Burlco Dems Should Stop Complaining;

Fill Vacancy in 8^th Legislative District Senate Race

For Immediate Release

September 9, 2011 – The following is a statement from Burlington County GOP campaign consultant Chris Russell in response to Burlington County Democratic Chairman Joe Andl’s comments regarding Carl Lewis being removed from the ballot in the 8^th Legislative District:

“While Mr. Andl may not like it, the courts have ruled that Carl Lewis does not meet the state’s 4-year constitutional residency requirement, and that just because his name is Carl Lewis doesn’t mean he can play by a different set of rules than everyone else.

Joe Andl has no one else to blame but himself for the debacle that is Carl Lewis’ candidacy.  Perhaps if Mr. Andl had nominated a candidate who actually paid income taxes in New Jersey or was registered to vote in New Jersey or who had lived in New Jersey in the past 30 years, then taxpayers would not have been forced to foot the bill while Mr. Lewis lost one legal battle after another for the past 5 months.

Instead of trying to smear the Governor, Secretary of State, the State Supreme Court, the State Appellate Court and a respected federal judge, perhaps Mr. Andl would be better served by doing his job and finding a candidate to the fill the current vacancy in the 8^th Legislative District Senate race, created when Carl Lewis was again removed from the ballot.

Furthermore, any argument by Mr. Andl that it’s too late in the game to fill this vacancy is the height of hypocrisy given the fact that Mr. Andl himself just replaced two Assembly candidates in the 8^th District and will replace a sitting Assemblyman in the 7^th District next week.  Not to mention, numerous candidates have recently been replaced in South Jersey and around the state in recent weeks without any issue.”