Andrzejczak staying out of Cape May freeholder tiff

State Sen. Bob Andrzejczak (D-Middle)  is staying out of an intra-party fight between Cape May County’s Republican freeholders.

“It’s a county issue, and the county’s taken care of it,” Andrzejczak told the New Jersey Globe when asked about the censure of Freeholder Marie Hayes Friday.

Earlier this week, the freeholder board approved to censures for Hayes.

The panel cleared a censure over conflicts of interest involving her son, who works for the county, by a 4-1 vote and approved a censure over alleged retaliation against board clerk Beth Bozzelli by a 3-2 vote.

An investigative report that Freeholder Gerald Thornton said proved Hayes acted wrongly has not been released to the public, but the board voted to send it to the State Ethics Commission before censuring Hayes on Tuesday.

Hayes and Thornton are up for re-election this year. They face Democrats Stephen Barry and Elizabeth Casey, who have not yet responded to requests seeking comment about the freeholder’s censure. The first of those requests was made yesterday.

The incident may leave some lasting rifts between the two incumbents.

Hayes and Thornton on Thursday declined to say if they’d back each other’s re-election campaigns this year.

Andrzejczak’s position as the first legislative district’s state senator makes him Cape May County’s highest-ranking elected official in Trenton.

That puts him at the head of a group of moderate Democrats, including Assemblymen Bruce Land and Matt Milam, who hold seats in a traditionally-Republican district.

Both Assemblymen are up for re-election this year, and Andrzejczak is running to win the remainder of Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s unexpired term in the state senate. It’s the only state senate election this year.