(WEST ORANGE, OCTOBER 14) - Schundler for Governor campaign manager Bill Pascoe, responding to news reports regarding Jim McGreevey’s endorsement yesterday by a group of renegade Republicans, today issued the following statement:

“As polls show the gap narrowing, Jim McGreevey is getting more and more desperate. Yesterday, he proudly trumpeted his endorsement by ‘Republicans for McGreevey,’ which his campaign claimed ‘was an organization representing more than 1,000 New Jersey Republicans.’ On its face, that’s rather laughable -- anyone who can read election returns knows Bret Schundler has already been endorsed by tens of thousands of Democrats whose votes he won in Jersey City -- including 70 percent of the Hispanic vote, 45 percent of the African American vote, and five out of eight housing projects. Perhaps more importantly, a quick background check on the leaders of ‘Republicans for McGreevey’ raises questions about the value of their endorsement, and reveals just how desperate McGreevey has become.

“For instance, Joseph Miele, a trash hauler and member of the Turnpike Authority cited in the McGreevey press release as one of the leaders of the renegade Republicans, is now charged by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission with multiple violations of state election law, and faces more than $20,000 in fines. And as a member of the Turnpike Authority, he voted for the E-ZPass contract that Jim McGreevey’s been citing as an example of ‘waste and mismanagement.’

“Gary Paparozzi, Mayor of Lodi, saw his own campaign manager -- whom he had appointed to a senior municipal government position, as the Director of the Department of Public Works -- indicted as part of an organized crime-connected construction industry conspiracy just last year.

“And James Guida, Mayor of Lindhurst, has already established a reputation as a two-faced fair weather friend -- so much so that he’s listed as one of this week’s ‘Losers’ on the PoliticsNJ.com web site, as the result of his flip-flop-flipping on living up to his promise to endorse Assembly Majority Leader Paul DiGaetano, his own (Republican) Assemblyman. In fact, rumors of his planned Party switch to the Democrats go back at least as far as mid-May, according to Nick Acocella’s PolitiFax newsletter. Perhaps Jim McGreevey should call Paul DiGaetano to ask him just how valuable a Guida ‘endorsement’ really is.

“The fact of the matter is, these ‘endorsements’ are tainted. If Jim McGreevey wants tainted endorsements, he can have them. We prefer to seek the endorsement of New Jersey voters who want to cut taxes, fix the schools without just throwing more money at them, reduce suburban sprawl, and get those darn tolls off the Parkway.

“And no endorsement can change one paramount consideration: if you want a tax increase, meet your new best friend -- Jim McGreevey.”