Hold onto your hats, folks—New Jersey politics just got a whole lot spicier with a legal showdown brewing between Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill.
This clash centers on Ciattarelli receiving the green light from the New Jersey Election Law Commission to pursue a defamation lawsuit against Sherrill for her biting remarks about his alleged role in the opioid crisis during a heated gubernatorial debate, the New York Post reported.
The drama kicked off during a debate on Oct. 8, when Sherrill came out swinging, accusing Ciattarelli of raking in millions by peddling dangerous misinformation about opioids through his former business ventures.
Specifically, Sherrill claimed Ciattarelli worked with some of the worst players in the opioid industry, pushing propaganda that downplayed the risks of these drugs while countless New Jerseyans lost their lives.
“He made his millions by working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe, putting out propaganda, publishing their propaganda,” Sherrill declared during the Oct. 8 debate.
Let’s unpack that zinger—while Sherrill’s words pack a punch, they conveniently gloss over the complexity of Ciattarelli’s business record, which deserves scrutiny, not just soundbites, especially when such grave accusations are thrown around without hard evidence.
At the heart of this feud is Ciattarelli’s now-defunct company, Galen Publishing, based in Somerville, New Jersey, which he co-founded alongside another medical publishing outfit, American Medical Publishing.
Between 2007 and 2016, Galen Publishing earned a hefty $12.2 million from a contract with the University of Tennessee’s pharmacy school to produce continuing education materials, some of which were funded by big pharmaceutical players.
Critics argue these materials minimized the dangers of opioids, with one publication stating, “The risk of opioid misuse is low among patients with chronic pain who do not have preexisting substance use disorders,” as reported by NJ.com in 2021.
Fast forward to Monday, when the New Jersey Election Law Commission unanimously decided that Ciattarelli could move forward with his defamation lawsuit against Sherrill without running afoul of state campaign finance laws.
Ciattarelli’s campaign attorney, Mark Sheridan, made it clear that no campaign or matching funds would be used for this legal fight—Ciattarelli plans to foot the bill himself out of personal funds.
While Sherrill’s campaign dismissed the commission’s ruling, their communications director, Sean Higgins, accused Ciattarelli of using the lawsuit threat to dodge tough questions about his past business dealings.
Not one to back down, Sherrill has kept the heat on, even mocking Ciattarelli as “a total baby” for threatening to sue over her comments.
Here’s the rub—while Sherrill’s taunt might play well with her base, it risks trivializing a serious issue like the opioid epidemic, turning a policy debate into a schoolyard spat that distracts from finding real solutions.
Meanwhile, Ciattarelli, who sold Galen Publishing for over $12 million in 2017, maintains he’s been unfairly smeared, and this lawsuit is his chance to set the record straight on a controversy that first surfaced back in the 2021 gubernatorial race.
