facing the state to tackle in the campaign, the Republican mayors Lou DeLorenzo of North Hanover, Thomas Harper of Wrightstown and Dennis Roohr of New Hanover are attacking Democratic Assembly Candidate Tracy Riley because her husband was assigned to serve as the Public Defender for one of the defendants on trial for the plot to attack Fort Dix.The letter was faxed to Tracy Riley yesterday morning at her husband's law office in Mount Holly. It urges Riley to ask her husband to quit the Duka defense. It also asks her to clarify her positions on issues pertaining to the legal rights of accused terrorists, abolishing the death penalty, and laws intended to crack downs on illegal immigration. I know its politics, but this is just ridiculous. Attacking a candidate because her husband is doing what he has sworn to do?Michael Riley said his wife has had "zero involvement" in the Duka defense and attempts to link her to the case are "absurd and grossly unfair." He said he was appointed as Duka's public defender by the federal court due to his legal experience as a defense attorney and former Burlington County prosecutor.
"I'm an officer of the court, just like the prosecutor and the judge," he said. "In our country, we afford people protections through the Constitution and that's what I'm doing." That's the constitution, you know, its kind of an important document that he is trying to uphold, despite how dispicable their actions may be if proven true. For her part, Candidate Riley isn't taking this pathetic attempt to tie her to something because of her marriage without fighting back...Reached yesterday, Tracy Riley said she was surprised and offended by the letter, which she described as a political attack orchestrated by her GOP opponents.
"The fact they are tying me to my husband's living I find offensive," Tracy Riley said in an interview. "A woman shouldn't be made an appendage of their husband. He's his own person with his own views, and so am I." You're damn right. Next time they bring this up, she should ask why the Mayors hate the constitution they have also sworn to uphold and defend so much?
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