N.J. state senator files lawsuit against Camden County GOP over political mailer that called him a drunk driver

New Jersey State Sen. Paul D. Moriarty has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Camden County GOP over a political mailer sent out last year that referred to him as a drunken driver, referencing charges stemming from a 2012 arrest that have since been dismissed.

Moriarty alleges in the lawsuit that the mailer made “willfully and demonstrably false accusations” that harmed his reputation in referring to him as “drunk driver Paul Moriarty.” Sent to voters in the state’s 3rd and 4th Legislative Districts in days before the November 2023 election, the mailer indicated that it was “paid for by Camden County GOP,” according to the lawsuit.

Camden County GOP’s then-chairman Thomas W. Crone Jr. was also named as a defendant. The political organization did not immediately respond to request for comment, and no attorney for either defendant was listed in court documents.

A former CBS3 investigative reporter, Moriarty entered politics about two decades ago, previously serving as the mayor of Washington Township and a New Jersey General Assembly member. He won last year’s election for former Sen. Fred Madden’s open seat, beating out Republican Christopher Del Borrello by about 5,000 votes.

In the lawsuit, however, Moriarty alleges that the mailer defamed him and cast him in a false light, causing damages from which he is “suffering and will continue to suffer.” Moriarty’s attorney, John A. Zohlman III, of the Cherry Hill-based firm Hagner & Zohlman, said that the mailer was sent to “maliciously defame the senator and to improperly affect the 2023 senatorial election in the 4th District.”

“People may not like our public officials or the positions they take and that’s OK,” Zohlman said. “However, outright lies are not protected speech.”

The mailer’s reference to Moriarty being a “drunk driver,” the lawsuit says, comes from a July 31, 2012, arrest in Washington Township, when he was serving as an assemblyman. An officer pulled Moriarty over on Black Horse Pike after allegedly observing him change lanes illegally, resulting in Moriarty being accused of cutting off the officer in traffic.

Then-Patrolman Joseph DiBuonaventura claimed that he smelled alcohol on Moriarty’s breath and conducted a field sobriety test. Inquirer reporting recounting video surveillance of the incident indicates that Moriarty appeared to have passed the test, but he was arrested and taken to a police station for a breath test. Moriarty refused the test, later saying in court that he “had no faith in the process at that point.”

Moriarty was charged with driving while intoxicated, refusing to submit to a breath test, and driving on marked lanes. The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office moved to dismiss the charges in 2013, noting in a filing that the initial stop was illegal so any evidence gathered from it was inadmissible in court.

DiBuonaventura, meanwhile, was fired from the Washington Township Police Department over the incident following an internal affairs investigation that found misconduct during the stop, according to NJ.com. Despite a lengthy legal battle to get his job back, a New Jersey court ruled in 2019 that DiBuonaventura would not be allowed to return to the force.

But despite the charges against Moriarty being dismissed more than a decade ago, the political mailer sent last year failed to contain “a footnote or other reference” to how the case played out, the lawsuit claims. And when reached by Moriarty’s legal counsel by letter in December 2023, Crone allegedly “did not deny that the CCGOP had prepared and sent the mailer,” but declined to make a public retraction or apology. That prompted the filing of the lawsuit, Zohlman said.

“Senator Moriarty has always stood up for improper attacks on his character and this is no different,” Zohlman said. “It’s important for not only him but for anyone else placed in a similar situation.”

Moriarty is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as court costs.