Pennacchio to opponents: “Politics is no place for religious bigotry.”

Florham Park, NJ (May 5, 2008) – US Senate candidate and State Senator “Jersey Joe” Pennacchio, referring to a recent statement made by Murray Sabrin, said, “How dare Murray Sabrin use the Ascension to make a political point. Even for Murray this crosses the line.”

“I, as a Catholic, take offense to Murray Sabrin using my religion to make a political point,” Pennacchio stated. “He used the Ascension to make a point which was shameful and subtly bigoted. It shows his total lack of respect and tolerance for my Catholic faith.”

Pennacchio continued, “His bigotry is no better than the bigotry of the ‘angry black man’ phone calls used in a past Zimmer campaign and outlined in the book ‘How to Rig an Election’. It's certainly no better than when Zimmer attempted to tie conservative Republican Mike Pappas to the KKK through his membership in an Evangelical Church.”

Pennacchio said, “Murray exhibits a certain moral pretention which borders on subtle bigotry when he feels he has the right to use a solemn Christian occasion as a pretext to advance his political agenda.”

“The Ascension is not about politics Murray, and the way your campaign is going you could use a lot more prayer and a lot less political bigotry,” Pennacchio remarked.

In the past Murray Sabrin has been too comfortable using the word fascist directed at Pennacchio.

“Sabrin’s continued use of this subtle bigotry is disparaging to people of Italian-American heritage.” Pennacchio said, “This type of bigotry comes easy for Murray because of his training by his former taxpayer-funded campaign manager Hal Tuner.”

Pennacchio is calling on all candidates to cease covert bigoted campaigning.

Pennacchio stated, “I called for a clean campaign early in this campaign, long before Mr. Zimmer got into it. I have continued to keep this campaign clean, focusing on the issues, yet Sabrin continues with his bigoted remark about my Italian-American roots. If he keeps it up there is no telling what Zimmer may resort to based on his past performances.”

“This has got to stop. This type of rhetoric does not belong in this campaign. I am renewing my call for a clean campaign and asking that Murray Sabrin stop with the bigotry. I’m also asking Mr. Zimmer to promise not to use bigotry as he made famous in at least one past campaign,” Pennacchio said. “The issues in this campaign are too important to allow this campaign to degenerate into the nasty, bigoted, race-baiting campaigns of the past.”

Joe Pennacchio is a New Jersey State Senator representing the 26th Legislative District.

Visit www.jerseyjoe08.com for more information on State Senator Joe Pennacchio's candidacy for the United States Senate.

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