Dems admit paying for Daggett robocalls in NJ

A Democratic spokeswoman says the party's chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them yesterday afternoon.

Cryan, who told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday afternoon that the Democratic State Committee had "absolutely" nothing to do with the call, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The call angered Republicans and further fueled conspiracy theories that Daggett is in cahoots with the Corzine camp. A disclaimer at the end says it was paid for by Victory '09, "a project of the NJDSC" (Democratic State Committee), and gave the committee's Trenton address.

Daggett, for his part, disavowed the call.

"Voters hate robocalls. This is just another instance of the dishonest ways Democrats and Republicans use to win campaigns and to fool voters," he said in a statement this afternoon. "It is little wonder more and more voters are rejecting these kind of desperate dirty tricks and turning to my campaign for a positive message about how to make New Jersey more affordable and competitive.''

Before the Democrats owned up to it, Daggett media advisor Bill Hillsman said the call might be a Republican trick to generate a sympathetic newspaper story.

Methinks Mr. Daggett doth protest too much. As a third party candidate, all he cares about is getting his name known by as many people as possible. To him, it doesn't matter what those robocalls say about him as much as they mention his name a few times. His "pox on both your houses" statement is disingenuous at best and a baldfaced lie at worst.

No doubt Daggett has complicated the race for New Jersey governor. And with Democrats ready to use every trick in the book to steal the election if it's close, the fact that Daggett's presence on the ticket will probably realize that scenario is even harder evidence that he has been in cahoots with the Corzine camp - at least on some level - from the beginning.