March 26, 2008 - 8:42am
Unanue disputes court testimony that he showed up at Goya drunk and hung over
By EditorU.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue says that a Star-Ledger article alleging that he came to work drunk or hung over is false, and says this came from an “uncorroborated source” during a legal battle involving control of his family business, Goya Foods.
“I just got off the phone with a reporter from the Star-Ledger who plans to run an article in tomorrow’s newspaper that contains false allegations made against me years ago. I wanted you to hear from me personally that these allegations, made by one uncorroborated source, are absolutely false. They were no true then and are not true now,” Unanue wrote to PolitickerNJ.com last night. “I am disgusted that Frank Lautenberg and the Democrats are so frightened of facing me in a general election that they are already resorting to these tactics. We haven’t heard Democrat whisperings about the other candidates in the Republican primary. The only reason they’re doing it now is because they feel they have an opponent who can retire Frank Lautenberg in November.”
PolitickerNJ.com has obtained copies of partial transcripts of the Goya dispute trial, outlining testimony by Andy Unanue; Robert Unanue, his cousin; and Joseph Perez, a Goya executive who made many of the allegations against the Senate candidate.
Unanue, 40, a millionaire businessman who said Sunday he would enter the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, says this is a personal attack on him and “on the people of New Jersey and their ability to choose between two distinctly different candidates.”
“I hope that these dirty tactics and the Democrats’ fear of me and my candidacy in November invigorates you and rallies you to my support as it has invigorated me,” Unanue wrote. “This exemplifies what's wrong with politics: while people are struggling with the burden of high taxes and fearing for their economic and physical security, the Democrats want to throw mud. These dirty tactics never created a job, educated a child, improved access to health care, protected us from the threat of terror or secured our borders. The people deserve an honest discussion of the issues that affect their lives, not the dredging up of an old family disagreement. I can only imagine what tactics they will resort to when I become the front runner in the polls.”
CLICK HERE TO VIEW TESTIMONY: Andy Unanue | Robert Unanue | Joseph Perez
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July 4, 2008
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
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Today’s Must Reads:
Bob Torricelli is Mad at the Big, 'Mean' Bergen Record― THE MEDIA MOB
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MUCHAS MARGARITAS― ANDY UNANUE
NJ Economic Growth chief leaves office― Gary Rose
Candidates spend plenty of their money― Philadelphia Inquirer
News anchor sizing up run for governor― Star-Ledger
Political parties get right down to business― Daily Record
Ex-city official should give all of it back― Star-Ledger
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When Andy
becomes the front runner in the polls, we will all worry.
Uncorroborated Source?
According to the Star Ledger, it was a Vice President of the company, testifying under oath, who made the observation. And Mr. Unanue confirmed that he often showed up hung-over.
Would this guy pass the background check for a routine job at most companies? Good to see the Republican leaders have really been doing their homework (not).
Hey, at least he can be friends with Ted Kennedy!
Von Savage et al. must have a hangover of their own this morning
Let's just focus on what the man admits:
- Unanue "admitted he had come to work hung over and drank a lot at company parties."
- His own family ran him out of the job he touts as his main qualification to be United States Senator.
- A non-related company officer rated Andy's leadership skills as "fair to poor."
- And best of all, he was chief operating officer of a company that apparently evaded New Jersey taxes -- even though it's based in Secaucus, the case fell to the jurisdiction of the Delaware Chancery Court.
Put a match to his breath
Quote of the Day
March 25, 2008
"Maybe the hope is that this guy lights a fire." -- Former GOP State Chairwoman Virginia Littell, on new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue.
-New York Times, 03/25/08
Your headline needs correcting, Wally
Andy Unanue himself testified that he showed up for work hung over. He doesn't dispute that part of the story-- just that he was actually drunk at work.
Apparently he always walked that fine line between the end of drunk and the beginning of hung over.
The Real Issue Here
Is that New Jersey is not hospitable to businesses. Its time to lower taxes and reduce the size of government. Otherwise all of the State's businesses will soon leave.
The closet has been opened!
What is worst the guy already declared himself the GOP nominee for November: “I am disgusted that Frank Lautenberg and the Democrats are so frightened of facing me in a general election."
Hold your horses Andy, we have a selection process here and the primaries are in June. Unless, I missed something, did Tom Wilson abolished primaries to speed up this process?
The Democrats?
Give me a break. The information was in a public filing in a public court case that anyone can get ahold of.
