Cardinale says Cryan is a racist

State Sen. Gerald Cardinale says comments condemning his re-election campaign as divisive are “vile trash” and labeled Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan a “racist.” During the fall campaign, Cardinale said his Democratic opponent, Joseph Ariyan, was backed by "those who support terrorism."

“I partially agree with Cryin’ Cryan,” Cardinale told PolitickerNJ.com in an e-mail. “Inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes any ethnic, racial or religious group has no place in a political campaign. That's why I was very careful with the content of my ads. We identified a particular group, ADC, as being supportive of Hamas, Hezbollah etc. Those are recognized as terrorist organizations. We cited numerous Internet references including the ADL's web site reference to a Washington DC rally for Hezbolla on 8/12/06.”

Cardinale, who defeated Ariyan by a 55%-45% margin, took aim at Cryan.

“It’s Joe Cryan who is the racist here. He apparently equates terrorist with Arab. I do not. I recognize that most Americans,of every ethnic or religious derivation, are appalled at terrorism,” said Cardinale. “Joe seems to have a problem with that, or is he just so disappointed that the sleazy ads his state committee sent out on Aryian's behalf were so over the top that they backfired. One of those ads accused me and my running mates of '

Cryan issued a statement on Sunday night responding to Cardinale.

"The comments by Senator Cardinale do nothing more than show that the criticism of his political rhetoric - including strongly-worded columns by the Bergen Record columnists Al Doblin and Charles Stiles, as well as myself, - are more than justified," Cryan said. "His false accusation against me diminishes himself and the office of New Jersey State Senator. I would encourage him to put an end to his divisive, repulsive comments before he reaches a new low in New Jersey politics."