Bob Hugin Blasted By 88 NJ Women Leaders: ‘Delusional, Appalling'

Nearly 100 New Jersey female leaders have harsh words for Republican Congressional candidate Bob Hugin’s past attempts to ban women and gays from an all-male eating club at Princeton University: “appalling,” “astonishing,” “delusional” and “discriminatory.”

On Monday, Hugin’s main opponent in November – longtime Democratic incumbent U.S. Senator Robert Menendez – released a list of 88 female community leaders and elected representatives who joined him in blasting the GOP candidate’s past stances at Princeton. (See the full list below)

“It is outright appalling that Bob Hugin actively fought against women joining his exclusive, all-male Princeton University eating club while serving as its alumni board president," the statement read. "It cannot be tolerated by any individual seeking to represent New Jersey."

It's been more than 25 years since Hugin, the GOP nominee who will challenge Menendez this fall, served as president of Princeton University's Tiger Inn eating club, where he led efforts to keep the club all-male and all-heterosexual.

When a group of former undergraduate students won their lawsuit to force the club to go co-ed more than two decades ago, Hugin – who was in his late 30s and married for five years at the time – called it "politically correct fascism" and oversaw an unsuccessful effort to have the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the case. He also led a campus petition drive aimed at blocking the school from expanding its anti-discrimination policy to include gays and lesbians.

Hugin has since walked back his past stances on both issues and has claimed that he’s a changed man.

On Monday, his campaign communications director, Megan Piwowar, provided Patch with a response to the statement from the 88:

"Bob Hugin has publicly said that, in hindsight, he would have done things differently 25 years ago. But, while these women attack Bob Hugin on a decades-old issue, I wonder whether any of them spoke up publicly after Senator Menendez was caught abusing his office in recent years to grease the wheels for his convicted felon friend Salomon Melgen to get visas for his young mistresses. Where was the outrage then? The silence is deafening."

Last week, Hugin said that he "views many things differently" than he did 25 years ago.

"The Tiger Inn becoming co-ed was a very positive development for the organization and has strengthened it on every level," he said. "The decision, made by the undergraduate members, to admit women back in the early 90's was without question the right thing to do. Personally, I wish I had taken a leadership role in making it happen sooner."

Hugin credited "fatherhood, leading a global company and the passage of time" as the motivation behind his new outlook on life.

His new outlook gained words of support from former Republican State Senator Diane Allen, whose own struggle against gender bias inspired the namesake to the recently passed "Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act" for equal pay in the workplace.

• See related article: Menendez Rips Bob Hugin For Alleged 'Anti-Gay, Anti-Woman' Past

However, on Monday, a group of nearly 100 female leaders signed a statement released by Menendez’s campaign team, which cast doubt on Hugin’s promises that he’s “evolved.”

In particular, the statement pointed out that a photo released last month by Hugin’s campaign showed the GOP candidate posing with 14 interns… with no women in sight. The June 29 Twitter post shows #TeamHugin after a "great conversation" with Hugin and his "fantastic team of interns."

Read their full statement below.

“It is outright appalling that Bob Hugin actively fought against women joining his exclusive, all-male Princeton University eating club while serving as its alumni board President. It cannot be tolerated by any individual seeking to represent New Jersey.

“The breadth of Mr. Hugin’s opposition is astonishing. When the New Jersey Supreme Court ended the social club's discriminatory policy and opened the doors to women, he called the decade-long fight for inclusion ‘politically correct fascism.’ But Hugin didn't stop there. After his Tiger Inn was forced to accept women in 1991, Hugin went to federal court in hopes of preserving ‘the right to determine our own membership.’ And when his legal efforts to discriminate against women failed again, Hugin expressed disappointment, insisting ‘we had a strong case and a high probability of winning.’

“Mr. Hugin cannot claim that these were the mere actions of a young, naive student. These were the calculated attempts of a grown man. Bob Hugin was in his mid-to-late 30s and married when he waged his delusional war to subjugate women and preserve the glory days of male dominance he so fondly enjoyed as an undergrad. Most damningly, because women had already been admitted as members of Tiger Inn, Mr. Hugin's federal lawsuit sought both to exclude women from joining and to purge current female members. He spent at least a year in litigation attempting to undo a New Jersey Supreme Court injunction so he could satisfy his discriminatory impulses.

“Bob Hugin’s actions raise serious questions about his ability to lead and represent New Jersey in the United States Senate. This is a permanent stain in his personal history, only reinforced by the millions he's continued to donate to anti-choice candidates and organizations. Bob Hugin donated the maximum allowable to Donald Trump—a candidate notorious for his misogyny and bragging of sexually assaulting women—served as his state finance chair and a Trump delegate to the Republican National Committee. It shows a lifelong pattern of intolerance that suggests he would oppose equal pay and workplace rights for women. A photo released last month by his campaign with Hugin and his 14 interns most noticeably included no women in sight.

