Rick Shaftan Inferred Lonegan’s Opponent Is Gay
Conservative pollster and media consultant Rick Sheftan was fired on October 10th after insinuating that Senate candidate Steve Lonegan’s rival, Democratic Newark Mayor Corey Booker is gay. In a lengthy interview with a political news site, Sheftan suggested that voters would be turned off by Booker’s “odd” behavior that included Twitter messages that Democratic Booker tweeted to a stripper Lee who works at a club Casa Diablo in Portland.
Booker, 44, single, dated several women, including model Veronica Webb..
Booker’s sexuality became an issue in the campaign when he refused to answer whether he was gay because he said it shouldn’t matter. Shaftan inferred that because Booker didn’t comment on Lee’s sexiness.
Sheftan described the tweets as “strange and like hat a gay guy would say. He was hiding something and causing people to question his leadership.”
Tactless Comments to the Press
“It’s the way he was talking to her,” said Shaftan explaining Booker’s responses to Lee’s tweets. “It’s just like there was no sexual interest at all. I don’t know. To me, if I was single and you know like some stripper was tweeting me, I might take advantage of the perks of the office, you know?”
Lonegan’s senior staffer and key strategist, Sheftan was fired on the same day he granted the profanity-laced interview. Lonegan, according to the Star-Ledger, told the newspaper, that Shaftan’s comments “are distasteful and offensive and his contract as a vendor for his campaign will be terminated immediately and that his comments are not reflective of my views or that of my campaign.”
Sheftan’s Non-Admirers
Others like Troy Stevenson of Garden State Equality found Shaftan’s comments “homophobic, misogynistic, and pornographic and a disgrace.” Stevenson said that Shaftan needs to apologize to Booker and the people of New Jersey.
Shaftan has since posted a non-apology on his Facebook page: “I apologize to Steve Lonegan and his supporters if any statements I have made have hurt his candidacy and do not want these comments or my presence in this campaign to serve as a distraction to his efforts to win this election and save our nation from the radical left-wing policies of Obama and Cory Booker.”
But as Lee comments, Shaftan is trying to make Booker look bad, but ended up making himself look worse.
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