Biden-supporting union runs “conservative” policy group in NJ

Jersey Conservative is now read by thought leaders in key 2024 primary states.

By Rubashov

Affordable Energy for New Jersey is a principal advertiser on Save Jersey, a website that unabashedly calls itself conservative. Affordable Energy for New Jersey is where the Republican legislative caucuses go for ideas on energy policy and proposed legislation for individual GOP legislators to adopt.
 
But Affordable Energy for New Jersey is not a think tank run by local conservatives with connections to national conservative organizations in the way that, say, Americans For Prosperity (AFP) once was. Not long ago, New Jersey Republicans had healthy connections and an on-going dialogue with the national conservative movement. In common with every other Republican state organization in the country, ideas passed back and forth with some of the best national ideas making their way into Trenton’s consciousness. The party’s recent leaders have purposefully destroyed those national connections and in their place Democrat activists now run the think tanks that New Jersey Republicans rely on for ideas on important policy areas like energy.
 
Affordable Energy for New Jersey is a non-profit organization incorporated in New Jersey on January 24, 2020 (NJ Business ID #0450457449). It is organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the IRS Code, making it a lobbying organization.
 
Affordable Energy for New Jersey’s Board of Trustees is Ron Morano, of Bloomingdale; Daniel Ortega, of Waldwick; and Gina Sullivan, of Monmouth Beach. Who are these folks and what connections do they have, if any, with conservative policy on energy?
 
According to his LinkedIn page, Ron Morano is currently the CEO of RTM Communications, a “public relations, crisis communications, and presentation consultant.” For over 28 years, Morano was the Senior Public Relations Representative for FirstEnergy where, according to LinkedIn, he “served as spokesman and Public Information Officer. Advisor to JCP&L senior management on public relations strategy and implementation."
 
Both Daniel Ortega and Gina Sullivan can be found on the website of ELEC 825 – the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative – under the site’s section on its “leadership”. The website provides biographies on the six leaders of ELEC 825: Greg Lalevee, Chairman of ELEC 825 and Business Manager of IUOE Local 825 (as well as Vice President of the IUOE’s General Executive Board); Mark Longo, Director of ELEC 825; Kate Gibbs, Deputy Director of ELEC 825; Daniel Ortega, who runs “Community Affairs” at ELEC 825; Gina Sullivan, head of “Business Development” at ELEC 825; and Michael Makarski, who operates “External Affairs” at ELEC 825.
 
Daniel Ortega’s biography reads:
 
Daniel Ortega joined ELEC 825 in October of 2014 and oversees the Community Affairs Outreach. Mr. Ortega’s primary responsibility is to assist in developing and maintaining contacts with local governmental entities, agencies, authorities, and other relevant organizations. He actively participates at community meetings such as municipal council/town meetings, public hearings, and Planning/Zoning boards, as well as community organizations such as chambers of commerce, business associations and economic development agencies. Through these efforts, he continues to pursue and promote ELEC’s mission to foster an environment that creates economic development and construction in our region which includes the State of New Jersey and five counties in the Hudson Valley in New York: Delaware, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties.
 
Before joining ELEC 825, Dan served in multiple political and intergovernmental positions with an emphasis in project mobilization, coordination, strategic planning, decision making, problem identification, and resolution within governmental cross sectors.
 
Since April of 2017, Mr. Ortega has served as Chairman of the Housing Authority of Bergen County. Part of his responsibilities include working with fellow commissioners and the executive director; building consensus towards the best stewardship of scarce public resources to address local housing needs and facilitate the Agency’s mission; approve an annual budget of $47,000,000; and establish policies that help meet our goals. HABC manages 3,500 Section 8 Vouchers and a diverse portfolio of buildings for senior citizens, people with special needs, veterans, and multifamily housing amounting to 1,000 units. Mr. Ortega is devoted to the agency’s commitment to creating and preserving affordable housing.
 
Between May of 2006 and September of 2010, Mr. Ortega served as Commissioner of the Hackensack Housing Authority, Commissioner of the Housing Authority of Bergen County, and President of the Housing Development Corporation of Bergen County.
 
Gina Sullivan’s biography on ELEC 825 is succinct: “Gina Sullivan focuses on the Market Recovery grant program and works directly with our signatory contractors who utilize the program. She brings a wide-array of experience to labor-management fund. Gina previously worked for a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and holds a Bachelor’s as well as a Master’s Degree in Labor Studies from Rutgers University.” In March 2020, Gina Sullivan was honored as “the Young Democrat of the week” by the New Jersey Young Democrats.
 
