Team Carty again cuts corners in Mount Holly fire race

Tom Rossell ignored a judicial consent order requiring him to certify his campaign email address to the Burlington County Clerk’s office by 4 PM Wednesday, potentially placing his candidacy for Mount Holly fire commissioner back in jeopardy.

Rossell, who is seeking to unseat Fire Commissioner Rosemarie Logue, did not file the certification by the court-ordered deadline.

Burlington County Clerk Joanne Schwartz also appears to have disregarded the consent order by conducting the ballot-position drawing at 3 PM on Thursday, August 27.

Schwartz held the drawing even though she knew Rossell had not complied with the requirement that allowed him to remain a candidate.

It is unclear whether the dispute will return to Superior Court or what effect Rossell’s failure to comply with the order could have on his candidacy.   Rossell’s attorney, former Plainfield Mayor Mark Fury, didn’t file the certification until this morning.

The latest irregularities represent another instance in which the political team associated with suspended Mount Holly Fire Director Jason Carty has cut corners in an election matter.

Superior Court Judge John Harrington ruled last week that Rossell could remain on the ballot despite failing to include a campaign email address on his nominating petition. Rossell had written “N/A” in the space where state law says candidates must provide an address.

Harrington found that the omission was a technical defect that could be corrected, rather than a substantive violation requiring Rossell’s removal from the ballot.

But the judge’s decision depended on Rossell curing the defect by submitting a certification stating that the address he had subsequently supplied was, in fact, his campaign email address.

It’s also unclear whether Harrington would enforce his own order, or waive it since election laws are to be liberally enforced.

A consent order dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit filed by Jim Logue, the incumbent commissioner’s husband, but imposed a clear deadline on Rossell: the certification was due to Schwartz’s office by August 26 at 4 PM.

Carty has denied supporting Rossell, although the New Jersey Globe is standing by its reporting that he is backing the challenger.  Fury represented Rossell in the ballot case.