“Jack Boot C” Ciattarelli Campaign a Parade of White Supremacists and Neo-Fascists?
Reprinted with permission from IDAVOX:
Earlier this month, a video was shared across social media of Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for New Jersey Governor being questioned by a reporter during a press conference in Cranbury, NJ; “How important do you think Black and Hispanic voters are to you winning your campaign?” After the question was repeated, he responded with, “Okay, next question.”
Later, on a podcast where the hosts joked with him about being able to answer the question (since they were a Black man and a Hispanic man) Ciattarelli retorted, “Am I speaking to a Black and Hispanic? I thought I was talking to New Jerseyans.” It was an odd response from someone who’s campaign website features a page proclaiming “Blacks Back Jack” showing him in pictures with various persons who happen to be Black. Unsurprisingly, this is not enough to quell concerns voiced about how Ciattarelli will be a threat to Black and Brown communities. That especially became an issue after the first debate he had with the Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill last month, when he answered a question about New Jersey’s segregated schools and a lawsuit on the matter by saying, “We could integrate the Newark school system tomorrow and it’s not going to improve student performance.”
It doesn’t help Ciattarelli that throughout his campaign he has been finding support from the far right/racist elements on the campaign trail, an element that is a widely unpopular segment of the state. That has not prevented Ciatterelli from participating in a press conference sponsored by the neo-fascist Moms for Liberty in August. Also, an organization associated with him paid half a million dollars to a firm led by a political consultant who worked for Kanye West’s 2020 presidential run, which was revealed early this year. Plus, at a rally in Dumont, New Jersey he was joined by White Supremacist Jack Posobiec. Posobiec enjoys a mainstream presence amongst conservatives despite having organized a rally with Richard Spencer in 2017 associating at a rally with Jeffrey and Edward Clark, two neo-Nazi brothers, The Clarks are not only close with Spencer but they corresponded regularly with Robert Gregory Bowers, the mass shooter who was convicted for killing 11 persons at the Tree of Life synagogue on October, 27 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeffrey, nicknamed “Rafe” per his middle name Raphel said the shooting was a “dry run” and “more was to come.” He was arrested a month later on firearms charges, including transporting a firearm across state lines and possessing illegal high-capacity magazines. Edward committed suicide on Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C. hours after the Tree of Life shooting.
At last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Posobiec generated controversy with remarks he gave in a speech he gave there. “Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely”, said. “We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it,” he stated before raising a cross and saying he would replace democracy with it. He would later say his words were satire, a regular claim he makes whenever he says racist and fascist comments.
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At a different rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, he was joined by another associate of Posobiec neo-fascist activist Scott Presler, a grifter who has been coming from his home in Pennsylvania to New Jersey since earlier this year, has embarked on a voter drive to flip New Jersey from a red state to a blue state via his organization Early Vote Action. Presler, who comes out of the anti-Muslim organization ACT for America, has appeared at multiple rallies for Ciattarelli, and has canvassed New Jersey for votes with a team of people he has hired. Those persons have reportedly included neo-Nazis based in North New Jersey.
In April, Claudino Petruccelli told the group he led the Atlantic Nationalist Club (ANaC) and that he and fellow member Sean Lemley, who himself ran for the school board in Lyndhurst, New Jersey last year, started to work with Early Vote Action. They have been to events the group has put on, and reportedly tabled for them in June at a rally at a gun shop in Woodland Park, New Jersey called Gun For Hire. Petruccelli has worked over the past year to be more active in the mainstream. While maintaining his activities, he might just see Presler’s group as a stepping stone in that goal. When speaking to others ANaC members online he ridiculed Presler, referring to him with anti-gay slurs.
Idavox reached out to Presler, Early Vote Action, and Ciattarelli’s campaign for comment and to determine Petruccelli’s and Lemley’s status with Early Vote Action, but none responded. Presler announced on Twitter that he will be hiring more staffers for his campaign in New Jersey.
