Norcross-backed Democrats win court victory over progressives in Cherry Hill
“It isn’t all that complicated," said Camden County Superior Court Judge Michael Kassel. "It’s a tie vote.” No, progressives countered, it isn't.
A judge ruled on Friday in favor of the Camden County Democratic Committee Inc. (CCDC) in its lawsuit to alter the outcome of a primary election won by an upstart group of progressive Democrats last month.
Camden County Superior Court Judge Michael Kassel’s ruling, issued after a three-hour hearing, will be appealed, an attorney for the defendants said.
The order upends what had seemed to be a straightforward election win for the South Jersey Progressive Democrats on June 10 in the opinion of election experts and academics who’d studied the results.
That outcome would have given progressives the right to send representatives from Cherry Hill to the Camden County party committee, whose job is to endorse candidates for office. Now, it’s not clear what will happen. An appeal of Friday’s ruling must be made within 45 days.
Speaking for the CCDC, attorney William Tambussi said that the organization and its chair “are pleased with the result. We believe it’s well reasoned and provides an opportunity to work with the three people who got the most votes, if they’re willing to do so.”
On election day, three progressive candidates beat a group of 74 candidates from the CCDC, which has long controlled county elections with the backing of George E. Norcross III. Election rules in the county dictate that Cherry Hill gets to send 74 representatives to be part of the county committee, which totals 522 members.
The ballot, which itself was a subject of controversy earlier in the election process, instructed voters to choose just one of the two listed slates of candidates. In an upset, voters on June 10 responded by awarding the progressives 62% of the ballots cast.
The CCDC, which has kept progressives out of power in the county since the fledgling group was formed in 2017, then filed a lawsuit against the progressive trio — David Stahl, Rena Margulis, and Susan Druckenbrod.
CCDC chairman James Beach, who represents the county in the New Jersey Senate, was also part of the lawsuit. And New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed an amicus brief on behalf of the progressives earlier this week.
Despite the progressives’ election win of around 5,000 to 3,000 voters, Kassel said Friday, “It isn’t all that complicated. It’s a tie vote.”
That finding, which had been posited by the CCDC, caused a stir among around 30 progressive supporters in the courtroom who murmured their protests.
But, Kate Delany, the leader of the progressive party, said after the hearing, “we expected this, because this is Camden County and everyone is politically connected to the Norcross machine.”
“But let’s be honest, this election was obviously not a tie.”
Kassel acknowledged that voters had indeed chosen Stahl, Margulis, and Druckenbrod over all the other candidates. But, he said, the three ran without 71 others to fill out the full complement of committee members.
No statute compels them to do so, progressives attorney Yael Bromberg said.
Still, Kassel said that after the trio of progressives, voters had cast their ballots for the 74 CCDC candidates, and that the final group that Cherry Hill can send to the county committee would include the three top vote getters, plus 71 of the 74 CCDC group.
“This makes no sense,” Delany said. “The progressives won and the CCDC lost. You don’t have the winners combine with the losers in an election. One slate wins, the other loses.”
Delany and other progressives in the courtroom complained after the hearing that while Kassel allowed Tambussi to present his arguments without interruption, the judge interrupted Bromberg more than two dozen times with questions, interjections, and opposing opinions.
At one point, Kassel admonished himself for the intrusions: “It’s a very bad habit of mine,” he said, before interrupting Bromberg once more.
The day’s proceedings were notable for the prominence of some of the participants.
Tambussi, a well-known trial and appellate practice attorney, was indicted along with Norcross for racketeering charges that were later dismissed.
Platkin, who brought the indictment, was criticized by the plaintiffs for not showing up in court Friday to support his brief on the progressives’ behalf.
Finally, Bromberg, a professor of election law at American University Washington College of Law, was a member of the successful legal team in now-Sen. Andy Kim’s lawsuit last year helping to bring about the eventual end of the county line. Delany credits the line’s demise for the progressives’ primary win.
The ballot configuration grouped together party-endorsed candidates and put outsiders not supported by their county political establishment at a disadvantage by listing them in less prominent positions on the ballot.