Jumping into the CD11 scuffle between GOP primary candidate Assemblyman Jay Webber and Democratic primary candidate Mikie Sherrill, LD35 Senator Nellie Pou came to Sherrill’s defense and lashed out at Webber, referencing his opposition to legislation such as equal pay, gay marriage, and women’s health funding.  Leaving no punch unthrown, Pou deried Webber’s record and views in the Assembly as a ‘war on women’, and said his campaign is based on religious zealotry.  

Pou made reference to Webber’s daughters, saying his vote against equal pay legislation is ‘yet another sign of the grossly distorted worldview that Webber has deliberately tried to make a reality despite the truly cruel and vicious effect that his voting record and rhetoric has had on not just his four daughters but every woman throughout the state of New Jersey.’

Responding to Pou’s statement, Webber and his wife released a blistering condemnation of the statement, demanding an apology from the Sherrill campaign.  Morris County Freeholder Darling called for an apology from the campaign, while Webber’s primary rival Antony Ghee issued a statement calling on Pou to apologize. 

Pou’s full statement: “Jay Webber’s recent attack on Mikie Sherrill and outrageous demand of Sherrill to call for the resignation of Senator Bob Menendez is no surprise to the women of New Jersey who know that this is just a continuation of Webber’s war on women, which has become a hallmark of his “service” in the New Jersey State Assembly.

Whether it be his outright assault on women’s healthcare clinics throughout the state or his “No”
vote on the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which passed 74-2, the message is the same; Not only
does Jay Webber not believe in gender equality, he has defined his career by working each and
every day to dismantle any effort aimed at remediating the unequal treatment of women, whether
it be equal pay or equal access to healthcare.

Why Webber would not support countless pieces of legislation that would have ensured equal pay
for equal work as well as equal access to healthcare is yet another sign of the grossly distorted
worldview that Webber has deliberately tried to make a reality despite the truly cruel and vicious
effect that his voting record and rhetoric has had on not just his four daughters but every woman
throughout the state of New Jersey. Furthermore, he has imbued his campaign with an
unparalleled degree of religious zealotry that amounts to nothing more than a vitriolic assault on
this country’s separation of church and state. He voted against the legalization of gay marriage, he
has conducted a tireless crusade against women’s healthcare centers throughout the state, painting
all Planned Parenthood clinics as abortion mills despite the reality that they are the number one
provider of affordable breast cancer screenings.

While Jay Webber wants you to believe that this is about ethics and accountability, this is just
patently false. Jay Webber boldly stood by Chris Christie during the Bridgegate scandal for no
other reason than the sheer fact that Christie was ready, willing and able to support Webber’s
unpopular and dated crusades. He pays no mind to Mikie Sherrill’s selfless service to the armed
forces of this country and has gone further, trying to use her tacit association with Senator
Menendez as a tool to dismantle her accomplishments as a federal prosecutor and U.S. Attorney.
For him to attack another powerful woman is no surprise, but to do so under the guise of ethics
and accountability is not only disingenuous, it is reprehensible. This is not something any New
Jerseyan, Republican, Democrat or Independent, will ever stand for.”