Weiner lawyer: The party “line” is for sale in Bergen County

By Rubashov

Does the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) sell its party line in GOP primaries? Apparently, top Bergen County GOP operative Matthew Gilson thinks so. In a 2020 text exchange with congressional candidate Frank Pallotta, Gilson said as much. Here is what he wrote:

"Buy the line... Either give the money now or don't cry to me when u didn't get the line... I negotiated to give u the line if u gave money... All we can do is tell you how to get the line..."

Gilson, an advisor to the congressional campaign of Nick DeGregorio, was recently made a partner at the Weiner Law Group. Two weeks ago, the Weiner firm announced:

Weiner Law Group LLP is proud to announce that Matthew E. Gilson has been named a Partner of the firm.

While Matthew concentrates his practice primarily in redevelopment, land use and municipal law, he also serves as counsel in a variety of roles to municipalities and public entities. Additionally, he serves as the election law attorney handling disputed elections and ballot issues and has been recognized by several publications for his role in the political arena.

The Weiner law firm – formerly Weiner Lesniak – was prominently mentioned in a Sunday “Watchdog” exposé that appeared in Gannett publications throughout northern New Jersey, including the Bergen Record and New Jersey Herald. The article was investigated by an impressive line-up of New Jersey political writers – Ashley Balcerzak, Dustin Racioppi, and Charlie Stile – and titled, “FBI raided home of political operative for info on murder-for-hire and dark money, docs show.”

The article notes: “That federal investigators are being assisted by a veteran operative who has intimate knowledge of the below-the-radar world of political campaign financing has set the tightknit world of New Jersey politics on edge.

And details in the 2019 search warrant are likely to heighten the anxiety. The document indicates that investigators were not only looking into the murder-for-hire scheme, but also the flood of largely-unregulated political cash that flowed through a constellation of accounts linked to 44-year-old Caddle when he was working for influential Democratic state Sen. Ray Lesniak of Union County.”

The article contains this interesting tidbit…

In addition to murder-for-hire evidence, during the 2019 raid on Caddle’s home federal authorities wanted “documents, records, correspondence, memoranda, and notes” since 2013 related to Lesniak’s former law firm, Weiner Lesniak, his gubernatorial and campaign accounts, and a handful of independent political groups linked to Lesniak.

…Lesniak’s former law partner, Paul Weiner, declined to comment on authorities seeking information between the firm and Caddle.

Federal authorities also were looking for records tied to nearly two dozen campaign funds and political party accounts, two unions, a town department of finance, Caddle’s consulting firms and more. They demanded information from Caddle about a Harrison-based treasurer named Gianni Donates, who formed a majority of the super PACs and nonprofits linked to Caddle, and his tax preparation firm, ATG.

There are a lot of investigative journalists from a lot of media outlets working on this story so, as always, stay tuned…

“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell

Why is McCann paying for Jack Zisa to LIE to Republicans?

By Rubashov

Shame on John McCann.  He paid for a BCRO email last evening that linked President Donald Trump’s name to his without the permission of either the President or the Trump campaign.
 
If John McCann wants the President’s endorsement, he should ask for it, obtain it, and then publish the document.  Just putting the President’s name next to yours and calling it the “Trump-McCann Team” is dishonest, to say the least.  Don’t do that until you can produce a document showing the President’s support.
 
In March, BCRO Chairman Jack Zisa endorsed John McCann and handed him the county organization’s “line” without a vote of the elected members of the BCRO.  This was a shockingly corrupt and authoritarian act by Zisa.  It should have been addressed by the Chairman of the NJGOP, Doug Steinhardt.
 
Unfortunately, Steinhardt is an all-but-declared candidate for Governor, and Zisa is hosting an event for him in July.  Nevertheless, this latest act by Zisa – if left unaddressed – has broad implications for the presidential campaign.  Will other candidates, even more controversial than McCann, be permitted to link their names with that of the President, on the advice of some local GOP leader? 
 
What happens if a local GOP leader links the President’s name with a candidate and he turns out to be a KKK member?  Or on the sex offenders list?  Doesn’t the President’s campaign get to vet the candidate first?  Doesn’t a local candidate need permission before throwing Trump’s name around?
 
