NJ Assembly backs license plate deal for revoked group

Last week, the New Jersey Assembly passed legislation designed to use the power of government itself -- and your tax dollars -- to fund Garden State Equality's lobbying and political efforts.  In effect, the Democrats want to create a program of government -funded lobbying and political campaign activity -- but only for one side. 

Garden State Equality -- a group with a history of threatening elected officials when they don't get their way -- is actually three separate organizations.  Garden State Equality Educational Fund, Inc., is a New Jersey non-profit corporation organized under the IRS Code as a 501(c)(3).  Garden State Equality Action Fund, Inc., is a non-profit corporation organized under the IRS Code as a 501(c)(4).    Garden State Equality, LLC, is a Domestic Limited Liability Corporation organized to run a political action committee (see below).

The legislation passed by the Assembly last week, A-4790, specifically funds Garden State Equality, LLC, the political action committee.  Here's what it does:

An Act providing for the issuance of “Equality” license plates and supplementing chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes

Now here is the really wild thing.  Apparently, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the sponsor of A-4790, along with the brain trusts at OLS and the Democrat Assembly Caucus, were so excited about securing this funding rip-off in service of the latest fashion statement of the "Feeling Class", that they forget to do their homework and vet the group that was to benefit.  If they had properly vetted Garden State Equality, LLC, they would have learned that the organization had been revoked by the New Jersey Department of Revenue in 2012 and that in 2015, it had been dissolved and terminated.

That's not all, Garden State Equality Action Fund, Inc., is currently under suspension by the New Jersey Department of Revenue and has been so for five years.  The group filed its last annual report in April 2010 and has been pretty much a scofflaw since.  In 2012, Garden State Equality Action Fund’s status was listed as "revoked" and it was placed on "suspension" in July of that year. 

Curiously, the entity responsible for filing the most recently available IRS 990 tax statements for Garden State Equality Action Fund is none other than John M. Traier & Associates, of Wayne, New Jersey.  Mr. Traier is the chairman of the Passaic County Republican Committee.  Traier was a fierce critic of conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett during last year's re-election campaign.

And finally, according to the most recent IRS 990 tax statement filed by the Garden State Equality Educational Fund, the organization is in the process of repaying a $47,581.00 loan it received from Steve Goldstein.  The loan was negotiated without a written agreement and is a "loan for operating expenses", according to the information provided to the Internal Revenue Service.  Rather interesting, is it not?

So this is how you make government work for you -- and you don't even need to follow the basic rules to do it. 

Along with the herd of frightened Democrats, several Republicans voted to join the Left and give a government bank account and source of government funding to an organization that is involved in lobbying, political campaigns, and funding the Democrat Party.  Among those Republicans were Assemblywoman Maria Rodriguez-Gregg (R-08), who is embroiled in legal troubles; Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-39), mentioned as a potential candidate for Congress; Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), who is running for the State Senate; and Assemblyman Chris Brown (R-02), also a candidate for State Senate.

We are surprised that any Republicans would have voted for A-4790, as it was rushed to a floor vote without the benefit of any committee hearings at all.  This was a short-circuiting of the normal legislative process and deeply un-democratic.  As a result, whether by accident or design, the press and the public were not afforded the opportunity to vet the intended beneficiaries of this taxpayer-funded accommodation.  The people were not given the opportunity to question the wisdom of doing such a deal with a lobbying and political action group. 

At the very least, Republicans should have been unified in standing up for the democratic process.  They should have demanded a hearing and done so loudly.  Instead, they failed, and in some cases participated in the corruption.  Sad, really, sad.

Beck set off GOP primary stirrings for 2017

It started with GOP Senator Jennifer Beck, looking for an issue to run on next year, and soon got crazily out of hand.  Beck, a member of the GOP Senate leadership no less, got NJ 101.5's Bill "pulled-pork" Spadea to start the movement to publicly call for running primary campaigns against Republican legislators in 2017 and it took off from there.

Next it was taken up in the pages of the SaveJersey blog, with a call for open Republican-on-Republican warfare:

And who are these offending Republicans? Here’s the Rogue’s Gallery – read it and make them weep:

Jon Bramnick, LD 21 (Union, Somerset and Morris); Chris Brown, LD 2 (Atlantic):  Rob Clifton, LD 12 (Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington and Middlesex);  BettyLou DeCroce,  LD 26 (Morris, Essex and Passaic); Joe Howarth, LD 8 (Burlington, Atlantic and Camden);  Sean Kean,  LD 30 (Monmouth and Ocean); Nancy Munoz,  LD 21 (Union, Morris and Somerset); David Rible,  LD 30 (Monmouth); Maria Rodriguez-Gregg, LD 8 (Burlington, Atlantic and Camden) and Scott Rumana, LD 40 (Passaic, Bergen, Essex and Morris).

