Citizens Dedicated To Preserving Our Constitutional Republic

* “ROLAND STRATEN (NJ-R) TRUTH ABOUT HEALTHCARE” *

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Bobbi Bennett
August 23, 2010 201-306-1523

Voters Deserve the Truth about Health Care

In a statement on Sunday to a packed room of supporters in West Orange, Paterson businessman Roland Straten, the Republican who is challenging Bill Pascrell in NJ 8th Congressional District, announced that he would hold a Rally to tell the truth about the impact of the health care law on “our lives, our liberties and our struggling economy.” The Rally will be held on the steps of the Montclair Municipal building this Tuesday, August 24 at 7 p.m.

“This isn’t about party or politics,” said Straten. “It’s about our inherent right to free speech and the public’s right to know what is really in the law we have to live by.”

Straten said he has assembled a group of experts to speak at the rally to give a broad range of perspectives on the impact of the law, “We want people to hear from those who are dealing with the effects of this legislation every day. Unlike Pascrell, we aren’t afraid of the truth.”

Straten’s Campaign Manager, Bobbi Bennett, said the rally is in response to the Senior Forums Pascrell held in municipal buildings in Montclair and Wayne on August 9. When Straten showed up before the start of the Montclair forum to hand out information from government reports that counter Pascrell’s claims about the law, the township attorney and a Pascrell staffer attempted to stop him. A Montclair Times reporter witnessed the staffer’s attempt to push Straten physically from the room. Another constituent, Mark Kalinowski of Clifton, also claims that Pascrell’s staffer pushed him and has posted video and eyewitness accounts of the incident on the internet.

“Pascrell has printed and mailed at least four glossy, 4-color brochures at taxpayer expense. He has use of township facilities paid for by taxpayers, and due to his position has the last word in the press. That may be the way it is, but that doesn’t make it fair or right,” said Bennett. “Pascrell’s statements about the law are misleading at best, and a forum where he puts a political spin on answers, doesn’t allow follow-up questions, and then uses ridicule and bullying tactics to silence constituents, as he did last year and again on the 9th, is not very informational.”