Sussex Democrats use vigil to attack opponent

Last month, dozens of Sussex County residents met on the Green in Newton to hold a vigil in support of efforts to end opiate addiction.  Most were there for an honest, solemn purpose.  Some were there to get dirt on their neighbors.

It is no secret that Kate Matteson wants Parker Space's job.  She wants it bad enough to try to damage his business.  She wants it bad enough to try to turn a solemn vigil into a political sting operation.  While everyone else was praying to end the community's curse of opiate addiction, Matteson was trying to screw somebody over.

In a Politico column published yesterday, Democrat candidate Matteson admitted that her operatives used the vigil to try to lure her opponent into a conversation, tape it, and then use it as a kind of blackmail.  Perhaps the goal is to force Assemblyman Space out of office, much as the Left has attempted to force President Trump out of office?  This would represent a direct challenge to democracy and the will of the voters because Assemblyman Space is one of the highest vote-getters in the Legislature of either party. 

The question is this:  What kind of person would use a vigil for this purpose?  The vigil was to be a non-political gathering of concerned residents.  Who would authorize such an action?  Who would attempt to sell it to the media?

Democrat Senate candidate Jennifer Hamilton dismissed the whole affair as a personal clash between Matteson and Space, telling Politico that she believed it was about "Parker Space venting his frustration about what he perceived as an attack on his family business.  And that was the premise of the conversation. That was the build-up to that moment.  I don’t feel I need to be brought into peoples’ personal disagreements or battles with one another in terms of their personality conflicts. I think it’s clear from what we’ve seen in our local media that there is conflict between the two of them [Space and Matteson]."

As it turns out, the recording is not a very professional one and contains a number of garbled voices.  It is unclear if Assemblyman Space's is even among the voices present on the tape, while another voice (a woman's voice) apparently agrees with a negative assessment made of candidate Matteson, and still another voice repeats the phrase "elitist one-percenter" when referring to Democrat Matteson, the well-to-do-spouse of a wealthy doctor.

In the article, Matteson, who only began voting in 2016, actually tries to compare Assemblyman Space to President Trump -- fiercely attacking both in the process.  She may have only started voting last year, but she seems determined to make up for it with an extra dose of venom.

This isn't the first time candidate Matteson has used a solemn occasion for political purposes.  On September 11th, she and her running mate, Gina Trish, attended their first 9/11 observance and promptly turned it into a campaign photo opportunity.  It was rather disgusting and occasioned the remarks of many present for its gross lack of class.  Candidate Matteson might be upper class when it comes to having money, but she lacks it when it comes to manners.