NJ OKs 'Let's Go Brand*n' Slogan Of 4th District GOP Candidate

Toms River NJ

07 April, 2022

12:13 PM

Description

NEW JERSEY — A Republican who has filed to run against incumbent Rep. Chris Smith in New Jersey's 4th Congressional District says he has reached a compromise with state election officials, who initially rejected his campaign slogan for what he called "politically motivated" reasons. Robert Shapiro, a retired attorney who is one of five candidates challenging Smith for the Republican nomination in the June 8 primary, filed his candidacy petition Monday with the slogan "Let's Go Brand*n - FJB." On Wednesday night, Shapiro received an email from the New Jersey Division of Elections with a letter from Robert Giles, the director of the division, telling Shapiro he must change the slogan by 4 p.m. Thursday or he would be put on the ballot with "No Slogan" instead. "Please be advised that N.J.S.A. 19:23-17 states that no "slogan shall include or refer to the name of any person ... unless the written consent of such person ... has been filed with the petition of nomination," Giles wrote in the letter. "Your proposed primary ballot slogan refers to the name of a person and you did not include the statutorily required written consent. Therefore, your slogan cannot be approved at this time." Shapiro, in an email to Giles that was copied to media organizations, called the rejection "politically motivated" and said he would go to court to fight it. An email seeking comment from Giles and the division was not immediately answered. " 'Brand*n" is NOT a 'name,' " Shapiro wrote. "As such I do not need the permission of anyone to use it. Nor is 'FJB' a name and I do NOT need written permission to use the letters 'FJB' because it does NOT include or refer to the name of any person. As you well know, 'FJB' are just letters of the alphabet." "You can infer anything you want, but 'Brand*n' is NOT a name nor does it refer to a name of a person, nor do the letters 'FJB' refer to anyone's name," Shapiro wrote. The phrase "Let's Go Brandon" has been a coded profane phrase used in reference to President Joe Biden since October, when a television reporter interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown tried to explain away the crowd's profane "f--- Joe Biden" chants as "Let's Go Brandon" to support Brown. The phrase sometimes is punctuated with FJB, in reference to the profane chant. On Thursday morning, Shapiro told Patch he had reached a compromise with Giles: He will be allowed to keep "Let's Go Brand*n" as his slogan as long as he drops the FJB. "I agreed to that even though I prepared the Order to Show Cause," Shapiro said; he had been preparing to go to court to contest Giles' decision. "I'm doing this whole thing on my own and I would prefer not to have to drive to Trenton and pay the filing fee even though I know I'm in the right and the NJ Division of Elections is in the wrong." Shapiro said his campaign slogan was inspired by the name of the Toms River store selling Donald Trump merchandise that opened recently. "I was in Toms River two weeks doing petitioning and I passed by a store called, 'Let's Go Brandon' on Route 37," he said. The store was crowded so he stopped to try to get signatures on his nominating petition "even though they had big signs in support of Mike Crispi," one of the other candidates running against Smith. "They told me that I couldn't collect signatures in the store because they were 'non partisan' and supporting all of the Republican candidates," and escorted him out of the store, Shapiro said. But the steady stream of customers at the store, combined with Shapiro's belief that he needs a slogan that will get voters interested and his own dislike of Biden, led to his choice. "I decided that if I really want to win with no money in my campaign coffers, I'd have to use a motivating slogan like 'Let's Go Brand*n' or some such slogan," Shapiro said. "Most important for me personally, and why I like the slogan 'Let's Go Brand*n - FJB' is that I truly believe that Joe Biden is dishonest," he said. "I believe that only an honest, ethical person should hold the highest office of being President of the United States and Joe Biden is NOT honest and ethical." "I chose 'Brand*n' as opposed to using Brandon or Branden, specifically to comply with the New Jersey statutory requirements," Shapiro said. "If I have to go to court, I'll challenge Mr. Giles to prove that there is someone with the name 'Brand*n' because there isn't." At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the list of congressional candidates on the state elections website had Shapiro as "Slogan Pending." It was updated with the amended slogan shortly after noon. "If Mr. Giles had properly challenged my Primary Petition Slogan in a court of law, where I was given the opportunity to oppose his summary decision, his challenge would be denied because he cannot produce a living person whose name is "Brand*n," Shapiro said Wednesday night in reply to Giles, adding, "I believe your letter is politically motivated, not based upon any law." Following the compromise, Shapiro reiterated his belief that Giles was acting for political reasons. "The system is corrupt," he said in an email to Patch. "If I wasn't an attorney who wasn't willing to back down, the would have scared me into submission with their original letter. In the end, I won." Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters here, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. 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