Democrats Ditch Daws, Go with DiCarlo, Kintzing

Weeks of rumors, conjecture and conspiracy theories came to a head Thursday night, as the West Deptford Democratic committee officially put their weight behind a pair of candidates at a closed executive session at RiverWinds.

Len Daws, the current deputy mayor, wasn’t one of them.

In a secret ballot of 31 voting members who attended the meeting, Denice DiCarlo, who stepped out of the school board race this year, and Hunter Kintzing got the nod as the officially endorsed candidates.

It’s not over with that decision, though.

Though Daws wasn’t chosen, he’s still going to fight for the nomination at the ballot box.

“It would’ve been better as a more open process: have everybody run, and let the best two candidates win,” he said. “People in June have to decide who they want on the ballot.”

Daws praised both DiCarlo and Kintzing as choices, even though he didn’t agree with the process.

“The fortunate thing is, there are two other good candidates here tonight,” he said. “I don’t have any grudges against the people here tonight.”

Current committeeman Hugh Garrison announced at the meeting he wouldn’t seek the party’s nomination for November’s general election, and that he’d step down at the end of his term.

Since West Deptford’s population is above 14,000, Daws can get on the primary ballot by filing a petition with at least 50 signatures by the April 11 filing deadline. If his cell phone, which was filled with text messages and calls of support–Daws joked his wife had to upgrade their plan after he burned through their quota of minutes and messages–was any indication, getting those signatures won't be an issue.

“It’s on to June,” Daws said.