Does he really think that a reporter from the Star Ledger needs the Demcorats to tell them to look at the court record? If the reporter didn't know to, their editor sure as hell did.
This is not the Democrats going after him, but a reporter doing what they're paid to do. If he doesn't like it, then he should drop out of the race already.
Best defense ever!
I wasn't drunk, I was hung over!
Rasmussen..
Is McGreevey's former press secretary seriously going to be Mr. Ethical here and decide what's bad?
This is a non-issue and I'm still probably voting for Jersey Joe, despite the ancient nationalist party.
You know you're a force to be reckoned with...
..when the DSCC, "Madman" Murray Sabrin and New Jersey's left-wing press wage an all out assault on you two days after you announce your candidacy.
Andy, I'm really glad you're running but honestly, do you really need this aggrevation???
"Who the hell are you???"- Bill Pascoe
Kick em' in the knees!
I've got 5 bucks that Sabrin calls on Unanue to drop out by 1pm and 10 bucks that it's by 5pm, if not by 1pm.
Anybody want to take my bet?
Quoting Juan Melli about the Star Ledger when they had the McGreevey three-some story, "Your profits are down and you're cutting staff. Don't waste your dwindling resources on irrelevant crap like peoples' divorces. Normal people don't care about this."
Juan, I couldn't agree more, especially if you change the story to a candidates family dispute that was settled 4 years ago.
Eric
You and Juan shring the same viewpoint on something? Don't scare me like that!
Next thing I know, Eric P. is gonna start using blue fonts again!!
"Who the hell are you???"- Bill Pascoe
Where's Fun Andy at?
Oh he's in Vail, on vacation! It's only the privilege few, like trust fund babies, who can take two week vacations in high end resorts.
What about the voters? What about the issues? What about the convention?
Can Fun Andy even spell economy?
I'm sure Fun Andy would be better than a Economist with a PhD.
Fun Andy would be a U.S. Senator you could have a beer with, smoke a joint with, do a line with, hang out with some working girls with -- you know all the great things a NYC club owner likely has done.
If it wasn't for those pesky
If it wasn't for those pesky kids (the madman revolutionaries), we'd still be part of Britain!
Murray's such a radical leftist professor. He has a PhD in economics but who needs economists when we have the great leadership of the Fed?
Jefferson, Madison, Goldwater, Reagan and Sabrin -- radicals that hurt our nation.
Where is a neocon when we need one! Only the neocons like Fun Andy realize that Big Government benefits the rich and hurts the poor. Goooooooooo Fun Andy!
Showing up to work hungover...
Who hasn't?!
Hell Senator Ted Kennedy killed a woman because he was driving while heavily intoxicated and he's one of the most powerful liberals in the country.
ESedler
Hahaha, so true re: Ted Kennedy. Kennedy's son, Patrick, a US Congressman, crashed a car while severely intoxicated, and is still a member.
The West Wing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUs5XqapRnE
Although this speech is obviously made for TV, the speech contains a lesson that we should all learn. None of us are perfect, and we are only asking to be lied to if we demand perfection from our leaders.
Beer and beans are the way
Beer and beans are the way to go. Ever been to Brazil? They live on that combination!
Only Moderates
Only you moderates can spin off drinking for a Republican candidate because a Democrat does it worse .. Its the same philosophy with how you look at voting records, the "He's not as bad the Democrat", or my favorite, the Democrat wanted a 20% tax increase and the Republican moderate compromised a 10% tax increase, wow, what a conservative.
I truly wonder if the NJGOP survives this Senate race, there's a storm coming, from waiting for what Ortiz is going to do with the already decided Bergen line, to all these County Party Bosses having a phone conversation with someone they never met and giving him their blessing, to having surrogates show up at conventions to rave about a candidate they have known for 4 days.
It's past pathetic and condenscending ... It's elitist!!
AJ says "It's elitist"
And Kate Whitman's run for Congress based solely on her family's political name/dynasty isn't?
Keep posting such self-contradictory words, AJ, as you cling to your utterly unfathomable support of Christie, Jr. I would think Roughneen would be more your kind of guy. He's got my support. But, alas, he can't promise you pony rides at Pontefract and a false sense of acceptance by the upper crust.
Either way, you make me laugh, so it's all good.
BTW, the big word you tried in vain to use is spelled "condescending."
We haven’t heard Democrat whisperings about the other candidates
You're right about that, Andy. Mostly we've been laughing out loud.