Republicans believe – with good reason – that they’re on the verge of seizing control of Gloucester County government for the first time in a generation, and Democrats’ attacks are correspondingly growing increasingly desperate.
“Gloucester County Democrats are as desperate in their political attacks as they were in the immediate aftermath of the tragic death of K9 Ember,” shot back Gloucester County GOP Chairwoman Jacci Vigilante in response to the latest Democrat mailer. “In the past several months the only thing scary in a Gloucester County backyard was Democrats burying K9 Ember in the fire marshal’s backyard before the prosecutor’s office was notified of her death.”
The mailer in question urges voters to take Republicans at “their word,” and the chairwoman says it’s ironic advice.
“The reverse side of the mailer states that politicians should be taken at ‘their word.’” added Vigilante, who is also an attorney. “We should take politicians at their word and remember that in an interview after the public’s discovery of K9 Ember’s death, County Commissioner Director Frank DiMarco said ‘everything was hitting the fan’ when informed of Ember’s death by County Administrator and County Democratic Chairman Chad Bruner early on the day it apparently occurred. We can only imagine what Mr. DiMarco meant by ‘everything was hitting the fan.”
No charges have been brought to date in the death of Ember and a second dog; the former animal’s death led to a robust turnout at the September commissioners’ meeting.
“Will we ever be told by Mr. DiMarco exactly what was hitting the fan? Who made the decision to bury K9 Ember and her companion in the fire marshal’s backyard?” Vigilante continued. “Who helped dig the grave and create the memorial? And most importantly who knew what and when? Two dogs dying tragic deaths, burying those dogs and notifying high ranking Democrat party officials and elected Democrats of those deaths without bothering to notify the County Prosecutor are the only scary things that have happened in a Gloucester County backyard in recent months.”
2021 GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli carried the county by 10-points last fall, and Republicans picked up two commissioner seats and the sheriff’s office. The party is hoping to seal the deal this November and in so doing cement the South Jersey Machine’s decline which began in 2019 with the loss of LD1.
