Looking at 2017 comeback, Angelini calls on former opponents to back Sweeney’s NJEA/FOP fight

Asw. Mary Pat Angelini (R-11)

By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog

Asw. Mary Pat Angelini (R-11)
Asw. Mary Pat Angelini (R-11)

Who said August is a black hole for news, Save Jerseyans?

Not in New Jersey.

Former Republican Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini and her running mate, Caroline Casagrande, were swept out of LD11 last fall when Democrats and their allies spent approximately $1.5 million to unseat them in what was arguably the cycle’s

Angelini hasn’t walked away from the fight.

She attended the 2016 GOP convention in Cleveland and, before that, penned a blistering piece for Save Jersey aimed at the public sector special interest groups who dropped money bombs on her head in 2015. Few observers doubt that she plans a comeback bid next year when the entire legislature is on the ballot (or that she at least wants to seriously explore the possibility).

Her latest salvo? Angelini is calling on her prospective rematch opponents — Eric Houghtaling and Joanne Downey — to take a stand with Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney and against the special interests who fueled their election.

“Houghtaling and Downey refused to denounce the vicious lies fueled by the NJEA that painted a false narrative regarding the nonprofit that I have been associated with for over 20 years,” said Angelini in a strongly-worded press release. “It’s no surprise that my opportunist opponents welcomed the NJEA spending in their race and tow their agenda in Trenton. In the face of these troubling allegations, Houghtaling and Downey need to break their silence and stand up to their special interest allies.”

The LD11 Democrats: Owned by the NJEA
The LD11 Democrats: Owned by the NJEA

Sweeney continued to weather venom from the NJEA and other public sector union groups on Friday after, in the middle of a fight over a public sector pension amendment, Sweeney accused the NJEA and Fraternal Order of Police of attempt to “extort” and “bribe” the measure onto the ballot.

The situation is fluid but the financially-ruinous amendment — one which would prioritize pension payments over everything else, including road and bridge repairs — appears headed for a roadside ditch at least in terms of the current cycle.

For Angelini and anyone else who knows the backstory, the amendment’s fate is only half of the story. There’s a deeper, institutionalized corruption at work in this state that needs to be confronted.

“Sweeney’s call for an investigation is a good first step, but exploring potential illegal activity needs to extend to the Trenton Democrats who have been bankrolled by the NJEA for years,” added Angelini. “Houghtaling and Downey owe their seats in the Legislature to the NJEA. They’ve worked hard in their first year to create the façade that they are independent thinkers. They should back up their rhetoric with action by joining the call for a criminal investigation and disclose all conversations they or their staff members had with the NJEA. They had no problem standing behind Steve Sweeney to support another do-nothing government commission on school funding.”

“Failure to stand behind Sweeney in calling for a criminal investigation will prove that they have sold out to the NJEA and have no problem with transactional politics in Trenton,” she concluded.

Amen. We all know Steve Sweeney isn’t a saint in all of this, folks, but that doesn’t make what he said this week any less true.

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