Camco Dems win round 1 of Cherry Hill dispute

Politico

14-07-2025

Good Monday morning!
A judge on Friday sided with the Camden County Democratic Committee in the Cherry Hill county committee dispute, finding that even though the slate of three dissident progressives easily beat a slate of 74 machine-backed candidates for Cherry Hill committee, the other 71 seats were effectively tied and should be filled by members of the losing slate.
'The question is what is the fairest thing to do,' said Judge Michael Kassel, who sits in Camden County. 'You have 74 vacancies, you have 77 people who want to fill them. Fair enough. Seems like the fairest thing is to give the top 74 vote-getters the job.'
Those sympathetic to the progressives expected this outcome, figuring they would have to appeal. One activist noted to me that Kassel in 2019 affirmed the county clerk's decision to boot progressive freeholder candidates off the ballot without a hearing. And after Friday's hearing, they complained about how Kassel let Camden County Democratic Committee attorney Bill Tambussi speak continuously, then interrupted the progressives' lawyer, Yael Bromberg, time after time.
As I watched the hearing Friday I was indeed struck by how many times Kassel interrupted Bromberg — more than two dozen times, by the Inquirer's count.
Kassel was confident in his decision that the result of the election was a 71-seat tie, acknowledging during the hearing that he expected it to be appealed either way. But he also said the case was 'unprecedented.'
What's clear is the ballot design was at fault for giving voters one oval for each slate instead of for each of the candidates. And Camden County Clerk Pam Lampitt said she had no choice but to design it that way, since Cherry Hill was too large a town to fit so many ovals on the ballot. But this is not a problem in any other county, because the others elect their county committee members by voting district. Had Camden County Democrats elected their committee members that way, they wouldn't have run into this problem.
In the end, this is just for control of the Democratic Party in one town. But it happens to be the biggest one in Camden County, in the heart of what had long been vaunted as New Jersey's most powerful Democratic machine. It was a self-own on the machine's part. And there's the poetic justice of the progressives' ballot placement likely playing a role in their landslide win, since during the days of the county line the Camden County Democrats were notorious for allegedly manipulating ballots to favor their candidates.
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WHERE'S MURPHY — No public schedule
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'It's a very bad habit of mine.' — Judge Kassel on interrupting Yael Bromberg, right before interrupting her again.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Vicky Flynn, Sarah Steward
WHAT TRENTON MADE
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TRUMP ERA
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LOCAL
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