When N.J. political running mates are bitter enemies

It wouldn't be the first time running mates became bitter enemies.

But two elected councilmen in Willingboro have taken a vendetta to a new level.

Not long after Chris Walker and Nathaniel Anderson were elected to four-year terms on the Township Council in 2013, the battle between them began.

It turned into a war last year when Anderson sued Walker for defamation.

There were more fireworks when Walker asked the town to pay for his legal defense, which is more than $15,000 and climbing as the case drags on in state Superior Court.

So what do you think happened when it came time for the two men to decide whether they would run in the June primary to seek another term?

Well, the two Democrats became running mates — again.  Each wanted another term, but did not necessarily want to run with the other.  But when they won last week, they set themselves up for four more years of being together on the council.

That's because the primary race typically determines who is elected to the five-member council in the Democratic-leaning town of 30,000.  The Republicans usually do not field a candidate, and no GOP council candidate will appear on the fall ballot.

"Politics is strange," said Walker, who was appointed to a one-year term as mayor in January by the all-Democratic council.  Last year, Anderson was given the title.

In interviews after the election, Walker and Anderson agreed on one thing: Both said their running-mate status did not mean they had reconciled.

"To me, we weren't running mates," Anderson said.  "We were just two people who happened to be on council together and who had the opportunity to run again."

"The only place that our names appeared together was on the ballot," Walker said.  "In order to run with someone, you have to trust them.  We were endorsed by the party but ran separate campaigns"

And so, the tension continues.

The Willingboro Democratic Committee had endorsed the two men to run for the two open seats on the council because a bylaw requires it to back incumbents.

Eight years ago, the committee had come under attack when it endorsed two challengers over two longtime incumbents.  The bylaws were changed to prevent that from happening again, Anderson said.

One of those challengers was Anderson, who was elected to his first term on the council that year.  Now, he is the beneficiary of the bylaw change.

As a result, two challengers who get along with each other – Harold Walker Jr. and Arrington Crawford — had no chance to win an endorsement.  In the end, the incumbents each won more than 2,000 votes, while the two challengers each got nearly 900 votes.

At the Willingboro council meetings, Walker and Anderson sit next to each other on the dais but rarely speak to each other.  The tone was set when Anderson had a subpoena and his defamation lawsuit served on Walker during a January 2016 meeting.

Anderson contends in his lawsuit that Walker hurt his reputation and his business, Nothing But Green Living LLC, by making defamatory and false statements.  The suit says Walker told others that Anderson had pressured a township official in 2012 to use his company to re-coat a community center floor.  Walker calls the claims "smoke and mirrors" and "a diversion tactic to draw attention away from questions around his campaign finance reports, which led to a $7,000 fine."

Last year, another suit was filed against Walker  – this time by a resident who claims Walker doesn't live in the town and should be barred from serving on the Township Council.  Both lawsuits are pending.

Earlier this year, Anderson unsuccessfully attempted to disqualify Walker from voting on issues before the council, pointing to the resident's lawsuit.  Anderson also voted against having the township pay for Walker's legal defense fees in the defamation case but was overruled when the township's attorney said Walker was entitled to indemnification.

During the primary race, the campaign lawn signs that popped up all over town reflected the discord.  Though the two were both running on the "Regular Democrats" ticket, their signs said either "Anderson" or "Walker" — never both.

The only time they acted as a team was at a voters forum at Willingboro VFW Post 4914 on June 5.  "We sat next to each other to debate the two gentlemen who were challenging us for the two seats.  We worked together to answer the questions and talked about knowing the ins and outs,"  Anderson said.  "I piggybacked on his [Walker's] answers."

Anderson said that the Township Council is getting work done and that the lawsuit is being handled outside the scope of the council, by the legal system.  Walker said that 2016 was challenging, but 2017 has improved and the council has been working well together on projects, including a new firehouse.

But the challengers, Harold Walker (no relation to Chris Walker) and Crawford, say they believe they would have brought fresh air into the room.  "We need a change, something new," Harold Walker said. "The council is not doing a good job of advocating for the town."

Crawford agreed.   He said that Walker and Anderson were "supposed to be on the same ticket, but there was no synergy or camaraderie there. … They were very complacent – they had the endorsement, and that was all they needed."

Without the party's endorsement, the challengers appeared at the bottom of the ballot, in column seven, while the incumbents were in column one.   Harold Walker and Crawford said it was hard for voters to find their names.  "They just voted down the party line," Walker said.