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New Jersey GOP powerbroker George Gilmore steps down after conviction on tax charges

The head of one of New Jersey's most powerful Republican county organizations has resigned, just days after he was convicted on federal tax charges.

GOP Chairman George Gilmore announces that the race is too close and that U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, was not going to make a statement tonight at the Toms River Days Hotel in Toms River, N.J. Tuesday, November, 6, 2018.
GOP Chairman George Gilmore announces that the race is too close and that U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, was not going to make a statement tonight at the Toms River Days Hotel in Toms River, N.J. Tuesday, November, 6, 2018.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

TOMS RIVER, N.J. — The head of one of New Jersey’s most powerful Republican county organizations has resigned, just days after he was convicted on federal tax charges.

George Gilmore stepped down Wednesday as leader of the Ocean County GOP. The 70-year-old Toms River resident had led the organization since 1996 and also had been the longtime chairman of the county's Board of Elections, a post he had stepped down from on Tuesday.

Gilmore had been convicted April 17 of failing to pay payroll taxes at his law firm and submitting a false loan application. But the jury acquitted him of charges of filing false tax returns and deadlocked on tax evasion charges.

Prosecutors had alleged that he spent lavishly while failing to pay more than $1 million in taxes between 2013 and 2015.