Lumberton Township Committeewoman Gina LaPlaca, whose political career unraveled after she admitted to driving drunk with her young son in the car, now says misogyny within the Democratic Party — not her legal troubles — was the real reason voters rejected her bid for another term on the township committee.
In a social media post, LaPlaca argued that “there is a far deeper and more virulent strain of misogyny running down the backbone of the Democratic Party than in the Republican Party,” contending that Democratic leaders publicly embrace women while privately undermining those they view as too independent.
“The Democratic Party, of which I am a lifelong supporter and member, vigorously courts women voters while secretly despising and undermining strong women candidates and elected officials,” LaPlaca stated.
She said women who are willing to defer to party leadership are accepted, while those who seek to build independent political identities become targets.
“If you’re a smiling Barbie doll who happily outsources your policies and values and decision-making to the party bosses and your male colleagues, then you’re just fine, sweetie,” she wrote. “But if you’re smart, independent, and determined to build your own brand and own record of accomplishments, they will slowly chip away at you, mount whisper campaigns against you, and buy off your allies one by one until you’re standing alone while they dance on the grave they dug for you.”
LaPlaca, a former Democratic Assembly candidate and ex-mayor, was defeated in last month’s Democratic primary by Mayor Terrance Benson and former Committeewoman Kendra Hatfield, a woman, ending her bid for another term on the Township Committee.
She rejected the idea that her guilty plea on child endangerment charges and an early morning the week before the June 2 primary incident at her home, where a local police officer said he believed she had been drinking, determined the outcome of the election.
“In other words, it wasn’t about the DUI folks. That, I can promise you,” LaPlaca said. “There are far worse things out there, easily discovered, committed by those who ran against me.”
LaPlaca also accused Democratic activists and supporters of applying a double standard.
“If you want to character test your candidates, then the same test needs to be applied to all,” she wrote.
She singled out supporters of Graham Platner, writing: “If you continued to support Graham Platner while simultaneously looking for the nearest cliff to push me off of, GFY. Seriously. You have no spine, no soul, and no principles.”
Her latest comments mark her first public effort to argue that her defeat stemmed not from the drunken driving case that dominated local headlines, but from what she describes as entrenched sexism within her own political party.
The week before the primary, LaPlaca called local police to her home and alleged that her now-estranged husband, school board member Jason Carty, tried to strangle her. She has since recanted her allegation.
The terms of LaPlaca’s probation and participation in the state’s PTI program included continued inpatient treatment, regular attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and potentially other conditions dictated by the state Department of Children and Families. In a statement to police officers, Carty alleged that LaPlaca is no longer sober.
On June 18, LaPlaca failed to show up at a municipal court hearing after being charged with driving with a suspended driver’s license. Instead, she went to a parade in New York City to celebrate the Knicks’ championship.
She said that except for the birth of her son, it “was without a doubt the single greatest day of my life.”
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