Leading Gloucester Township Democrats Balk At Running on Mayer-Hutchison-Schmidt Ticket

By Camden County Republican Committee

With three tax raisers on the ticket, leading Dems
take pulse of town and realize victory is impossible

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP -- Several weeks after announcing Trenton tax-raiser David Mayer as their standard-bearer for this year's election, leading Gloucester Township Democrats have passed at the opportunity to run on a ticket headed by three candidates with long and deep records of raising Gloucester Township's taxes.

The difficulties are so great that the ticket of David Mayer, S. Daniel Hutchison, and Franklin Schmidt will have to name a fourth candidate to their slate who has no previous elected experience.

"Many Democrats in our town have their fingers on the pulse of the community," said Mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton. "They know that the Democrats on Council have backed themselves into a corner with their record of consistently raising our taxes. Now with David Mayer at the top of the ticket and his $1.9 billion in Trenton tax increases, they cannot find a candidate with experience who is willing to run on their slate."

Political veterans and former elected officials are often careful to choose when they run for office, knowing that the electoral climate and their running mates will have a great deal to do with whether they are ultimately successful. A failure by the Mayer-Hutchison-Schmidt ticket to recruit a candidate with any previous elected experience will show that top Democrat candidates balked at running this year on with a team that has such a poor record to stand on.

"We will know soon whether or not any of the veterans of the Gloucester Township Democrats are willing to step up and appear on a ballot with the tax-raising team of Mayer, Hutchison, and Schmidt," said Councilwoman Shelley Lovett. "The fourth member of their ticket will tell us a lot about what kind of a chance the Gloucester Township Democrat leadership thinks they will have in this year's election. Running a first-time candidate will prove beyond a doubt that they know this is not going to be their year."

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