(WEST ORANGE, OCTOBER 24) - Schundler for Governor campaign manager Bill Pascoe, continuing to highlight Jim McGreevey’s scare tactics and blatant distortions against Bret Schundler, today released the following statement:

“Desperate candidates do desperate things, and with the polls showing the gap continuing to narrow, Jim McGreevey has once again stepped up his fraudulent advertising against Bret Schundler. He should stop distorting Bret’s record and pull down these shameful ads distorting Bret’s views on guns right now. What New Jersey needs now is a leader who will pull people together, rather than a wannabe willing to distort the truth to get what he wants.

“Today’s Star-Ledger ‘Ad Watch’ -- which focuses on McGreevey’s latest negative ad -- reveals that, on the issue of guns, Jim McGreevey is criticizing Bret Schundler for supporting the very same judicial exemptions that McGreevey himself once voted for. Worse, a McGreevey spokesman even admits this in the article, and says that McGreevey continues to support these exemptions -- and then goes on to excuse the omission by suggesting there wasn’t enough time in the 30-second advertisement to make the point.

“Further, Jim McGreevey himself says in the ad that ‘The only people who should carry concealed weapons are cops.’ Well, that’s quite a difference from what he said just last Thursday night at the Rowan University Town Hall meeting, when McGreevey agreed with Bret that airline pilots should be allowed to carry weapons to protect themselves and their passengers.

“Let’s get this straight, once and for all: Bret Schundler and Jim McGreevey agree that the law as it currently stands -- a law signed by Governor Jim Florio -- strikes the proper balance. Bret Schundler and Jim McGreevey agree that certain people, under certain conditions, should be able to go before a judge and ask for the right to carry a weapon in self-defense. Bret Schundler and Jim McGreevey agree that airline pilots should have the right to carry weapons to protect themselves and their passengers.

“Jim McGreevey should stop running these fraudulent ads right now, and he should apologize to the voters of New Jersey for using these gutter tactics. He says he wants to ‘talk straight’ to the voters of New Jersey -- but his ads show this to be just one more blatant lie. If we can’t trust him to tell the truth in his ads, why should we believe him when he says he won’t raise taxes?”