Rick Perr

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.

Assemblyman Rick Merkt forced two Democratic County Chairmen to apologize for filing an ethics complaint against himTwo Democrats today publicly withdrew an ethics complaint they filed against Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Morris) last year.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr and former Somerset County Democratic Chairman Elia Pelios last year filed a complaint with the Joint Committee on Ethical Standards alleging that Merkt had violated the state’s conflicts of interest law and the legislative code of ethics related to his vote on the 2002 budget.

The ethics complaint, which was also filed against six other Repulbican legislators, was dismissed a month later after the committee found that it went beyond the statute of limitations. But Merkt took particular offense to it, filing a lawsuit against the the two Democrats charging libel and defamation of character.

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. 

South Jersey Democrats threw a punch at Chris Myers today, just as the third district Republican congressional candidate was getting ready to hold a press conference hitting back at Jack Kelly, his Republican rival for the nomination.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr today slammed Myers as a “pawn” of Republican bosses for accepting money from the “Corrupt Burlington County GOP Machine.”

At issue are two donations that show up in Myers’s Federal Election Commission filings: $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen, and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr called on Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman John Comegno II to step down today in the wake of his drunk driving arrest Monday night.

“The allegations against Mr. Comegno are extremely troublesome,” said Perr. “Public officials must hold themselves to a higher standard. Mr. Comegno is also a lawyer, and his alleged refusal to submit to a breathalyzer and flight from the accident scene are concerning.”

Pre-Iowa, they thought it was going to be a cakewalk, but supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton insist that initial jolt of dread between Iowa and New Hampshire has turned into excitement, while the supporters of Sen. Barack Obama say they are excited - and on guard for truth-twisting.

Obama’s victory in South Carolina last night - his second in the process so far - made the Clinton machine in New Jersey change gears again as they get ready to try to roll over Obama’s grassroots operations on Feb. 5.

"Obviously, we got a late start because people were taking some things for granted," said Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, who in the lead-up to Obama’s win gathered about 25 people at the Ewing Township Library on Saturday to help prepare them for phone-banking duties on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

GOP incumbent Dennis Roohr was re-elected to the New Hanover Township Committee yesterday, defeating Democrat Sharon Atkinson by a 191-176 margin in a special election to break a 170-170 tie in the November 2007 contest.  This is the second Republican victory this month in tie-breaker elections; the GOP won a mayoral race in Matawan.

This was the first electoral test of the new Burlington GOP Chairman, Bill Layton.  Atkinson had the active support of Democratic County Chairman Rick Perr.

Ethics complaints filed against seven GOP legislators by Democratic County Chairmen Richard Perr of Burlington and Elia Pelios of Somerset have been dismissed by the Joint Committee on Ethical Standards.  One Republican, Assemblyman Richard Merkt, says he may file a defamation lawsuit against Perr and Pelios for falsely accusing them of unethical conduct.  

A statement issued by Merkt labeled the complaints a "politically-motivated smear by state Democrats to divert attention from the recent federal criminal indictment of Democrat Senator and kingpin Wayne Bryant, as well as numerous ongoing federal criminal probes into Democrat legislators who steered state grants so they could profit personally."

The Burlington Democratic Chairman wants Republican Nancy Whatley-Griffin to sign an affidavit confirming that she isn't runing for State Assembly just so she can get a judgeship down the road.  

"It's simple, all she has to do is sign this affidavit and prove to the taxpayers of Burlington County that she has not agreed to run for office in exchange for a lucrative political appointment," said Richard Perr, the Democratic leader.  "The Burlco Republicans have been engaged in something-for-something politics for years. It's time for Whatley-Griffin to stand against this deeply rooted corruption and prove that Judgeships are not for sale. If she refuses to sign this affidavit her silence will confirm that she has boarded the sinking Burlco GOP ship."

Democrats are depicting Evesham’s municipal races tomorrow as a Little Bighorn scenario in which the Republican Party has fallen back and circled the wagons around Burlington County’s power center, where the GOP has traditionally maintained control.

The Democrats believe they can ride in tomorrow with 40 people working the phones and over 100 campaign workers on the ground going door-to-door, and sweep former Philadelphia Eagles kicking coach Randy Brown to victory over long-serving incumbent Mayor Gus Tamburro. They say they’re primed to win in this suburban community of 42,275, where last year Sen. Robert Menendez scratched out a win.