Lisa Hassan Responds to Mitchelle Drulis on False Bribery Accusation of Bob Witanek
Lisa Hassan who this editor considers a close friend and advisor received a written response to her communication on my behalf on the false felony charges that Mitchelle Drulis admits in her letter she is party to – even though the police report was apparently filed by Roy Freiman. Drulis expressed respect for free speech and participaton to Lisa and an openness to dialogue. Below is Lisa Hassan’s response. Editor FightBackBetter
This threat of felony charge being considered against our comrade Bob Witanek for merely speaking to politicians like Freiman and yourself is a violation of our constitutional rights to free speech and causes psychological distress on our entire community, leaving us to wonder if we will be next.. This action has left us all unwilling to participate in any dialogue with you as there is an open investigation that you initiated and charges are being considered. We believe you will use any such dialogue as an opportunity to further attempt to criminalize our activity and to identify more of us to accuse and put in legal peril.
If you want any kind of dialogue first and foremost you must immediately and publicly call for the immediate dismissal without cause of the false accusation by Roy Freiman of Bob WItanek and the immediate release of the police report, directed at the NJ OAG, the Somerset County Prosecutors Office and the Montgomery Police and publicly posted. Anything short of that – we would consider any such dialogue as a continuation of your investigative probe of our advocacy community.
After the false accusation is dismissed by all law enforcement and prosecutors bodies without cause and Bob WItanek has the police report in hand – then and only then can any idea of dialogue even be considered and personally I am not really interested. I do not want to know you after this matter is resolved.
Let me be clear – I am Palestinian American. A leader of your party has just invited the extremist Trump Islamophobic and Palestinian hater Habba – who infamously is now the lead federal Justice Department prosecutor over NJ to come for NJ’s Palestinian American community. Are you and Roy Freiman in the Gottheimer wing of your party?
You say that you have respect for our free speech and rights. Yet you falsely made a felony accusation of Bob Witanek. If your attorney truly recommended a false accusation of a felony as the only way to make a legal record then it looks like you have an attorney with very little respect for human rights and free speech rights which is consistent with your actions. Other suggested methods if you should ever be in such a pickel in the future might be – make a video on twitter or written statement on your campaign page or read something into the Assembly record or file a notarized statement with your consul – many ways not to bring legal harm to constituents – short of a malicious false felony accusation.
You are on the IHRA bill which is anathema to the existence of the Palestinian – me – our world view, our history, our cultural expression and our pain and suffering all criminalized by proposed laws you support. How do we sit in the room with you as you work on passing these laws after what you just did to Bob Witanek, Editor of FightBackBetter.com which serves the information needs of NJ’s Palestinian American community and all of us who speak for humanity and justice, and as Gottheimer invites Trump to invade NJ’s Palestinian community just like Spadea is trying to invite Trump’s ICE fascists to invade Paterson – same Islamophobic motivation of both parties. The same hatred of Palestinians of both political parties amply demonstrated – what is there to talk about?
I am reticent to ever want to endure a dialogue while you engage in lawfare dedicated to my destruction and the destruction of my people. I am hoping though that others open to the idea join me in stating: not until a dismissal without cause of the false accusation by Freiman and the release of the police report to Bob WItanek are we interested in any such “dialogue.”
End the abuse of power by politicians like Freiman and DISMISS ALL CHARGES ON BOB WITANEK AND RELEASE THE BOGUS POLICE REPORT. SHOW US THAT YOU WORK FOR THE PEOPLE AND UPHOLD OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN ORDER FOR YOUR CONSTITUENTS TO FEEL COMFORTABLE HAVING CONVERSATIONS. CORRECT THE WRONG THAT YOU HAVE DONE TO BOB WITANEK FIRST AND FOREMOST BEFORE COMING UP WITH DIALOGUE PROPOSALS!
Signed,
Lisa Hassan, Advisor to Bob WItanek, Daughter of a Nakba Survivor
#notoihra #savefreespeech #stopabuseofpower #endcorruption #freepalestine
CONCURRENCE STATEMENT
We the undersigned wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment and 100% agree with the specific demands articulated by Lisa Hassan, specifically that candidates Freiman and Drulis immediately publicly call for the immediate dismissal of any charge being considered based upon the legal action taken by Roy Freiman without cause and that the police report immediately be provided to Bob Witanek,
Signed,
Li Adorno
Aly Azhar
Lily Benavides LD26 Green Party Candidate for NJ Assembly
Barry Bendar
Eric Bove
Robin Brownfield, LD5 Green Party Candidate for NJ Assembly
Eyanat Chowdhury
Ethan Colby-Witanek
Robert Colby-Witanek
George Diaz
Josean Diaz
Jessica Dunlap
Sam Feuss
Savitha G
Emily Gold
Michael Grele
Mary Halse, Veterans For The GP
Lawrence Hamm
Ian Hartman
Saif Hasan
Naz Hashmi
Madelyn Hoffman, GPNJ candidate for Senate 2018, 2020
John Hsu
Andrea Kanan
Elektra Kostopoulou
Josie Lenwell
Mark Lynch
Maggie Meehan
Zayid Muhammad
Adam Nolan
Kylie Penta
Al Rabady, LD3 Green Party Candidate for NJ Assembly
Anam Raja
Sophia Rollo
Elaine Rose
Lisa Ryan, LD7 Green Party Candidate for NJ Assembly
Michael Scheinberg
Eugene Schenkman
David Schraeger
Samia Siem
Atno Smith
Marcia Steinbock
Ben Taylor
Zellie Y Thomas
Anyone who would like to add their name on concurrency statement indicating agreement with the demands expressed by Lisa Hassan above, please fill out this form.
Mitchelle Drulis’s letter to Lisa Hassan appears under the signature form. Any supportive statements or quotes you would like to approve for cited publication at FightBackBetter – you can enter below.
Mitchelle Drulis Claims Respect for Other Viewpoints After Her Campaign Accused a Challenger of a Felony in Police Complaint
Thank you for reaching out to our office with your concerns regarding this situation. We respect everyone’s voices and we value hearing from people with different viewpoints across our state. Healthy debate and the freedom to express opinions is the cornerstone of our democracy. Further, anyone who is eligible to seek public office is free to do so.
In this case, we were approached with what appeared to be a quid pro quo to influence us in our official capacity. We contacted legal counsel regarding the incident, and it was recommended that we have the incident on record with law enforcement.
Different perspectives and experiences are essential in developing thoughtful solutions. We will remain open to engaging in critical conversations with our constituency on this issue, as well as others.
Best,
Office of Assemblyman Roy Freiman & Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis
