In response to recent attacks from the American Democratic Majority PAC, a special interest group led by the South Jersey machine that has been flooding the District 37 race in support of Gordon Johnson, Valerie Vainieri Huttle issued the following statement:

“Once again, South Jersey party bosses are slinging mud and attacking me with baseless claims of corruption and pay-to-play. Let’s get real here, I have dedicated my career to fighting back against corruption in New Jersey politics, authoring landmark legislation, including the Party Democracy Act and legislation to strengthen New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws.

“And to top it all off, Gordon Johnson’s hidden money groups are looking to smear me on my work in 2003 to enact stronger pay-to-play regulations in Bergen County, criticizing me for not simply accepting a watered-down bill that the Republican Party was seeking to pass. The reality is, I showed true leadership, calling on the Freeholder Board to make the regulations stronger and more effective, I wasn’t willing to just take things at face value, I wanted to fight for real, progressive change.

“The truth is, Gordon Johnson knows that these claims are not true, that’s why he’s letting the dark money groups do the dirty work, lying and smearing my character. Meanwhile, I was working hand-in-hand with Senator Loretta Weinberg on legislation to expand transparency in government.

“If we are going to talk about the issue of character in this race, it’s Gordon Johnson who should be answering to these concerns, he’s the one being propped up by South Jersey party bosses trying to buy this election. So, once again, I call on Gordon Johnson to denounce these baseless claims, I’m calling on Gordon Johnson to call on his dark money Super PAC’s to stop spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to lie about my character. After all, if Gordon Johnson was a strong enough candidate, why would they need to lie about me to convince voters to elect him?”