From: Philip Swibinski Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2019 2:20 PM To: Paredes, David (NBCUniversal) ; Paul Swibinski Subject: [EXTERNAL] Statement on North Bergen story David, below is a statement that should be attributed to Paul Swibinski, spokesman for the Sacco campaign: "It’s sad to see NBC News again being manipulated and misled by a group of political opponents who are alleging pervasive voter fraud that simply does not exist. It’s astonishing that NBC would devote a huge amount of time and resources and deliver so little substance. All three of the individuals in tonight’s report are being unfairly maligned and damaged and all three have completely acceptable reasons for legally voting from their actual addresses in North Bergen. George Haviland is a highly regarded high school music teacher who inherited the family home he grew up in and lived there part-time while also living in his own family’s home in Bergenfield. This is completely legitimate and quite common. He did not vote in the 2019 municipal election and has not voted in North Bergen since 2017, when he sold the property in town. George continues to be an important part of our local community and we are very proud of him. Detective Mark Francin is an outstanding police officer who hasn’t voted at all since 2014, when he was also living part-time with his parents in their North Bergen home. How can someone who hasn’t even voted in five years be used as proof of an ongoing voter fraud scheme? He never changed his voter registration because he no longer considers himself a voter. By falsely accusing him of illegally voting, NBC is smearing this officer’s good name. NBC’s decision to attack Drew Micucci is the saddest case, because this 24-year-old young man just rented his own apartment for the first time, registered to vote and legally voted in the May 2019 municipal election. Prior to that Drew lived part-time in his family’s home in Bergen County and part-time in a spare bedroom in a large apartment owned by Sylvester Sanzari, a family friend who has verified this fact in writing. NBC is discounting Mr. Sanzari’s statement and choosing to instead believe an erratic upstairs tenant and another person who is believed to be deceased. Drew will have to explain all of this to any future employers because of this report. According to the logic of this story, Mayor Sacco’s opponent in the May election Larry Wainstein also must have committed voter fraud. Wainstein owns a home in North Bergen and he and his wife vote out of that address, but his wife and children live in a $2 million mansion he also owns in Franklin Lakes. The notion that Wainstein actually lives in the modest home he bought from a shell company for $1 when he first ran for mayor in 2015 rather than in his palatial estate is highly questionable. It is disheartening that NBC chooses to ignore this notable example that fits their very own definition of possible voter fraud, and instead has decided to attack three private citizens who have done absolutely nothing wrong. Mayor Nick Sacco and his team were just re-elected with over 70% of the vote, despite NBC’s previous attempts to discredit his administration by repeating the lies spread by his political opponents. The truth is that our campaign has never pressured anyone to vote illegally. There is absolutely no proof to the contrary. People who support the mayor do so because they like and respect him, not because they are afraid of him or anyone or anything else." -Philip Swibinski Vice President Vision Media Marketing Inc. t. 201-864-0600 m.201-978-8651 e. philip.swibinski@vmmi.net w. http://vmmi.net