Fran Bodine 
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Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 09:03:56 PM EST
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11pm update: Dianne Allen (r) Conaway and Connors (d) return to Trenton in the 7th. GOP retain Senate seat, both Assembly seats in the 8th.
I just arrived at the hotel ballroom where the results of the 8th district race will be announced soon enough. Fran Bodine, Tracy Riley and Chris Fifis are the democratic slate looking to make inroads in this historically red district. (NJ Sen. Martha Bark and Asm Larry Chatzidakis are not running for another tilt.) Props to the Wyndham for their whitehot wireless connection speed. I am gonna make the rounds. Updates will be forthcoming!  Image: Newly minted democrat Fran Bodine takes a swing at Martha's Bark's senate seat. In the meantime, we eat shrimp cocktails. Also spotted tonite: candidates Chris Fifas, Rich Dennison and others. As of 9:43 the mood is still quite festive. (more pics below the flip)
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Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 10:35:27 PM EDT
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In the 8th District, the Republican ticket of County Clerk Phil Haines, Medford Mayor Scott Rudder, and Freeholder Dawn Addiego have good reason to try and distract voters with a mindless campaign based on questioning Riley's patriotism because her husband is a public defender in the Ft. Dix case. This Republican ticket, which is running for Martha Bark's seat and has strong connections to Boss Glenn Paulsen, has refused to do anything remotely close to the level of support for ethics reform proposed by Tracy Riley and Chris Fifis, both of whom put forth strong ethics proposals while serving on the Mt. Laurel city council and Pemberton economic council, respectively.
In fact, Riley and Fifis have challenged their Republican counterparts to sign onto a pay-to-play ban and to enact such legislation as BurlCo freeholders and mayors -- not surprisingly, the Republicans refuse to join in recent pay-to-play bans in local townships. Riley, who has some potential for a bright political future, says the following about the Republicans' inaction:
"It's time for them to lead for once?It's time for them to do the right thing for taxpayers who are paying more than ever and seeing more of their tax dollars lost to insider deals like up to $50,000 a month 'lobbying' contracts for GOP bosses at obscure county agencies, $330,000 in no-show jobs for a state senator so she could lobby herself and $9 million squandered at a public country club while career politician Dawn Addiego's family profited. Enough is enough."
The Democrats in District 8 are bringing the fight straight to the Republicans who refuse to sign on for clean government. This is one more reason why change is needed there in the all Republican freeholder board and the Republican-held senate and assembly seats.
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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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Thu Aug 16, 2007 at 10:50:54 PM EDT
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A few weeks ago, the Burlington County GOP tried to make a big deal out of the appointment of engineers in Evesham Township even though one particular company in question had already saved the town over 150K. GOP Councilwoman Debbie Sarcone decided to weigh in saying..."I'm just disappointed by all their actions on all the professional appointments," Councilwoman Debbie Sarcone said. "They were obviously rewards for money given, campaign contributions." Eh Hem, before you go accusing, you may want to look in the mirror Councilwoman. From a press release today...Demonstrating hypocrisy at its worst, pay-to-play veteran Evesham Councilwoman Debbie Sarcone accepted a $2000 gift from Evesham engineering applicant Churchill, P.C. Consulting Engineers on Wednesday, August 15. Sarcone was Churchill's guest at the Gloucester County Democratic Party's $2000 a person fundraiser held at Philadelphia's Prime Rib. So I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that Churchill will not be seeking a contract at any time in the future because this might be considered as some to be a potential future investment. It's a good thing council members Schmidt and Brown have introduced a strict pay to play ban which was recently praised in a Courier Post Editorial...Evesham's new township council is on the right track when it comes to stopping the corrupting practice of pay to play. Other local governments in South Jersey should follow Evesham's lead and not wait for citizens to force the issue through petition drives when it comes to getting tough on pay to play. Councilman Chris Brown gave me a good laugh with his quotes..."Perhaps Debbie believes that pay-to-play is not an issue if you accept the gift in Pennsylvania," remarked Evesham Councilman Christopher J. Brown. "This is exactly the type of conduct that will be illegal under the ethics ordinance we've introduced.""It looks like Debbie is trying to take a few last bites at the apple before the loopholes are closed," said Brown. "She owes it to the residents of Evesham to not only return the money for the gift she took, but to pledge that she will stop accepting these outlandish gifts." It looks like Councilwoman Sarcone will have to find a new issue.
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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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