Prosecutor slams Dennison

Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi said today that Richard Dennison was misleading the public about his office’s actions. 

“While my office does not generally comment on ongoing investigations, in this case I feel compelled to publicly respond to certain statements that Mr. Dennison falsely attributes to my office,” Bernardi wrote in a statement.

In an email posted on PoliticsNJ.com, Dennison complained that, as retribution for his own complaint about State Sen. Diane Allen’s staff allegedly stealing his campaign signs, her campaign filed a complaint against one of his teenaged volunteers.  Dennison said that, after questioning the volunteer, who he said was 17, the prosecutor’s office “

admitted that the charge was absolutely baseless and surmised, as I have, that it more than likely came as retribution for my threat to file suit against those responsible for stealing my signs.”

But Bernardi said that his office never concluded that the charges against volunteer in question were false.  Moreover, Bernardi added, the volunteer 18 years old, and that he got his name not from the Allen campaign but from Dennison’s father.  Bernardi had contacted the father in an attempt to reach Richard Dennison because a witness to the alleged vandalism had reported a license plate number belonging to a car leased by the candidate himself. 

“Without revealing specific details of that interview, Mr. Dennison’s claim that the allegations against the 18 year old were “absolutely baseless” is in fact false,” said Bernardi.  “Even more troubling is the fact that Mr. Dennison has made these public statements in his posting when he had been previously advised by a member of my staff that the evidence against the 18 year old was overwhelming.”

Bernardi went on to castigate Dennison further. 

“In my view, this candidate has attempted to politicize the actions of my office in investigating what was a citizen complaint against one of his campaign volunteers. I cannot permit my office to be manipulated in this fashion.

”

Dennison admitted that investigators never told him that the allegations were “baseless,” but it up to a mistake in a hastily written email.

“I should have flushed out what I was saying….. Nobody from the prosecutor’s office said to me that this is entirely baseless – that was my conclusion based on their handling of it,” said Dennison.   “They told him you’re not in any trouble, you don’t need an attorney present….. By virtue of them cutting him loose I found it to be baseless.”

Dennison said that he believes his volunteer is innocent, and that he got his age wrong by accident.  He added that Bernardi’s letter wasn’t entirely accurate either. 

“Nobody ever told me the evidence against him was overwhelming,” said Dennison. 

Dennison added that the volunteer and his family were traumatized by the experience, and insinuated that Allen was somehow behind the original complaint.

“The whole family is frightened and I blame one person: Diane Allen. The timing of this? Let’s get real here,” said Dennison.  “Bernardi of course he wants to defend his office because he doesn’t want to make it look like ‘oh gee, we went after this kid for no reason whatsoever.”

Allen’s campaign manager, Adam Bauer, found Dennison’s spin ridiculous.

“Mr. Dennison has no one to blame for the prosecutor’s actions but himself,” said Bauer  "Nobody from our campaign asked anyone to make a call reporting lawn sign theft or anything like that"

Bauer stressed that the Allen camapign did not encourage the prosecutor to write the letter.