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WASHINGTON - Democrats took down a controversial attack ad in a heated South Jersey congressional race Tuesday, even as the Philadelphia-born firefighter in the ad stood by its message.

The cable TV spot attacked Republican candidate Tom MacArthur, accusing him of profiting from his former company, York Risk Services, as the insurance services firm denied claims from injured Phoenix firefighters.

But MacArthur had sold the company and left it nearly a year before York got involved with the firefighters' claims. His campaign threatened to sue the Washington-based Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) over the ad, which began running Sunday in the Burlington and Ocean Counties district.

MacArthur called the DCCC's decision to pull the ad "a victory for the truth." In a news release he also called it "a devastating blow to the empty, dishonest campaign" of his opponent, Democrat Aimee Belgard, and accused her of being a "puppet" of the "Washington, D.C., handlers" behind the attack.

Belgard, a Burlington County freeholder, has strong backing from the DCCC, which sees the South Jersey race as one of its few good chances this year to pick up a GOP-held seat.

The Phoenix fire captain featured in the ad, John Teefy, said he stood by his criticism of the York firm and of MacArthur, even though the candidate sold the company before it got involved with the Phoenix Fire Department.

"Companies don't all of a sudden create a new culture in one year when the boss leaves. The boss sets the tone," Teefy, a fire captain for 15 years, said Tuesday in an interview.

For years, he said, he has faced persistent insurance delays as he coped with job-related injuries, including one that required surgery in August to fuse together two vertebrae. He accused York of pressuring his doctors to suit their business needs.

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Democrats pull ad in N.J. congressional race