ALBIO SIRES FOR CONGRESS

Vas Misleads About Helping Heroin Dealer Make Bail

(West New York) – In yet another classic example of revisionist history, Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas this week claimed that, “the charge that I aided a drug dealer is an outright lie and has been proven one.� [Jersey Journal, 5/18/06] He also accused his primary opponent Albio Sires of waging a “false and misleading… campaign.� [NJN News, 5/17/06] But despite trying to rewrite history to cover up his dismal record, Vas cannot ignore the basic facts that led to his helping a Perth Amboy woman arrested for selling heroin in Camden make bail. Worse yet, the heroin dealer was arrested while out on bail for running a heroin ring out of her home in Perth Amboy.
FACT: In August of 1994, Joe Vas and his brother Ralph traveled to Camden County, where Ralph Vas, accompanied by the mayor, posted bail for Aurea Arrocho of Perth Amboy, who was arrested for dealing heroin. According to the Star-Ledger, “The mayor this week confirmed that he accompanied his brother to Camden last August.� [Star-Ledger, 4/18/95]

FACT: Thanks to Vas’ trip to Camden County, Arrocho was arrested less than a year later in Perth Amboy for being involved in an interstate heroin dealership and arrested by federal drug enforcement agents. [Star-Ledger, 4/18/95]

FACT: By Vas’ own admission, his accompanying his brother to bail out the heroin dealer was unusual behavior. According to the Star-Ledger, Perth Amboy police officers picketed Vas, alleging that he had “contacted Lt. Lt. Allan Fuller, who heads the department's narcotics unit, to inquire about Arrocho before making the trip to Camden.� [Star-Ledger, 5/17/95]

FACT: In yet another example of revisionist history, Vas at first claimed that the police unions were lying when they claimed he had contact Lt. Fuller to inquire about Arrocho. “I'm confident the allegation being made is baseless,� Vas said at the time. [Star-Ledger, 5/17/95]

FACT: But when faced with the facts and the threat of a multi-jurisdictional investigation, Vas admitted that he did contact Lt. Fuller to inquire about Arrocho. According to the Star-Ledger, police union leaders said that, “Vas admitted he contacted Lt. Alan Fuller, who heads the department's narcotics investigations. At one meeting, Vas presented a press release he proposed to release jointly with police to state the differences had been resolved. ‘We could not be a party to such a statement,’ the union leaders said in their statement, which was issued by Officer Kenneth Balut, president of the PBA, and Lt. David Weiss, president of the FOP. [Star-Ledger, 9/1/95]

“Another day, another piece of revisionist history by Mayor Vas,� said Sires spokeswoman Julie Roginsky. “At this point, can anyone really trust a word that comes out of Mr. Vas’ mouth about anything?�

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