LD16 Republican Assembly Slate Challenges Freiman Misuse of Police Against Opposing Candidate (Me)
Fightbackbetter Editor Preface
The following press release was issued by my Republican opponents in the LD 16 Assembly race. This editor and candidate appreciates the general sentiment of my opponents correctly calling out Assembly member Roy Freiman who called police on me with a false accusaion on the day after I announced my candidacy for Assembly in LD 16. It is possible that I will agree with nothing else from Scott Sipos and Catherine Payne. But on this matter they are correct and I express appreciation to my opponents – I was literally tearing up a little when I first saw their statement. The police visit was a little stressful.
You correctly challenged Freiman and I agree for what is misuse of office in sending the cops after me. As I told the officer, Roy Freiman is a smear artist – because he lied and smeared me with a bribery accusation – meanwhile his own party has someone convicted for accepting gold bars and his son is still a congressman representing HIS party. He smeared me and the IHRA law he supports smears me and everyone else who advocates for Palestine.
I do want to make this point to my Republican opponents. Elon Musk who has bought into a position of controlling the direction of the Trump administration has stated that empathy is a weakness. It is a preposterous declaration he made. Empathy is an important value to me both at the personal intimate and family level and at the community level. I take your statement as expressing at least a little – empathy for the abuse of having been visited by the police.
I know your main point is not so much to support and empathize with me but to challenge Freiman – he should be challenged but I detected a slight bit of empathy in your remarks. But I condemn your likely support for Musk and his expressed condemnation of empathy, his denunciation of all of us as parasites while he cuts off services that are the lifeline to millions. The depraved indifference to social mass murder under way is alarming and your alignment with it I can not fathom.
Meanwhile you are aligned with Trump who is also sending the cops after his pro-Palestine opponents. Your lead gubernatorial candidate Spadea is calling for an ICE invasion of Paterson and otherwise promoting Islamophobia. This is an issue that will be front and center of my campaign and I will do everything I can to undermine any attempts to bring Trump’s Islamophobia to LD16.
I do hereby suggest to any LD16 Muslims who see themselves aligned with the Republican Party to carefully reconsider over Trump attacks on the pro-Palestine students as well as the extreme Islamophobia of the Trump Administration. I also suggest to LD 16 Muslims aligned with the Democrats to carefully reconsider based upon the Democrats support for IHRA which promotes perspective driven Islamophobia. That suggestion applies not just to Muslims but all LD 16 voters who see themselves as advocates of humanity!
In 2023 it was Republicans calling the cops on me in Montgomery Township and jumping out of Wawa bushes in a clown suit when I campaigned for the Children Champion slate successfully to defeat an extreme rightist attempted takeover of the board. I appreciate the supportive statement but Trump is accusing our movement and bringing a counter-terrorism investigation against the pro-Pal efforts. Of course there is the disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil which is a far greater injustice than my 2 minute talk with the cop at my door.
And I am going to be clear that I will be united with the efforts to resist ICE, false counter terrorism accusations, Trump’s placement of LD 16’s Princeton University on a hit list over Palestine campus advocacy, the attack on our infrastructure under the guise of DOGE – your attempts to go Elon DOGE-y style in NJ, to name a couple. But I will also call out those Democrats who front as Trump opponents while sending the cops after our pro-Palestine efforts that also challenge Trump and his horrible slaughter, just resumed with 500 killed on the first day of resumption including 150 children, with Israel and his attempt to seize Gaza and clear the Palestinian people from Gaza – policies around which most elected Democrats are painfully silent about.
Thank you for the sentiment on Freiman and TOUCHE on everything else!
Statememt of LD16 Republican Assembly slate: FREIMAN WEAPONIZES POLICE AGAINST POLITICAL OPPONENT
For Immediate Release
MONTGOMERY, NJ – Assemblyman Roy Freiman has shown New Jersey exactly how he handles political opposition— by calling the police on a constituent who challenged him. Scott Sipos and Catherine Payne, candidates for the New Jersey General Assembly, are calling out Freiman for what they describe as a blatant abuse of power, a disturbing attempt to silence political dissent, and a waste of taxpayer resources.
Bob Witanek, a local pro-Palestinian activist and potential candidate, was visited by Montgomery police after Freiman accused him of bribery-simply for suggesting he would drop his campaign if Freiman withdrew his co-sponsorship of a pending bill.
Instead of engaging in an honest debate, Freiman weaponized law enforcement to intimidate a critic and wasted valuable police time on a baseless political stunt.
“Roy Freiman’s first instinct when faced with opposition wasn’t to debate or explain his position—it was to call the cops, ” said Scott Sipos. “That’s not leadership. That’s an abuse of power. While Catherine and I strongly disagree with Mr. Witanek on this issue and remain steadfast in our support of Israel and fighting antisemitism, we will never resort to stooping to Roy Freiman’s level with those we disagree with.”
Freiman has since tried to downplay the incident, claiming he was following legal guidance by Assembly Democrats. But his excuses raise even more concerns about his judgment.
“This was a non-crime. Instead of handling it professionally, Freiman wasted police resources in a desperate attempt to protect himself politically,” said Catherine Payne.
“Now that he knows he overstepped, he’s trying to spin his way out of it. But New Jersey voters deserve better than a leader who calls the cops on political opponents and wastes taxpayer money in the process.
Sipos and Payne are demanding that Freiman:
- Publicly apologize to the people of New Jersey for his reckless abuse of law enforcement.
- Reimburse the Montgomery Police Department for the taxpayer money wasted on his frivolous, politically motivated complaint.
“New Jersey deserves representatives who will protect free speech, not suppress it,” added Sipos. “This election is about holding power-hungry politicians like Roy Freiman accountable. If he truly believes in transparency and responsibility, he should pay back the taxpayers and apologize immediately.”
####
