TRENTON — Political insiders were baffled last month when Patrick Delany — a Republican state assemblyman from Burlington County for less than eight months — resigned abruptly, citing family issues. That kind of reason is usually a euphemism couching a more delicate issue. In the case of Delaney, however, a relative newcomer to the Legislature, his departure caused little...
State Senate candidate Carl Lewis speaks to members of The Star-Ledger in this file photo from earlier this month. The political website PolitickerNJ Monday published a racially-charged e-mail believed to have been sent to Lewis from former Assemblyman Patrick Delany's wife.TRENTON — Political insiders were baffled last month when Patrick Delany — a Republican state assemblyman from Burlington County for less than eight months — resigned abruptly, citing family issues.
That kind of reason is usually a euphemism couching a more delicate issue. In the case of Delaney, however, a relative newcomer to the Legislature, his departure caused little stir.
Then the other shoe dropped Monday when it was disclosed that Delany’s wife, Jennifer, had sent a racially-charged e-mail to Carl Lewis, a former Olympic gold medalist who is running for state Senate on a slate opposed to the one Delany was on.
"Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equalled [sic] knowing something about politics," Jennfier Delaney, a Burlington County GOP committeewoman at the time, wrote in the July 7 message in response to a mass e-mail from the Lewis campaign criticizing Gov. Chris Christie.
The e-mail was first published Monday by the political website PolitickerNJ.com, which cited it as the reason for Delany’s resignation. A copy of the message was independently obtained by The Star-Ledger.
Fourteen minutes after the article was posted online, Delany issued a statement acknowledging the authenticity of the e-mail and conceding that was the reason he resigned.
"I am deeply disappointed in my wife’s decision to send that e-mail to Mr. Lewis’ campaign; it does not reflect my personal beliefs whatsoever," he said. He went on: "In an attempt to repair the serious damage this has caused to our marriage, and to protect our kids from public humiliation, I decided to leave public life. On behalf of my family, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Lewis for any pain this caused him."
Neither Lewis nor Jennifer Delany responded to requests for comment. A spokesman for Burlington County Republicans said she relinquished her committee seat on July 27.
Delany was selected in December by county Republicans to complete the unexpired Assembly term of Dawn Marie Addiego (R-Burlington), who ascended to the state Senate to fill a vacancy. Republicans from the 8th Legislative District chose a freeholder, Chris Brown to replace Delany on the ballot.
Lewis, a Democrat, is challenging Addiego for the Senate seat, although his candidacy has been tied up in court since Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno struck his name from the ballot because he does not meet the state residency requirement.
In a statement issued Monday, the chairman of the Burlington County Republican Party, Bill Layton, called the e-mail "offensive and racist."
Layton said that "after much deliberation, I agreed to let Pat leave public life without disclosing the reasons for his sudden departure to the press beyond the fact that he was dealing with a serious family issue.
"In this case," he said, "that issue was the severe damage done to his marriage in the aftermath of his wife’s decision to send this offensive e-mail."
Layton said Delany came forward voluntarily to tell him about his wife’s e-mail, which said: "Imagine, not having to pay NJ state income taxes ... It must be nice. Imagine getting a court ruling overturned so your name could get put on the ballot. Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equalled knowing something about politics. Sure, knowing someone with fat purse strings is nice, but you have no knowledge."
As Layton put it, "While it may have been politically expedient to publicly throw Pat under the bus, I believe letting him walk away quietly was the honorable, compassionate thing to do for someone who personally had done nothing wrong."