Glenn Paulsen

Rev. Aubrey Fenton, a Republican Freeholder from Burlington County, with Rep. Jim SaxtonRev. Aubrey Fenton was as shocked as any other Republican to hear that 12-term Rep. Jim Saxton’s would not seek re-election. But after getting the news on Friday, Fenton shut himself off from the political world as he typically does on weekends, taking sanctuary in his church to focus on his Sunday sermon.

So it wasn’t until Monday that the 37-year-old Burlington County Freeholder saw published reports that Burlington County GOP leader Glenn Paulsen, who’s feuding with potential congressional candidate state Sen. Diane Allen -- the early favorite for the Republican nomination – was talking up a potential Fenton run.

Paulsen later told PolitickerNJ.com that Republicans ought to look into supporting the candidacy of Fenton, an African-American, as an opportunity for the national party to reach out to minority voters. Plus, he said, Fenton is more socially conservative than Allen, meshing with the national party’s stance on issues like abortion and gay marriage more than the moderate Allen.

Dawn Lacy served as a captain in the Air Force and was in charge of the security detail that defends a base from attack. 

Now the 36-year old acting chair of the Burlington County Republican Party believes her organization is under siege, not from a foreign invader, but from a local culture of bossism and fear.

When the New Jersey native fulfilled her five years of active duty in the military, she and her husband moved to Burlington, where she headed up the Young Republicans Club beginning in 2003. To this day she receives cautious praise from boss Glenn Paulsen for her recruitment efforts.

"She was good at GOTV," said Paulsen. "She felt that was something she could grow beyond."

Assemblywoman- elect Dawn Addiego is standing with Glenn Paulsen in the Burlington GOP warAfter feasting on the Democratic Party in the 8th district general election a week ago, Republicans promptly turned on each other in a continuing family fracas that today brought out a normally under-the-radar Republican operative who lit into Assemblywoman-elect Dawn Marie Addiego.

Irritated by Acting Party Chairwoman Dawn Lacy's post Election Day firing of two campaign strategists, Addiego on Tuesday issued a staunch-the-bleeding letter to Evesham Republicans in which she praised the "leadership" of Campaign Chairman Bill Layton and Campaign Manager Chris Russell - and ripped Lacy.

Will former GOP State Chairman David Norcross run for Congress?U.S. Rep. James Saxton's retirement has opened the floodgates, with over a dozen names pouring out as potential successors to the dozen-term Congressman. And many of those names hail from Ocean County, a solidly Republican locale that has never had a Congressman who called it home.

Ocean County politicians see this as a great opportunity to a long-deserved seat. But while they appear to have more aspirants than Burlington County, which makes up a roughly equal chunk of the district, so far no potential candidate has appeared from Ocean with the name recognition or draw of Diane Allen, who bobs to the surface of congressional hopefuls.

Short of drafting a celebrity to run, the best hope for any Ocean County Republican to win the nomination is an internal battle in Burlington County - a real possibility. Allen's current nemesis, GOP boss Glenn Paulsen, could make things more complicated for her as long as their two party factions are warring. Or former GOP State Chairman David Norcross, a veteran political player who has reportedly expressed interest in running for the seat, could wage a strong challenge as well.

State Sen. Diane Allen is a possible successor to retiring Rep. Jim SaxtonAlready locked in a mano-a-mano with potential U.S. Congressional candidate State Sen. Diane Allen, GOP boss Glenn Paulsen is now trying to fend off another prong of an uprising launched against him and his allies by Allen-ally Dawn Lacy, the party's acting county chairwoman.

A spat between the acting party chair and former chair boiled over after the election, when Lacy dismissed Paulsen confidants Bill Layton and Chris Russell, then secured party documents that she saw as the rightful purview of the acting chair and not Paulsen's surrogates.

"We need to professionalize this organization," says Lacy, who took the party's books out of the headquarters housed in a building owned in part by Paulsen.

Burlington County Republicans held off an aggressive and well-financed challenge from South Jersey Democrats this week, winning races for State Senate and Assembly in the 8th district -- a GOP pickup after Francis Bodine switched parties -- and contests for Freeholder and Sheriff.  Glenn Paulsen, who returned as the key party leader after a brief hiatus and helped depose Burlington County GOP Chairman Michael Warner, seems to be strong -- despite a public feud with State Senator Diane Allen.

A REAL OCTOBER SURPRISE:
REPUBLICANS ATTACKING REPUBLICANS
Asselta, Allen, Malone, Cardinale – Even Lance and DeCroce – Among Victims
Of GOP-Financed Assault Against Whitman Budgets

With an unprecedented attack against his own party's past fiscal practices, Burlington County Republican Boss Glenn Paulsen has essentially admitted that the GOP's decade of State House control was punctuated by irresponsible spending habits that exacerbated state debt.

In New Jersey, where politicians are often beholden to party bosses, having a State Senator publicly feuding with their own County Chairman just weeks before a general election is a somewhat rare occurrence.  This month, it’s happened twice, at opposite ends of the state.

State Senator Loretta Weinberg held a news conference to take on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero over what she calls government reform issues; Ferriero fought back, noting that Weinberg and her running mates are not exactly angels on some of the same things they want to reform.  State Senator Diane Allen send out a letter this week chastising political mentor, former Bergen County GOP Chairman Glenn Paulsen. 

State Sen. Diane Allen fired off an angry letter to the Burlington County Republican municipal chairs on Sunday, criticizing former GOP Chairman Glen Paulsen for meddling with her campaign in what appears to be a rift in the county organization.

In the letter, which Allen did not publicize, she wrote that Paulsen had, unbeknownst to her and her running mates, gone behind her back to her treasurer and essentially taken control of her campaign funds.

“This was done without the consent or knowledge of myself, Nancy (Griffin), Brian (Propp), or the former County Chairman,” wrote Allen.

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats have completely overtaken five of those counties, and the Republicans are now playing defense in the other five.