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South Jersey Progressive Democrat Rena Margulis at the lectern addressing the Cherry Hill Township Council on Monday evening.

Community activist Rena Margulis stood before Cherry Hill Township Council on Monday evening and politely called out the Council members who ran in this month's Primary Election to serve as the town's representatives on the Camden County Democratic Committee.

Six hours earlier, that committee and State Sen. James Beach filed a lawsuit against Margulis and fellow Cherry Hill residents Susan Druckenbrod and David Stahl, who are the three South Jersey Progressive Democrats who handily defeated traditional Democrats for the 74 seats on the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee.

Now Margulis wanted to know if those sitting on Council in front of her would pursue claiming seats on the town committee despite 5,547 Cherry Hill voters checking the box for the group of Progressives and only 3,350 voting for the group of traditional Democratic Committee members in the primary. 

"Those of you who are running for election, especially, I would like you to consider whether or not you stand for a free and fair election and if you are appointed to this committee for which you lost, decidedly, will you accept that?" Margulis asked the Council members who had been on the ballot as traditional Democratic committee members. "Would this be something you would be proud of?"

Those who were running for the Democratic Committee in the primary with the traditional Democrats were Council members Jennifer Apell, William A. Carter III, Dan DiRenzo Jr., Sangeeta Doshi, Michele Golkow and Jill Hulnick. 

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The South Jersey Progressive Democrats listed three candidates. The Camden County Democratic Committee listed names for all 74 positions, including elected officials and members of Township boards. Note the only ovals are for either group and not individual candidates, as it is elsewhere on the ballot.

Margulis' Progressive Democrats group of three believes it now has the power to name other town residents to fill the 71 vacancies on the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee. The traditional Democrats, with power broker George E. Norcross III long pulling the strings, maintain the three Progressives were elected to the committee and the remaining 71 spots need to be filled by the candidates who were in the losing group on the ballot.

Responding to the Norcross Democrats' lawsuit, Superior Court Judge Michael J. Kassel on Monday afternoon "temporarily restrained and enjoined (the Progressive Democrats) from conducting an organizational meeting of the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee, adopting bylaws for the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee or attempting to fill the 71 open seats on the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee." A July 11 court date was set.

Does it all sound arcane and "inside baseball?" It isn't.

The surprise win by the Progressive Democrats could be a crack in the foundation of years of control of the Democratic party in South Jersey by Norcross, who now lives in Florida and two years ago declared he was pulling back from New Jersey politics.

Control of the Democratic Party at the county level means control of Camden County government and county municipalities like Cherry Hill.

Those in control may decide who gets local and county patronage jobs, who runs for office, who fills vacancies in elected offices and who sits on influential government boards. The group in power wields massive influence on which firms are hired by local governments for legal and engineering work — many of which have made significant political contributions to the party and its candidates.

The 74 members of the Cherry Hill Democratic Commitee control local politics but also have a strong voice with the 522-member Camden County Democratic Committee.

"I know that nobody expected us to win," Margulis said during the public comment period of the Council meeting on Monday. "One of the reasons I know that was because there were no nasty personal attacks directed against me."

After the election, that changed, she said.

"I started to get email suggesting that I would be embarrassed if I went ahead and fought this case and really that only shows that none of you were involved because you know that I really don't care at all about being embarrassed," Margulis told the Council members.

Longtime lawyer to the Norcross Democrats, William M. Tambussi of the Haddon Township firm of Brown & Connery LLP, filed the lawsuit and supporting documentation totaling 110 pages that seeks to stop the Progressives from taking over.

The winning Progressives have maintained there were two groups of candidates, one a winner and one a loser. The 5,547 voters elected the Progressives group, meaning that the three committee members now choose from other Cherry Hill residents to fill the 71 vacancies, according to the Progressives' view.

But the Norcross Democrats disagree.

"Effectively, they want to disenfranchise the 3,255 voters who gave the 74 tied candidates the next highest vote total and pack the committee with their friends," according to the lawsuit. "That is not how democracies work."

The Norcross Democrats contend all who voted — the 5,547 votes for the group of Progressives and 3,350 for the group of traditional Democrats — in essence elected the three Progressives and 71 of the 74 candidates they supported.

 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Power Play: Maverick Cherry Hill Democrats unseat traditional Democrats from influential committee.

 

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