An improper release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair)’s military personnel records to her GOP opponent’s campaign has caught the attention of New Jersey’s House and Senate Democrats, who are demanding a congressional investigation into the snafu.
CBS News reported earlier today that when a surrogate for Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign for governor asked the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) for Sherrill’s records, he was given an almost entirely unredacted file. Among the details included in the records he received were Sherrill’s Social Security number and her and her parents’ home addresses.
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), leading a letter alongside New Jersey’s two Democratic senators and seven other Democratic representatives (excluding Sherrill herself), asked that the Armed Services, Oversight, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees in both chambers of Congress investigate what the members characterized as a “remarkable Trump administration failure.”
“This is a dangerous and corrupt attempt to weaponize the federal government for political purposes and meddle in New Jersey’s fall elections,” the letter states. “Determining all individuals involved in this illegal act and punishing them to the fullest extent of the law is essential to restoring public trust and reassuring current and former servicemembers that their privacy will not be violated by their own government, nor will their military service be misconstrued for partisan gain.”
Sherrill’s campaign for governor has taken a similar stance on the records release, saying that the Trump administration “blatantly violated federal law.” Gov. Phil Murphy called the release “gutter tactics” from the Ciattarelli campaign, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he supports a “criminal investigation” into the matter.
Sherrill has also sent notices of potential legal action to the National Archives, the Ciattarelli campaign, Ciattarelli strategist Chris Russell, and Nick De Gregorio, the Ciattarelli ally who had made the records request in the first place.
CBS reported that the documents the Ciattarelli campaign received appeared to be the same as records Sherrill herself requested when she was preparing for her first congressional campaign in 2017. The NPRC blamed the improper release on a technician error, and said it had reached out to Sherrill to apologize.
The New Jersey Globe reported earlier today that Sherrill did not walk with her graduating class as part of the fallout from a major cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy; no part of the Globe’s story was based on any improperly released files. CBS News also devoted part of its story to that scandal, which took place in 1992.
Sherrill said that she herself committed no wrongdoing, but because she “didn’t turn in some of [her] classmates,” she wasn’t allowed to be an official part of commencement ceremonies. After graduating, Sherrill went on to serve in the Navy for nine years with an unblemished service record, retiring after being recommended for the post of lieutenant commander.
In their letter today, New Jersey Democrats said an investigation into the records release needs to be conducted in order to protect any future military veterans who hope to run for public office.
“Under no circumstances should any veteran who answered the call of duty to serve our country have to worry about their sensitive military records being leaked and used as part of a political smear campaign,” they wrote.
