KARCHER, PANTER & MALLET SHOULD RETURN LYNCH AND ABATE CONTRIBUTIONS NOW

KARCHER, PANTER AND MALLET SHOULD RETURN LYNCH AND ABATE CONTRIBUTIONS NOW

SO-CALLED REFORMERS ACCEPTED CASH FROM CORRUPT OFFICIALS

Calling on their Democrat opponents to put their money where their mouths are, Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck and her running-mates Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande today demanded that Ellen Karcher, Mike Panter and Amy Mallet return campaign contributions they have received from two public officials convicted on corruption charges.

“Apparently Ellen Karcher’s alleged commitment to ethics reform doesn’t extend to the contributions her campaigns accept,” Beck said. “She should immediately return all of the money she accepted from John Lynch and Frank Abate – two officials who violated the public’s trust in order to line their own pockets at taxpayer expense.”

In her 2001 Marlboro council race and her 2003 Senate campaign, Karcher accepted contributions from former New Jersey State Senator John Lynch, who plead guilty to corruption charges last year and his business partner, Jack Westlake. Lynch admitted to taking concealed payments passed through two consulting companies, and that those payments were financed by a sand-mining company in return for Lynch’s official action and influence as a senator. Westlake plead guilty to tax evasion for failure to report over $350,000 in income derived from companies which benefited from Lynch’s influence peddling.

Additionally, Karcher accepted contributions from accounts controlled by former Marlboro Councilman Frank Abate who was found guilty on six counts of public corruption for accepting services from developers doing business with the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority. One of those developers, Bernard Meiterman, who is also under indictment, also contributed $1,000 to Karcher’s 2003 campaign.

Karcher’s campaign has accepted $11,500 from Lynch his associates and over $6,200 from a PAC controlled by Abate. She also accepted $2,730.05 in in-kind contributions from Abate’s PAC.

Beck noted that Karcher’s pension forfeiture bill, which applied only to crimes committed after the legislation was passed, did not apply to people like John Lynch and his former Senate colleagues, Wayne Bryant and Sharpe James.

O’Scanlon and Casagrande said that Panter and Mallet have accepted $14,900 from Lynch and said their opponents’ decision on whether or not to keep the money would be very telling for voters of the 12th District.

“The best way we can judge our opponents’ commitment to changing the Democrat culture of corruption in Trenton is by their actions,” O’Scanlon said. “If Mike and Amy aren’t willing to take the simple step of returning these contributions, we know they can’t be trusted to fight for true ethics reforms in Trenton.”

"It is the height of hypocrisy to constantly tout yourself as a corruption buster and to keep campaign contributions collected by former public officials who are currently sitting in prison”, Casagrande said. “By not returning these contributions Mike Panter and Amy Mallet would be refusing to condemn the actions of these corrupt officials. I guess it very much matters in Mike and Amy’s world what the party affiliation is of the criminal in question."

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