Will John Molinelli read this?

In a Letter to the Editor published by The Record on Sunday, former Bergen County Republican Chairman Guy Talarico denied any role in a controversial campaign mailer in the 40th district State Senate primary that compared Kevin O'Toole to the Rev. Al Sharpton.  Talarico, who resigned the day after the primary, backed Todd Caliguire for the Senate seat.

"I did not write the piece, I did not approve the piece, I did not fund the piece, and I did not distribute the piece. In fact, the mailer went out even after I expressly refused to provide any financial support for the piece," Talarico wrote.  "It is unfortunate and regrettable that this has been attributed to me, the BCRO and the Republican Party."

But the disclaimer on the mailer indicated that it was paid for by the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO), which Talarico headed until last week.  If Talarico is accurate in his claim that he refused financial support for the piece, then the Caliguire campaign could have a legal issue on their hands: state law requires campaign communications to disclose who paid for it.

Yesterday, in a protest to the mailer, a letter signed by all thirty Republicans in the State Assembly asked that GOP candidates and party organizations boycott political consultant Kevin Collins, who worked for Caliguire.  Collins has become the scapegoat, even though Caliguire and former Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano, a candidate for GOP State Chairman in an election on Thursday, played a major role in the development of the attack on O'Toole.