Despite criminal charges, Devine makes bid for local office

Embattled political consultant James Devine, who is facing criminal charges for submitting forged nominating petitions in the 2021 Democratic gubernatorial primary, mounted a last-minute write-in campaign for West Amwell Township Committee and is now two votes short of winning.

Devine received five write-in votes in a race where local Democrats didn’t field a candidate, but he needs seven votes to win the nomination – a number equal to the minimum signatures required to get on the ballot in the small Lambertville-adjacent municipality.  He received three VBM votes and two machine votes.

The chances of the controversial life partner of shadowy perennial candidate Lisa McCormick winning the Democratic primary remain slim.  There were no provisional ballots cast in the Democratic primary and no outstanding cure letters.  So Devine’s only hope of getting on the general election ballot is for two more votes through late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots.   VBMs postmarked by 8 PM last night will be counted as long as they arrive at the Hunterdon County Board of Elections by close of business on Monday.

Four other Democratic write-in candidates trail Devine.

Still, if Devine wins, it would put him on the Democratic line in the fall with three incumbent state legislators.

The Republican primary in West Amwell remains too close to call  Robert Balaam, Jr. leads Diane Yoder by three votes, 126 to 123. 43%-42%, with incumbent John Dale running third with 45 votes (15%).

Republicans are defending a 4-1 majority on the township committee.

The state attorney general’s office has charged Devine with filing 1,948 fraudulent signatures to get McCormick on the Democratic primary ballot against Gov. Phil Murphy.

McCormick was tossed off the ballot after a judge determined the petitions to be “fraudulently created without any input from actual voters,” and the matter was referred to the attorney general’s office by Secretary of State Tahesha Way.

Devine has a long history in New Jersey Democratic politics dating back to the 1980s, and has often drawn controversy for his wily and sometimes law-skirting campaign tactics. He also served a stint as the political director of the state Democratic Party in the 1990s, when then-ally Ray Lesniak was party chairman.