Camden County clerk to fill John Adler's term

Camden County Democrats plan to select County Clerk James Beach, one of their most popular elected officials, to replace State Sen. John Adler (D., Camden), who was elected to Congress last month.

Beach, 62, of Voorhees, has won races for freeholder and county clerk. He came to politics after answering a recruitment ad seeking Democratic candidates in 1990. At the time, Democrats had lost their grip on the freeholder board and were looking for candidates to change the party's image.

"Nobody knew who he was. He went to the [candidate] interview with his tax bill and started complaining about his taxes," recalled Freeholder Jeff Nash, who became his 1991 running mate. "That's who they were looking for - regular people complaining about their taxes."

Nash also said that "the only time he came into contact with the Democratic Party was when somebody came to his door and he sprayed them with his garden hose."

Beach tells it just a bit differently.

"I didn't know if he was a Democrat or a Republican. I just said, 'Stay away. I don't want to talk to a politician. Go back and lower my taxes,' " he said, laughing.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D., N.J.), who helped recruit Beach, said: "He's never lost the attitude that had him walk into that first candidate screening with a tax bill in his hand. He understands every dime that goes into government spending comes from him and his neighbors. He will be fiscally conservative."

Andrews recalled that Beach, who ran with Nash and Vincent Sarubbi, was able to lower county taxes with a variety of strategies that included layoffs and service cuts.

"It wasn't easy and it wasn't popular, but it did stabilize the property taxes, and Jim was very much at the heart of those decisions," Andrews said.

Andrews and others said Beach's background as an educator and football coach for several area high schools, including Woodrow Wilson and St. Joseph's in Camden and Highland Regional High School in Blackwood, also would help him steer his way through Trenton.

Beach is a former director of vocational education for the Black Horse Regional School District.

He was first elected to the freeholder board in 1991 and named its director by 1993. He won the county clerk's seat in 1995, replacing Michael S. Keating, who was found guilty of taking bribes from printers seeking ballot contracts.

Adler, the man Beach would replace, praised him as "an engaging guy who clearly has kids and families and retirees in mind for everything he does."

Adler said he frequently discussed work on veterans' issues, health and public safety with Beach.

As clerk, Beach opened up county stores at malls in Cherry Hill and Voorhees, making it easy for county residents to take care of paperwork. He also serves as the Democratic Party cochairman and was not certain yesterday whether he would give up that position.

He is widely known for service to veterans. In the early 1990s, Nash recalled, Beach bought service medals from the French government to honor 1,000 local veterans who stormed Normandy Beach in 1944.

"One of Jim's best qualities is that he's just in touch with everyday people," said Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr.

As county clerk, he makes $153,437 a year; he would earn $49,000 as a state senator. Beach said yesterday that he would take another job to supplement his income and that he would make sure it would not conflict with his Senate duties.

Adler officially leaves the Senate in January. Democrats must nominate Beach in a convention to replace him. A special election would be held next November to fill the remainder of Adler's term, which expires in 2012. Beach said he was interested in seeking the full term.

Adler won a tight race for Congress last month, becoming the first Democrat to represent the Third District congressional seat in decades.

A state senator since an upset election in 1991, when he took the seat from a Republican, Adler rose quickly through the upper house and headed the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It was unclear yesterday whom Democrats would select to replace Beach as county clerk.