A Superior Court judge has expedited a lawsuit to determine if Gloucester County Republicans are required to hold an election for county chair this year.
Stephen Pakradooni wants to challenge incumbent Jacci Vigilante, but she says her term isn’t up until next year. That led to Pakradooni and GOP candidates for county commissioner and surrogate who won off-the-line primary bids going to court to schedule an election.
“We have elections coming up this year. The county committee is responsible for supporting its candidates,” said Mark Sheridan, Pakradooni’s attorney. “It needs a leader that will support those candidates, and in this case, we believe that Chairwoman Vigilante’s term is over and that the organization needs to reorganize, and it needs a leader that will lead them through the election cycle, which candidly has already started.”
Sheridan told Judge Benjamin Telsey that time is of the essence and that allowing “additional weeks for this to play out only harms not only the Republican Party in Gloucester County, it harms the candidates and frankly, it harms the citizens of Gloucester County who deserve to have a fair election competed for by candidates who are supported by their local organization.”
But Vigilante’s attorney, Matt Moench, said there was little chance at a compromise.
“Either the term’s up this year, or it’s not up this year. And if it’s up, then there has to be an election. If it’s not, then we’re on, it’s on next year,” Moench said.
Sheridan agreed that Telsey would either have to side with Vigilante or Pakradooni.
“This is a matter where we have the bylaws. We have the statute. They’re both clear on their face. I’m not sure what the argument even is to suggest that the election doesn’t have to take place this year. The only argument could be that she’s entitled to more than two years, which the bylaws expressly prohibit.”
Sheridan stated.
Sheridan told the judge that Gloucester Republicans were “already in disarray.”
“There are limited funds. There has been a failure of leadership and a failure of fundraising,” he said. “To allow that to continue harms not only the candidates and the plaintiffs in this case, but it harms Gloucester County by not having candidates that are sufficiently funded to provide voters with a legitimate choice in November.”
Moench pushed back on that.
“This election is still a year away, so no one’s losing any time. The law doesn’t say that the candidates in every year’s election get to choose their chair,” said Moench. “That’s not how this works.”
Telsey will hear arguments next week, but declined to order any temporary restraints on Vigilante’s chairmanship before then.
“I don’t find that there would be any irreparable harm that would take place over the course of the next week,” he said.