Kelly hits Myers for Lautenberg donation

Third district Republican congressional candidate Jack Kelly took Republican rival Chris Myer to task today for donating money to Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

According to campaign finance reports, Myers, the mayor of Medford and an executive at defense contractor Lockheed-Martin, donated $500 to Lautenberg in January, 2007.

As someone who has dedicated their life to the Republican Party and public service, it baffles me how ‘a conservative Republican’ and ‘Washington outsider’ could personally contribute to the liberal ‘Washington insider Frank Lautenberg,’” said Kelly in a press release. “It is clear that I am the candidate in this race who truly believes in the principles of the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan, not the Democrat Party of Hillary Clinton.”

Lautenberg appears to be the only federal Democrat that Myers has donated to. Last year he also gave $1,500 to retiring Rep. Jim Saxton and $2,300 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Out of $17,500 of donations listed on the Federal Election Commission’s Web site, Myers has given $17,000 to Republicans.

Myers spokesman Chris Russell said that the donation was in return for Lautenberg's record on Israeli relations.

"As a combat veteran of the 1st Gulf War, Chris Myers believes that when it comes to supporting our friends in Israel against radical
Islamists in the Middle East, partisan politics shouldn't enter into the equation," he said." "Furthermore, the audacity of a career politician like Jack Kelly- who has voted to ncrease property taxes for 16 straight years and voted to increase his own axpayer-funded salary six times in the process- to question anyone's conservatism s beyond hypocrisy."