5th district campaigns use humor to score points

U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett’s (R-Wantage) campaign today demanded that Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman return $167,000 in donations from a contributor they consider to be a “radical extremist.”

The donor, according to a tongue-in-cheek press release from Garrett : Dennis Shulman.

“Shulman has cashed in on his support for extremist policies, and recent fundraising data proves how out of touch Shulman is with the constituents he claims to want to represent,” read the release.”

But that’s not all, according to Garrett’s campaign. They went on to list a number of “questionable” donors to Shulman, including Hugh Hefner’s daughter Christie, the CEO of Playboy Enterprises (She gave $250 to Shulman); fundraiser and socialite Beth Dozoretz, who was caught up in the Clinton pardon controversies almost eight years ago ($1,500); and “Illegal-immigration activist and basement couch surfer Jeffrey M. Hauser” ($254).

If Hauser sounds familiar, that’s because he’s Shulman’s campaign manager. The “basement couch surfer” reference is to his listing of Dennis Shulman’s home address on his New Jersey voter registration.

Garrett Campaign Manager Amanda Gasperino said she wanted to show that the campaign does, after all, have a sense of humor.

But Shulman’s campaign has a sense of humor as well. Yesterday, they released an internet video of Garrett avoiding an NJN news crew with Bon Jovi’s “Run Away” playing in the background – even after he had time to eat cookies at a campaign event.

“On November 4th, let’s run him away from good,” read the ad’s text.