October 21, 2007 - 7:58am
News

Men marching in masks, with guns

The Republican mail piece hit last week in between two debates in four days, and it was arguably the most controversial of the political season, not just in the contentious 8th district but anywhere.

Next to a photograph of masked men marching in a column with guns at the ready, the words refer to a terror suspect nabbed by authorities in connection with a conspiracy to bomb Fort Dix: "He came to our country illegally. He plotted with other Islamic radicals to kill American soldiers... Now Tracy Riley's family's law firm is defending him... and your tax dollars are paying them to do it."

Riley's husband is the court-appointed attorney representing one of the terror suspects.

"If she goes to Trenton," the mailer asks, "will she really fight for tougher crime laws that could hurt her clients? Will she repeal death penalty laws for terrorists? Or ease parole standards for convicted criminals? These are fair questions to ask. But we may not be able to afford the answers."

Then the kicker at the bottom, with the bold words trailing underneath the picture of the masked men with guns, "Tracy Riley: Whose values will she represent in Trenton? Ours? Or theirs?"

Riley, a Mount Laurel Councilwoman who's running with restraunteur Chris Fifis against GOP candidates Freeholder Dawn Marie Addiego and Medford Mayor Scott Rudder, says not only is the ad offensive, but a profound attack on the legal foundation of the United States and the 6th Amendment.

Riley points out that it's not her family's law firm that took the case, what she describes as a factual innacuracy in the piece, and says the judge appointed her husband based on his more than 30 years of experience as a trial attorney.

Phil Haines is the Republican candidate for state senate in the 8th district, and his name and picture appear on the reverse side of the mailer, along with the promise: "Haines, Addiego and Rudder will enact legislation that distributes state Homeland Security funds based upon need - not partisan politics. And they will draft a tough new package of laws designed to crack down on illlegal immigration."

Running against Assemblyman Fran Bodine, Haines defends the mailer, although he also says he might have done it diffently had the decision been up to him alone and not the product of a campaign.

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Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

Comments

Disgusting


Can the Haines-Addiego-Rudder campaign go any lower than this disgusting campaign mailer that presents the Democrats as sympathetic to terrorists? Repugnant, dishonest, and disgusting are the descriptors I would use in thinking of the Haines campaign strategy to show terrorists on a flier and then compare the Democrats to them. This reminds me a few years ago of when Georgia Republicans used a t.v. ad of Sen. Max Cleland, a war hero who is missing limbs from fighting in Vietnam, and superimposed Bin Laden's face into his.

I was going to make this post about how this mailer speaks to the utter lack of substance or platform for the 8th district Republicans, but the campaign mailer itself is just utterly and totally disgusting and deserves attention on its own. In the words of Bob Ingle on these mailers: "There is no logical connection to be made here. Haines and his GOP sidekicks should have to eat every one of those fliers." 

10/21/07 1:36 pm

MartinOne


Couldn't agree more.

10/21/07 1:53 pm

Martin Please!


Remove your head from posterior! The GOP is exactly right on this one. If Mike Riley went to the Judge said to him or her that his wife was running for office and his representation of this alleged terrorist would be an issue in the campaign and explained that it would have a negative affect on his client's case, I'm sure the judge would have assigned a new lawyer. Did the Riley's really think this wouldn’t become an issue?

As for the sixth amendment - in my opinion that right is reserved for citizens of the U.S. and not illegal aliens who are suspected terrorist. If this man is found guilty he should be executed on the spot - no appeals. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist! Kill them all and let God sort it out!

10/21/07 3:04 pm

Ariyan in 39 is connected to terrorists


There is a similar situation in D39. There are rumors that Codey is going to back off supporting Ariyan because word is getting out that he is connected to the Arab-American anti-discrimination committee, which defends the PLO and terrorists. Ariyans law partner is Hani Khoury, the president of the ADC. Take a look at this website before you consider voting for this nut job:

Ariyans dictionary of terms:
http://www.adcnj.us/a_quick_reference_dictionary_sor.htm

Look at how they highlight PLO:
http://www.adcnj.us/Arab_Americans/arab_contributions_to_civilizati.htm

10/21/07 4:39 pm

Innocent until proven guilty?


Anyone, anyone? Constitution, right to a defense, anyone, anyone? Would it change your mind to know that these guys grew up here for most of their lives? In fact, Mr.Duka came here when he was 3 years old. How about the fact that their families are still here, and their children go to public schools in Cherry Hill? How about the fact that they had drivers licenses and paid taxes? Nope, still not good enough for you? You guys are sick, all of you. And it is quite scary that you are taking this position. You are threating the very foundation of this country and you are the ones who should be deported. Also, to think that a federal judge would care about a local election is crazy. There have been plenty of articles stating that no way would a federal judge excuse Mr. Riley simply because it would cause conflict for his wife. That is just silly. Mr. Riley is upholding the oath he took to defend and protect the Constitution. What exactly are you doing?

