Ruth Dugan, the Democrat running for Senate in NJ’s 39th legislative district is calling for an investigation into mail tampering at the Westwood Post Office. After learning that several of her donors had their checked sent back marked “return to sender,” Ms. Dugan visited the Westwood Post Office to sort things out in person.

Ms. Dugan was told by a post office employee that this particular mail box number “does not exist,” a worrying surprise to anyone counting on the PO Box for fundraising purposes, especially considering she had working keys to the supposedly non-existent mailbox in her had. The employee, a Mr. Auth per his name tag, is the brother of incumbent Assemblyman Robert Auth who’s running for reelection against Ms. Dugan’s ticket.

Ms. Dugan’s campaign told InsiderNJ that the post office subsequently issued a formal apology but no other explanation. They blamed “clerk error” in their apology, leaving Ms. Dugan a first time candidate, with more questions than answers.

“At a time when public confidence in our institutions is at an all time low, we are supposed to be able to trust the integrity of our local postal process,” Ms. Dugan said. “However, what at first seemed to be an inconvenient mistake now appears to be an intentional attempt to thwart the operation of our campaign. The proximity of Assemblyman Auth’s brother to this incident is beyond suspicious and deserves close scrutiny. I demand an investigation into possible mail tampering by Assemblyman Auth’s brother, and call on the USPS Office of Investigations to get to the bottom of this incident immediately.”

Ms. Dugan is challenging newly-installed incumbent Holly Schepisi (R-Saddle River) in NJ’s 39th legislative district. LD39 is mostly Bergen-based with a few Passaic towns tossed in. Largest towns include Mahwah and Dumont.