It all spells trouble to us.  Trouble for the President.  Trouble for the Party.  It’s up to the State NJGOP to do something about it.   
 
In yesterday’s BCRO email, paid for by John McCann, BCRO Chairman Jack Zisa makes statements indicating that he thinks his membership is either very stupid or has extremely short memories. 
 
Zisa writes that he has “worked tirelessly to unite our party, meeting early on with our candidates for U.S. Senate, CD5 and CD9, identifying common goals, imploring them to run their campaigns vigorously but professionally, and setting vital ground rules for all, the most important of which was there would be zero tolerance for any candidate who broke Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment ‘Thou shall not speak ill of thy fellow Republican.’”
 
Leaving aside the fact that Ronald Reagan didn’t follow his own “commandment”, pre-dating Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment were God’s Commandments and featuring rather prominently was the one about “bearing false witness”, about truthfulness, about not lying.  About not doing what Jack Zisa did in his statement above.
 
The Zisa family is a bi-partisan one.  Politics is the family business.  Political power is the source of much of the family’s income.  There is a long and sordid history of not only breaking Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, but of actually helping Democrats to win. 
 
Zisa writes that he “would not hesitate to publicly call out any one of them (candidates) for a violation” of the commandment – the Reagan one, not the God one.  Well, we really don’t like having to tell old Jack this, but he’s a rascal, with less moral authority to call out a candidate on a “violation” than a pimp has to lecture on chastity.
 
The elected members of the Republican State Committee – on the other hand – do have a duty to uphold some standards in their county party.  As representatives of the entire party and defenders of the Republican “brand” they should intervene when a local party leader is being dishonest – whether that dishonesty is canceling a vote of the elected members or coming up with some horseshit like the above. 
 
All any organization has is its reputation.  Reputation is a confluence of individual morality, transparent adherence to a set of rules, and successful outcomes.  The BCRO kind of sucks at all three.  You must do better. 
 
The elected State Committee members should work with Chairman Steinhardt to make it better.  Maybe put the BCRO into receivership.  You can’t have your Republican organization in your largest county suck forever.  Not if you hope to win statewide again.
 
Receivership is the way forward.

Just to refresh your memory, in 2018 John McCann lost by the biggest margin in the history of New Jersey's 5th congressional district.  So why are Jack Zisa and his crew looking to repeat that performance and ensure that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats keep the Congress? 

Maybe that's the point?

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
(Karl Marx, author and philosopher)

Did BCRO violate FEC rules?

By Rubashov

The Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) has sent out a number of potentially problematic election communications recently.  Several mass emails blasted out on behalf of the BCRO by members of its leadership failed to note who paid for them, in apparent violation of Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules.
 
The BCRO also sent out an expensive mass direct mail piece that appeared to suggest that the candidates on the BCRO “line” were part of a ticket sanctioned by President Donald Trump.  An operative with the President’s campaign denied this, stating that being on a local party ticket that is endorsing the President does not mean that the President is endorsing the other candidates on that ticket.  The endorsement goes up, not down, the ticket.
 
FEC rules on communications like this are very restrictive.  From the FEC website:
 
“A state or local party committee may prepare and distribute a slate card, sample ballot, palm card or other printed list naming candidates for any public office. The payments are not considered contributions or expenditures on behalf of any federal candidate listed, as long as the following conditions are met:
 
The list names at least three candidates running for election to any public office in the state in which the committee is organized.
 
The list is not distributed through broadcast stations, newspapers, magazines and similar types of public political advertising (for example billboards). Direct mail, however, is an acceptable method of distributing a slate card or sample ballot.
 
The content is limited to the identification of each candidate (pictures may be used), the office or position currently held, the office sought and party affiliation. Additional descriptions, designs, images and photographs must not provide supplemental biographical information, descriptions of candidates’ positions on the issues or statements of party philosophy. Certain voting information, however, may be given, such as time, place and instructions on voting a straight party ticket.”
 
Curiously, some of the BCRO email blasts contain appeals to Ronald Reagan’s so-called “11th Commandment” (“Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican”) and accusations that the candidates opposing the BCRO-endorsed John McCann for Congress were running “negative” campaigns.  Hypocritically, the authors of these emails failed to mention the BCRO’s own negative campaign on behalf of John McCann in 2018.
 
