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Vol. 4 – No. 43 ♦
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July 11, 2020 – July 19, 2020
Long Lines, Hours of Waiting Plague Opening Day of NJMVC Facilities
PRIMED FOR BATTLE
Some Patrons Turned Away; Murphy Pledges to ‘Do Better’ By Andy Milone Staff Writer
Photo By Bill Bonvie
Freshman Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, with his family in tow, after submitting his ballot in one of the 3rd District’s 10 secure drop boxes.
Ex-CEO David Richter Emerges from a Caustic GOP Primary to Challenge Andy Kim for His 3rd Congressional District Seat, Although with a Grudging Reception from BurlCo Republicans By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
MOUNT HOLLY—The prospect of a highly contentious presidential race this November has not diminished the tension of what now promises to be a nail-biter of a battle for New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District seat with the decisive emergence of a Republican challenger to freshman Democratic Rep. Andy Kim in the July 7 primary. Based on a tally of slightly more than half the anticipated votes, the remainder of which had another week to arrive in the form of mail-in ballots, former Hill International CEO David Richter was being hailed the following morning as the clear choice of GOP voters in the district. While Richter’s rival, former Burlington County Freeholder Director Kate Gibbs managed to attain a modest lead in that county, it was not nearly enough to overcome a sizable majority who voted for Richter in the Ocean County sector of the district, whose GOP nominating convention he won back in February, giving him a total of 23,229 votes compared to 13,224 for Gibbs as of the evening of July 8 with 65 percent of the vote having been reported. Oddly enough, both Gibbs and Richter were endorsed by the Burlington County Republican Committee, when Richter was running in the neighboring 2nd District against then-Democratic incumbent Jeff Van Drew. But when the latter changed his political affiliation to Republican after refusing to vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump, Richter withdrew from that race
and opted to run against Kim instead, competing with Gibbs in the process. Gibbs, in a concession statement forwarded to the media via email by her campaign manager around midnight following the closing of the polls, said that while the primary didn’t have the outcome she had hoped for, she was “extremely proud of the race we ran,” would “always be grateful for the support of all those who stood by and with me,” and “will continue to fight for what is right and stand up for conservative principles.” One of her chief supporters, Burlington County GOP Chairman Sean Earlen, indicated that he is not quite ready to fully embrace Richter’s candidacy, however. “Unfortunately, primaries like this bring out the worst in our party,” Earlen wrote in an email to the Pine Barrens Tribune, which had asked for his response to the results. “The only real winner was Andy Kim, watching, taking notes, and fundraising from the sidelines. “Mr. Richter ran an aggressive, hardnosed campaign that has earned him the right to appear on the Burlington County Republican line in November. That being said, Mr. Richter has many fences to mend in Burlington County after his numerous unnecessary attacks on party leaders, committee members, and volunteers whose support he will need on Election Day. I am hopeful he will do the right thing in the coming weeks to unite the party heading into the fall.” Earlen added that he was “very proud of the campaign Kate Gibbs and her team
ran,” contending that she has “always been a fighter for Burlington County” and has worked for over a decade to help get local, county, state, and federal Republicans elected. The GOP chairman also thanked Gibbs “for all she has done and will continue to do for Burlington County and Republicans up and down the state.” Whether Gibbs herself will now back Richter after having traded a number of personal insults and allegations with him during a caustic primary campaign was even more dubious from what she told this newspaper in a brief phone conversation on the eve of the primary. “I know exactly what I’ll be doing this fall, no matter what happens—working for the Burlington County Republican team, as I have every other fall for the past decade,” said Gibbs, who, on the eve of the election, had not expected to know its outcome for a week due to it being a mostly vote-by-mail election given the Coronavirus pandemic, with ballots postmarked June 7 having seven days to arrive at the county Board of Elections. After it was pointed out to her that Richter, in a previous statement to this newspaper, had said he would support her had the results been reversed, even though he doubted she was capable of beating Kim, Gibbs declared, “David Richter has proven himself time and time again to be a complete phony and willing to lie, so I don’t really take him at his word.” Kim, who ran unopposed for re-election See BATTLE/ Page 7
CAMDEN—Patrons waited in long lines for hours this past week outside the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s (NJMVC) licensing and vehicle centers (previously fullservice agencies where all transactions could be done) for in-person services being offered by the NJMVC for the first time in the nearly four months since Chief Administrator Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton announced the closure of all agency and road testing facilities on March 15 to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. A couple hundred patrons were already waiting when the licensing center in Camden finally opened at 8 a.m. July 7, forming a long line around the parking lot with some carrying umbrellas for shade and sitting in lawn chairs to rest their legs while awaiting their turn to enter the facility, which only allowed a limited number of people inside at a time due to social distancing requirements. Not many of the people standing in line outside were practicing social distancing, however. T he Camden of fice was one of the three centers closest to the western side of the Pinelands performing license and ID transactions, the other two being in West Deptford and Delanco. Medford and Manahawkin NJMVC facilities have been designated registration centers, and no longer offers licensing transactions. George Lee Hudson, of Camden, arrived at the Camden facility around 7:15 a.m. to obtain a new driver’s license, after his current one had expired on June 30. He told this newspaper that it took him until 2:30 p.m. to finally be able to leave with that new license. But other than the long wait in the heat, Hudson said he was satisfied with the service and had no complaints. Others who arrived 45 minutes after Hudson, about the time of the licensing center’s opening, weren’t as lucky, having to leave emptyhanded. At about 1:30 p.m., Manager Michael Leonetti and a sheriff officer told these patrons still outside the facility that the staff would not have time to complete any more transactions beyond those for people who had arrived earlier and had been issued numbers. Those who were assigned a number after showing six points of identification waited between two to three hours outside the facility to be called, but could at least anticipate being See NJMVC/ Page 5
INDEX Business Directory..... 8
Local News................. 2
Meet The Graduates... S1
Job Board................. 10
Marketplace...............11
Worship Guide............ 7
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