Robert Turkavage, former GOP Congressional Candidate for Congressional District Two (CD-2), today calls upon Seth Grossman to withdraw his candidacy for CD-2. Turkavage’s request stems from Facebook posts by Grossman which have been the subject of recent media reports; withdrawal of support for Grossman’s candidacy by the State and National GOP, as well as interactions between Turkavage and Grossman in events leading up to the GOP June, 2018 primary, which are summarized
below. Combined, these events render Grossman unfit to serve as GOP standard bearer for CD-2.

In March 2018, Turkavage, Grossman and other CD-2 candidates participated in a candidate forum in Margate, NJ. During a question and answer phase, Turkavage represented that he was opposed to arming teachers in classrooms. Turkavage’s opposition was based on several variables: certain teachers would not want to carry weapons; regular weapons proficiency training of teachers would be required; concern over student access to weapons that may not be appropriately secured in the classroom; and resolution of a classroom situation by use of a firearm when an alternate means of resolution was appropriate. Grossman, the other candidates present, and at least one attendee verbally disagreed with Turkavage’s position.

Grossman subsequently authored an article entitled “We Have A Problem with How Republican Clubs Pick Our Candidates”. Grossman stated that at the Margate event “Turkavage misrepresented Trump’s statements on school safety. Turkavage said it was “stupid” to “put guns in the purses of every kindergarten and first grade teacher”. Trump, of course, never suggested that”. The problem with Grossman’s statement is that I never uttered the word “stupid”; never uttered the phrase “put guns in the purses of kindergarten and first grade teacher”, and never attributed the phrase to President Trump. Grossman made up the fraudulent quotes and the attribution of the quotes. After being told of the comments, another CD-2 candidate texted to Turkavage “Breathe. Relax. We know he’s off the reservation…You were not ranting and raving at the Margate meeting. That’s not right”.

Grossman continued: “To make matters worse, Robert Turkevich looks and talks exactly like anti-Trump Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, another retired FBI Agent. Other than now misspelling my name in the same article, this comment by Grossman is not worthy of a response.

Grossman was not finished. Grossman wrote,” He and his wife Sally (of the well-known and liked Plum family of Brigantine) both retired with full FBI pensions at age 50”. Wrong again. I retired at age 50; my spouse Sarah, retired several years after reaching age 50. Neither of us retired at anywhere close to full pensions.

More troubling was Mr. Grossman’s conduct during the Salem County Republican Party Convention in March 2018. Congressional candidates, like other candidates for public office, are required to obtain signatures of registered voters of their party in order for the candidate’s name to appear on a primary election ballot. Candidates circulate petitions for these signatures at county conventions and other events in order to obtain these signatures. After engaging a Salem convention attendee in an extended conversation, my wife offered my petition to the attendee for his signature. At that point, Grossman positioned himself in between the attendee and my wife, placed his hand over the clipboard bearing the petition, and stated words to the effect: Wait, don’t you want to hear from the other candidate. My wife then stepped back and Grossman told the attendee, “He (Turkavage) said “Never Trump”. At that point, my wife responded that I never said “Never Trump”, and then politely withdrew from the conversation.

To summarize, based upon my personal interactions with him, I consider Grossman dishonest for fabricating quotes and attributing those quotes to me; mean-spirited in hurling insults which have become all too commonplace among many politicians in Washington; loose with the facts or inventing facts when he has no knowledge of same, and generally disrespectful of others who may not agree with his views.

In addition to Grossman, there were seven other candidates who sought the GOP nomination for CD-2. In my opinion, most of them were well qualified for this seat. Grossman is not. The Republican Party should seek a replacement for Grossman. The citizens of South Jersey deserve better. We already have enough politicians in Washington DC spewing invective and vitriol. We do not need another.
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