All,

Like you, I have watched with embarrassment at all the things posted on the political blogs, Facebook and in the newspaper. As described by others, what once was our vaunted organization was now relegated to being a statewide joke, and like you, I have dedicated to much of my life to our organization to allow us to continue down this path. Frankly, I am ashamed at how Joe Howarth is being treated by a few “decision makers” of our party.

After news broke yesterday about Joe having support of 11/15 Municipal Chairs in LD8, (which makes up 69% of the County Committee in LD8) chairs were being called about the supposed evidence that was enough to “drop support for Joe”, even though none of you were consulted prior to reading about it online. Last time I checked, the Chairman and executive committee work for the Municipal Chairs and County Committee members and not the other way around.

As someone who has been / was apart of both sides of the discussion regarding Joe, and to the facts as I know them, I can honestly say Joe did nothing wrong. In regards to the evidence that was cited in the nasty phone calls some of you received last night, I would like to break it down point by point so that way everyone is on the same page.

In no particular order, the charges that were relayed to me are:

·     Joe didn’t call Sean Earlen right away.  Having spoken with Joe about this, he was just as shocked (if not more) as the rest of us with Dawn’s decision to switch parties. Due to his relationship, Joe didn’t want to rush and make some kneejerk announcement about what happened and wanted to think before he reacted.

To accuse Joe of being a traitor because one of his best friends made a life altering decision that affected others is not fair. People handle shock differently, simple as that. Not to mention, Joe has screen captures of the “text” exchange prior to Dawn’s announcement. If there were some collusion, it would be in the texts, yet like all of the other evidence, it doesn’t exist.

·     Joe “Fired” Brian Woods from his payroll. This issue all stems from the fact that Ryan’s Chief-of-Staff Brian Woods actually removed fellow LD8 staffer Roxane Kotsyk from Ryan’s payroll that morning and also told Marilyn Williamson the following afternoon that she was being removed from Ryan’s payroll (I heard this with my own ears). Brian was removed from Joe’s payroll to make sure Roxane, who has a serious medical issue, did not have a lapse in her needed health benefits.

·     Joe “Hired” Democrats.This is an outright lie. The people currently on Joe’s payroll are Jim Logue (who is one of the more conservative members of the party and also a County Committee member), Roxane Kostyk, who has helped with GOTV and volunteered at HQ to make phone calls and help with mailings, Ann Johnson, who has helped with driving people during GOTV for years and myself, the former ED of the party, current BCYR President and the forever head-herder-of-cats.

When it comes to the topic of who are “good Republicans”, I think it’s fair to say that I am in the unique position to know who has helped and who hasn’t.  Additionally, they all registered as Republicans on their own and was not “declared” one after signing a Republican Freeholder petition in 2018 like other staffers.

All you need to do is look at how long people have been a registered Republican and that should tell you everything you need to know.

·     Democrats told us Joe was trying to switch parties.  Joe has maintained the entire time that everyone was talking around him and not to him. Was he approached to switch? Yes he was, as were Ryan, Latham and a bunch of other elected officials. This happens all of the time, and like Latham and Ryan, Joe told the Democrats that he was not switching parties. Look at it this way, if Joe was planning to switch parties, why was he still going to all the Republican events? Wouldn’t he lay low until the switch? The facts don’t add up to the narrative that is being pushed here.

There is no “smoking gun” that has Joe actively looking to become a Democrat, and frankly if there was one, why hasn’t it been produced yet? This would have saved everyone all the drama and this would be a no brainer. Yet, here we are.

·     Joe isn’t moving his legislative office.Here is another fact that the other side doesn’t want anyone to know. Joe has a memo from the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) that outlines what it will cost us, the taxpayers, to move offices. The 8^thLD is locked into a lease that cannot be broken, and it will cost between 50k – 100k in additional expenses to move offices for 10 months! Unlike Ryan, Joe has reached out to the landlord about taking over an empty space within the existing building that will cost the taxpayers 0 or next to nothing, which is what fiscal conservatives strive for.

The reason why this is taking so long, is because you have to go through many levels of bureaucracy, especially when it deals with constituent social security numbers, employee medical records, open case files and the such. You also need to know, that Ryan Peters is still in the same office as Dawn and Joe. Double standard, no?

I have been involved in our organization since 2008, and worked my way up from fresh out of college volunteer to Executive Director via hard work and honesty. Having been involved at the level that I was, for as long as I was, I can honestly tell you that Joe Howarth is one of the few good guys that truly deserves our loyalty. Whenever I asked, Joe was there for all of us, no matter how big or small of the request. Whatever the party asked, Joe was a loyal solider.  To see him being treated like he is now, it a travesty.

The County Party that we once knew is no more. Instead of tearing it down, we should be working together to ensure we win in November with people who have proven they can win. It’s time for transparency and time to end the practice that only a few make the decision for all. The County Chairman only has as much power as you relinquish to him.

– Josh Foote

Former Executive Director

Burlington County Republican Committee