10/21/07 4:42 pm

Constitution4All


Answer me one question - Is everyone innocent until proven guilty?

10/21/07 5:49 pm

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wow, I am scared for our freedoms and liberties!

Please see Coffin v. United States (1895 Supreme Court Case)

"The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law."

I truly hope you are never on a jury for someone whose case has had any media coverage. If these men are guilty, the government will prove it and they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But to condemn someone before the system has done its job is Un-American and in direct opposition to the Constitution.

I wish you all could simply admit the mailer was a HUGE mistake and move on. To continue to stand by this position is only making things worse for those you support.

10/21/07 6:15 pm

How Despicable


Man, the boards are jumping!

Sorry, but Rileys poor pity me party is getting really old!

That clip shows her once again being a victim without any responsibility for her actions. Yes, her husband could easily explained to the judge his wife's political situation and move on. Now, they are trying to milk this all they can for the voters.

But, I just got off Red Jeresy and here is an even SCARIER link that was posted on there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Fort_Dix_attack_plot

If you HAVE THE guts to read this link, it does go into painful detail on how these illegals carefully planned and plotted to blow us up. They go on to describe in detail their joy in killing innocent people and that "allah wll look out for their families once the damage has been done."

Now, sorry Ms Riley, but you cast the first stone trying to play off these poor people as defensless and downplay the seroiusness we are facing every day as a country!

Now for CONSTITUTION4ALL - have you been able to prove my last challenge to you about Diane Allen? See folks, this poster swore that Diane Allen said that she is against the bashing of poor little Tracy and she is angry at Haines,et al. That is an utter lie but of course, I am not going to get the truth, but it bears repeating!

Bottom line, Riley has had every opportunity to provide her own brand of homeland security information and what she will do to protect the residents and stand up for US AND NOT terrorists! She has been horribly muted on that.

More Cowbell Please !!

10/21/07 7:50 pm

Constitution4All


Ok. Now we know were you stand. Do you think it is inappropriate then that a candidate uses someone not yet tried in a mailer that assumes guilt?

10/21/07 7:57 pm

Hey Jason/gopgal


Go take your uninformed, unconstitutional, and communist rhetoric elsewhere! You cannot turn this one around on the voters. First of all, I read that link. Unlike you, and your GOP campaign people, that site uses the word "ALLEGEDLY" several times. My guess is because they know that to state something as fact without proof is unethical and illegal. You are such a moron.

Second, the guilt or innocence of those that have been accused is irrelevant to the conversation. Their guilt or innocence will be determined in a court of law after a trial upon evidence submitted by the government. The 8th district republicans are not in charge of convicting people.

Third, I take it you also do not know about appointments of federal public defenders. An attorney has to be placed on the list by the federal government, and that list is quite small and is made up of extremely experienced and ethical attorneys. Mr. Riley is one of those people who has a proven life of public service, first as a Marine and next as a prosecutor for the state of New Jersey for over 20 years. Once appointed you have to petition to be let out of the case. The federal government does not take appointments lightly and does not just let someone out because they ask for it. Your spouse running for office at the state level does not qualify.

I stated last week that I would be voting for Riley and Rudder, while abstaining from the Senate vote. Given what has occurred in the past week with this mailer I have changed my mind. No republican will be getting my vote.

You are still young Jason, and your inexperience running negative campaigns on the internet has shown throughout the past few months. You are hurting your cause, but lucky for those of us who support Ms. Riley, you are too dumb to see it.

10/21/07 8:16 pm

Constitution4All


Answer the question - is it wrong to accuse someone of something they have not yet been tried for in a mailer? That is a yes or no.

10/21/07 8:20 pm

Riley is Dangerous


Man you are really defensive! How do you know that gopgal is this Jason whatever??? More conspiracy theories?? Sorry but that link even though the word alledgely is thrown out there is not the point - these animals were on tape planning to blow our military base sky high! Unfortunately you are as clueless as they come; I too want to know constitution4all when did Senator Allen come out agaisnt the GOP in the 8th???? I read your post of that and you seem to be ignoring the CRAP YOU THROW OUT! And all your BS about judges etc is just BS! Riley could have very well recused himself without penalty and lawyers do it every day! The problem with your little Ms Riely is that she is trying to play herself off as the victim over and over and not take responsiblity for her actions and plays dumb when asked about her ideas for homeland security! Sorry dude, but you are way off base and that mailer with this link only reinforces why Riley is dangerous.

10/21/07 9:26 pm

More than hour...


