October 26,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer is covering-up information about a 2007 assault, according to accusations from concerned citizens in northern New Jersey. Court documents recently surfaced confirming that Gottheimer was sued for aggressively assaulting, discriminating against, and intimidating a tenant who lived in the same Washington, D.C. condo building.
“Why won’t Josh produce the settlement documents to show what really happened? What is he hiding?” said Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus. “If there’s no real scandal, Josh shouldn’t have an issue providing the voters of the Fifth District with answers.”
When asked about the lawsuit, Gottheimer’s team called it “frivolous,” but stopped short of denying the allegations. Gottheimer also said that the lawsuit was dismissed, but closer examination of the court documents reveal that the case was actually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
The terms of the settlement are not publicly available, and Gottheimer has refused to release them in the week since the documents surfaced. Calls for Gottheimer to share the details are growing, including questions about why he settled the case instead of having it heard in court.
We’ve repeatedly called on Gottheimer to answer for his actions, and asked: was the plaintiff was threatened or harassed to settle; what other non-monetary settlement was reached; and was the plaintiff offered political favors to drop the lawsuit?
Gottheimer says the lawsuit was simply dismissed but he conveniently leaves out the fact that it was settled out of court. He also refuses to say how much money the victim was paid and what else was offered to her in return for ending the lawsuit.
Gottheimer, a longtime Clinton ally and political strategist, has raised large amounts of money from around the country through his connections to the Clinton network and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s super PAC. He’s trying to use his D.C. connections and Clinton rolodex to buy a seat in Congress.
Gottheimer, who has run an almost entirely negative, mud-slinging campaign against Congressman Garrett, is also being called a hypocrite for claiming to stand with women while refusing to release details of the assault.
As is so often the case with Clinton cronies like Gottheimer, it’s clear that his actions don’t match his words.
