Michael Warner

Lobbyist Bill Layton will become the new Burlington County GOP Chairman. Dawn Lacy, who became Acting Chair when Col. Michael Warner stepped down earlier this year, will preside over the meeting today, but told PolitickerNJ.com that she will not seek election to the post.

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.

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.

Democratic State Senate candidate Seema Singh had some trouble achieving at last one of her strategic objectives last weekend while campaigning at the Irish Music Festival last weekend at the Hibernian Lodge in Hamilton Township: she appeared a bit frustrated by her inability to buy some bottled water.  Singh asked a volunteer manning the Guiness booth: "Is that all you sell at this fair, beer?"

Col. Michael Warner resigned tonight as Burlington County Republican Chairman.  Vice Chairwoman Dawn Lacey is serving as Acting Chairman, and lobbyist Bill Layton -- ex-County Chairman Glenn Paulsen's next door neighbor, is running the county organization.

Burlington County GOP Chairman Michael Warner will resign his post at 6PM tomorrow, sources say.  Lobbyist Bill Layton is expected to become the next County Chairman.

A group of Burlington County Republican leaders, including some of the candidates running this fall, have called on GOP County Chairman Michael Warner to resign. The group met with Warner and expressed their lack of confidence in him and their disappointment with his record as party leader.

The leading contender to replace Warner is Bill Layton, a lobbyist and former Republican State Committee Political Director.

Warner has been taking heat for Assemblyman Francis Bodine’s party switch, and for the GOP’s loss of control in Evesham in the May municipal elections.

Burlington County Republicans are denying a published report that Col. Michael Warner will resign as GOP County Chairman and that his predecessor, Glenn Paulsen, will return to the post.  Some Democratic insiders have been suggesting that Warner could face a challenge after losing control of Evesham in last week's municipal elections, but the Chairman has been on vacation this week and no changes -- if any -- have been finalized.

MOORESTOWN - They used to ride Eisenhower about his golf trips, but since Ike had liberated Europe they tended to look the other way.

Not so for the Burlington County Republicans when it came to Assemblyman Francis Bodine.

Off-loaded by Republicans last month, Bodine leapt into the waiting arms of U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews and the Democratic Party in Moorestown on Thursday, announcing his intention to run as a Democrat for State Senate.