Gloucester County Democrats Use Veterans Against Veterans

Nearly all signers of veterans’ letter benefit from government paychecks

MULLICA HILL – Gloucester County Sheriff Jonathan M. Sammons and Commissioners Nick DeSilvio and Chris Konawel called out county Democrats for using military veterans for political purposes.

At issue is a letter, paid for by the campaign of Morina for Sheriff and Bianco and Heverly for Commissioner, that was recently received by military veterans and relatives of veterans in Gloucester County.

“When I saw this letter to veterans I thought it was odd that a group of veterans would sign a letter supporting non-veterans when there are two veterans in this race,” Gloucester County Commissioner Chris Konawel said. “Then, upon investigation we discovered that nearly all those who signed the letter are on a local government payroll or connected to a relative on a local government payroll.”

Konawel added, “Jonathan was in Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury and Nick was in the Persian Gulf for Dessert Storm. If they want to go after me, that’s fine, but it’s disgusting that Democrats would use veterans for political purposes against two people who willingly put their lives on the line for our country.”

“I’ve talked with several people about this letter and to say they aren’t happy is an understatement,” Gloucester County Sheriff Jonathan M. Sammons said. “Frankly, to use a group of veterans against fellow veterans shows how desperate the Democrats are to regain total control of county government. One can only wonder if the reason they want total control is so they can go back to using the Sheriff’s office as a slush fund to make their budget work.”

“I’ve been getting calls from fellow members of the VFW and American Legion,” Gloucester County Commissioner Nick DeSilvio said. “Not only are they angry, but they want to know how the Democrats got their information.”

DeSilvio continued, “The question I’ve gotten most is, did they get the addresses from Gloucester County Veterans Affairs?” It’s a valid question considering the first signer on the letter is the Director of Veterans Affairs, a man who has actually called people angry with them for inviting me to veterans events.”

“This letter is standard operating procedure for county Democrats. It uses some of the exact language they used three years ago.” Chris Konawel said, “None of that changes the fact that it is disgusting that they would use veterans to attack fellow veterans and shows how desperate they are. I’m thankful to Jon and Nick for their service and proud to be running for re-election with them.”