There are a whole host of things someone can do, but that doesn’t mean they should. That list is even longer when you’re a public official, elected to serve the interests of your constituency. New Jersey Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen may have crossed a line in dealing with a constituent he doesn’t like.
Saily Avelenda was a senior vice president and assistant general counsel of Lakeland Bank and is active in NJ 11th for Change, an activism group that has been working to pressure Frelinghuysen to oppose the Trump agenda. Instead of just dealing with an unhappy constituent, Frelinghuysen decided to tell on Avelenda to her employer. WNYC reports on a letter a board member of the bank, who’d previously donated to Frelinghuysen, received that was attached to a news article that quoted Avelenda:
The form letter, on campaign stationery, asks Frelinghuysen’s supporters to donate two years ahead of his next election because he is under attack. “But let’s be clear that there are organized forces — both national and local — who are already hard at work to put a stop to an agenda of limited government, economic growth, stronger national security,” the letter says.
Above the word local, there’s a hand-written asterisk in the same blue ink as Frelinghuysen’s signature. At the bottom of the letter, scrawled with a pen, is the corresponding footnote: “P.S. One of the ringleaders works in your bank!”
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Now, the letter was not on Congressional stationary, there was no explicit threat, and the bank had no business before a Frelinghuysen committee, so it likely doesn’t rise to the level of illegal, according to a former staffer for the Office of Congressional Ethics who spoke to WNYC anonymously. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a jerk move. Indeed, Avelenda says the pressure this move caused was one of the reasons she left her job at Lakeland Bank.
“I had to write a statement to my CEO, and at my level as an assistant general counsel and a senior vice president, at this employer it was not something that I expected,” Avelenda said. “I thought my Congressman put them in a situation, and put me in a really bad situation as the constituent, and used his name, used his position and used his stationery to try to punish me.”
For their part, representatives of Lakeland Bank have taken to social media to make it clear they didn’t actually fire Avelenda.
But the actions of the Congressman made it difficult for Avelenda to continue her work.
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Avelenda seems like a smart cookie — she should be able to get another job. But you, Frelinghuysen? You’ll always be an asshole.
GOP Congressman Frelinghuysen Targets Activist in Letter to Her Employer [WNYC]
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).