Does Jack Ciattarelli owe Warren County Republicans an apology?

When Jack Ciattarelli loaned his top political advisor to the District 24 team of Assemblyman Parker Space (for Senate), Commissioner Dawn Fantasia (for Assembly), and Mayor Mike Inganamort (for Assembly), he probably had no idea that they would misrepresent the good work done by the all-Republican Board of Warren County Commissioners. But they did.
 
Somebody had the bright idea to put out tens of thousands of what are essentially lies about the record of the Warren County Commissioners. You see, the county property tax rate in Warren County is made up of three taxes: the County Purpose Tax, the Library Tax, and the Open Space Tax. Taken together, the three taxes equal the annual property tax rate that county residents pay.
 
That annual property tax rate has gone down every year since 2015: From 0.7788 in 2015; down to 0.7644 in 2016; down to 0.7630 in 2017; down to 0.7311 in 2018; down to 0.7230 in 2019; down to 0.7040 in 2020; down to 0.6995 in 2021; down to 0.6806 in 2022; down to 0.6301 in 2023. That is a property tax cut eight years in a row.
 
Now, we all know that Assemblyman “Parking Space” Space isn’t the most erudite politician, but even he understands what a tax bill is and that you owe the entire bill, not a portion of it. Nevertheless, his team selected one portion of the bill – just one of those three taxes that make up the annual county property tax bill in Warren County – and made the claim that county property taxes went up seven times.
 
Of course, anyone with a working brain knows that this is simply false. But the fact that what the Space-Fantasia-Inganamort team claimed is false hasn’t stopped them from repeating it tens of thousands of times in campaign mailers and commercials. They are lying in an attempt to win, and everyone knows cheating like that throws the whole process into disrepute.
 
What will Jack Ciattarelli – an announced GOP candidate for Governor in 2025 – say to the three Republican Commissioners his consultant trashed, claiming that they raised taxes when – in fact – they cut them, eight years in a row? Will Jack tell Commissioners Lori, Jim, and Jason that his team lies to get what it wants and so don’t be surprised when the promises Jack and his team make are lies too? How can any Republican in Warren County, or anywhere else, take Jack at his word when we have an incident that is proof that his team will say anything and lie to get what it wants?
 
Lying like this is a classic behavior of the narcissist. Narcissists lie effortlessly and are very convincing because they lack normal inhibitions. To make themselves look better, they devalue other people, to make them look bad. Where there is no fault to be found, they stage it. To achieve their goals, they have no restraint when it comes to lying. They even come to believe their lies are true.
 
Of course, many politicians are narcissists and some even exhibit behaviors associated with pathological narcissism. Politics attracts narcissists and acts as a mutual support society for narcissists. Average citizens need to be on their guard. 

SOURCE: The Warren County Newsletter.
 

“Voters can’t make informed decisions unless they’re informed.  If you asked any self-respecting constituent of George Santos, they’d tell you they wish they knew then what they know now.”
 
Micah Rasmussen
Director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University

 

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

George Orwell

 

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