Claire Gustafson, David Richter & Kate Gibbs

One of the problems with co-hosting a weekly radio show and being the author of 97.998% of the show’s blog posts (mostly because Bob is sometimes loose with the facts and spells about as good as my 3 month old granddaughter) and operating as a political consultant is maintaining fairness on the show and this blog. I do my best to be fair – when my father was a candidate for Assembly I never mentioned his campaign on the air unless Bob brought him up, I didn’t bring up my friend and client Claire Gustafson’s formal entry into the CD1 race on the air, I did post her press releases on the blog and will continue to post Josh Duvall’s if he keeps sending them because it is the right thing to do, though it appears he has removed us from his press list.

Admittedly, my fairness rule does not apply to GOP US Senate candidate Hirsh Singh, but that could change if he ever apologizes for lying to me in our one and only phone conversation or if he gets incredibly lucky and wins the Republican US Senate primary.

So, with fairness in mind, even the most casual observer of South Jersey politics, unless you live under a rock, knows that on Saturday the Burlington County Republican committee voted unanimously to endorse, Claire Gustafson in CD1, David Richter in CD2 and Kate Gibbs in CD3.

In the Burlington GOP’s press release on the matter they state that the candidates faced a “thorough vetting process.” Having a client who took part in the process, I can back that up, it was indeed a thorough process. Not only was the process thorough – IT WAS FAIR – they even tossed me out of the room leaving Gustafson to face the selection committee alone, but, to be fair, I’ve never been so nicely removed from a room, or anywhere for that matter, and I did last longer than Brian Fitzherbert’s campaign manager.

Congratulations are in order for Burlington GOP Chairman Sean Earlen, Screening Committee Chair Vinny Napolitano and BurlCo’s Executive Director Jesse Estlow for running a tight ship. Honorable mention has to go to Angelo Lamberto for doing an outstanding job as the referee in the waiting area.

What these endorsements did was in CD3 solidified Kate Gibbs as the frontrunner and in CD2 and CD3 positioned David Richter and Claire Gustafson as frontrunners in their primaries.

In CD3 we’ve already heard from a DC area lobbyist and a DC area campaign professional with ties to South Jersey that the folks at the NRCC love the idea of a Kate Gibbs candidacy, so she already enjoyed frontrunner status. Saturday’s convention solidified that.

In CD2, despite the fact that Bob previously endorsed Brian Fitzherbert on the air, we elevated David Richter to frontrunner after the last quarterly finance reports. BurlCo endorsing Richter solidified his current position as the frontrunner in CD2. Some will argue that Burlington is a small portion of the district, but the process was fair and this is the first official party endorsement of the cycle. Richter has come a long way since I dismissed his candidacy when I first learned of him. The guy is running a solid campaign, gaining supporters and has earned his current frontrunner status.

BurlCo’s line was especially important in the CD1 primary because it was the first head-to-head matchup between Josh Duvall and Gustafson, a matchup in which neither candidate knew any member of the screening committee, it couldn’t have been more impartial. It’s a solid, merit-based endorsement, so Gustafson earned frontrunner status.

The Burlington endorsement was a major blow to Duvall’s campaign. New Jersey Globe hit the nail on the head writing:

Gustafson, a former Collingswood School Board member, faces Josh Duvall as a primary opponent.

Duvall, a financial planner who entered the contest for Rep. Donald Norcross’s seat in May, lost the party line to a candidate who has been in the race officially for less than a week.

Congratulations BurlCo GOP on the fair process and congratulations to the candidates on earning (or solidifying) frontrunner status.