Sturm Is the Real Candidate

To The Editor
After reading the letter from Ed Taylor in the July 27 edition of the Herald, I feel compelled to respond.
First and foremost, the Democratic Party in Middle Township is alive and well. The actions of a few do not define the rest of us.
Like our counterparts in the Republican Party, we do in fact have a candidate, William Sturm. We are all shocked by what I would call the selfish acts carried out against our organization and its members by those who called themselves Democrats and gained our support and votes in the process of repeatedly becoming elected Middle Township officials, even as recently as again last year. It’s a slap in the face, but we Democrats also need to set the record straight about the candidacy of Steve Russell.
Russell does not and will not have the support of the Democratic Organization of Middle Township, nor of the Middle Township Democratic Club. Those Democratic officials who decided to endorse Russell will no longer enjoy any of that support and should consider disaffiliating themselves with the party that brought them to prominence. What other individuals decide to do will be up to them. Either way, Russell is not now and will not be the “Democratic establishment candidate” that Taylor suggests that he is.
For far too long now, the incumbents and a few others have failed to use the selection apparatus that exists to seek qualified candidates for local and county elected offices. Because of that, they felt compelled to attempt to have Democrats in Middle support a Republican who is parading around as a so-called “Independent.” We have flat out refused to do that, plain and simple.
For some time now, there has been a vacuum in the leadership role of the Democratic Party in Middle Township and Cape May County. We will be working to correct that and strengthen our visibility and voice from this point forward.
Bill Sturm does not represent the ‘status quo’ that those Republicans speak of in each and every press release that someone writes for Tim Donahue. None of us good and real Democrats do.
That the Democrats have had political control of Middle Township for 50 years does not mean that we haven’t had a few disappointments along the way. The Democrats of today and a few from the last few decades became self-serving, and we did what we had to do to end their careers.
Bill Sturm stands for the good people of Middle Township sees a local government that is ignoring the wishes of the electorate. Once elected, he plans to put a stop to that.
MICHAEL R. McNULTY
Court House
(ED. NOTE: McNulty is vice-president of the Middle Township Democratic Club.)