Somerset County GOP Chairman Al Gaburo digested the news about Bernardsville Mayor Kevin Sooy switching party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and offered little in the way of surprise, preferring the coming campaign to define the terms of engagement – and probable punishment.

“I’m disappointed,” Gaburo told InsiderNJ.

“When Kevin wanted to run for mayor we opened the line for him,” the chairman said, reflecting on 2014.

“The reality is he wouldn’t be mayor if we didn’t open the line,” he added. “I’m disappointed because this appears to be about Kevin. It appears to be because he wants to run either for sheriff or he wants a job or he wants something. It has nothing to do with Bernardsville or the people of Bernardsville. And so the old saying goes: ‘no good deed goes unpunished.'”

In 2016, Democrats ran former Franklin Twp. Police Officer Darrin Russo against incumbent Somerset County Sherriff Frank Provenzano, coming close to clipping the GOP incumbent. Many thought Russo – on the strength of his campaign performance – would undoubtedly be back. Other say he tired of the negativity a public run for office entailed. But Gaburo said he’s convinced Sooy craves the county law enforcement job.

The local mayor, however, will have a hard time getting out of his local general election contest, Gaburo cautioned.

“This is a situation where we have some level of buyer’s remorse,” said the chairman.

He added ominously, “Once this campaign gets out there the other side will have some level of buyer’s remorse as well. I’m sad to say that because none of this had to be this way. But it’s a situation where I see Kevin doing what he thinks is best for him and  not for Bernarsdsville, and certainly not for the Republican Party. We’re going to go have a campaign and we’ll see where the chips fall.”