Schmid’s dishonesty disqualifies her from public service

By Senator Declan J. O’Scanlon, Jr

I am tremendously proud of my friend and our Congressman Chris Smith who consistently rises above the noise and clatter of politics and personally goes the extra mile to help people in desperate situations.

During this pandemic Chris Smith has done it again—he has literally saved lives.  He’s not just saved the lives of countless unknown people who did not get sick because of the PPE Chris was able to secure for first responders and medical providers.  But he’s saved really sick patients whose families called their congressman because they were desperate for answers, medication, and approvals for treatment in a healthcare system that was overwhelmed.  Chris Smith came through for them. 

And he came through for others as well including the fishing industry so vital to our community and family members who were trapped in foreign countries when the pandemic first struck. 

Contrast these actions with the ridiculous lie in a campaign mailer sent by his opponent Stephanie Schmid.  She claims that Congressman Smith has done nothing to help us in the COVID-19 crisis—a proven lie and an attempt to hide the truth about Chris’ effectiveness from the voters of the 4^th Congressional District. If she truly believes her own drivel, then it’s clear she hasn’t been paying attention. If you’re a candidate asking for peoples votes, paying attention is pretty much job 1.

Her propaganda is a hurtful affront to the many businesses and people Chris has personally helped in heroic fashion—some of whom are my close friends. All of them can tell the many things their congressman did to help them but to Schmid the congressman’s work on their behalf means nothing in her campaign of deceit and deception. Her literature is outlandish, yet par for the course for her dishonest campaign.

For example, her twitter bio claims that she is a ‘human rights advocate and attorney’ but fails to include her work as an attorney representing corporations. I’m not begrudging corporations in general or the people that represent them. But Schmid’s work apparently included working on defensive strategy for executives from Transocean, the company that owned the oil rig in the horrific Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf, the greatest environmental disaster in US history. 

The company was thankfully found criminally liable despite her efforts.

Whose human rights was she representing in that case? Not the people living in the Gulf whose health is still hurt today by that devastating oil spill. The fact that she selectively hides her work for this corporation from the voters is another example of her dishonesty.

There are other instances of Schmid’s lack of honesty and transparency. For example, there’s her serious campaign finance violations of accepting illegal contributions, hiding a $100,000 loan to her campaign, hiding the names of her staff and their payroll expenses and reimbursing herself over $12,000 in unspecified expenses.  

Five times already, the Federal Election Commission has called her out for her questionable reports and threatened legal action.  

We also know she continues to lie about her 15-day internship in Chris’ office and even her opponents in the Democrat primary raised questions about her lack of transparency and honesty. 

Stephanie Schmid needs to stop lying about a good, honest, incredibly effective and caring man. Her dishonest actions and words completely disqualify her for the office that she seeks.

Posted: October 5th, 2020 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2020 Congressional Races, Chris Smith, Declan O'Scanlon, Monmouth County News, New Jersey, Opinion | Tags: 2020 congressional elections, CD-4, Chris Smith, Declan O'Scanlon, Stephanie Schmid | 4 Comments »

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