Frelinghuysen Faces Probe After Allegedly Targeting Activist

A nonprofit government watchdog group has filed a request for an official investigation into a fundraising letter that U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen allegedly wrote to a New Jersey bank executive’s board of directors, identifying her as the “ringleader” of a local activist group and reportedly leading to her resignation.

On Tuesday, the Campaign for Accountability requested an official inquiry into Frelinghuysen’s alleged actions with the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent, non-partisan entity charged with reviewing allegations of misconduct against members, officers and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In all but one set of circumstances, the report and findings of the OCE Board must be publicly released, according to its website.

The request for an investigation comes about two months after Frelinghuysen, a Republican representing New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, reportedly sent a campaign letter to a Lakeland Bank board member soliciting campaign funding in the face of a political attack from “organized forces.”

According to a WNYC report, the letter contained a handwritten postscript: “One of the ringleaders works in your bank!”

• See related article: Rep. Frelinghuysen's Letter To Bank Leads To Employee Quitting

The alleged “ringleader,” West Caldwell resident Saily Avelenda, who was a senior vice president and assistant general counsel at Lakeland Bank, told a reporter that she eventually quit her job due to “issues at work that were difficult to overcome” in the wake of the letter.

Avelenda is a member of local activist group 11th For Change, which has been a vocal critic of Frelinghuysen, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations.

• See related article: Frelinghuysen Criticized At Essex County Town Hall

Frelinghuysen's campaign office provided WNYC with the following statement about the letter:

“The Congressman wrote a brief and innocuous note at the bottom of a personal letter in regard to information that had been reported in the media. He was in no way involved in any of the bank's business and is unaware of any of the particulars about this employee's status with the bank.”

The Campaign for Accountability’s Tuesday complaint asks the OCE to investigate whether Frelinghuysen “engaged in tortious interference with Ms. Avelenda’s business relations, whether he misused his office for the prospect of political gain, and whether he violated the rule requiring members to act in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.”

“Rep. Frelinghuysen is ripping a page from President Trump’s playbook by trying to wreak vengeance on a political opponent,” CFA Executive Director Daniel Stevens said. “The OCE should immediately make clear this sort of conduct is out of bounds.”

Read the full CFA complaint here.

‘AN INTIMIDATING ACTION’

11th For Change called Frelinghuysen’s note “an intimidating action” in a Monday statement.

State Assemblyman John F. McKeon, a Democrat, said that he has “significant concerns” about Frelinghuysen’s alleged actions.

“Referencing this note as innocuous is troubling,” McKeon stated. “It can well be interpreted as a direct attempt to intimidate through inappropriate means a thoughtful individual exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights. The specter of using one’s position in such a manner has serious implications and should be considered by the Office of Congressional Ethics.”

Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill, a former prosecutor and U.S. Navy pilot who recently announced her plans to challenge Frelinghuysen for his Congressional seat, called the letter a “shameful abuse of power.”

“Frelinghuysen has gone from simply refusing to meet with his constituents and telling them to ‘back off,’ to threatening constituents who are exercising their freedom of speech,” Sherrill said. “That Frelinghuysen would use his powerful public office to hurt a private citizen is wrong, unethical and immoral.”

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Photo: Rodney Frelinghuysen, Twitter