That was the year that Steve Lonegan, the father of the conservative movement in New Jersey, was on the receiving end of a campaign unprecedented in its level of sustained hatefulness.    That campaign caused many conservative donors to simply give up on New Jersey Republicans, to this day sending their money to candidates elsewhere.  This drain of conservative money to campaigns outside New Jersey affects the ability of state Republicans to secure and hold elected offices.  Bergen County has particularly suffered.
 
The political consultant brought in to run the campaign against Lonegan was a brilliant tactician named Kelley Rogers.  He came up with a series of fiercely negative campaign advertisements.  It is worth noting that John McCann’s consultant was not around to direct his 2020 primary campaign.  Last year, Kelley Rogers pleaded guilty in federal court.  Politico covered the story (09/18/19):
 
In one of the first Justice Department cases of its kind, Maryland political consultant Kelley Rogers pled guilty to wire fraud on Tuesday for operating multiple fraudulent political action committees that raised money from donors for conservative causes but kept much of the funds for Rogers and his associates.

Rogers’ arrest and indictment took place shortly after Politico and ProPublica investigated one of Rogers’ PACs, Conservative Majority Fund, which since 2012 has raised close to $10 million — mostly from small-dollar donors, many of them elderly -- while giving out just $48,400 to politicians.
 
The BCRO appears to have a love affair with John McCann, despite his history of campaign losses – including the biggest defeat in the history of CD05.  For his part, McCann exudes a quirky charm and a combativeness that often gets him into trouble…
 

THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS, ONLY STUPID POLITICIANS- Congressional candidate John McCann to a woman asking a question- that's a stupid question.

Nevertheless, the BCRO leadership’s faith in John McCann appears unshakeable.  Despite his historic loss in 2018, BCRO boss Jack Zisa awarded McCann the party “line” without a vote of his membership.  That is, of course, an entirely different discussion for another day.
 

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
(Karl Marx, author and philosopher)

Letters from our In Box…

A few of the dozens of correspondence we get each week…

Message: Please contact me about working together.

Message: I noticed your article about xxxx xxxxxx. I beg someone in your organization to call me about a recent article he wrote...

Message: My wife and I are registered Dems in NJ. However we want to switch our party to REPUBLICAN. Can you help us with that? Thanking you in advance for your assistance.  Semper Fi
 

Message: Below is a letter I would like to submit (in an ideal world) anonymously. I tried submitting it in the contact box on your site but used an old email address of mine that I no longer can access, unfortunately it was hacked. I live in Bergen County and am tired of the status quo but if I speak openly about it I will be persona non-grata in the GOP there and the usual attack dogs will come after me the same way they do to everyone who disagrees with them… Thank you.

The Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) is in dire need of a course correction. Newly elected BCRO Chairman Jack Zisa is himself a dose of much needed change from the past backstabbing and infighting that resulted in an underfunded and understrength county party. Yet the BCRO Executive Director Giancarlo Ghione is a holdover from the failed Chairmanship of Paul DiGaetano, specializes in creating bad blood within the party, has failed to deliver on any of his promises, and should be let go.

First and foremost is the fact that Ghione was involved in the divisive intra-party county war that ousted former Chairman Bob Yudin. That Yudin was replaced would not be an issue except for fact that the wild promises of the DiGaetano boosters made went unfulfilled. Despite assertions that they would turn the party around after the coup led in part by Ghione, the BCRO has continued to come up short on the county level and in the state legislature races.

Second, and related, is the fact that Ghione appears to fight internal battles within the party, in its organizations and primaries, with a vigor he does not bring to bear in general elections. Can anyone say Ghione, or the small cabal of mostly Young Republicans he leads, fought for Republicans in the last general elections as hard as he fought against fellow Republicans in the past primary? Has he and his clique ever applied the same energy they used on booting Yudin, electing DiGaetano Chairman, or preventing Steve Lonegan from getting the congressional nomination, on getting a Republican elected mayor, assemblyman, freeholder, or other elected office?

