Assembly running mates Jay Webber and Brian Bergen have secured the endorsement of the National Rifle Association (NRA) over their Republican primary opponents Betty Lou DeCroce and Robert Peluso.
DeCroce (an ex-Assembly member attempting a comeback) and Peluso (who served as a councilman in Parsippany) received questions marks.
According to the NRA’s explanation of its assigned grades, recipients of a “?” score either “[r]efused to answer the NRA-PVF candidate questionnaire or [are] a candidate who has made contradictory statements or taken positions that are inconsistent with the candidate’s answers to the NRA-PVF candidate questionnaire or previous record.”
“A rating of ‘?’ often indicates indifference, if not outright hostility, to gun owners’ and sportsmen’s rights,” the NRA continued. The NRA did not explain which circumstance or circumstances – refusal to answer to “contradictory statements” – resulted in DeCroce and Peluso drawing “?” grades.
Meanwhile Bergen and Webber received A grades, the second highest mark possible; the NRA says an “A” grade indicates “a solidly pro-gun candidate” who has also “supported NRA positions on key votes in elective office or a candidate with a demonstrated record of support on Second Amendment issues.”
Webber and Bergen’s senatorial running mate – incumbent Joe Pennacchio – is also an endorsed NRA candidate over his opponent, Morris Commissioner Tom Mastrangelo.
