Tensions escalate in fiery final debate between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli over opioids, military record
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill escalated an attack on Jack Ciattarelli over his former company's opioid publications as he calls on her to release her disciplinary records.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill contended at Wednesday’s New Jersey gubernatorial debate that Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli “killed tens of thousands of people” by publishing material that downplayed the risks of opioids.
Sherrill’s attack was a more aggressive tactic than the Democrat has used so far in the race, escalating an already tense back-and-forth between the candidates in a competitive election. It came as Ciattarelli calls on her to release her military disciplinary records after reports that she did not walk at her Naval Academy graduation.
Sherrill’s accusation stems in part from a 2021 NJ.com report that said Ciattarelli’s medical publishing company distributed information about pain management that “appeared to downplay the dangers of opioids.”
She argued in the debate at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center that Ciattarelli “made his millions by working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe, putting out propaganda, publishing their propaganda, while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.”
She also accused his company, Galen Publishing, of developing an app that helped patients know what to say to get opioids from their doctor.
Ciattarelli said “everything she just said about my professional career, which provided for my family, it’s a lie.”
“I’m proud of my career,” he added.
But that rebuttal followed an initial shock. “Shame on you,” Ciattarelli initially responded to Sherrill.
“Shame on you, sir,” she replied.
“Shame on you,” he said again before blaming former President Joe Biden’s administration for fentanyl coming across the border.
Ciattarelli sold his medical publishing company in 2017, earning millions, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
As Sherrill continued the attack, Ciattarelli shot back that he “got to walk at my college graduation,” referencing thereports that Sherrill did not walk at her Naval Academy graduation amid a widespread cheating scandal. Sherrill said that she was punished for not turning in her classmates.
» READ MORE: Attack ads, fighting lawyers, and a federal investigation: Mikie Sherrill’s released military records
“You then went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children,” she responded, accusing him of spreading “propaganda” and “misinformation.”
Eric Arpert, Ciattarelli’s campaign manager, said Sherrill’s remarks were “an absurd, unhinged attack by a candidate who is in free fall and hasn’t the slightest clue about New Jersey or how to bring the change we desperately need.”
During the debate, Ciattarelli reiterated his call for Sherrill to release her disciplinary records and insinuated that she must have done something wrong since she hasn’t released them.
He contended that the Naval Academy does not punish students for not turning in their classmates.
“I think she was punished for something else, and so I think she needs to come clean," he said.
Sherrill argued that she “went on to graduate,” became a Navy officer, and “held positions of trust throughout the Navy.”
She said she won’t sign off on the release of the disciplinary records relating to the incident because doing so would “open up my classmates’ hundreds of records so he can rampage through them on a witch hunt.”
As Ciattarelli has criticized Sherrill for lacking transparency, Sherrill turned the attack back on him by telling reporters after the debate she thought it was “weird” that he didn’t have an answer to her accusations about his medical company.
“I think there’s a lot we don’t know,” she said. “I think he continues to not be very transparent about it.”