Jack Ciatarelli, the Republican candidate for governor in New Jersey, is preparing to sue his Democratic rival, Mikie Sherrill, claiming she has profited from the opioid crisis and accused him of “murdering tens of thousands of people.”
Ciatarelli’s campaign stated that they will be filing a defamation lawsuit next week, stemming from remarks made during a tense final debate before the elections. During the debate, Republicans alleged that Ciatarelli had earned millions by promoting harmful opioid narratives through his previous medical publishing business.
Sherrill “twice asserted that Jack Ciatarelli had ‘murdered tens of thousands of people, including children,’ which was a clearly defamatory assertion that astonished the moderator, the media, and the public,” noted Chris Russell, a strategist for Ciatarelli’s campaign.
“In an era where political violence and aggressive rhetoric are so rampant, Mikie Sherrill’s unfounded claim of mass murder against a political foe during a debate crosses a significant line,” he continued.
During the most heated exchange of the debate, Sherrill accused Ciatarelli of making millions “by partnering with the worst offenders to disseminate misleading information that opioids are safe, all while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans lost their lives.”
Later in the debate, she charged that Ciatarelli was “trying to divert attention from the reality that he has contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands through his dissemination of misinformation and propaganda.”
Sherrill’s comments referenced controversies from Ciatarelli’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign regarding training materials from his company, which critics claimed included dangerously misleading pharmaceutical industry messages about opioids.
