PRESS RELEASE: Cumberland Republicans ask Democrat opponents why they're hiding from Bob Menendez

Kilby And Spatola Ask Why Incumbents Are Afraid To Campaign With Menendez

Are Democrats afraid campaigning with Menendez will remind voters of their own ethical challenges?

VINELAND – Republican candidates for Cumberland County Freeholder, Arvene Kilby and Frank Spatola asked today why freeholders Jim Quinn and Joe Derella haven’t been seen with U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin has made several campaign stops in Cumberland County with Kilby and Spatola. The Republican candidates believe the reason for ethically challenged Menendez’s absence from Cumberland County is the Democrat incumbents don’t want voters to be reminded of their own prior ethical challenges.

“We can joke all day long about Senator Menendez not being able to find Cumberland County with GPS,” said Arvene Kilby. “But the fact of the matter is the incumbents have to have a reason they don’t want to be seen with the top of their ticket. Could that reason be freeholders Quinn and Derella don’t want voters to be reminded of their own past issues with ethics complaints?”

While serving as a City Commissioner in Millville Jim Quinn was fined $250 to settle a state ethics violation levied against him that said he cast public votes on issues involving companies he did hundreds of dollars of monthly private business with. Joe Derella, in November 2017, had a 22-count complaint filed against him by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

“We are all well aware of the fact Senator Menendez was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee over his relationship with his close friend, political donor and now convicted felon Salomon Melgen, so it’s understandable Quinn and Derella would want Menendez to stay away from Cumberland County,” Frank Spatola said. “Unlike our opponents Arvene and I are proud to stand with the top or our ticket. We are running as a team to bring more transparency to county government, because when light is shed on how business is done ethical challenges have a tendency to disappear.”

###

Paid for by: CCRRO