Aubrey Fenton

Former Gov. Thomas Kean and Scott Morrison of Camden County at the Hilton: Politicker photo

MINNEAPOLIS - From Hurricaine Gustav, to the Labor Day late night cruise with the Crowleys, to Bush cringe, to the Sarah Palin story, to the Blue Grille Bar in the Hilton, to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) and back to the Blue Grille, and back to the East, New Jersey Republicans led by State Chairman Tom Wilson forged a convention of small but diehard members. 

Not long ago, State Sen. Diane Allen thought she would be headed to St. Paul.

According to Allen (R-Burlington), she informed the leadership of the Burlington County Republicans that she would like to attend early this year.

“I was led to believe that would occur.  But in the end, the leadership of the Burlington County Republicans I guess went a different way because my name didn’t turn up on the ballot,” she said. “I called Bill Layton a week before (the filing deadline) and asked what I needed to do.  He said ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it’ And indeed he did.”

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Much has been made of just how white the New Jersey Republican delegation is. But Burlington County Freeholder Aubrey Fenton, who sticks out as one of only two black New Jersey Republicans who have traveled to the Twin Cities to attend the Republican National Convention, said the party is on the right track in recruiting a diverse base.

“It’s improving, and as you see more and more examples of the inclusion it will continue to advance. I’ve been surprised with the percentage of minorities and women that I’ve seen at the national convention at large,” he said. “I think it’s a lot better than it was, and it will be a lot better than it is.”

GOP State Chairman Tom WilsonMINNEAPOLIS - A floor blanketed with white faces at the Republican National Convention doesn’t mean the GOP - or their presidential nominee - lack a universal message, argues State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson.

Coming off their convention in Denver last week, Democrats urged observers to note the contrast between their ethnically diverse party and the Republicans.

"When you have a quota system, it guarantees the result you saw in Denver," Wilson shot back. "Look, you have one million Republicans in New Jersey, and 52 New Jerseyans sitting on the floor, representing them. These 52 people are there day in and day out doing the hardcore party activism.

"Our hardcore party activists are predominantly middle class, white New Jersey," Wilson added.

It’s getting acrimonious in what Democrats hope will be Battleground Burlington.

The minority party in that county today stung their rivals with a video on their website detailing what party chairman Rick Perr says is a misuse of taxpayer dollars to further a bloated and beleaguered Republican Party.

"There is one fact that is undeniable," said Perr. "Taxes and spending in Burlington County have risen dramatically in the past five years. It is unacceptable that while Burlington County residents continue to pay more in taxes, these insiders are living off of the public trough."

In less than a year, 19 or 20 of what Perr calls "Paulsen’s 20 Republican Investment Team" (a nod to former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glen Paulsen) have each guaranteed $30,000 in campaign loans to the Burlington County GOP, according to the Democrats.

They couldn’t beat the GOP machine outright, so they’ve decided to toss a wrench into the Burlington County freeholders’ race.

Republican elected officials Jon Shevelew and Debbie Sarcone announced today that they intend to back the Democratic team of Chris Brown and Mary Anne Reinhart.

Shevelew, the Republican Mayor of Shamong, and Sarcone, the only Republican elected official in Evesham, ran off the line together as freeholder candidates in the Republican primary.

At the time, Burlington County Republican Chairman Bill Layton called them "bugs on the windshield" in the face of GOP Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton and his running mate, Freeholder Stacy Jordan.

Bill Layton says he must have been in diapers when the Democrats had a freeholder in Burlington County.

"It was the early 1980s anyway," said the Republican Party chairman, who unanimously won re-election at his party’s re-organization meeting last week and champions GOP Freeholder Aubrey Fenton and his running mate, Stacy Jordan.

The history doesn’t dim the enthusiasm of Layton’s rival, Rick Perr, chair of the Burlington County Democratic Organization, who believes this is the year his candidates for freeholder, Chris Brown and Mary Anne Reinhart, can win.

"Looking back on 2007, it wasn’t a good year for Democrats," admitted Perr. "We assumed the anti-Republican sentiment we saw in 2006 would build up to a crescendo."

It didn’t happen.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr criticized Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton for not forcing Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman John Comegno to resign in the wake of his guilty plea to drunk driving.  

Comegno pleaded guilty last week to driving under the influence of alcohol.  A judge suspended his license for three months, ordered him to pay nearly $953 in fines and $969 in restitution for an accident he caused in January.

Comegno told the Burlington County Times last week that Fenton, a Republican, told him that he will keep him on as chairman. 

Former GOP State Chairman David Norcross says he won't seek Jim Saxton's seat

The field of potential Burlington County candidate to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton cleared up today, with Republican National Committeeman David Norcross and Freeholder Aubrey Fenton both removing their names from consideration and throwing their support behind the county’s presumptive favorite candidate, Lockheed Martin Vice President Chris Myers.

Myers, 42, the Deputy Mayor of Medford, is the chosen candidate of Burlington County GOP power broker Glenn Paulsen, and has the tacit approval of Saxton. He now looks almost certain to become that county’s chosen candidate.

Norcross, 64, was considered a top tier potential challenger. A prolific fundraiser, Norcross has a long political resume as a former U.S. Senate candidate and GOP state chairman. He currently serves as co-chair of Mitt Romney’s New Jersey campaign.

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.