A court battle continues over which group of Cherry Hill Democrats — South Jersey Progressive Democrats or traditional Democrats backed by power broker George E. Norcross III — should make up the local 74-member Democratic committee.
The three Cherry Hill residents elected in the June primary to run the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee on Friday asked the state appeals court to reverse a preliminary injunction that prevents them from filling 71 vacancies.
State Sen. James Beach and the Norcross-backed Camden County Democratic Committee sued the Progressive Democrats after the primary election, contending the 71 vacancies had to be filled only from selecting from names on the 74-member Norcross slate that lost the election. They maintained that the three candidates elected to the committee do not constitute a quorum.
State Superior Court Judge Michael J. Kassel on July 11 imposed the preliminary injunction preventing the Progressive Democrats from filling vacancies.
"The order granting preliminary injunction should be reversed and the matter should be ordered to be dismissed," the Progressive Democrats' lawyer, Yael Bromberg of Bromberg Law LLC of New York City, wrote in Friday's brief, requesting oral arguments before the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division.
As a slate, Susan Druckenbrod, Rena Margulis and David Stahl won June's primary election for the 74-member Cherry Hill Democratic Committee. The Norcross slate listed 74 candidates but lost. Cherry Hill Democratic voters backed the Progressives as a group over the Norcross Democrats as a group by a vote of 5,547 to 3,350.
At stake is control of the Cherry Hill Democratic committee and heavy voting representation on the 522-member Camden County Democratic Committee.
Over time, members of the local committee shape who is elected to office in Cherry Hill, which is South Jersey's largest municipality where Democrats now have a near-automatic win in general elections. The committee's duties include candidate selection and choosing citizens to fill elected offices when they become vacant between elections.
The Progressive Democrats have contended that Cherry Hill voters selected them because they are fed up with the long-standing control of town politics by the Norcross Democrats.
Bromberg's brief contends that "Cherry Hill voters voted for change, and a local culture of historical exclusion from democratic engagement."
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General filed its stand on the case, stating in July that the Norcross Democrats "seek to rewrite the rules of the election."
Altering the rules "carries the same risks of severely undermining voters' confidence in the electoral process, discouraging civic participation, confusing voters, and depriving voters of their right to select representatives of their choice," according to the "friend of the court" motion by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.
In her brief, Bromberg said that the Norcross Democrats "sought to bar defendants from: 1) conducting an organizational meeting; 2) adopting new bylaws, although defendants had already met and passed bylaws; and 3) attempting to fill the 71 remaining vacancies of the CHDC through an open process, which defendants already initiated with popular, wide community engagement."
The Progressive Democrats' goal, she wrote, is "create a vibrant and accessible municipal committee, and to ensure local representation by 'each voting district in Cherry Hill, so no district is left unrepresented.' "
"Community members, including individuals affiliated with the losing CCDC slate, reached out independently, directly or via backchannels, to indicate their interest in being considered to join the newly constituted committee," according to the brief.
Other 70and73.com coverage of the issue
- Judge sides with Norcross Democrats in Cherry Hill Democratic Committee dispute, but battle rages on.
- Power Play: Maverick Cherry Hill Democrats unseat traditional Democrats from influential committee.
- If the primary election was an 'earthquake' for New Jersey, the epicenter was in Camden County.
- Post election: County Democrats sue maverick Cherry Hill Democratic group to keep it from taking over.
- Lawsuit by Cherry Hill Democrat faction a 'blatant power grab,' say the maverick Democrats who won.
- NJ AG: Wrong lawsuit decision in Cherry Hill Democrats dispute could undermine voter confidence.
