By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Incumbent Committeeman Robert Maybury (D-Westampton) is not seeking reelection in one of Burlington County’s more closely watched local races of 2015, Save Jerseyans.
According to a source in attendance, the veteran Democrat politician announced his decision at Westampton’s September 8th committee meeting in front of a crowd of almost 100 attendees. Maybury also reportedly defended his decision to support Fire/EMS Chief Jason Carty‘s appointment to a $90,000-a-year post as the embattled appointee has, paraphrasing, proven to be a great chief at least in Maybury’s estimation.
You can get all of the background you need right here on the Maybury/Carty alleged quid pro quo scandal but, suffice it to say, the Democrat’s departure from the ticket under an ethics cloud won’t quiet the controversy anytime soon.
“Maybury’s 11th-hour resignation is proof that the incumbent political machine was hearing the same thing we were in local neighborhoods during our door-to-door campaign,” said GOP Committee challenger Abraham Lopez in a statement. “Mr. Maybury was rapidly losing support around town and the incumbent political machine knew that replacing him was the only chance Democrats had to cling to their 5-0 grip on power in town.”
Democrats waited until the 11th hour as provided by N.J. law to facilitate Maybury’s departure from ticket. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 19:13-20(d), September 10th is the last day to fill a vacancy for a 2015 primary nominee.
Lopez and his Republican running mate Maureen Smith-Hartman, a prominent local realtor, will now face off against Democrat incumbent Robert Thorpe and an as-of-yet announced replacement for Maybury on the November ballot. We should know shortly for the reason discussed in the preceding paragraph.
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Republicans switched out candidates this year and last year. Pretty bad they have no issues to run on that they have to beg for press about a non issue. Westampton will stay democratic because the republicans there are RINOs.
Hey, Mr. Lex; come out from behind the bushes again and be a man. No issues, eh? Apartment complex deal done under the Committee’s tent, hiring of an unqualified head of fire and emergency services, no aggressive actions taken by Westampton Committee members to engage the public in the Virtua Hospital deal, one that will have massive implications on the infrastructure of the community? You want more? Nah; I’ll save it for the campaign that exposes your bosses on the issues that the community is already quite attuned to.
LEX: you must be completely clueless if you think there are no issues in Westampton. The Republicans are running to eliminate corruption, cronyism, establish fiscal restraint, create transparency, and actually take the time to understand what taxpayers want – the Democrats have done a horrible job at ALL of this. Able to manage only the most rudimentary administrative tasks, the Dems have angered many residents of all political stripes by backroom dealing the Virtua project, for example, while appointing friends and allies who are woefully inept to key positions. No, the Dems have had plenty of time to resolve many issues – they have failed. So its time for moderate Republicans to take charge and get Westampton back on track. BTW, I’m a Democrat and have been so my entire adult life – that’s how bad it is here in Westampton right now.
I suspect that “Lex” is really Mayor Chang… Sounds exactly like her. She has her head in the sand and claims that all is well in the township… Anyone who disagrees with her is either a racist or a sexist.