Casha co-opts Wally Edge's line
By Wally EdgeAssembly candidate Larry Casha didn't get his facts straight on a recent direct mail piece to 26th district voters -- he accused rival Jay Webber of calling State Senator Robert Martin "Mr. Potato Head" during the 2003 Republican primary. Webber didn't say that, PoliticsNJ.com did. The reference to the classic Hasbro toy that changes faces to fit the situation was made after Martin moved decidedly to the right in order to win a hotly contested primary with Webber, a bonafide conservative. Casha knows Webber didn't say this -- he complained about the Mr. Potato Head moniker while serving as Martin's campaign coordinator -- but that didn't seem to stop him from making an unfair accusation this week.
Casha's attack on his '07 primary rival came in a mailer that criticized Webber for failing to sign a clean campaign pledge. It's no surprise that Webber would not take Casha's pledge seriously: four years ago, Casha was one of Martin's attack surrogates. In a January 23, 2003 e-mail, Casha wrote: "Unfortunately Senator Bob Martin is being challenged by Jay Webber a lawyer whose law firm, Drinker Biddle has a PAC and gave money to Democrats Bob Torricelli, Rob Andrews, Charles Rangel and Rush Holt just to name a few. A quick check of the Federal Election Commission website finds Webber's law firm's PAC giving a $1000 to the likes of Democrats Torricelli, Rangel, David Obey and Tim Johnson. Tim Johnson is the Senator from South Dakota who was the #1 target of President Bush to win back the US Senate. Johnson serves with Tom Daschle and defeated GOP Congressman John Thune by just 500 votes. The FEC reports no contributions from Mr. Webber to Congressman Rod Frelinghuysen or to Doug Forrester. He is not the type of Republican we want as Senator from the 26th District."
Martin used this attack in his own campaign mail, suggesting that Webber, an associate at a law firm with hundreds of lawyers, should be responsible for campaign contributions made by his employer -- even though Martin had used his own campaign fund to contribute $500 to Democratic Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo.
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Umm ... right
So, the fact that Jay "The Dirtiest Mudslinger in the East" Webber has been offering no substantive remarks on the campaign trail, but rather, chooses to talk about Larry Casha and his "misdeeds" constantly, clearly isn't worth noting here.
If you put Jay in an early 70s TV show, his oft-repeated quote would probably be "Casha, Casha, Casha!" Of course, it wouldn't just be called "The Webber Bunch", it would be more like "The Webber Bunch (of Lies)". The title sequence might go on to feature the many faces of Jay Webber, rather than the lovely Brady family.
Jay has been slinging mud in this race since his sidekick Tom Weisert was issuing press releases quoting songs by "The Who". (I'm not sure Jay even knows who Keith Moon is ...) And, as much as Jay would like to confuse the voters into believing that Ronald Reagan himself is running for the 26th District Assembly seat, the fact of the matter is that he isn't. (Sorry to break your heart there, Jay, but it's you on the ballot ...)
So, the voters of the 26th District have a choice: a candidate who distorts the truth, lies about his opponent and has yet to offer any solutions to the huge problems our state is facing (that's JW - and, no, not one of the Marriott's) OR they could choose Larry Casha, a committed fiscal conservative with a proven track record of lowering property taxes and working alongside other Republicans in the district to get them elected.
Oh, and Casha has been running an issue-oriented campaign that focuses on solutions to problems. But, obviously, that isn't important to Jay since he continues with his Brady-like chant of "Casha, Casha, Casha!"
WHERE TO START??
First:
ODoyle: "So, the fact that Jay "The Dirtiest Mudslinger in the East" Webber has been offering no substantive remarks on the campaign trail, but rather, chooses to talk about Larry Casha and his "misdeeds" constantly, clearly isn't worth noting here."
Where have you been? Jay has a clear vision of where the GOP and the state should be going. I guess you haven't really followed the campaign...otherwise you would have heard a lot of optimism and vision from Jay.
Second:
ODoyle: "Of course, it wouldn't just be called "The Webber Bunch", it would be more like "The Webber Bunch (of Lies)"."
-- Larry Casha a conservative? LIE.
-- Larry Casha stating that Jay gave money to Democrats when the PAC of his huge national law firm did? LIE.
-- Larry Casha knocking on 4,000 doors? LIE.
I could go on.
Third:
ODoyle: "a candidate who distorts the truth, lies about his opponent and has yet to offer any solutions to the huge problems our state is facing"
Sounds like Larry Casha to me.
Jay Webber should apologize
Jay Webber should apologize to Hasbro for defaming Mr. Potato Head.
Republican Conscience
Casha A Committed Conservative?
If Larry Casha were a committed conservative, he would not have been a Bob Martin buddy and supporter. He is a go-along-to-get-along Republican and we've had too many of those in New Jersey.
REPUBLICAN CONSCIENCE
Senator Bob Martin should apologize to Hasbro for defaming Mr. Potato Head.
wally..normally you are reliably accurate, but...
i remember distinctly webber's press releases from a few years ago, using the potato head at the top and bashing martin with it. it was funny. it seemed like every day he was doing it. although you may have been the first to use it, webber definitely regurgitated it over and over...if anything, webber co-opted you, not casha. even fred snowflack, daily record columnist, said webber used it---this is on his blog: "Hold on here ...Yes, PoliticsNJ came up with the Mr. Potato Head nickname for Bob Martin, but Jay Webber definitely used it"
Clarification from the Casha Campaign
As avid readers of your political news site, we immediately came across your article challenging the Casha campaign's contention that Mr. Webber called Senator Bob Martin "Mr. Potato Head" in what was one of the nastiest campaigns in recent Morris County memory. Although Politicsnj.com was the first to use the label, Mr. Webber's frequent use of the phrase ended up in the Star Ledger on May 8, 2003, with a headline, "Challenger: GOP Rival is Mr. Potato Head." The attacks were so frequent that Hasbro officials, the makers of Mr. Potato Head, forwarded the issue to their legal department. Mr. Webber's campaign spokeswoman at the time said the name was "totally accurate." Larry Ragonese, the reporter who authored the Star Ledger article, based his article presumably on the numerous attack press releases Mr. Webber's campaign issued repeatedly, on May 7, May 8, May 9, May 12, May 14 and May 19th of that year, each with the same title of, "Meet Mr. Potato Head." The Casha campaign stands by the description of Mr. Webber in the mail piece, and is happy to reiterate the point that Mr. Webber can only be trusted to run a nasty, slash-and-burn negative campaign. In fact, the whole point of the mailer was to show that despite a handshake and an agreement to run a positive campaign, Webber has broken that promise with admitted dirt-digging against Larry's wife, a television ad that completely distorts Larry's record of holding the line on property taxes and even falsely accusing Larry of breaking the law. http://web.archive.org/web/20030606084249/politicsnj.com/webber050703.ht...