Monmouth Dems Protest Hot Mess Chicken Emoji, Remain Silent On Hateful Rhetoric Of Their Supporters

Monmouth County Democrats, led by former freeholder candidate Sue Fulton, Middletown committeewoman candidate Tricia Maguire, Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich and Councilwoman Kathy Horgan took the the streets of Red Bank on Saturday to protest Ocean Township Deputy Mayor Rob Acerra’s alleged use of a hot mess chicken emoji on the campaign facebook page of LD 11 Assembly Members Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey.

Acerra is one of the Republicans running against Houghtaling and Downey, along with Red Bank Councilman Michael Whelan. The protest took place outside Senator Jennifer Beck’s legislative office on Monmouth Street.

Houghtaling and Downey, who would rather their reelection campaign be about facebook emojis than their records in the Assembly as special interest puppets, both shared photos of the protesters holding handmade signs and rubber chickens on their personal facebook pages.

The earth shattering controversy started on Friday when Acerra is alleged to have posted a gif of a hot mess chicken in the comments of a Houghtaling and Downey facebook post promoting a Women’s Equality Day event. The Asbury Park Press made a story of the comment within hours, including quotes condemning Acerra’s alleged use of the emoji from Vin Gopal, the Democrat running against Beck, NJ Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and a joint statement by Houghtaling and Downey.

The app.com story was promoted with graphics that depicted Acerra as chicken and asking if he was sexist. App.com deleted the graphics from their website after MMM wrote about it…two days later.

Acerra denied making the facebook comment of the hot mess chicken.  He shared his facebook activity log with MMM.  There was no comment on the Houghtaling and Downey page in the log.

The protesters were welcomed by a sign at the entrance to Beck’s office that proclaimed “Happy Women’s Equality Day” and acknowledged former Republican Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick’s landmark women’s equality legislation that passed in New Jersey when the pipe smoking Fenwick was a member of the State Assembly in 1970.

Fortunately, the protesters in Red Bank on Saturday kept their shirts on. Thousands of women’s equality activist throughout the nation marched topless on Saturday as they proclaimed Women’s Equality Day as GoToplessDay.  The protest in New York City featured a topless marching band.

Unfortunately, Gopal, Weinberg, Houghtaling, Downey, Fulton, Zipprich, Horgan and Maguire have chosen to protest a hot mess chicken emoji while remaining silent regarding the hateful rhetoric of District 4 Coalition for Change, the group that MMM exposed last week for depicting police officers as Nazis, Mother Theresa as a sadist, and women who vote Republican as stupid.

District 4 Coalition for Changed sponsored a meet and greet/fundraiser for 13 legislative district Senate candidate Sean Byrnes, Assembly candidate Mariel DiDato and Democrat freeholder candidates Margie Donlon and Brian Wilton last week.

Rather, Democrats that support the hate group have responded to Distrit 4 Coalition for Change being exposed for what it is by attempting to discredit MoreMonmouthMusings because of publisher Art Gallagher’s 2011 arrest for stealing school buses that he owned and for his bankruptcies following the U.S. economic collapse.  Gallagher was exonerated of the felony charges and MMM has had over 4.2 million page views and 3.2 million unique visits since his arrest.