Chris Russell

Early this year, prospects for Burlington County Democrats looked their best in decades.

Democrats Chris Brown and Mary Ann Reinhart were sworn in as freeholders after ousting two Republican incumbents in the November election, narrowing the board’s GOP majority from 5-0 to 3-2.  To make matters worse for the GOP, the two Republican incumbents up for reelection – Bill Haines and Jim Wujcik  – opted to retire, leaving those two critical seats open.  All this came after Democrats built a voter registration advantage of 26,000 over the GOP.

The pieces were in place for Democrats, represented by Mount Holly Councilwoman Kim Kersey and electrician/labor leader Jim Bernard, to take control of the freeholder board for the first time since the 1970s.  But then the party fell apart and reversed fortunes with the GOP.    

The county’s Democratic chairman, Rick Perr and its treasurer, Jeff Meyer, bowed to pressure to resign over their involvement in a PAC that was formed to help South Jersey campaigns but donated money to several North Jersey ones, including arrested Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano.  That muddied the Democrats’ ethics-charging message in a county where Republicans have seen their share of corruption scandals. 

Burlington County Republicans have filed a complaint with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) against Burlington Democratic Chairman Rick Perr and three other Democrats who were involved in the controversial New Frontier PAC.

The complaint, filed by Republican staffer Brandon Umba, requests that ELEC look into whether Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr violated the law “by knowingly running a Continuing Political Committee while serving as Chairman of Burlington County Democrats.”

It also requests that ELEC investigate whether Perr, former Burlington County Democratic Treasurer Jeff Meyer, New Frontier PAC Chairman Dean Buono and PAC Treasurer Jack Senechal violated the law by not disclosing everyone who had control of the PAC, and whether Buono “abidicated his responsibility by allowing his treasurer Jack Senechal to take orders from Rick Perr and Jeff Meyer.”  

Perr, who had denied any involvement in the PAC, resigned last night amid pressure from Democrats after the Burlington County Times published emails in which he and Meyer discussed management of the PAC with Senechal.  Meyer resigned earlier this month.  

The PAC, formed to help Democrats take over Evesham's council in 2007, was used primarily for South Jersey races, but came under scrutiny over donations made to Hudson County politicians -- including Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, who was arrested last month for allegedly taking bribes from an FBI informant.

When calling for Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr to resign today, his fellow Democrats seized on a quote from Burlington County Republican spokesman Chris Russell to distance the larger party from Perr and former treasurer Jeff Meyer.

"As we suspected from the beginning, it appears the New Frontier PAC was nothing more than a front for Rick Perr and Jeff Meyer to conduct a pay-to-play scheme," Russell told the Burlington County Times in a story published yesterday.

Pointing to the quote, Democratic Freeholder Chris Brown called the scandal “the actions of two people… not the actions of the Democratic Party.”  

The county’s Democratic vice-chairwoman, Alice Furia, said “I agree with the Republicans’ assessment of who’s to blame, and it’s two individuals: Rick Perr and Jeff Meyer.”

But Russell – who works for a party that Democrats have spent years attacking as corrupt – said that the quote was not meant to exclude other Democrats.

Republican Christopher Myers has a 33%-29% lead over Democrat John Adler in the race for Jim Saxton’s third district House seat, according to a poll paid for by the Myers campaign and the National Republican Congressional Committee.  The survey, conducted by McLaughlin Associates, a GOP polling firm, shows Myers leading 36%-21% in the Ocean County portion of the district, which also includes parts of Burlington County and Cherry Hill in Camden County.

Republican 3rd District congressional candidate Chris Myers fired the latest salvo in a war of words with the progressive blog Blue Jersey today, accusing them of engaging in a coordinated effort with rival Democrat John Adler’s campaign to discredit Myers’s military service.

Myers held a press conference in Medford to denounce a Blue Jersey post that questioned whether he should continue to cite himself as a “combat veteran.”

“John Adler’s refusal to publicly and forcefully condemn these liberal bloggers and their vicious, dishonest attacks on me and other veterans is a disgrace,” said Myers in a statement. “John Adler could put an end to these outrageous attacks against me and the veteran’s community if he wanted to; instead chooses to sit by silently in the hopes of scoring cheap political points at my expense. He should be ashamed.”

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

South Jersey Democrats threw a punch at Chris Myers today, just as the third district Republican congressional candidate was getting ready to hold a press conference hitting back at Jack Kelly, his Republican rival for the nomination.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr today slammed Myers as a “pawn” of Republican bosses for accepting money from the “Corrupt Burlington County GOP Machine.”

At issue are two donations that show up in Myers’s Federal Election Commission filings: $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen, and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.

The moment Medford Mayor Chris Myers stepped into the third district congressional primary, most insiders picked himas the favorite Republican to continue retiring Rep. Jim Saxton’s legacy.

Even after Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly entered the GOP race with the support of his large Republican county’s powerful organization support , Myers managed to maintain the mantle of frontrunner, winning the coveted line in his native Burlington County, along with neighboring Camden County -- which only has one town in the district, albeit a large one: Cherry Hill.

But fundraising totals reported by the Press of Atlantic City on Wednesday suggest a race much closer than initially expected.

According to the report, Myers has raised $334,786.77 and has $288,000 on hand. Meanwhile, Kelly has raised approximately $306,000, and has $281,000 on hand.

While state Sen. John Adler, the unopposed third district Democratic congressional candidate, sits on $1.15 million dollars, his two prospective Republican opponents admit that their fundraising numbers will pale in comparison.

But that’s ok, the Republicans say.

A few weeks ago, Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly told PolitickerNJ.com that he had raised approximately $200,000 for his primary bid against Medford Mayor Mayor Chris Myers, who at that point had raised about $275,000. 

Kelly said that he should have his final numbers for the quarter ready by the end of the week.  But he insisted that Adler’s huge cash reserves are not intimidating.