COURT HOUSE — Middle Township’s Grand Old Party has decided not to try to make the local governing body any bigger, at least for the time being.
In an email to fellow members, township Republican Leader Ed Taylor said party officials had decided at their March 3 meeting to postpone their ongoing campaign to increase the size of Middle Township Committee from its current three members to a five-member panel.
The GOP instead will focus on all its efforts on supporting its candidate Daniel Lockwood, Taylor said. Lockwood submitted a letter of intent to run at the March 3 meeting.
Lockwood, who said other potential candidates stepped aside in a show of party unity, will square off against Democratic incumbent Committeeman Steve Barry in November.
Lockwood last year lost the race against Mayor F. Nathan Doughty by a mere 88 votes. Both Lockwood and Taylor, his campaign chairman, believe they have an excellent chance of winning this year since there is likely to be a third name on the ballot that could split the vote.
“We feel that this year will be our strongest for a victory, with an Independent Democrat Candidate in the race also,” Taylor said. That candidate, Burgess “Butch” Hamer, a former Middle Township police officer and operator of Hamer Karate School, is expected to run as an Independent.
Regarding the three-to-five petition, Taylor said township officials have worked against the petition in the past.
In 2007, for instance, the petition drive needed 827 signatures to have the three-to-five question placed on the ballot. Republican Robert “Budd” Springer led the drive collecting nearly 1,000 John Handcocks, but township Administrator James Alexis invalidated over 200 of them for various reasons.
The Republicans took it to court. Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong agreed with Alexis and the petition failed.
A similar problem happened in 2006 when Springer collected 587 signatures. At that time, Republicans were acting under the false assumption that they needed only 534 signatures.
“The leadership of the MTRRO (Middle Township Regular Republican Organization) takes full responsibility for the mistake,” Springer said in a release at the time. “The issue will not die with this effort.”
Apparently it still has not died, but Republicans are hoping to go about it a different way.
Both Taylor and Lockwood said they hope to introduce the three-to-five issue to township committee if Lockwood wins a seat on the body later this year.
While he would still be outnumbered two-to-one, Lockwood said “I’ll at least be able to bring the issue into the debate.”
“Even though we are the party of smaller government, we feel there is still insufficient representation in the township.”
In the past, Democrats have called Republican efforts to increase the size of committee “political ploys” to get a foothold on the historically Democratic panel. No Republican has been elected to Middle Township Committee in 40 years.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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