“As when his company paid $280 million in settlement fees for price-gouging cancer patients, Mr. Hugin must be held accountable for his actions. If conservative reactionaries such as Ryan Bounds can be disqualified as a federal judge for past discriminatory writings, voters should disqualify Bob Hugin as a Senate candidate for his gender-based discrimination. He cannot be counted on to represent 9 million New Jerseyans, more than half of whom are women. Time’s up, Mr. Hugin. You will not be representing us.”

Signed,

Afsheen Shamsi, Steering Committee Member, NJDSC South Asian American Caucus

Alison Arne, Atlantic County Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Amie Maria, Cumberland/Salem County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Amy DeGise, Chair, Hudson County Democratic Organization

Analilia Mejia, Executive Director, New Jersey Working Families Alliance

Andrea Smith, Cape May County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Angela Bardoe, Cumberland/Salem County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Angela McKnight, Assemblymember

Angelica Jimenez, Assemblymember

Annette Quijano, Assemblymember

Anita Esteve, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Ann Twomey, President, Health Professionals and Allied Employees

Anna Maria Tejada, Past President, Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey

Anna Wong, Northeast Regional Director, Action Together New Jersey

Arlene Quinones Perez, Chair, Hunterdon County Democratic Committee

Ashley Henderson, President, Princeton Marching Forward

Barbra Casbar Siperstein, Gender Rights Advocacy Association of NJ

Caitlin Sherman, Hudson County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Careen DeAndrea Lazarus, Passaic County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Carmen Salavarrieta, Angels in Action

Cathy Brienza, JOLT USA

Caty Polanco, Latin American Democratic Association

Cheryl Marciano, Warren County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Christina Zuk, Vice President, New Jersey Young Democrats

Christine Clarke, Environmental Director, Action Together New Jersey

Christine Elias, Gloucester County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Deb Huber, President, NOW-NJ

Devon Mazza, Ocean County Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Donna M Chiera, President, AFTNJ

Dr. Hetal Gor, Advisory Board, NJDSC South Asian American Caucus

Dr. Khyati Y. Joshi, Professor, Fairleigh Dickinson University

Edina Brown, Councilmember, Old Bridge

Elizabeth Cano, Union County Latina Activist

Elizabeth Meyer, Founder, NJ Women's March

Erin Chung, President and Founder, Women for Progress

Estina Baker, CWA District 1

Gail Black, Statewide Jewish Women's Advocate

Hetty Rosenstein, CWA

Iris Perrot, Warren County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Jaci Jones, President, Middlesex County Federation of Democratic Women

Jackie Low, Bergen County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Jeanne Fox, Esq., Former BPU President

Jeanne Jordan, Gloucester County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Jill Rhodes, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Joan Jacobsen, Sussex County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Joan Quigley, Former President of the State Junior Women's Clubs

Joann Downey, Assemblymember

Kellie Davidson, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Kelly Shea, Warren County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Laurel Brennan, Secretary-Treasurer, New Jersey State AFL-CIO

Lauren Nicosia, Women’s Health Advocate

Lenace Edwards, SEIU 32BJ

Leslie Huhn, Chair, Sussex County Democratic Committee

Linda Sloan Locke, CNM,LSW

Lindsay Campbell, President, Sussex County NOW

Lisa Anderson, Sussex County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Lisa Bonanno, Gloucester County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Lizette Delgado-Polanco, Vice Chair, New Jersey State Democratic Committee

Marcia Marley, BlueWave NJ

Margaret Weinberger, President, Somerset County Federation of Democratic Women

Megan Coyne, President, College Democrats of New Jersey

Mildred Scott, Sheriff, Middlesex County

Nancy Pitkin, Assemblywoman

Nedia Morsy, Make the Road Action

Pamela Brug, Union County Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Pamela Renee, Councilwoman, Neptune City

Pat Perkins Auguste, Councilwoman, Elizabeth

Patricia Campos, LUPE PAC

Patricia Soteropoulos, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Patricia Teffenhart, Gender Equity Advocate

Patti Douglass, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Peg Schaffer, Chair, Somerset County Democratic Committee

Phyllis Salowe-Kay

Rachel Barry, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Regina Keelan, Democratic Municipal Chair, Atlantic Highlands

S. Nadia Hussain, Passaic County Director, NJDSC South Asian American Caucus

Safanya Searcy, Labor Leader and Community Activist

Saily M. Avelenda, Esq., Attorney and Activist

Sara Cullinane, Make the Road Action

Shanel Robinson, Deputy Mayor, Franklin Township

Shanti Narra, Middlesex County Freeholder

Shelly Morningstar, Morris County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Stephanie Silvera, Passaic County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Susan Lavine Coleman, Burlington County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Tammi Bathke, Burlington County Co-Chair, Action Together New Jersey

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Assemblywoman

Winn Khuong, Executive Director, Action Together New Jersey

Yvonne Lopez, Assemblymember

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Photo: YouTube / Team Hugin