By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
And just when you thought the CD3 GOP primary war couldn’t get any hotter, Save Jerseyans, Save Jersey has learned that the Lonegan campaign’s recounting of a controversial Daily Mail insurance scandal story is drawing a formal threat of legal action from his primary opponent.
You can click here to read the cease and desist letter from attorney Anthony Drollas of Capehart Scatchard. The sticking point for MacArthur’s legal team is the headline of the Lonegan campaign’s April 30th release about the Daily Mail piece: “MacArthur Accused of Insurance Fraud.”
Calling the Lonegan press release “false and defamatory,” Drollas relayed his client’s demand that the Lonegan campaign “cease and desist from further publication or dissemination of the words on that headline,” and, moreover, “publish an immediate retraction of the words in that headline.”
Mr. Drollas’s letter emphasizes the fact that the Daily Mail pieced shared by Lonegan’s campaign stopped far short of accusing MacArthur of any personal involvement in three insurance-related legal challenges previously brought against his former company, York Risk Services Group. Whether it rises to the level of defamation is, naturally, a legal determination.
Team Lonegan isn’t reversing course.
“What did happen at MacArthur’s company is this: numerous firefighters, flood and hurricane victims, homeowners, and many more policyholders were (1) denied their rightful payout, and/or (2) ignored and/or delayed reimbursement for years (some disaster victims lost their homes and even died waiting for a York settlement),” alleged Lonegan spokesman, Tim Kelly, in a Friday press release
“The charges lodged against Tom MacArthur this week are clearly devastating, but somehow he remains completely silent,” Kelly continued. Regarding the Daily Mail‘s cited legal actions against York referenced by the Lonegan campaign, Kelly insists that “[a]ll of these claims were sifted through the company Tom MacArthur founded, York Risk Services – a company that profits directly from advising against paying out full individual claims.”
The campaign did not, however, dispute MacArthur spokesman Chris Russell’s overarching point that none of the law suits stemming from these claims ever personally named or implicated MacArthur in alleged “insurance fraud” activities.
This latest dust-up isn’t an isolated incident. The Lonegan campaign drew further criticism this week for sending out a mailer with a giant, elaborate building pictured on the front with the label “Tom MacArthur’s Mansion” affixed in the upper left-hand corner. The problem pointed out by PolitickerNJ is that the “mansion” isn’t MacArthur’s home or a mansion at all but, in actuality, the Barnegat Light Borough Hall.
Man up, Tom.
It would be nice if Lonegan could run just one campaign that didn’t result in some kind of legal action
You mean like “LaVergne v Lonegan” (he lost that one, too). 1933-13-L
Has MacArthur disclosed his tax returns yet?
Aw, poor widdle MacArthur can’t handle a little politics. We should give him a bottle and a nomination so he’ll stop crying.
He looks more and more like a typical establishment crony every day. Self-funder? Check. Not afraid to go negative, but offended when attacked? Check. Vague on issues? Check. I’m not saying he’s a RINO, he may very well not be – but he certainly looks like one.
^ no lol
Please. MacArthur is right on. There’s nothing wrong and everything right with standing up when an unethical man tries to lie in order to win an election based on falsehood and slander.
Why get caught in little details like what’s true and what’s a lie when you can’t even get a photograph right.
So when does Matt Rooney admit to being paid?
Whoever wins is supposed to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution…explain to me how one does that without understanding how it works, or what it actually says? Right now, MacArthur may be irked by Lonegan, but he enjoys no protection from it. Empty saber-rattling may play to the masses, but his attorneys should know better. I will elaborate further if this issue persists.
M has far greater problems than the list of 47 Federal/Appellate cases pending or settled in our Judiciary, most of which began on his watch. That is not even touching on lower court cases that they settled or otherwise bullied their clients policyholders over. The company makes its money by acting as a go-between, and denying valid claims and bullying policy-holders into giving up and walking away. In a community devastated only months ago, with folks on every block along the shore fighting for the settlements their paid-for policies made them eligible for, pretending this is not true, when the evidence of their own eyes can prove it to be so, is foolhardy, indeed.
MacArthur has the hubris to think this will go away.
“Puffery” would be an issue, had you actually held an NJ license.
It’s only defamation if it’s false. Here’s a list from JUSTIA.com Your lawyers should have some familiarity with that popular legal search engine.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/221765781/York-Justia-Links-FEDERAL-APPELLATE-ONLY-Doesn-t-Touch-Those-Settled
Voters – feel free to read about where your wealthy self-funder earned a living. Great vetting job, R leadership. Your rank and file should overthrow you – and they can – at the polls in June and November.
Mr. Lonegan, if you win in June, I will look forward to our debates…should be quite a show. If you lose, well, I imagine by this time I can count on your endorsement.
Mr. MacArthur – welcome to “adult swim”. Hire better attorneys. The ones you have should have already advised you that, under the First Amendment, such shot-from-the-hip righteous indignation is not sufficient grounds for any action by the courts. If they billed you for that advice, use the new attorney to sue them for the money back – they did not understand Constitutional Law 101.
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
You have two other issues I am just watching percolate.
Oh, and as to your ad as “job creator” – the puffery of having created “thousands of jobs” – show me thousands of employees, who your company must now address ACA over…The young person in the McDonald’s Drivethru feeds thousands – but he ain’t a farmer.
Checking on another of your claims with my pastor friends. Hope they’re true – if they’re not, and you win, you might as well pay back your loan, now. That one is so egregious, there is no way you will survive. I have spent nearly 3 decades in finance, auto sales, insurance sales, and mortgage lending. I’ve met every bottom-feeder there is – and many great professionals. If what ECFA had to say, and the evidence of the IRS.gov site agrees, the London Daily Mail is the least of your campaign worries….
(and that’s not even the “big” one).