Note that many of this exceedingly motley crew are in the GOP leadership in the Assembly, including Assemblyman Bramnick, the putative leader of the caucus.

...For their support of the gas tax-hike abomination, the Gang of 10 need to be primaried, hounded, called out, denounced, condemned and run to ground as traitors to the state’s already oppressed taxpayers.

The writer also explicitly fingers the new GOP "Solutions NJ" super PAC as being "GOP up-and-comers who loathe the idea of a gas-tax hike." 

Why did the leadership of the Senate Republican Caucus encourage one of their members to negotiate a tax cut/TTF-funding deal, while a member of GOP leadership itself was allowed to publicly make war on that deal?  That miscalculation has opened up the possibility of primaries against legislative Republicans across the state.

The so-called "left" of the conservative movement in New Jersey -- represented by the anti-government, libertarian-leaning Liberty & Prosperity group of Atlantic and Cape May counties -- got into the act, calling for an Argentina-style "repudiation" of the $16 billion debt used to fund the TTF.  Yes, they want to default on the debt, walk away from it, and they have what could be a sound legal argument for doing so.  They also want to "identify, recruit, train, and support qualified candidates to run against (Assemblyman Chris Brown and others) in the Primary Elections next June."

Assemblyman Brown is one of three Republicans in the state who share a legislative district with two Democrats.  He is hyper-vulnerable in 2017.  If he is defeated for re-election, it will be the fault of Senator Jennifer Beck and the GOP Senate leadership for riling up and galvanizing the opposition against him.

Coming from the social-conservative "right" on this issue is the New Jersey Family Policy Council.  In an email blast in which they remind readers that they "don't usually get too involved in fiscal issues," the NJFPC goes after Governor Chris Christie, Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick, and other Republicans for voting for A-12, which increased the gas tax while reducing the sales tax and eliminating the tax on retirement income for most retirees.

Curiously, the NJFPC uses the talking points of far-left former Democrat State Senator Gordon MacInnes' Policy Perspectives group, and lifts its points directly from another publication.  MacInnes is an old-Great Society social warrior and former White House staffer under LBJ (for those of you too young to remember, that stands for President Lyndon Baines Johnson).

This is being follow-up with a political campaign seminar tomorrow at the Church of Grace & Peace in Toms River.  The seminar is run by a campaign professional from out West named George Khalaf, dubbed by NJFPC's Len Deo as "the Lebanese Lion from Arizona."  We don't know a soul who calls him that, by-the-way, apart from maybe his pal Paul Weber. 

George Khalaf is the former political director of the Arizona Republican Party, who started his own polling and general consulting firm two years ago and is now out looking for new clients.  The seminar tomorrow promises to "change the culture by winning campaigns... at all levels of elected offices, from School Board to Town Council, to County Office and all the way up to the State and Federal elections!"

Well the Lion has come to the right place to do some hunting.  New Jersey is one of the last breeding grounds of that nearly extinct creature -- the culturally far-left Republican elected official.  These people can't even tell the difference between boys and girls.  They want adult male sex offenders showering with the high school girls' soccer team.  In Arizona, their heads adorn every political consultant's office in every county. 

But it gets better.  The NJGOP lost legislative seats even with a popular Governor at the helm.  The GOP couldn't pick up a single Senate seat even when the Governor was winning by 20 percentage points.  In contrast, in Pennsylvania the GOP won 12 new legislative seats while their incumbent Governor was LOSING by 10 points!  Going into 2017, the NJGOP isn't going to have enough money to protect its vulnerable incumbents in the GENERAL ELECTION.  Forget about having the spare money for one or two or more or a bunch of primaries.

And as a pollster of some repute, George Khalaf will soon discover that most Republicans in the Garden State are over 60 years old and think culturally more like average Republicans do in Arizona than GOP "leaders" do in New Jersey.  New Jersey Republicans are utterly turned-off by these creatures who claim to represent them, their culture, or their country.  So let the Lion loose and... good hunting!  Or should we say, good dining?

By-the-way, great work Senator Beck... great work!