Latino Coalition Criticizes Republican Ad

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated the advertisement the Latino Coalition was criticizing appeared in the News Transcript. The organization was referring to a campaign flier that reached voters by mail on Saturday. Freehold Patch regrets the error.

The Latino Coalition issued a statement calling a Freehold Borough Republican campaign advertisement “divisive and racially biased.”

The ad on behalf of Freehold Borough Council Republican candidates Don Clayton and Marianne Earle appeared in a flier sent to voters on Saturday. Under the headline “Stop Madness!,” the ad reads “STOP-continued Bodega/Grocery Openings” and “STOP-Unregulated muster zones for day laborers.” A different ad by Friends of Earle/Clayton for Freehold Borough Council appeared in the Nov. 2 issue of the News Transcript and referenced the amount of bodegas in town.

Director of the Latino Coalition Frank Argote-Freyre said he believed the use of the term “bodega” in the advertisements and the reference to “muster zones” in the flier was intended to target the Latino community.

“What Earle and Clayton are really saying is let us stop Latinos from moving into Freehold Borough,” Argote-Freyre said in a press release.

The Freehold Borough Republican Party took strong umbrage was the bias accusation.

“The campaign advertisement was supposed to be divisive, that is the nature of a campaign ad. It is meant to show a disagreement between candidates / parties. It was in no way meant to be racially biased. That would be something the Democratic Party would like you to believe,” said Mike Alagna, campaign chairman for Friends of Earle/Clayton for Freehold Borough Council.

Alagna noted the reference in the advertisement to bodegas was not intended to criticize the services small grocery stores offer, but to highlight the need for more economic diversity in Downtown Freehold.

“The fact is, Freehold already has a large number of convenience stores and the Republican Candidates have been very outspoken about stopping their proliferation,” he said. “The other problem candidates Earle and Clayton see with the proliferation of bodegas being opened is the inconsistencies with how the applications are being reviewed.”

Regarding the ad’s reference to muster zones, Alagna said Earle and Clayton want to see a primary location for individuals waiting to be picked up by employers rather than the smaller clusters located throughout town.

“Providing a central location that is convenient to all workers and safe from traffic and inclement weather will make finding employment easier and more orderly, benefiting everyone in town,” Alagna said. “This is not an attack on the hard working immigrant community, this is a proposal to work with the Latino community, which anyone truly involved with the Latino Coalition knows, is something Marianne Earle has been pro-active in doing.”

The Latino Coalition’s press release, with phone numbers omitted, and Alagna’s letter responding to the release are in the document gallery at the top right of the article.