New Brunswick, NJ – Greedy, drug company CEO Bob Hugin, who fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court as a married adult in his mid-30s to discriminate against women, got caught yesterday showing his true colors when he reportedly berated the wife of his congressional running mate and her young children at a campaign event. Rochelle Kipnis, wife of CD12 GOP candidate Daryl Kipnis, tells NJ Globe she already voted for Hugin, but wishes she could take it back.
“Anyone who can treat a mom with young kids the way Bob Hugin treated me doesn’t deserve a vote,” Kipnis said.
Kipnis claims she and her three kids were handing out campaign literature featuring her husband and their father, which prompted the response by Hugin and his staff.
“No woman or child deserves to be mistreated ever,” Kipnis continued. “I realize that this behavior stems from Bob Hugin. Can’t control himself or his staff. Women, moms, stand up if someone mistreats you. Intimidation isn’t acceptable.”
Hugin’s campaign staffers also reportedly instructed Kipnis to release a false statement in hopes of mitigating the situation. She said she “received quotes from his team asking me to make statements that were not true and so far from the truth that it was insulting.”
“No one should be shocked that a man who went all the way to the United States Supreme Court to deny the equal opportunity of women would be capable of lashing out in such a dehumanizing manner against a mother and her young children,” said Menendez Campaign Communications Director Steve Sandberg. “Bob Hugin has spent this entire campaign and nearly $40 million lying to the voters of New Jersey and pretending to be someone he’s not. This is who he is. He’s a man who made a fortune preying on the most vulnerable, gouging cancer patients, and discriminating against women and the LBGTQ community. He’s a man who continued to support Donald Trump even after he admitted to sexually assaulting women, and said he would have voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh despite credible allegations of sexual assualt against him. Bob Hugin will never stand up for women and will never have our backs. New Jerseyans will send Bob Hugin a resounding message this Tuesday that he is unfit to represent us in the U.S. Senate.”
Read the full story below:
By David Wildstein
The wife of a Republican congressional candidate is bashing Bob Hugin again today after finding out that a campaign staffer mistreated her nine-year-old daughter at a campaign rally yesterday.
Rochelle Kipnis initially accepted Hugin’s apology late last night on an earlier incident where when she took to Facebook to criticize the Republican U.S. Senate candidate for snapping at her and her daughters, who were passing out campaign literature for Daryl Kipnis, the Republican running against Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.
“Actually, it’s not over,” Kipnis told the New Jersey Globe. “Apparently Team Hugin … had the nerve to yell at my child and tell her not to pass out her dads’ literature and tell her she should ‘sit down, not pass out literature, and be quiet.’ She told my child, ‘This Rally is for Bob Hugin and your literature is not to passed out.’
Kipnis posted on Facebook that the Hugin campaign sought to issue a statement last night mitigating the seriousness of her complaints.
“I received quotes from his team asking me to make statements that were not true and so far from the truth that it was insulting,” Kipnis said.
The controversy comes three days before one of the nastiest U.S. Senate races in state history, with Hugin in striking distance of becoming the first Republican to win a New Jersey Senate seat since 1972.
Kipnis says she already voted for Hugin but feels obligated to tell the truth.
“No woman or child deserves to be mistreated ever,” she said. “I realize that this behavior stems from Bob Hugin. Can’t control himself or his staff. Women, moms, stand up if someone mistreats you. Intimidation isn’t acceptable.”
The treatment of women has been a central theme of both campaigns. Democrat Bob Menendez has hammered Hugin on his refusal to admit women to an all-male eating club he ran at Princeton University, and Hugin has spent millions on television ads slamming Menendez on unsubstantiated allegation that he slept with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
“Rochelle Kipnis is doing the absolute right thing here — events are what they are. It’s up to Hugin and his team to be mindful of words and actions days before the election,” said Charles Kim, a spokesman for Daryl Kipnis’ campaign. “Hugin is in no position to chastise anyone attending a rally he is at. He should be grateful for people being there at all…with or without kids and should comport himself appropriately.”
Kipnis said her husband is being pressured by Republicans, saying he should “manage his wife.
“I don’t give men a free pass to lash out at women,” she said. “I don’t believe in being silenced. Integrity and honesty are the most important thing. What kind of mom would I be to allow my kids to see this and think it’s okay?”
A spokesperson for the Hugin campaign declined comment.
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