I can assume Constipation4All is either busy or choosing not respond.

Nonetheless, his answer is listed in his above postings:

"...My guess is because they know that to state something as fact without proof is unethical and illegal. You are such a moron..."

"...But to condemn someone before the system has done its job is Un-American and in direct opposition to the Constitution..."

Clearly the Riley campaign believes this and would never violate these principles. Right?

Wrong. A significant portion of their campaign is based on Sen. Martha Bark. They are desperately trying to tie the Republicans to Bark’s "alleged" no-show jobs. After four years and four AG's, she has never been charged with anything and yet the Dems have declared her guilty and anyone who remotely knew her is guilty by association (except Bark's running mate Bodine of course).

It appears that both Constipation4All (Jeff Meyers or Riley herself) and the members of the campaign have shockingly shown themselves to be major hypocrites yet again.

They take the most corrupt Assembly-reject and run him for Senate as a reformer. They then declare an American citizen guilty without an indictment, arrest or trial and then cry foul when an illegal immigrant is given the SAME treatment. It is blatantly obvious Riley, once again, chooses the rights of illegal immigrant over those of American citizens.

They may try and make something out of nothing, but at the end of the day, they will lose because of the quality (or lack thereof) of their Senate candidate. A has-been pension padder who uses his office for personal gain.

In the immoral words of Constipation4All, the Bodine camp is a bunch of morons.

10/21/07 9:45 pm

I do not know if


Jason is GOPGAL or not, my guess is no. However, I am sure that Jason is not the one responsible for that mailer. That responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of Bill Layton, the Campaign Manager, and Chris Russell, the Executive Director. These self appointed political geniuses do not realize the damage they are doing to the candidacies of some very good people. Between the terrorist mailer and then the Braxton one, I only hope the work ethic and reputations of Haines, Stanfield and Donelly see them to victory in spite of the incompetency at Republican HQ.  One almost has to wonder if they are undermining their chances intentionally. I don't think so, I think they are just that dumb.

10/21/07 9:55 pm

Echoes of Tracy's last campaign


I wonder how many tears she shed over the mailer that accused her opponents of allowing dumping that caused cancer in township residents during her campaign for Mount Laurel council. After all, it was only a year ago. That also brings to light the fact that she didn't even serve a month as Councilwoman before deciding to step up to higher office, using the residents of Mount Laurel as a ladder. Sure, I'm disgusted.

10/22/07 12:02 am

Chambliss-Cleland


I will discuss the substance of the flier at a later time, but for your education Martin, Max Cleland did not lose his limbs while "fighting" in Vietnam. As someone who was involved to a degree in the Georgia Senate race, it was well known that Senator Cleland lost his limbs because of a grenade that he was playing with - some say he was showing off - exploded. It was not however brought up as an issue.

10/22/07 12:26 pm

She is Nasty


OMG I did not know how bad the campaign was in Mt Laurel last year, but if it is anything like she is doing now, it stinks!

I do not trust anyone that puts the rights of illegal terrorists before us! I mean, she must be nuts when she talks on the video clip about her protecting all residents, she must think voters are stupid!

10/22/07 4:09 pm

Keep hiding behind a screen name


Constitution4all,
Thanks for the lesson on public defenders. Anyone that knows me will tell you I don't do the neg campaign thing. I am not GOPgal and I will assume you are calling Gopgal a moron and not me. You know who I am, man up and post your name if you want to call ppl names.

JRC

10/22/07 7:52 pm

Nothing new at all for the Republicans


here in Burlington County. Since they have no substance they always, and I do mean ALWAYS, resort to nasty campaigns.

10/22/07 10:26 pm

Terri


Please review my above post, I'm assuming you've never been privy to a Burlington County democratic campaign judging from you statement.

10/22/07 11:29 pm

Typical


Like those stupid anti GOP ads they keep runnng every night!

The good news is, people turn off the TV when all the negative ads from the dems come on!

But little Ms Riley doesnt think they do anything wrong!

10/23/07 1:14 am

The Dems are running the


The Dems are running the most negative campaign in the history of Burlington County campaigns.

Then they cry foul when people criticize the Riley family for making money off defending an illegal alien accused of plotting to commit terrorists attacks.

They say it is "un-American" to accuse someone of a crime without a fair trial.

Yet, they do the same thing all day every day from day one of this campaign by declaring American citizen Sen. Martha Bark guilty of something she has never been charged with.

Choosing illegal immigrant's rights over Americans. Defending illegal immigrants accused of plotting to kill Americans.

And then, and this is the best part, having a double-dipping pension grabber who uses his office for personal gain as your "Reformer"

Yeah - these guys are going places. Have to admit, the money will get you closer than normal, but at the end of the day the 8th is a Republican Dist and the Dems are abusers of the system that side with illegal immigrants over and American.

