Jeff Morris

After a long and bitter fight, Bill Fey is the new chairman of the Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee.  

Fey, the former municipal chairman of Franklin Township, beat incumbent Loran Oglesby by “a significant margin,” according to Washington Township Municipal Chairman Jeff Morris.  

Oglesby, hoping to retain a position in the party, was nominated for vice chair after losing the first round.  Members are currently voting on whether to elect her or Wenonah Municipal Chairwoman Barbara Capelli to that position.

Gloucester County Republican Chairwoman Loran Oglesby, who nominated herself to run for freeholder this year as a placeholder candidate, said that she may remain on the ballot if she wins the June primary - depending on the outcome of the party's leadership contest between her and opponent Bill Fey the week after the primary.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens on June 9, but Mr. Fey and his group made it extremely difficult to find another freeholder candidate," she said.  "The people we did speak with said they didn't want their names drubbed through web sites with personal attacks.

Oglesby, the two-term head of a beleaguered party that holds no county-wide offices or state legislative seats, faces a revolt led by Fey and former freeholder candidate Phyllis Scapellato.  Not only is Fey challenging Oglesby for the chairmanship on June 9, but his faction is running a full slate of candidates against the organization's partial slate.  Add to that gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan's team of candidates, and there are three slates competing for the chance to run a long-shot campaign against well-entrenched Democrats.

Oglesby is paired with Mullica Hill resident Stephen W. Austin for freeholder.  On Fey's team, running with the slogan "Gloucester County Republicans" are Scapellato and Larry Wallace, who both ran with the organization's backing last year.  Lonegan's slate has West Deptford resident Matthew Burns and Mantua resident Ron Brittin running for freeholder.

The state legislative races are another story.  In the 3rd District, there's a four-way primary race between Art Marchand, George Shivery, Lee Lucas and Robert Villare.  Marchand and Shivery are bracketed together and have the backing of Fey's faction.  Although many insiders consider Lucas and Villare the Oglesby-backed candidates, she never officially endorsed them.  In District 4, Fey-backed Domenick DiCicco is paired with the Camden GOP's Eugene E.T. Lawrence.  But Oglesby-backed Andrew Savicky, who is running alone, is taking them on in the primary.

Bill Fey, the Republican municipal leader in Franklin Township, announced today that he will challenge incumbent Loran Oglesby for Gloucester County GOP Chairman.

"These times call for strong leadership and a change in direction of our party," Fey said in a statement.  "Hopefully Loran will act in the best interest of the party and step aside gracefully."

Fey said that Barbara Capelli, the Wenonah GOP Municipal Chair and a former Councilwoman, will run on his ticket for Vice Chair, and that Monroe Republican Club President Randy Ford will run for Secretary.  The anti-Oglesby ticket will also include candidates Republican State Committee: Washington Township GOP Chairman Jeff Morris and '08 Freeholder candidate Phyllis Scapellato. 

Phyllis Scapellato and Larry Wallace, the Republican candidates for Gloucester County Freeholder in 2008, want GOP County Chairman Loran Oglesby to resign.

Led by a former Republican freeholder candidate, critics of Gloucester County Republican Chairwoman Loran Oglesby have launched an offensive intended to force her from office.

"If she cares anything about this party she'll resign now -- step down gracefully while she still has good favor," said Phyllis Scapellato, a school administrator who unsuccessfully ran for freeholder last year, coming a little under 14,000 votes short of the least popular Democrat, Freeholder Warren Wallace. 

Oglesby is up for reelection in June, but her detractors would like to see her removed before then, so that she does not have a role in picking the next slate of county-wide candidates for the beleaguered minority party.

Scapellato, who thinks that her top vote-getting running mate, Larry Wallace, might have beaten Warren Wallace had it not been for Oglesby's management, has started a Web site, itsnotlorensparty.com that states its sole aim as to "begin the search for a new chairman of the Gloucester County Republican Executive Committee."

Gloucester County Republican Chairwoman Loran Oglesby may back Anne Evans Estabrook for U.S. Senate, but Estabrook won’t automatically get the party line there.

Gloucester County GOP hires Alexi Vandenberg as Political Director

The Gloucester County Republican Party reviewed tax rates supplied by the Gloucester County Board of Taxation and discovered a disturbing statistic. Towns controlled by the Democrat Party had an average increase in the municipal tax rate more than double the average increase of towns controlled by the Republican Party. These are comparing the 2007 rate v/s the 2006 rate.