ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Republican candidate in Atlantic County’s undecided 3rd District commissioner race is calling upon his opponent directly to let the voters decide the matter as opposed to the courts.
Andrew Parker – who lost a narrowly to Democrat Thelma Witherspoon (15,034 to 14,748) in November after the Democrat county clerk Ed McGettigan sent out the wrong mail-ballots to hundreds of voters – is waiting for a new election to decide the race and fill the open Altantic County commissioner seat. Governor Murphy is barring elections before April 20, 2021 due to COVID-19.
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Democrats are now suing in Superior Court to let the Democrat county committee fill the vacant seat pre-special election since, they argue, it was previously a Democrat seat.
Parker says that’s decidely undemocratic logic.
“We owe it to the voters to start this campaign positively. I’m asking you to join Assemblymen Vince Mazzeo and John Armato and me in calling on Ed McGettigan to step aside so you and I know that our special election will be run fairly and competently,” said Parker in his January 19th email to Witherspoon.
“For the good of Atlantic County, I ask that you immediately drop your lawsuit, pending court appeal and your request to obtain legal fees and costs from the taxpayers. Our voters have it hard enough trying to keep their jobs during the pandemic and make ends meet. They don’t need to be paying attorney fees to get you seated for a few months. I think we can both agree that sends the wrong message to the voters. Unfortunately, they’re already paying more than they should have to with the expensive special election because of Ed McGettigan’s horrendous mistake,” the Republican added. “Instead of fighting your campaign in court, let’s take our message to the voters. Let’s drop the multiple lawsuits and focus instead on the April 20 election ordered by the Superior Court. Let’s have a debate between you and me. We can ask the Mainland NAACP to moderate a candidate forum so you and I can talk about our vision for Atlantic County.”
There’s also a hypocrisy angle which Republicans in Atlantic say can’t be ignored. Specifically, Democrats have savaged Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R, NJ-02) for questioning last November’s election results.
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