You Have An Undesirable Working At Your Bank..... [View all]

[Laxman]

what are you going to do about it? A fund raising letter to a local bank board member here in NJ was used to put pressure on a member of 11th for Change, a local activist group organizing to hold Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen accountable and to support a challenge to him in the next election. The letter was used to threaten one of the groups members through her employer, Lakeland Bank. A hand written note that stated "one of the ring leaders works at your bank" was included at the bottom of the letter from the congressman himself. The employee was called on the carpet for her involvement. Eventually she resigned after her position at the bank became....uncomfortable.

Frelinghuysen Targets Activist in Letter to Her Employer

The most powerful congressman in New Jersey, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, wrote a fundraising letter in March to the board member of a local bank, warning him that a member of an activist group opposing the Republican worked at his bank.

The employee was questioned and criticized for her involvement in NJ 11th for Change, a group that formed after the election of Donald Trump and has been pressuring Frelinghuysen to meet with constituents in his district and oppose the Trump agenda.

“Needless to say, that did cause some issues at work that were difficult to overcome,” said Saily Avelenda of West Caldwell, New Jersey, who was a senior vice president and assistant general counsel at the bank before she resigned. She says the pressure she received for her political involvement was one of several reasons she decided to leave.

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 asterix 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!”

Attached to the letter was a news article that quoted Avelenda. She says her boss presented her with both the letter and the news article. She was not fired, but she says she had a lot of explaining to do.

Nah, there's nothing wrong with this. Just a friendly "heads up" to the bank. This ought to work out very nicely for the congressman.


read the rest and listen to the story here: http://www.wnyc.org/story/frelinghuysen-targets-activsts-letter-boss/