MOUNT OLIVE (11/06/06) – Republican mayoral candidate David Scapicchio expressed disappointment in the last minute scurrilous mailings that came from two of his opponents over the week-end.

He took "extreme" issue with the outrageously false statements made by Mayor Richard DeLaRoche, who he said had an opportunity to air his views at a local radio sponsored forum for candidates last Thursday and decided at the last minute to cancel an appearance he had agreed to. He had the same opportunity a couple of weeks earlier at another forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and he did the same thing….. cancelled at the last minute," Scapicchio said.

"He has a history of avoiding appearing in public to air his positions preferring last minute defamatory and libelous last minute statements too late to be answered or not worthy of a response. A similar sneak attack with a deceptive and misleading letter three years ago is believed to have been decisive in his being elected mayor.

It’s a shame that his tenure as mayor has been a complete waste of almost three years for the township in many ways. He’s an embarrassment to even his own Democratic party, who even rejected his bid to be his party’s standard bearer in this election and the final shame was his inability to obtain even 100 registered voters to sign his petition to run in this election as an Independent. His petitions were rejected as inadequate by election officials at the local, county and state levels.

As to the Independent candidate Walter Lata’s letter, suffice to say his charges didn’t even bear grains of truth. He too had an opportunity to bring his charges to the radio station forum but said absolutely nothing about anything he had in the letter he sent. In fact he agreed with just about everything the Democratic candidate and I said at that forum. He was very pleasant and friendly. I have to admit I was very surprised and disappointed when I read his mailing.

Scapicchio pointed out that he and his Democratic opponent agreed at the outset of the campaign that their campaigns would be issue oriented and I believe we both have done that. We agreed Mount Olive had received enough bad publicity because of the mayor. If anyone has any concerns about matters in the letters or questions about anything in his campaign they are welcome to call him at (973) 476-3602. "If I’m not there to answer please leave a message and be assured I will return every phone call.

He pointed out he has been endorsed by the Daily Record and the Mount Olive Chronicle and innumerable leading citizens in the township and county, many of whom have letters on his web site www.votedavid2006.com.

He concluded his statement thanking everyone who has helped him in his campaign and asked for their vote tomorrow.