If Republican congressional candidate Antony Ghee didn’t vote for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he should just say so, says Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains).
Webber says that Ghee “misses the point.”
“It’s not that I need someone to share my background,” Webber said. “I need someone to share my principles.”
The fight between Ghee, a political newcomer who registered as a Republican last Monday, and Webber, a former Republican State Chairman, escalated this weekend after Ghee refused to tell the Passaic County Republican screening committee who he voted for in the last three presidential elections. Instead, he said that as an Army Reserve officer, he served his country and not the president.
Webber said it’s because he voted for “Obama, Obama and Clinton.”
Ghee issued a statement today that hit back at Webber while citing his military service.
“If defending our country as a Major in the Army means Jay Webber is able to exercise his First Amendment rights and accuse me of ‘hiding behind the uniform’ then I’ve done my job as a soldier,” Ghee said. “But that’s the problem with Jay. It does not matter that you selflessly serve your country and embrace American values of hard work and determination, endure adversity, achieve success and experience failure. If your background is different than his, he assumes that you cannot possibly believe in conservative principle.”
Webber says that who someone supports for the presidency says something about their principles. He says if Ghee didn’t support Obama and Clinton, “he should just say so.”