Straten Cries Foul Over Pascrell's Senior Forum

Republican Roland Straten, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. in the 2-1 Democratic 8th Congressional district, is crying foul over a senior forum held by Pascrell on Monday in the Montclair Township Building's Council Chambers.

A crowd of nearly 100 seniors packed into Council Chambers on Monday afternoon, including Straten, who lost against Pascrell in 2008.

Straten said he had serious questions over whether Pascrell's event was an informational event or a campaign event. He said that, in Montclair, the township attorney originally ruled that it was an information event. In a message to Straten, Township attorney Alan Trembulak wrote: "Our review of the literature related to this forum confirms that this is not a political or a campaign event, but rather, a routine, non-political forum conducted by an elected official for the purpose of providing relevant information to members of his constituency.  The mere fact that Congressman Pascrell is running for re-election does not transform this informational forum into a campaign event."

But according to Straten, Pascrell's staff had a different take on the event as they attempted to prevent Straten from passing out flyers opposing the current healthcare bill at Monday's senior forum.

Pascrell voted in favor of healthcare reform in March.

Straten said that, after having been denied equal access to Township Buildings, he went to the senior forum on Monday to hand out flyers stating his position on the healthcare bill but was immediately approached and reprimanded by one of Pascrell's staff. He said that the Township attorney, too, told him he could not hand out literature in the Township meeting room.

Ten minutes later, Mark Kalinowski, a Tea Party leader, came in and started to hand out his flyers. Once again, the Pascrell staff tried to prevent Kalinowski from passing out flyers.

Straten said that, if the forum was indeed a non-political informational event, Straten and Kalinowski had every right to peacefully hand out flyers. If the forum was a campaign event, then the Pascrell campaign had every right to bar opposition from the event.

But Straten said that the forum was definitely a campaign event and argued that Pascrell shouldn't have been allowed to use a Township building—and thus taxpayer money—to promote his campaign.

Patch has not yet been able to reach Pascrell's campaign for comment.