District 40 – From A Battle To A War
The District 40 primary is about to take an ugly turn. Assembly candidate Anthony Rottino is suing his opponent, Scott Rumana, for defamation. The suit was brought on due to some accusations in a Rumana mailer and magazine advertisment that Rottino’s development company used taxpayer funded bonds to build low income housing in Newark and East Orange. From PolitickerNJ:
The vicious Republican primary fight in District 40 just turned even nastier.
Assembly primary challenger Anthony Rottino is suing incumbent Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R-Wayne) for $350,000 over a mailer and magazine advertisement that he said made false accusations about his development company building low income housing.
The suit charges that Rumana’s campaign piece falsely claimed that a company Rottino has a stake in, P.C. Development, used $16.5 million in taxpayer-funded bonds to develop low-income housing in Newark and East Orange. That, according to Rottino’s attorney, Matthew DiBrino , is a “blatant lie,” as was a photo of a building purporting to be one that Rottino developed.
According to the court filing, the ad reads: “While Rottino profited from building low income housing, Scott Rumana fought against it.”
The D-40 primary has already been hotly contested to say the least. Challengers Rottino and Caruso have been consistently hammering Rumana as a faux Republican who has failed to stand up for party values. When Rumana had a chance to meet with D-40 voters last week at a BCYR event, he didn’t show up. Now, this law suit raises the stakes that much higher.
Suffice it to say, a lot of eyes will be awaiting the outcome of this primary on June 2nd.
Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude and Red County.
