(WEST ORANGE, AUGUST 24) - Schundler for Governor campaign manager Bill Pascoe, responding to today’s hearing in front of Judge Arthur D’Italia of the Hudson County Superior Court which rejected Jim McGreevey’s attempts to shut down independent advertising by the Republican National Committee, this afternoon issued the following statement:

“New Jersey’s voters today won another victory over those who would seek to clamp down on Constitutionally-protected political speech. In refusing to rule in favor of Jim McGreevey’s arguments today, Judge D’Italia upheld two very simple propositions -- first, that you can’t have an independent expenditure until you have an expenditure, and, second, that independent expenditures are just that -- INDEPENDENT. His refusal to grant the McGreevey campaign’s demand for discovery and to refuse to grant their request for a restraining order preventing the Republican National Committee from airing their own advertisements through an independent expenditure shows that he understands and upholds the most fundamental concepts of Constitutionally-protected freedoms, and we are gratified with today’s court action.”