Middlesex County Clerk Elaine Flynn apparently sent a letter to municipal clerks directing them to accept petitions for the June primary up to 4 p.m. tomorrow, April 2nd.

That’s a 24-hour delay form the originally scheduled deadline of 4 p.m. today.

“This is screwing with people’ basic rights,” complained Middlesex County GOP Chair Lucille Panos.

“Don’t change the rules,” added Panos, referring to the statute governing the filing deadline.

The entire situation was not immediately clear.

The county website still marked the filing deadline as April 1st.

A source told InsiderNJ that opponents of sitting Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Kevin McCabe launched a Tet Offensive insurgency from different county pockets of county resistance adding up to about 150-200 petitions to fill committee vacancies.

The insurgent petitions – most of which came out of Edison – landed before the Monday deadline of 4 p.m.

McCabe’s allies, among them Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, say the concussive weight of Woodridge alone would short circuit such an sneak attack insurrection, and dismissed politics as the culprit.

But the issue here, if Flynn’s letter is indeed legitimate (the fact that it’s undated created a whole other set of questions), is the statutory requirement of the deadline.

It’s unprecedented to break it.

Sources shared shock over the contents of the letter (see above).

Flynn, a veteran clerk, in her undated communique said she had the consultation of the county counsel. A source told InsiderNJ that such a delay could not occur without the imprimatur of the state Attorney General’s Office.

In Midldesex, party leaders at the municipal level huddled on Monday evening to figure out how to move forward.

“This won’t stand up in court,” one source fumed, referring to the clerk’s alleged order in her letter to municipal clerks.

A second source said at issue for her/him was the fact that the letter did not contain a date, and pondered aloud the legal reason for a prolonged deadline.

This is a developing story. County Counsel Thomas F. Kelso did not immediately return an email for comment.

On Monday evening, InsiderNJ learned from Charles Kratovil, editor of New Brunswick Today, that he requested the date change for petitions.

“I will only say that I brought this up in good faith in person with the County Clerk on Friday and pushed the County Counsel to do what I felt was right and in the best interests of democracy,” Kratovil said.

He wrote a March 29th letter to the county counsel, reprinted Below:

Hello Mr. Kelso,
 
It has come to my attention that the County Clerk’s Office distributed the attached instructions for candidates filing in the primary election as part of the packets given to individuals who requested partisan petitions for this year’s elections.  As you will see, the instructions incorrectly state that the deadline to file would be April 2.  The correct deadline is April 1. As such, I would respectfully suggest that the County accept any candidate petition filed by 4pm on April 2, and instruct municipal clerks to do the same.

Although the error was eventually caught and corrected by the staff, the incorrect instructions had already been disseminated to an unknown number of individuals, who may have copied and/or shared those instructions with others. It’s only fair that the County Clerk’s office honor and accept petitions that may end up being filed on April 2 in conformance with those original instructions.
 
I spoke with the County Clerk this morning and she informed me that she will defer to your advice on this matter.  Please confirm if you will advise the Clerk’s Office to accept petitions filed on April 2. 

Thank you kindly.
 
Sincerely, Charlie Kratovil

Kelso responded before 5 p.m. on Friday in an email.

“Charlie, The maer (sic) was just recently brought to the aenon (sic) of the County Counsel office. My office is in contact with the Aorney (sic) General’s office in order to review the circumstances and the law as it applies to the filing deadline. No decision has yet been made as to peons that may be presented for filing aer the April 1 deadline.  TKelso.”

Flynn’s subsequent letter circulated Monday.

Outside of New Brunswick, the 24-hour change irritated other insurrectionists, who, without knowing about the editor’s complaint on Friday, gritted their teeth in the shadows, irritated that the establishment had an extra day to reset, to run in different districts and help them fill out their slate. Then again, the extra day also helped others the MCDC didn’t necessarily want to help, a source noted, like the LD17 progressives.