ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A New Jersey bank executive resigned from her job after U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen wrote a campaign letter to a board member of her bank that identified her as a "ringleader" of a grassroots activist group that's become one of his most vocal critics in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, a report says.

The boilerplate campaign letter, signed by Frelinghuysen, a Republican representing the 11th District, reportedly solicits campaign funding in the face of a political attack from "organized forces." But according to a WNYC report, the letter sent to a Lakeland Bank board member — who has made $700 of donations to Frelinghuysen's campaigns in the past — contained the following, handwritten postscript: "One of the ringleaders works in your bank!"

The alleged "ringleader," West Caldwell resident Saily Avelenda, who was a senior vice president and assistant general counsel at Lakeland Bank, told a reporter that she eventually quit her job due to "issues at work that were difficult to overcome" in the wake of the letter. An unnamed source told WNYC that to be illegal, the letter would need to have threatened action or have been written on Congressional stationery, not campaign letterhead, or the bank would have to have pending business before a Frelinghuysen committee.

See related article: NJ's Frelinghuysen Praises House Passage Of $1 Trillion Budget Bill Frelinghuysen's campaign office provided WNYC with the following statement about the letter: "The Congressman wrote a brief and innocuous note at the bottom of a personal letter in regard to information that had been reported in the media. He was in no way involved in any of the bank's business and is unaware of any of the particulars about this employee's status with the bank." Frelinghuysen, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, has been a frequent target of local activist group 11th For Change, which called his note "an intimidating action" in a Monday statement.

See related article: Frelinghuysen Criticized At Essex County Town Hall "We are outraged and alarmed by Rep. Frelinghuysen's intimidating action against an ordinary constituent," the group said. "His targeted, retaliatory letter to Saily Avelenda's employer was intended to create an uncomfortable work environment for her. As a result, she was subjected to professional scrutiny about her personal political activities which directly contributed to her decision to resign." The group continued:

"Rep. Frelinghuysen's actions are disturbing and alarming. He sent this letter with the clear intention of using his power and leverage as a member of Congress to create a difficult situation for a concerned constituent. In that regard, he succeeded." Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill, a former prosecutor and U.S. Navy pilot who recently announced her plans to challenge Frelinghuysen for his Congressional seat, called the letter a "shameful abuse of power."

"Frelinghuysen has gone from simply refusing to meet with his constituents and telling them to 'back off,' to threatening constituents who are exercising their freedom of speech," Sherrill said. "That Frelinghuysen would use his powerful public office to hurt a private citizen is wrong, unethical and immoral." See related article: New Jersey Woman, Ex-Prosecutor To Challenge Frelinghuysen For Congress