McCULLOUGH, AMODEO AND POLISTINA OUTRAGED BY WHALEN’S APPARENT ABUSE OF STATE RESOURCES FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES 

           (Atlantic County, NJ) Republican 2nd District legislative candidates Senator Sonny McCullough, Vince Polistina and John Amodeo today expressed their outrage that Assemblyman Jim Whalen apparently used his district office as a clearinghouse for responses to campaign mail pieces featuring his non-incumbent running-mates.

            “This is exactly the type of abuse of taxpayer dollars that we are trying to put a stop to in Trenton,” McCullough said. “It is simply unacceptable for Assemblyman Whelan to use taxpayer supported state resources to respond to campaign mail featuring his running-mates in this election.”

            Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce today filed a complaint with the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ethical Standards charging that Assemblyman Jim Whalen – along with several other Democrat legislators – has sent out campaign mail directing responses to be handled by his district office.

            In at least one case, 8th District Assemblyman Fran Bodine is accused of turning over all of the responses received at his district office to his campaign manager. The complaint filed today was accompanied by a certified statement from a district office staffer in Bodine’s office confirming this abuse.

            The Whelan complaint centered on three mailers featuring Whelan and his campaign running-mates Blondell Spellman and Joe Wilkins – neither of whom are incumbent legislators. Those mailers directed recipients to respond through a pre-addressed, attached response card to Whelan’s district office at 511 Tilton Road.

            “What could possibly justify the district office staffers in Jim Whalen’s office handling responses to a campaign mailer featuring Spellman and Wilkins?” Polistina asked. “This crosses a line and it violates the ethics code. You cannot use taxpayer-funded resources in connection with a political campaign.”

            “It is time for Jim Whelan to come forward and explain this situation,” Amodeo said. “He also must let the public know whether he had his district office staff turn this data over to campaign aides as at least one of his legislative colleagues did.”