Law: Camco ballot machinations

An aide to upstart Congressional hopeful Alex Law went undercover to obtain ballot information from the Camden County Clerk's office -- and seems to have received more, and more expeditious, cooperation than the candidate himself got earlier.

The aide's Jan. 12 encounter at the clerk's office in Camden was captured on audio and is being adroitly promoted on social media and elsewhere by Law's underdog Democratic primary campaign to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross.

The 24-year-old challenger characterizes the county's official reaction to his request for clarification of the arguably arcane -- but  potentially crucial -- process of qualifying for a shot at a strategic location on the June 7 primary ballot as a demonstration of naked Democratic machine politics. The intention, Law says, is for him to have little chance at anything other than "ballot Siberia."

Law and county spokesman Dan Keashen have been hurling heated accusations -- essentially, calling each other liars --    in recent PolitickerNJ stories, as well as on Twitter.

Law also has uploaded several blow-by-blow videos about the squabble to his Facebook page; he claims the county is ignoring a 2008 state appellate court decision that would seem to govern the ballot-position process.

But Keashen pointed to a NJ state government website which describes the process in fairly straightforward terms. And after bemoaning recent "personal attacks" -- Law's campaign did in fact remind us all of Keashen's famously untrue 2010 statements regarding the whereabouts of then-Cherry Hill Mayor Bernard Platt -- the county spokesman offered these observations via email:

"Alex Law and his representatives came to the clerk's office and were provided a meeting forthright and had all of their questions answeredl. The county clerk does not do legal work or interpret statutes for any candidates running for office.

"This is just more juvenile shenanigans by someone whose only goal is to create publicity for himself."

Ouch.

Says Law, "of course we want publicity around this issue. People of the 1st Congressional district should know that the county is making it difficult for people they don't support politically to get information."

And as for Keashen?  Law adds, "His insults on a personal level have been incredibly disappointing coming from someone in his position."