Republican Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon said today a 4 a.m. prank robocall received by Monmouth County residents was likely the work of Tea Party challengers.
O’Scanlon said the voice on the call is “unquestionably similar to the voice on the Leigh Ann Bellew for Senate answering machine.”
“If you add in the only people who have motive to do this would be our opponents and then you add in their demonstrated lack of integrity and deviousness and you can easily see this being them. In fact, It’s hard to figure out who else it could be,” he said.
Both the robo-caller and the voice on the outgoing message of the Bellew headquarters have southern accents.
O’Scanlon said if the campaign was that “stupid, desperate and pitiful’ to make the prank calls, he hopes law enforcement can track down those involved.
The early morning call urged voters to come to the polls and support O’Scanlon, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin. Caller identification showed the call coming from Monmouth County Republican headquarters.
But Monmouth County GOP Chairman John Bennett said neither the campaigns nor the county party ordered or paid for the calls and the number showing the Monmouth GOP as the source was “spoofed,” meaning it was masked to show the headquarters as the origin. Bennett said he planned to turn over recordings of the call to prosecutors today.
Bennett did not go as far as O’Scanlon in making accusations, but said he had spoken to Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal, who assured him Democrats were not behind the call.
Bellew and Assembly candidates Edna Walsh and Stephen Boracchia are challenging O’Scanlon, Handlin and Kyrillos in today’s Republican primary. A spokesman for Bellew did not immediately return an email for comment.
