MARIJUANA ACTIVIST LEADS A FIELD OF 11 INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES

Edward Forchion, the Pemberton Township native best known by
his alias, NJWeedman, is throwing his hat into the political ring again.

The longtime marijuana activist has filed to run as an independent
candidate for one of the 8th Legislative District's two state Assembly
seats. He is one of 11 independents who have filed to run for state,
county or local offices in the November general election.

The other independent candidates include Mount Holly resident Paul
Bracy, who filed to run for county freeholder, and nine municipal
candidates who filed to run for local offices in Bordentown Township,
Chesterfield, Cinnaminson, Medford and Wrightstown.

Forchion is the best-known of the independents, having previously run
third-party campaigns for governor, Congress, the state Legislature,
and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders. He also has received
publicity for his run-ins with the law, most recently in April last
year when he was charged with possession of more than 50 grams of
marijuana, possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, and
possession of drug paraphernalia after state police stopped him on
Route 38 in Mount Holly for rolling through a red light and found
about a pound of pot in the trunk of his rental car.

Forchion is fighting the charges in Superior Court and plans to argue
that New Jersey's marijuana laws are unconstitutional because the
state has recognized that the drug has medicinal value but continues
to classify it as a Schedule I drug, like cocaine and heroin.

His case is expected to go to trial sometime this year.

Although Forchion submitted a petition with the required 100-plus
signatures, his spot on the general election ballot is no sure thing
given questions about his residency.

Forchion acknowledges that he has lived and worked in California since
2008. He runs the Liberty Bell Temple on Hollywood Boulevard in Los
Angeles, a state-registered medical marijuana clinic where he legally
sells pot and claims to run the only Rastafarinan ministry in the city.

In a statement accompanying his nomination petition, Forchion said
that he considers himself a political exile because of his outspoken
beliefs about marijuana, but that he frequently returns to New Jersey
to visit family and friends and continues to consider Pemberton
Township his legal residence.

"Never have I renounced my citizenship to the state of New Jersey," he
said. "I am NJWeedman, not the California Weedman or the Los Angeles
Weedman -- the New Jersey Weedman."

State and county officials said all independent candidate petitions
remain unofficial pending further review.

If Forchion is successful in obtaining a spot on the ballot, he would
run against Republican incumbents Scott Rudder of Medford and Pat
Delany of Lumberton as well as Democratic challengers Sharyn
Pertnoy-Schmidt of Evesham and Ray Storck of Hainesport.

In the district's Senate race, Olympic track legend Carl Lewis is
challenging Republican Dawn Marie Addiego, but his spot on the ballot
is also in doubt because of an ongoing legal fight over his
eligibility to run for office.

Lewis owns homes in New Jersey and California, but Republicans claim
he does not meet the state's four-year residency requirement for
Senate candidates because he voted in California as recently as 2009
and did not register to vote in New Jersey until he filed to run for
office this spring. Lewis contends that he grew up in Willingboro and
moved back to New Jersey in 2005.

Among the other independents, Bracy hopes to challenge for two
available seats on the freeholder board. Democrat Mary Anne Reinhart
is the lone incumbent in the race; her Democratic running mate is
Machell Still-Pettis. Evesham Councilman Joseph Howarth and Moorestown
businesswoman Leah Arter are the Republicans seeking the county seats.

Bracy, a former special education teacher, intended to run as an
unendorsed Democrat in this month's primary but was disqualified
because he did not have enough valid signatures on his nominating
petition. He then opted to run as an independent.

Bracy's platform calls for ending pay-to-play political patronage,
building a year-round homeless shelter, opening the process for
appointments to county boards of education, and establishing binding
arbitration in all contract negotiations between unions and the
freeholders. He also seeks changes at the Burlington County Special
Services School District, where he formerly worked, and wants the
county to provide more support programs for poor and at-risk school
districts.

"I have no alliance towards the Democratic and/or Republican power
bases," Bracy said. "I will simply represent the will of the people."

The independents who have filed to run for municipal positions
are:

Bordentown Township: Kostas Petris and Salvatore "Sal" Schiano;
Chesterfield: Jeremy Liedtka;

Cinnaminson: Austin D'Arpino, Steven J. Fowles, Kenneth J. Gertie,
Scott A. Lunn;

Medford: George B. Youngkin Jr.;

Wrightstown: James K. Severns.

Three other independents filed to run for spots on the Medford
Township Council, but they were disqualified because they did not have
enough signatures on their nominating petitions, according to the
County Clerk's Office.