Two members of the Oath Keepers, a controversial far-right militia group tied to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, are repudiating embattled Sussex Couty Commissioner Bill Hayden for lying about his military service in the county’s Stolen Valor Scandal.
The two Oath Keepers, both veterans, spoke to the New Jersey Globe on the condition of anonymity out of fear that Hayden’s controversial clodpoll political consultant, Bill Winkler, would retaliate against them.
“Hayden’s stolen valor shows would kind of piece of crap he is. He’s a real piece of crap – a big piece of crap,” one of the Oath Keepers told the New Jersey Globe on a phone call with the two members participating together. “He should resign.”
The other Oath Keeper member said that Hayden has “disrespected those who have served our country.”
“He’s a fake and a phony and a liar, ” he said. “Good riddance to him.”
The pair of Oath Keepers initiated the call, and the New Jersey Globe validated their membership through a September 2021 list downloaded by Distributed Denial of Secrets and later forwarded to news organizations, including the New Jersey Globe.
Edward J. Durfee, Jr., a North Jersey Oath Keeper leader and a Republican candidate for State Assembly in 2021, declined to speak about Hayden.
“That’s why he was never an Oath Keeper,” Durfee said. “I guess the best answer is no comment.”
The call for Hayden’s resignation has been so widespread that the left, including Sussex Democratic Chair Zoe Heath and Democratic congressional candidate Sue Altman, are allied with conservatives like State Sen. Parker Space (R-Wantage) and Sussex GOP Chairman Joe LaBarbera – and now even rank-and-file members of the Oath Keepers.
Reps. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), and Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-Franklin), Assemblyman Mike Inganamort (R-Chester), and First Lady Tammy Murphy, have pushed for Hayden’s resignation.
The New Jersey Globe first reported stolen valor claims that included a denial by the U.S. Navy that Hayden had served.