A big hat tip to David Wildstein of The New Jersey Globe who successfully lobbied to have today’s big Gloucester Republican chairmanship court fight livestreamed.
Quick recap: Stephen Pakradooni, a small businessman and former legislative candidate, challenged incumbent Chairwoman Jacci Vigilante for her post. At issue was when Vigilante’s term ends… now or next year? The conflict was brought to a boiling point by last month’s GOP primaries between Vigilante’s organization-backed candidates and the ultimately-successful slate supported by a coalition led by Atlantic County GOP Chairman Don Purdy.
Ultimately, the Gloucester County assignment judge sided with Vigilante and her attorney Matt Moench, the mayor of Bridgewater.
“I don’t find that this court should involve itself when there’s two competing interests in the bylaws,” ruled Judge Benjamin Telsey. “That’s the problem for the committee. The county committee has had two years if they felt that the clause requiring that the election take place in off years was not important anymore, then they’ve had two years to change that clause. They haven’t done that.”
A 2024 chair election means that the ultimate 2023 results may weigh heavily on the county organization’s direction. For example, is Vigilante able to mend fences with the opposing faction? Does the opposing faction come up short in the general election? Vigilante also now has time to fill possible county committee vacancies with potential allies.
There’s also a 2025 angle, of course: Vigilante, once a strong Ciattarelli supporter, is now aligned with Bill Spadea after this past spring’s raucous internal party warfare. Gloucester isn’t a particularely populous county, but it would be a very helpful bucket of votes for Team Spadea if Vigilante is able to solidify her position over the next year.
