Opinion: Assemblywoman DeCroce is a conservative

By Wm. Winkler

The other day, I read an opinion piece by a Mr. William Felegi which argued that Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce was not a conservative because Americans for Prosperity (AFP) had given her a "D" grade.  The writer seems to miss the fact that AFP is not a conservative organization, but rather a libertarian one.  Ideologically, there is a great difference.

When I was a Reagan delegate, back in 1980, the founder of AFP was the Vice Presidential candidate on a ticket opposed to Ronald Reagan, running on a platform of unrelieved social liberalism and international defeatism.  Thank God they were not successful and Reagan was.  President Reagan broke the Soviet Union and consigned Marxist Leninism to the dustbin of history.

The American Conservative Union is a conservative organization.  For the same period as that rated by AFP, it gave Mrs. DeCroce an 84% -- hardly a "D".  To show you just how ideologically different AFP is, here are a few comparisons:

Legislator                                                      AFP                 ACU

Jon Bramnick (R-21)                                  F                      95%

Joe Pennacchio (R-26)                              B                      95%

Nancy Munoz (R-21)                                 C                      91%

Mike Doherty (R-23)                                 A+                   89%

Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25)                A+                   89%

BettyLou DeCroce (R-26)                         D                     84%

Tom Kean, Jr. (R-21)                                 A                     75%

Dawn Marie Addiego (R-8)                     F                      75%

Jennifer Beck (R-11)                                  B                      70%

Ron Dancer (R-12)                                     B                      59%

Chris Brown (R-2)                                      B                      23%

Nia Gill (D-34)                                             D                        0%

Assemblywoman DeCroce received an Award for Conservative Achievement from the American Conservative Union (ACU).  Obviously, the libertarian AFP is pursuing a very different  agenda from that of the conservative ACU. 

Under the leadership of Steve Lonegan, New Jersey's AFP affiliate did take a more traditional conservative path.  That was all due to Lonegan.  I know, I worked for Lonegan.  Much to the chagrin of national AFP, Steve pursued a vigorous conservative agenda on social issues, the Second Amendment, and illegal immigration.  But Lonegan is long gone from AFP, and as its latest scorecard makes clear, AFP is back to being libertarian and not conservative.

Even so, AFP took credit for the work done by Assemblywoman DeCroce.  AFP State Director Erica Jedynak wrote that the tax reform legislation Mrs. DeCroce supported "saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which saved taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies."

The conservative taxpayer advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), wrote that the tax reforms Assemblywoman DeCroce supported "abolished the state death tax, cut the state sales tax and reduces income taxes on retired New Jersey voters."  ATR called it "a victory for taxpayers."  Forbes magazine called her tax cuts one of the "5 best state and local tax policy changes of 2016" nationwide.  Further praise came from the Tax Foundation, the oldest such conservative organization in the nation.

Mr. Felegi goes so far as to call Mrs. DeCroce a "liar" for stating, quite truthfully, that she "ensured money for roads and bridges will be dedicated for their intended purpose rather than pet projects."  The Assemblywoman supported the ballot question that accomplished that in the face of stiff opposition led by radio talk show host Bill Spadea.

The Assemblywoman's voting record, her ratings by ideologically conservative groups, plus her 100% Pro-Life rating and her endorsement by the NRA, make her, on balance, a conservative in the humble opinion of this old winger.

Spadea lost, just like he always does

Over the past year, Bill Spadea has used the corporate resources of Townsquare Media and Oaktree Capital Management in an effort to make Spadea a major player in New Jersey politics.  Those corporate resources are worth tens of millions of dollars and the airtime alone expended by Spadea and his agents would have cost the average political campaign millions to buy.  All it took was a complacent board of directors and a greedy local management for Spadea to accomplish this enormous appropriation of resources and capital.

Spadea accomplished what some would have considered impossible.  He took hold of a wallflower Lt. Governor and tore her away from the Governor who had mentored and promoted her.  Spadea smirked as the Lt. Governor performed stunts for him, like opposing Governor Christie on Ballot Question 2 (a subject she had been in silent approval of until Spadea taught her to sit up and beg, bark, and bite).  The Lt. Governor's Super PAC spent money to defeat Ballot Question 2 as she campaigned across the state on a platform that included advocating for a NO vote on both Question 2 and Donald Trump.

Poor Kim Guadagno.  She lost on both.  This is what happens when you follow the fluttering eyelashes of Billy "the hand" Spadea.  Yep.  A political prognosticator he aint.  Spadea can't help it, because his big ego gets in the way of him seeing clearly.  He wishes it to be, so he believes it will be, even when it won't be.

Spadea has had this problem his whole life.  He thought he was part of an historic wave when he tried to split the RNC and start a far-right third party in the mid-1990's.  That failed.  Then he ran for Congress and lost.  He started his "Red Shirt" movement, the "Building a New Majority" project, promoted a statewide GOP candidate who would transform the Republican Party to remake it in his vision.  Failed, failed, and failed again.  He even set his sights lower, ran for Assembly, and found himself blocked.  Another failure.  Bitterness followed.

Then he was rescued by FOX. Given a late-night "news of a kind" show.  Then the popular host of NJ101.5 had an accident, and Spadea found himself with a lever of power that he quickly learned and used to pursue his personal ambitions.

But Spadea went too far.  Having lost the gas tax vote he decided on the "Big Lie" approach and made up the myth that Ballot Question 2 was a vote on the gas tax.  People like Kim Guadagno believed him, but groups like AFP and ATR saw Spadea's bullshit for what it was.  On Tuesday, Spadea lost once again.

Beck slams ATR's links to terrorism

Why do people continue to bow down and worship at the altar of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)?  ATR boss Grover Norquist is pro-amnesty for illegals, far-left on social issues, and was squat in the center of the Jack Abramoff scandal, as the money laundering wing of the conservative movement. 

The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal first exposed in 2005 relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case, they were secretly orchestrating lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.

In the course of the scheme, the lobbyists were accused of illegally giving gifts and making campaign donations to legislators in return for votes or support of legislation. Representative Bob Ney (R-OH) and two aides to Tom DeLay (R-TX) have been directly implicated; other politicians have various ties.

... On June 22, 2006 the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released its final report on the scandal. The report states that under the guidance of the Mississippi Choctaw tribe's planner, Nell Rogers, the tribe agreed to launder money because "Ralph Reed did not want to be paid directly by a tribe with gaming interests." It also states that Reed used non-profits, including Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, as pass-throughs to disguise the origin of the funds, and that "the structure was recommended by Jack Abramoff to accommodate Mr. Reed’s political concerns." (Wikipedia)  

Glenn Beck outed Norquist and ATR for their connections to Islamic terrorism.

Here is the full Beck - Norquist interview:

Here is the presentation by Glenn Beck that prompted the interview:

With all the dirt on ATR, why are some dancing around with their peckers out over a recent press release put out by the group?  Next they'll be telling us we have to pay attention to what Hamas tells us to do... or Hezbollah. 

There's a good reason why conservative Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose of the 24th District never signed ATR's tax pledge -- despite having worked in Washington, DC, and knowing Grover Norquist personally.  When asked back in 2003, she let him know that she wouldn't be signing because her husband was in the Army fighting terrorism and she wouldn't betray him by having anything to do with a group that was cozy with terrorists.  ATR never bothered her about it again.

Instead of spewing the ATR mantra of obedience, we should learn to think again and liberate our brains.