Is Haddon Township Commissioner’s Recent Incident Just The Tip Of The Iceberg?

Haddon Twp Commissioner Paul Dougherty; photo from Twp. website

Yesterday we told the story of an elected official from Haddon Township, Commissioner Paul Dougherty, who was “accused of leaving the scene of an accident” and “charged with driving without a license.”

Multiple sources have told us the ticket(s) was/were mailed to his house. Common sense tells us if the ticket was mailed that “driving without a license” means it wasn’t simply a case of him not having it in his wallet, but he doesn’t have a license, maybe suspended, maybe revoked or maybe he never renewed it. Who knows? Whatever the reason, as a municipal prosecutor in several municipalities, he should have known better than to drive without a license. Surly, he’s prosecuted people for doing exactly that.

The thing is this latest incident may be just the tip of the iceberg with Dougherty. Given the truckload of garbage behind him it’s a wonder he was ever re-elected.

In 2012 Dougherty was forced to repay $2,500 to Haddon Township after accepting payroll checks that were issued “to Dougherty at his request that were more than the compensation approved in the budget.”

In March 2013 Haddon Township police officers held a vote of “no confidence” in Dougherty. Members of the Department claimed “he had inappropriately discussed a police personnel matter in a public meeting; had appointed a hearing officer that he had a financial relationship with to preside over a preceding considering disciplinary actions for a police officer; had been found to be in a "suspected state of intoxication" on several occasions by township police officers and several other allegations.” There’s a YouTube video here.

In June 2013, after Dougherty was moved from Public Safety to Finance, probably because of his apparent issues with members of the Township police department, he slashed $20,000 from the police budget for items other than salary. The other two commissioners had to vote to restore the funding.

In October 2013 Dougherty was accused by a Township woman, who happened to be his neighbor, of “targeting” her with code enforcement. Coincidentally, the woman was going through a divorce and sources tell us Dougherty, an attorney, just happened to representing her estranged husband at the time.

Since yesterday’s post we’ve received many calls and anonymous messages about Mr. Dougherty, too many to immediately investigate considering we both have day jobs. There is probably more to this guy’s story but for now we’ll ask, how did this guy get re-elected?

Update 6:17PM: Other sources inform us Dougherty did NOT represent the woman's ex husband. But eventually the town's prosecutor did represent the ex husband

Another Camden County Democrat Heads To Court

What’s in the water at Camden County’s Democratic Headquarters? A second elected official from their party is now headed to court in as many months.

You may recall, back in June, former Assemblyman Arthur Barclay resigned that post for “health reasons” after it was discovered he was arrested for a domestic violence incident.

At that time, Camden County Republicans asked why it took 11 days from arrest to resignation and wondered if the arrest was kept quiet so the former assemblyman could cast a vote for the state‘s budget. A county spokesman promised an investigation, that may or may not have happened, and Camco Republicans have asked if Barclay still holds his county job.

Last week, according to a published report, Haddon Township Commissioner Paul Dougherty has been accused of “accused of leaving the scene of an accident” and “charged with driving without a license.”

This latest incident involving a county Democrat happened on July 19 and Republicans are asking why it took two weeks to become public. A valid question considering it took almost two weeks for the Barclay incident to become public, which happened only after Republicans discovered it.

Haddon Township is a nonpartisan town, but Dougherty is an elected member of the Camden County Democratic Committee. He also happens to be the municipal prosecutor in at least three municipalities in Camden County. As a prosecutor Dougherty should have known better to drive without a license and county Republicans were right to point that out in a press release this morning.

So, now we have an elected Township official, who has been accused of leaving the scene of an accident, who the town’s cops have accused of being seen in a “suspected state of intoxication” in the past.

Dougherty’s past controversies do give cause to wonder why a guy apparently driving without a license is accused of leaving the scene of an accident. And, Camden County Republicans are right to ask if he’s going to be kept on as a municipal prosecutor if he really is, or has been, driving without a license as a prosecutor should know better.

Camden County Democrats should answer the questions about these two cases because both have been holding positions that pay them with taxpayer dollars.

Battle Of The Bobs; Menendez Loving Hypocrites Still Silent

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez

It can be difficult to come up with something to write about when the news is slow. Fortunately, New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race the, “Battle of the Bobs,” looks like it’s going to continue to provide opportunities to opine.

Somehow, we missed the fact that yesterday the NJGOP took a shot at a group of State Senators who had joined the ranks of the original 88 Menendez Loving Hypocrites who apparently don’t care that Bob Menendez worked hard to bring a dirty old man’s young girlfriends into the country.

The Party’s statement on the matter came from its Executive Director, Theresa Winegar.

Winegar’s poke at the group of Democratic State Senators:

“It’s been a week since Senators Cunningham, Weinberg, Ruiz and Pou have recoiled into the shelter of their golden dome after being pressed on Senator Menendez’s offensive history with women. New Jersey’s voters deserve a clear position from them on his record of using his official office to import and exploit young foreign women for his married criminal donor and friend Soliman Melgen. A bi-partisan panel of U.S. Senators recognized Menendez’s abuse of power, but it seems the female delegation of Democrats in New Jersey’s Senate find his behavior to be totally acceptable.”

It must have been a good shot because when the Menendez campaign was contacted by one of the state’s political news websites, New Jersey Globe, Menendez campaign spokesman Steve Sandberg responded with the usual Trump sucks Democratic talking points and how much money Bob Hugin contributed to the presidential campaign, the RNC and such. In other words, Winegar left Sandberg as speechless as the Menedez Loving Hypocrites.

After the latest round of the Battle of the Bobs the count of silent Menendez Loving Hypocrites is 88 women who signed a ridiculous letter and four state senators for a total of 92.

It looks like the NJGOP won this round, so we’ll sit back and watch and see if we can get to 100 Menendez Loving Hypocrites.