Burlington Democratic caretaker plan voted down

Democratic county committee members from Burlington County’s 7th district rejected a plan by party leaders on Thursday evening to require legislative and county commissioner vacancies to be filled only by interim caretakers, setting up a possible fight in the race for an open Assembly seat on January 25.

The plan was for former County Commissioner Dan O’Connell to run as a caretaker for the Assembly seat left vacant earlier this month when Herb Conaway, Jr. (D-Delran) resigned to take his seat in Congress.

But Balvir Singh, a county commissioner who plans to run in the June primary for a full term, refused to accept the caretaker idea and said he would challenge O’Connell at the special election convention to fill Conaway’s seat temporarily.

The initiative was rejected, 60-74, in what was essentially a non-binding straw vote from just one part of the county.   That could mean the end of the O’Connell campaign – he hadn’t bargained for a fight – and now forces the other candidate, Moorestown Mayor Nicole Gillespie, to take on Singh at the convention.

Matt Riggins, the county chairman elected last year, had argued that the 2024 primary and the lawsuit to abolish county organization lines in New Jersey “changed the way politics is done in New Jersey.”

His reform agenda had the backing of U.S. Senator Andy Kim and State Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Delran), but some old-time county committee veterans may not have been ready to cede all of the power so quickly.

One of the requirements was that caretaker candidates sign a pledge that they would not seek a full-term; if they break that promise, the candidate would be forever ineligible to seek their party’s support.