West Deptford Republicans Stay with Status Quo, See Signs of Unity

It wasn't long ago that West Deptford Republicans were barely a handful, meeting in Joann Priga's living room in Greenfields.

Sunday evening, as the party reorganized at , they had to break out extra chairs minutes before the meeting’s start.

Thirty people in all attended, including Republican township committee member Sean Kilpatrick and more than 20 local Republican leaders.

“We went from three people to 30, 40 people,” said recently nominated Republican committee candidate Ray Chintall in reference to the meeting’s turnout.

He attributed the increased support of local Republicans to more organization and structure on the part of the committee, a mission statement, clearly laid out responsibilities and spreading the message by word of mouth.

Re-appointed Vice Chair Jack Magee suggested that the swell in support came from citizens' frustration with West Deptford’s current government.

“Everybody sees the corruption and arrogance of the leadership,” said Magee. “Taxes are going up and politicians keep getting richer while our own expenses are going up.”

A lifetime independent until this year, Magee said, “The corruption I see in West Deptford is why I joined the Republican Party.”

Republican committee candidate Sam Cianfarini also noted the increased numbers from this time last year.

“We’ve been rebuilding the party from the beginning of the year,” he said. “The people want to take back the town.”

All four of the positions up for reorganization went unopposed and were successfully re-appointed: Joann Priga as chair, Jack Magee as vice chair, Michelle Hack as secretary and Ken Vogt as treasurer.

However, during the first matter of reorganization, for the position of committee chair, two candidates were nominated for the position: Priga and Magee. Magee was nominated by Kilpatrick, but quickly declined the nomination.

Priga went uncontested during the verbal vote, with all yeas and one nay from Kilpatrick. The committee then went to a paper vote in which there were 17 votes for Priga, two votes for different unnamed individuals, and two invalid votes, making Priga once again the clear winner.

The other three matters of reorganization were voted on unanimously, aloud, with the incumbents retaining their former positions.

After the voting was finished the four re-appointed Republican Committee leaders gave their respective reports, and Chintall and Cianfarini were given a chance to speak.

Cianfarini took the opportunity to thank everyone at the meeting for all of their hard work so far, saying, “This is what we need to change West Deptford.”

Chintall cautioned the committee to watch how they compose emails going forward, urging them to check everything twice, including grammar and spelling, because once you send it the email is “out there forever.”

He thanked Kilpatrick, who supported splinter Republicans Loran Oglesby and Matt Mahon in the primary last week, for attending, saying it was a good sign for party unity and for the party’s overall message going forward.

“The message is our platform. It’s there,” he said.

Chintall later continued, saying, “The other part of that message is that we, all of us, Sean, everybody, Sam and I–we are here for West Deptford. If we don’t work together, we’re not going to chip away at the problems we have in West Deptford.”

After the meeting Cianfarini added that this is the first step toward unity, and if it doesn’t happen the committee is considering having a unification meeting.

“We’ll work out whatever the problem is,” he said.

Both he, Chintall and Priga said that they had received an email from Gloucester County Republicans committee member Matt Mahon congratulating Chintall and Cianfarini on their recent win. According to Priga, the email also stated that Mahon “wants to work with us.”

“We’re mending,” said Priga. “Even when you have five candidates running for presidential primaries, at the end, they all come together.”

She added, “Part of my goal as chair is to unite our party together in November.”

The party’s strategy going forward, according to Chintall, is to continue to sell the platform along with having meet-and-greets at West Deptford residents' homes and at the West Deptford library in the months to come.

In about eight West Deptford homes, including those of Priga and Magee, the committee plans on having barbecues and other events in which the public can ask committee members questions and give them feedback in a less formal setting.

This was also the topic of Magee’s report, in which he also stated that a former West Deptford Democrat would also be opening up his home for one of the events.

The committee is currently planning to hold them between July and the election in November. They are also seeking residents in the northern section of West Deptford to open their homes for a meet-and-greet.