Haddon Twp. Commissioner’s Version Of Events Make Little Sense; He Shouldn’t Be Prosecuting

Republicans call for Dougherty’s ouster as prosecutor and resignation as commissioner

CHERRY HILL – Recent reports of Haddon Township Commissioner Paul Dougherty being charged with driving without a license and leaving the scene of an accident in connection with a July 19 incident has Camden County Republicans calling for Dougherty to step down as a municipal prosecutor and from his post as commissioner.

The municipal chairman of the Clementon GOP, Keith Cybulski called on Clementon’s borough council to immediately remove Dougherty as it’s municipal prosecutor. Cybulski, also a candidate for Camden County freeholder said, “It’s not right to have a man who obviously has trouble following the law potentially prosecute people for not following the exact same law. Paul Dougherty should be removed as our municipal prosecutor immediately.”

Camden County Republican Chairman Richard Ambrosino was more critical of Dougherty adding, “Letting your license lapse for a week or two is understandable, but Dougherty let his lapse for two and a half months. That’s irresponsible and to make matters worse he is an elected official and a municipal prosecutor in three towns in this county. As an elected official he should be held to a higher standard and should absolutely step down as a prosecutor at the very least.”

“Given all the past controversies involving Commissioner Dougherty one has to wonder how long he supposedly waited in a Walgreen’s parking lot as he told police.” Camden County GOP Political Director Tom Crone explained, “I know this intersection, the Walgreen’s parking lot and the Wawa parking lot are both easily visible from each other. He couldn’t have been in that parking lot for any length of time or he would have seen the police direct the car he hit across the street and into the Wawa parking lot. It was night time, dark out, at the very least he would have seen the flashing lights on the police cars.”

“Dougherty’s claim that he waited in the parking lot for the other driver to appear doesn’t hold water because the other driver did not move and would have been visible from the parking lot. This accident happened at 9:15 in the evening, 15 minutes after a public event he attended at Crystal Lake Pool ended, and a published report states Dougherty called police ‘about 20 minutes after’ the accident from his home.” Camden County GOP’s political consultant Steve Kush said. “Considering Mr. Dougherty, according to another recently published report, lives a 2-minute drive from the scene, he could not have spent any length of time in that parking lot before leaving. If he had it would have been obvious the other driver did not move and he would have seen flashing lights because at that hour police would have arrived within 5 minutes, certainly under 10, therefore the question becomes why did he wait less than 10 minutes for police to arrive?

At this point stepping down as a prosecutor isn’t enough, Dougherty should resign as a commissioner too.”

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