Loran Oglesby

One month into his term as Gloucester County Republican Chairman, Bill Fey is rebuilding the party almost from scratch - both literally and figuratively.

He and other party activists are repainting the walls in the party's Woodbury headquarters, cleaning it and working with the landlord to get some basic repairs done.  They're installing a new phone system and adding six new computers.

Fey has also commissioned an audit to make sure "the books are straight and ready to roll," expanding the party's leadership to include three executive directors, and scheduled the party's first fundraiser since the leadership transition.  Currently, the party has "a couple thousand" dollars on hand.

Fey took over the party last month after a drawn out fight with two-term former Chairwoman Loran Oglesby, which started after the 2008 freeholder candidates complained about a lack of assistance from the county party.  His task now is to bring it back to relevance after a 12 year spell of failing to win a county-wide office.

Aside from his own county-wide candidates, Fey has met with the state's Republican leadership and some fellow South Jersey Republican chairmen, two of whom are also new to the job: Michael Facemyer in Salem County and Bob Greco in Cumberland County.

"We're learning, talking and communicating with each other more than has ever done before," said Fey.

But there's one issue Fey said he hasn't had to deal with: reuniting a party after a leadership spat that lasted half a year.

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Ousted Gloucester County Republican Chairwoman Loran Oglesby let loose on her successor, Bill Fey, in a pointed statement released this afternoon, saying that his victory marked “The end of Ronald Reagan's Republican Party in Gloucester County.”

Fey trounced Oglesby at last night’s reorganization meeting by a margin that sources put at greater than two-to-one.  Official results were not publicized.  It was the end of a long and nasty battle.  

Oglesby complained Fey refused to support her for vice-chair after her defeat.  She lost that election, too, and by a wider margin.  

“Mr. Fey demonstrated no interest in generating party unity by not extending an olive branch to me, by supporting my bid for vice-Chair. This would have been a golden opportunity for Mr. Fey to show the Republicans of Gloucester County that he would stand by his own words to unite this party,” she said. “Mr. Fey failed the test miserably. I, as Chairman, offered Mr. Fey the opportunity to bring peace to our splintered party by asking Mr. Fey to join me and accept the vice-chairmanship. Mr. Fey declined my offer and continued his path of destruction, which once again proves Mr. Fey is not a man of his word. Mr. Fey's lack of vision and acknowledgement of his own personal agenda, was self evident. A good leader would have known this was the only course of action that truly would have set the Gloucester County Republican Party on the road to recovery."

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Newly elected Gloucester County Republican Chairman Bill Fey said tonight that his work starts immediately.

“We’re meeting with the candidates in the upcoming week, find out what their expectations are and what we can do,” he said

Fey said he will work to facilitate a better relationship between the county party and municipal-level Republican candidates.  He also called for unity with the party’s other faction, headed by ousted chair Loran Oglesby.

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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.

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Gloucester County Republicans are facing a contested race for the leadership of a party that has not won a countywide election in twelve years, just as gubernatorial and legislative races present a possible opportunity for victory.  In last week's GOP primary, Freeholder and State Committee candidates running with gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan beat slates supported by Republican County Chair Loran Oglesby and her opponent in tomorrow's County Chair election, Bill Fey.  Oglesby finished sixth in a field of six Freeholder candidates.

If Republicans are to win the race for Governor, they'll need to compete in places like Gloucester, which have voted consistently for Democratic statewide candidates in recent years.  But while Democrats win Gloucester, their margins of victory may not be insurmountable.

Democrats have an edge in voter registration, but 42% of the voters are not affiliated with either party.  Those are similar numbers to Atlantic (45%) and Burlington (41%) counties, where Republicans control the Freeholder boards.   The last Republicans to win a Freeholder races in Gloucester County were Mary Virginia Weber in 1995, and Daniel Mangini and Stephen Atkinson in 1994.

The last Republican victories in Gloucester were in 1997, when Chuck Gill was re-elected Sheriff and James Hogan was elected County Clerk.  Gill did not seek re-election in 2000, and Hogan switched parties before running for re-election in 2002.

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Former Franklin Township municipal chairman Bill Fey, who’s taking on Gloucester County Republican Chairwoman Loran Oglesby at the party’s convention tomorrow night, said that Oglesby is doing everything she can to make it difficult for his faction to organize.  

Fey, who stepped down from his municipal chairmanship on Thursday, said Oglesby informed him of the time and place of the event Saturday afternoon -- giving him the requisite three days notice, but no more.  He said that questions sent to Oglesby by Washington Township Chairman Jeff Morris have not been answered.  

“We don’t even know the rules of this thing, who’s allowed in.  I have legal counsel that I demand be with me,” he said.  

The meeting is scheduled for the firehouse in Thorofare – an unincorporated community in West Deptford – at 7:30 tomorrow night. Read More >

On Tuesday, Gloucester Republicans will decide whether to stick with four year chair Loran Oglesby or choose a new leader, Bill Fey. 

It will be the culmination of an internal power struggle that began when last year’s Republican Freeholder candidates, having suffered a loss in the general election, publicly criticized Oglesby for an alleged lack of leadership.  Fey, the Franklin Municipal Chair, took up their cause and became the leader of an anti-Oglesby movement that ran its own slate of candidates in Tuesday’s primary. 

The primary results, however, do little to presage which faction will win on Tuesday night.  Oglesby lost her bid for the Republican nomination for freeholder along with running mate Stephen Austin (Oglesby, unable to recruit a candidate in time for the filing deadline, ran as a placeholder).  But the anti-Oglesby candidates running with Fey’s faction – Phyllis Scapellato and Larry Wallace – also lost.  The winners, Matthew Burns and Ronald Brittin, ran under gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan.   

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In Gloucester County, two Republican Freeholder candidates aligned with gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan defeated slates run by two factions preparing for next week’s County Chairman battle.  Matthew Burns (3,257) and Ronald Brittin (3,023) led Larry Wallace (2,593) and Phyllis Scapellato (2,477), who are part of the anti-organization slate, and Stephen Austin (2,461) and Gloucester County GOP Chair Loran Oglesby (2,293).  Despite the local success of his ticket, Lonegan lost Gloucester County to Christopher Christie.

 

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Worth watching on Tuesday: Democratic mayoral primaris in Edison, Englewood, Morristown,  Atlantic City, Plainfield, Camden and East Orange, and Republican intra-party fights in Bergen, Gloucester and Passaic counties.

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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.

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