Bring it.
(I could just sit back and watch you tear into each other, but it is too important that YOU be removed from the race for lack of character. Lonegan is no friend of mine, and I am no fan of his…but I can’t abide what I have found.
You’ve read what all of us have written. Who should you be sending to Washington to fight YOUR battles?
We have spent the last many months carefully selecting advisors from around the State, and around the Nation, to help us set our policies in many areas of common concern. This is not to say that the individual candidates do not vote their own conscience…we encourage that they do ONLY that, with the input and support of their constituents.
Our organization is not “lock-step” on all issues. We ask that our candidates follow two simple rules:
1) Uphold the Constitution of the United States
2) Don’t Steal
It really is that simple.
The so-called “Two-Party” system has been carefully cultivated to set up exclusionary issues – where they make specific points “deal-breakers”, and use those issues as a means of marginalizing any independent competition.
We’re not playing that game. If you had the perfect candidate for Office, but you disagreed on a single issue, should you select someone less qualified over that one issue? I don’t buy it. I want the best choice, and no single issue is sufficiently overridingly important to trump all others for me – and probably not for you, either.
I don’t wear my faith on my sleeve, although it certainly guides my position on many issues. If elected, I am being “hired”, however, to follow the charge placed upon me by the Oath of Office.
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires that Members of the U.S. Congress be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. Members-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives typically take the Oath of Office on the House Floor on the first day of a new Congress, immediately after the Speaker of the House has been elected and sworn in.
The Speaker administers this oath:
“I, (name of Member), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God” (5 U.S.C. §3331).
As Article VI is certainly a part of the US Constitution, adherence to this oath is thereby a requirement of the “Democratic-Republican” Organization of New Jersey. (See “RULE ONE” above)
I am beholden first to the Constitution, and thereafter to the constituents of the Third Congressional District. We are not “bought and paid for” representatives put forth for election by a party organization driven by money, influence, and cronyism. Our candidates are selected because they specifically stand against such party puppets.
Many have become frustrated over the last several decades, especially in view of the scandals associated with the two “major” parties that have been uncovered at the local level. Some have even stopped participating in elections altogether, viewing their vote as inconsequential in defeating the “machine” politicians.
It is to YOU that I write this letter. YOU have the opportunity to change the course of this Nation – your vote matters. If you have not updated your voter registration, please do so. If you contact me, I will provide you with the form myself. You must be registered at the address where you live to cast a ballot. The law is clear, and, in this race, it may be used to disqualify those voting against the “machine”.
Your vote is both a right and a privilege – and, in my view, sacred. To know that so many simply pull a lever in the column they lean toward is very disheartening, as an independent, because you need to KNOW who you are choosing. If you are willing to take the word of the corrupt party bosses for who you should support, you will get the government you deserve.
Take the time to know more. Most of us are not “Democrats” or “Republicans”, or “Liberals” or Conservatives”…we’re Americans, first, and the “party” system we’re under is broken. The way to fix it is to remove the offending appendage.
“If thy right hand offends thee, cut it off…” – Matthew 5:30 in my “King James”
If your elected officials offend you, FIRE THEM.
The two parties have broken faith with the electorate. That is a fact most clear to any who would take the time to review how things have been done in the past. Send them to the showers.
I was asked why I have not run as a Democrat or a Republican. It is not possible for me to do so successfully in this State, because I would not accept the yoke of the party bosses. If you know me, you know I fear nothing and kiss no one’s, well, “ring”. I will not do so in Washington, either.
I am applying for the job to represent you, fearlessly, and in obedience to the laws which govern us. Get to know me – get to know what we’re already doing for those of you in the district, which you never knew. We’re all serving within our respective districts as though you had already elected us – other than directly as legislators. Help put that last arrow in our quiver – send us to Washington, to represent YOU, not Gilmore, not Norcross, not even Birdsall Engineering or Americans for Prosperity…YOU.
I’m not asking for your money (although I would not be truthful if I said we would turn it down – at least from individual voters). I am asking for your input, your consideration, and your support.
I am specifically asking for your vote this November.
If you would help us change HOW you are represented for the better, reach out to me at upholdtheconstitution@hotmail.com, or message me at this social media address. https://www.facebook.com/FrederickJohnLaVergneForCongress?ref=hl
If you would know more about what we’re already doing, visit http://www.democratic-republicanparty.org
http://fjl2104 will roll out the day after the primary in June.
Frederick John LaVergne, “Democratic-Republican” for Congress, New Jersey District Three, 2014
“Stand for what’s right, or settle for what’s left” – fjl
You’re a real clown dude. Sorry- Perennial Clown. I’m sure you’d be getting a letter from the attorneys as well, but you’re not on anyone’s radar screen.
Tom MacArthur actually looks a little bit like an overgrown baby. So, ironically enough, that’s exactly what he’s acting like here. Can’t take it when someone fights fire with fire, even though he’s run an overwhelmingly negative campaign constantly misconstruing Steve Lonegan’s positions on various issues. What little we know about MacArthur, we can tell from his attacks that: 1.) He’s a supporter of progressive taxation, and 2.) He believes in not reading a bill thoroughly before supporting it (in response to his attacks on Lonegan’s support for the flat tax and his opposition to the pork-filled Sandy relief bill respectively). Tommy, maybe you should just take your ball, go home and step aside instead of trying to block another conservative from elected office like you did in Randolph.
So says the LONEGAN foolys who worship a lying sack of suds who is mentally unhinged because all he can do is cry he is ENTITLED cause he was da big bad mayor of borgata
MacArthur needs better attorneys. Promise. The lawsuit he filed is just another example of how business was conducted at YORK…the term is “Slap Suit”. Now he’s pissing on MY Constitution. That’s going to hurt. Promise that, too.