Pallone Says Booker Is Withholding Funds For AIDS Patients

Congressman Frank Pallone fired the first salvo of the 2014 Democratic U.S. Senate primary with a “scathing letter” sent to Newark Mayor Cory Booker complaining that the city of Newark is not fulfilling its obligations to the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, a New Brunswick based non-profit that services patients with HIV/AIDS, according to a report in The Star Ledger.

The Star Ledger received a copy of the letter dated on Friday, May 10, before Booker received the original.

Booker’s staff dismissed the letter they haven’t seen yet, telling the Ledger that Hyacinth’s funding is working its way through the Newark bureaucracy and will be paid out this year earlier than it was last year.

With the gubernatorial race shaping up to be a snoozer because no body knows presumptive Democratic nominee Barbara Buono and because Buono can’t raise any money, the Booker-Pallone pre-2014 primary battle could provide much needed fodder for NJ’s political junkies throughout the summer.

Booker has raised $1.9 million since the first of the year, mostly from California and New York donors.  Buono can’t afford airfare to California and she blew through her transportation budget taking Amtrak to Washington, DC for her disastrous appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.  Pallone only raised $461K in the first quarter, but he has $3.7 million in the bank.

Posted: May 14th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Gubernatorial Politics, 2014 U.S. Senate race, Barbara Buono, Cory Booker, Frank Pallone | Tags: Barbara Buono, Cory Booker, Frank Pallone, Hyacinth AIDS Foundation | 3 Comments »

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