Affordable Energy for New Jersey bills itself as “a broad, grassroots coalition that advocates for actionable, fact-driven energy policy that emphasizes keeping costs low for our residents and businesses and evaluates energy policies and proposals based by asking the following three questions.” On the group’s website, its “about us” page provides a different emphasis: “Affordable Energy for New Jersey is bringing together the voices of our state from all corners – local leaders, business owners, organized labor, rural communities and city commuters – who believe there is a sustainable energy path that will fight against the reality of our changing climate with reality of what extreme policy shifts will do to our everyday way of life.”
 
Affordable Energy for New Jersey is the brainchild of Michael Makarski of ELEC 825. Makarski is a very capable Democrat political operative. After working at U.S. Senator John Kerry’s office, he worked for Assemblyman Vinnie Prieto.
 
Makarski was seconded to the People for the American Way Foundation, where he was one of twenty “young progressive leaders from across the country” to receive training “in political fundraising, campaign management, field strategy, candidate development, and communications. Training was provided by nationally renowned media specialists, fundraisers, and elected officials.” In 2012, he was employed at the New Leaders Council, whose mission is “to train and support the next generation of progressive political entrepreneurs - those who are leading industries, setting trends, and building institutions that support robust civic and political life in a global America.”
 
Makarski was a member of the Secaucus Board of Education, where he was “Chairmen of Policy Committee, Legislative Liaison, Serve[d] on the Curriculum and Technology Committees.”
 
His biography on the ELEC 825 website notes: “A veteran political operative, Makarski has served as a consultant and advisor on races for the United States Senate, Congress, State Senate, Assembly and dozens of local offices… He was a New Leaders Council Fellow, Front Line Leader Academy Fellow, New Jersey Young Democrats National Committeeman and Executive Board Member, previously sat on the board of directors for the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Makarski is also a Reed Award recipient for his political television commercials and direct mail campaigns.”
 
Ideologically, some might describe Michael Makarski as a “toxic” political consultant. There’s a lot of that going around these days. We only wish to point out that he is a deeply partisan one. That’s how he was trained and brought up in the business. It is to be expected.
 
Is Affordable Energy for New Jersey a genuine opposition think tank or just a narrow interest group looking out for the needs of a particular union? Would it be better described as a bargaining chip within the Democrat Party “family”? Unfortunately for ideological conservatives, it is occupying the space that a genuine opposition group on energy policy might occupy.
 
Affordable Energy for New Jersey has become the “go-to” for Republican energy policy ideas. Makarski and Kate Gibbs regularly brief Republican legislative leaders and fashion legislation for them. They are leading the opposition to Governor Phil Murphy’s energy master plan. But at the same time, Affordable Energy for New Jersey is controlled by ELEC 825 – and ELEC 825 is controlled by Greg Lalevee, a Murphy appointee who was part of Murphy’s transition team. And let’s not forget that the union Lalevee helps lead supported Joe Biden for President despite only 37 percent of its membership agreeing with that endorsement.
 
Indeed, Lalevee wrote an endorsement of Joe Biden and urged all of his Local 825 membership to vote for Biden. The union regularly backs Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Josh Gottheimer. In a Star-Ledger opinion column from February 2021, Greg Lalevee made very clear how he identifies on the ideological scale:
 
“Listening to Trump allies complain about Twitter’s so-called assault on the First Amendment after the former president was banned from the platform is more than a little rich. This is especially so for those who routinely moved to dramatically limit and even eliminate union supporters from exercising their First Amendment rights in their workplaces… So, let’s have some consistency in our opinions when it comes to free speech. If social media platforms are expected to meet First Amendment requirements according to those on the right, then those same people protesting Twitter should be just as vocal about workers’ First Amendment rights. Now that’s something we can all hopefully agree on. (But probably not.)”
 
This isn’t taking aim at Lalevee’s argument, which we broadly agree with, but rather his perspective. He writes as a man of the Left.
 
And that is okay. Just as it is okay for Republicans to collaborate with him and his union and ELEC 825 when Republicans find common ground and shared purpose. But we are past the point of collaboration. Republicans now “take orders” from ELEC 825 and the union’s affiliated PACs and SuperPAC’s have unbalanced the Republican primary process in New Jersey.

Greg Lalevee knows who he is. He is a man of the Left. The question becomes: Do Republican know who they are?
 
If the purpose of a Republican primary is teasing out the preferences of the Republican electorate, how is that possible in a process dominated by leftwing interest groups? How can average Republican voters – Republicans of modest means – be heard above the shouting of unions like Local 825?

Money is shouting. The U.S. Supreme Court has said so. How much do local Republicans donate vs. how much Local 825’s PACs and SuperPAC’s spend is a measure of that shouting.
 
Guess who is being shouted down? And where will they go and what will they do to be heard? 

“It was a thoughtless, mindless action… It’s really disturbing to think that the kids were targeted.”
 
Dr. Paul Saxton, Fort Lee School District

"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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