Politico Pro today published a piece detailing an allegation by Sussex County Democratic Chair Kate Rotondi – apparently set to testify before Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg’s (D-37) committee – against Warren County Democratic Chair Tom Palmieri. The story details trouble between the two north western frontier chairs toiling mostly obscurely in minority party organizations in GOP counties.

In a January letter to Weinberg arguing for why she should be on the committee, Rotondi wrote:

“I want to tell you about what I have experienced already during my nearly 8 months as the current chairwoman of the Sussex County Democratic Committee. I have witnessed male county chairs receive preferential treatment by the state party and by Governor Murphy’s administration. As a newer chair, I spoke to other male chairs that I have good relationships with to see if what I was experiencing was the norm and they were both shocked by how I was treated versus how they were treated by members of the state party and by Governor Murphy’s administration.

“A male county chair hit on me during our first meeting. When it became clear after a few more communications that I was not interested, he tried to utilize his position to work against me. At a fundraiser at the Governor’s home I put my drink down to take a photo and then I realized I shouldn’t drink it again because you never put your drink down without a woman to watch it. When I said I needed to get another drink the same male chair that hit on me mocked me and made jokes of having drugged it.”

The chair referenced is Palmieri, a veteran party player with a good reputation, who has labored in Demoratic Party politics for two decades and served as chairman in Warren since 2015. The pair of neighboring party chairs collided over the 2019 candidacy of Deana Lykins, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican Assemblyman Parker Space. Palmieri devoted significant energies to the effort, and clashed with Rotondi about how to mutually tackle that tough district race. A recall effort in Sussex by her own fellow Democrats has dogged Rotondi to date.