Chris Russell

South Jersey Democrats threw a punch at Chris Myers today, just as the third district Republican congressional candidate was getting ready to hold a press conference hitting back at Jack Kelly, his Republican rival for the nomination.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr today slammed Myers as a “pawn” of Republican bosses for accepting money from the “Corrupt Burlington County GOP Machine.”

At issue are two donations that show up in Myers’s Federal Election Commission filings: $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen, and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.

The moment Medford Mayor Chris Myers stepped into the third district congressional primary, most insiders picked himas the favorite Republican to continue retiring Rep. Jim Saxton’s legacy.

Even after Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly entered the GOP race with the support of his large Republican county’s powerful organization support , Myers managed to maintain the mantle of frontrunner, winning the coveted line in his native Burlington County, along with neighboring Camden County -- which only has one town in the district, albeit a large one: Cherry Hill.

But fundraising totals reported by the Press of Atlantic City on Wednesday suggest a race much closer than initially expected.

According to the report, Myers has raised $334,786.77 and has $288,000 on hand. Meanwhile, Kelly has raised approximately $306,000, and has $281,000 on hand.

While state Sen. John Adler, the unopposed third district Democratic congressional candidate, sits on $1.15 million dollars, his two prospective Republican opponents admit that their fundraising numbers will pale in comparison.

But that’s ok, the Republicans say.

A few weeks ago, Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly told PolitickerNJ.com that he had raised approximately $200,000 for his primary bid against Medford Mayor Mayor Chris Myers, who at that point had raised about $275,000. 

Kelly said that he should have his final numbers for the quarter ready by the end of the week.  But he insisted that Adler’s huge cash reserves are not intimidating.    

Backed by her cadre of allies in the Republican Party, the acting chair of the Burlington County Republicans today filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against former GOP chairman Glenn Paulsen, former campaign chairman Bill Layton and party treasurer Charles Lambiase.

Lacy said she believes Paulsen, Layton and those allied with them have used organizational property to co-opt rank-and-file Republicans, and are muscling her out of of the way as she attempts to oversee a transparent review process of the party's financial records.

Assemblywoman- elect Dawn Addiego is standing with Glenn Paulsen in the Burlington GOP warAfter feasting on the Democratic Party in the 8th district general election a week ago, Republicans promptly turned on each other in a continuing family fracas that today brought out a normally under-the-radar Republican operative who lit into Assemblywoman-elect Dawn Marie Addiego.

Irritated by Acting Party Chairwoman Dawn Lacy's post Election Day firing of two campaign strategists, Addiego on Tuesday issued a staunch-the-bleeding letter to Evesham Republicans in which she praised the "leadership" of Campaign Chairman Bill Layton and Campaign Manager Chris Russell - and ripped Lacy.

State Sen. Diane Allen is a possible successor to retiring Rep. Jim SaxtonAlready locked in a mano-a-mano with potential U.S. Congressional candidate State Sen. Diane Allen, GOP boss Glenn Paulsen is now trying to fend off another prong of an uprising launched against him and his allies by Allen-ally Dawn Lacy, the party's acting county chairwoman.

A spat between the acting party chair and former chair boiled over after the election, when Lacy dismissed Paulsen confidants Bill Layton and Chris Russell, then secured party documents that she saw as the rightful purview of the acting chair and not Paulsen's surrogates.

"We need to professionalize this organization," says Lacy, who took the party's books out of the headquarters housed in a building owned in part by Paulsen.

District 8 Assemblyman Fran Bodine and his running mates, Tracy Riley and Chris Fifis, today threw punches in the direction of outgoing Republican State Sen. Martha Bark, who is under state investigation in connection with money she received from the Burlington County Bridge Commission for part-time work.

In response, County GOP spokesman Chris Russell said the Democrats' press conference amounted to little more than damage control for Bodine.