Vas Questions Legitimacy of Perth Amboy Democratic Organization Candidate Screening

Perth Amboy, N.J. (February 27, 2024) – Yesterday, Joseph B. Vas, Democratic candidate for Mayor, submitted a detailed letter to Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO) Chairman Kevin McCabe, seeking clarification regarding the proposed candidate screening process the Perth Amboy Democratic Organization (PADO) intends to employ to award the local Democratic line for the upcoming primary election scheduled for June 4, 2024. The MCDO Constitution, which was last amended in 1992, reads as follows:

CONSTITUTION OF THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION ARTICLE I Candidate Selection 1. Purpose and Objectives – Empowerment of Committee Members The purpose of this Constitution is to establish and maintain fundamental participatory democracy as the foundation for a strong Middlesex County Democratic Organization (hereafter also referred to as “MCDO” or the “Organization”) and, specifically, to empower the duly elected Committee Members by endowing each with an equal vote in selecting candidates for endorsement for elective office (taken directly from the MCDO website).

An email from Daniel Gonzalez, Esq., who represented himself as Counsel to the Perth Amboy Democratic Organization (PADO), Sunday evening, followed by a telephone conversation Monday afternoon, triggered the inquiry to the County Democratic Chairman. Gonzalez was unable to provide Vas with an explanation as to why and how the candidate selection process had been changed, and refused to provide any evidence that a lawful change had been made to the Constitution or Bylaws by way of Resolution. Contrary to the published MCDO Constitution, for the first time, the PADO has established a screening process which will result in the County Committee members having only one candidate choice offered to them by the screening committee. Interested candidates have been informed that candidate interviews have been scheduled in front of the hand-picked screening committee starting at 6pm on Friday, March 1, 2024.

“Sadly, in an apparent effort to control the candidate selection process, Mayor Caba has systematically stifled democracy within the PADO, first by displacing longtime committee members in favor of family members, and now by denying freedom of speech and democracy within the PADO in the same manner he has at City Hall,” stated Joseph B. Vas, Democrat for Mayor.