10/23/07 7:10 am

You've got to be kidding


The DEMS are running a negative campaign? What planet are you from? The GOP tactics this cycle make me feel ashamed to be a Republican.

10/23/07 7:43 am

Several Comments


Numero Uno - Not all of the people on this site are connected to the campaign. I am not. I have a job and a family and do not have the opportunity to read the posts every 5 minutes and answer questions demanded of me by some anonymous name on the internet. I am not afraid to respond to anything, it just might not be in the time period YOU feel is appropriate.

Numero Dos - stopdemcorruption, I think its funny you think I am Mr. Meyer or Ms. Riley. If I was, the party would be pretty pissed to hear that I am not supporting all of the ticket. I will NOT be voting for Bodine, I told you that. I will not be voting for Haines, because I think what he has done in this campaign is crap, and to put the blame on others and not take responsibility is spineless.

Numero Tres - I do not answer to you stopdemcorruption or anyone else. You can demand I answer questions all you like, but you are not in charge of me contrary to what you may believe.

Numero Quatro - That being said, I will be happy to respond to your Bark comparison. It is ludicrous to compare the two. Mailing out a flier with bunch of guys in ski masks with machine guns and implying that Ms. Riley supports terrorists is insane and does not compare to Martha Bark being under federal investigation. And Mr. Haines' response in the video on this site proves that he is embarrassed by the flier as well. Nevertheless, good ole Haines takes the cowardly approach and says it wasn't his decision to send out the flier and if it was his choice he would have done it differently. So when did Paulsen and Layton acquire all rights to Mr. Haines' name and photo? Haines had a choice to put his name and picture on that flier. He chose, either, not to stand up for what he believes in, or lied that he does not support the mailer. Either way, how is that the person we want in Trenton to defend our rights? This guy won't even stand up to his own party, what a joke!

Numero Cinco - HighTaxes, you want to know who I am? I will be happy to let you know as soon as everyone else on this site agrees to do the same. Talk about hiding behind a screename? All of the GOP supporters are doing the same thing with multiple names. Try gopgal and pablos3 and the rest hiding behind the computer and their slanderous remarks about Riley. You people are the hypocrites.

Unfortunately we will all have to sit back and wait for November 7 to arrive to see what the outcome will truly be. I can only hope that the voters will do the right thing and realize the type of smear campaign that has been run by the GOP. I have never seen anything so nasty in my life. That is not how you win elections. This one definitely backfired and they know it. All they can do is try to limit the damage, the problem is that they still have idiot supporters who aren't backing off the story. This is will bite you on the keister, mark my words.

10/23/07 9:28 am

Quite the contradiction


So you aren't afraid to answer ANY question? I believe questions of identity fall under that blanket statement. But you won't answer them? Nice to see you are comfortable with doing your best to out other posters though. If you aren't afraid to answer any questions you should just answer them, not spend paragraphs rationalizing why you refuse to.

10/23/07 10:45 am

truth can be painful no matter how poorly presented


History seems to prove the more affective the ad the more outraged the opposition. The proper angle to make would have been to tie the Fort Dix plot to the Democratic Party's lock step opposition to BOTH effective counter-terrorism programs which need to rely on surveillance AND to any real and substantial immigration reform. The latter would hinder the party's fundraising abilities (Clinton's asian worker donors as an example) as well as lower the potential number of improper absentee ballots needed to decide any close and contested election. It really isn't an issue what firm represents which group as much as Riley's adherence to a party more interested in fighting conservatism than terrorism is the issue.

10/23/07 12:19 pm

Agreed


Riley is a liar, fraud and is in total lockstep to do whatever she has to in order to climb her way to the top. Her litle booo hoo video which is IMHO exactly what it is shows her angry at the WRONG PEOPLE!

Boo hoo the mean old GOP caught me! Boo hoo, I cannot lie anymore about my involvment in my family firm defending terrorists! Boo hoo, I do not have a comprehensive plan of action to protect those citizens that I said on the tape I will protect!

This was a very effective ad FOR the GOP regardless of the ruffle of feathers from a few; when all is said and done, voters will realize that we are at war and we need protection not someone who is more interested in protecting those illegal animals that want to blow us up!

10/23/07 3:25 pm

So, what James...


Repubs have always been nastier, meaner and more offensive.

10/24/07 7:15 am

StopDem...whatever...


Democratic campaigns cannot compare with the nasty Republican campaigns.  And how can they, the Republicans have always had much more money than the Dems in Burlington County and they always spend it on filith.

10/24/07 7:17 am

Wrong


.

12/04/07 3:36 pm

n


n

12/04/07 3:36 pm