As recount moves on, Christie blames GOP if it loses Assembly seat

By Amy S. Rosenberg and Maddie Hanna, Inquirer Staff Writers

POSTE ! E"EMBER #$, %#&'

MAYS LANDING, N.J. The hand recount of ballots from the contested Assembly race from the Second District in Atlantic ounty continued Monday in !uiet tedium, e"en as Go". hristie "olunteered from Trenton that local #e$ublicans had nobody to blame but themsel"es if they lost. Democrat %incent Ma&&eo 'as certified as () "otes ahead of #e$ublican Assemblyman John Amodeo follo'in* a $rotracted count of $ro"isional ballots, includin* numerous challen*es, accusations of "oter su$$ression, and a +ud*e,s inter"ention to allo' more than -)) contested ballots to be counted. Amodeo, 'ho re!uested the recount, obser"ed it briefly Monday, dressed in a blue 'indbrea.er 'ith the lo*o for his crane o$erators union. Later, in Trenton, hristie critici&ed the G/0 cam$ai*n of Amodeo and his runnin* mate, hris 1ro'n, for lea"in* 2-34,))) in uns$ent funds. 1ro'n 'as reelected. hristie,s comments 'ere in res$onse to remar.s by 1ro'n to local radio host 5arry 5urley last 'ee., in 'hich he accused the *o"ernor of cuttin* a deal 'ith South Jersey Democratic $arty leader Geor*e 6. Norcross III to stay out of any fund7raisin* for the Atlantic ounty candidates. At a ne's conference, hristie denied that any deal had been struc. 'ith Norcross, added that he 'ould not ha"e informed 1ro'n of it had there been one, and said the #e$ublicans should ha"e s$ent the money they had on hand. 8/ne, I had no deal 'ith Geor*e Norcross on $olitics, and t'o, if I had a deal, I sure as hell 'ouldn,t tell hris 1ro'n,8 hristie said. Since there 'ere uns$ent funds, fund7raisin* 'asn,t to blame if Amodeo loses, he said. 8There certainly 'asn,t a lac. of money,8 he said. Norcross, a co7o'ner of The In!uirer, could not be reached for comment. If Ma&&eo,s lead holds, the Democrats 'ill ha"e succeeded in denyin* hristie any le*islati"e coattails des$ite his landslide "ictory for reelection on No". 4. The $artisan tension continued to be felt in Atlantic ounty on Monday, as #e$ublican la'yers s$arred 'ith Democratic 1oard hairman 0aula S. Dunn o"er mar.in*s, ballots 'ith too many "otes, and other issues.

At the end of the day, mail7in ballots from the t'o lar*est to'ns in the district, 6** 5arbor To'nshi$ and Atlantic ity, 'ere e9amined indi"idually at t'o tables in a courtroom turned board room at the old Mays Landin* courthouse. The totals for Atlantic ity *a"e Ma&&eo an additional four "otes and Amodeo an additional t'o. 6ach sho'ed a loss of one "ote in 6** 5arbor To'nshi$ from $re"iously announced totals. The recount 'as scheduled to resume at -:;<) $.m. Tuesday and 'as e9$ected to finish by =ednesday.
arosenberg@phillynews.com 609-823-0453 @amysrosenberg www.inquirer.com/ ownashore