Third, Ghione may one day put the BCRO in the same legal danger as he has the NJ State Young Republican Federation which is under investigation by the National Young Republican Federation board and is endanger of being de-chartered. Approximately 2 years ago Ghione, and co-conspirators xxxxxxxxxxx  and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, decided to play fast and loose with the rules in order to take over the State Young Republicans. Despite doing so, he and his cronies have failed to hold a single State Young Republican Committee meeting in further violation of their legal obligations.

There are many more accounts of Ghione's penchant for negative, divisive, and possibly illegal actions. He has led his small group of political soldiers to be loyal to him over any party organ and the party itself. His type of self-aggrandizement shouldn't be tolerated by the BCRO and if unaddressed will ultimately harm it. For all those reasons, Ghione should be let go from his job as BCRO Executive Director.

NOTE:  This letter was submitted by an individual who requested that we publish it anonymously.  We have his contact information, but have complied with his request.  While Mr. Ghione is a public figure, as executive director of the BCRO and his other titles, two other individuals mentioned in this letter might not be.  We have erred on the side of caution and have blacked out their names.  This website takes no position on the opinions expressed regarding BCRO Executive Director Ghione, and we of course offer him the use of this website to publish his own response or correction to this letter, or indeed his thoughts on any matter he wishes to address.

Did Jay Webber abandon Passaic County conservatives?

In Bergen County, conservative Steve Lonegan has a full slate of county candidates running against the dregs of the BCRO and its hapless leadership, led by Paulie "the hand" DiGaetano.  There is a weirdness within the Bergen County political establishment -- Democrats and Republicans -- in that they derive great pleasure by mimicking the folkways of a traditional Mediterranean criminal elite.  We don't get it, but it seems to turn them on.

Over in Essex County, Assemblyman Jay Webber has his own slate of county candidates.  Webber, who has taken the phrase "Reagan Republican" and made it his own, was expected to link up with Lonegan in Passaic County -- where they both faced the county machine.   Whether this "machine" is the remnants of the once powerful organization that totally dominated Passaic County or the reconstituted second coming of the same remains to be seen, but it is still formidable nonetheless.  And so it made all the sense in the world for the two conservatives to link up in common cause.

But in the rush towards the April 2nd filing deadline, they failed to agree on ballot slogan and Webber raised objections to some of those candidates recruited by Lonegan.  "It became the Jay show," said one conservative activist. 

Webber bracketed his campaign with that of Brian Goldberg, a candidate for U.S. Senate.  Goldberg is running as a fiscal and social conservative this year -- a curious conversion from the social liberalism he displayed when he ran for the same office in 2014.  Lonegan was left with the conservative insurgents running for county clerk and freeholder.  Essentially, Webber split the movement and cut the conservative insurgents off his ticket.

The only way the county-level conservative insurgency was going to have a chance at winning was to be led by well-financed conservative congressional candidates in districts 5 and 11.  They have Lonegan in District 5 -- but that is just two towns (Ringwood and West Milford).  Webber booted them from his ticket in District 11 -- that's eight towns (Bloomingdale, Little Falls, North Haledon, Pompton Lakes, Totowa, Wanaque, Wayne, and Woodland Park).

To give our readers an idea of what this did, here are two sample ballots, one from a Ringwood, in District 5, and the other from Wayne, in District 11...

Now imagine how strong the conservative ticket would have been if it had stretched from U.S. Senate down through Freeholder in ten of the county's sixteen towns?  Instead, those conservatives running on the county level found themselves cut-off Jay Webber's ticket, all but assuring their defeat in the June primary.

Was this an act of treachery on the part of Webber?  Does he have a deal with the party bosses in Passaic County?  Why assure the defeat of the conservative insurgents and the ensure the hegemony of the machine?

There are many questions here but sadly only one certainty:  A great opportunity was missed to build a conservative infrastructure in the Passaic GOP.

What is Mr. Ghione trying to tell us?

Google the word "metrosexual" and here is the definition you will find:

"A young, urban, heterosexual male with liberal political views, an interest in fashion, and a refined sense of taste."

Following the lead of countless campus snowflakes, the Chairman of the New Jersey Young Republican Federation apparently believes that he and his followers are threatened by words.  The term "metrosexual" has triggered something -- at least enough to make them issue a statement about it.  Referring to "attacks that have been made towards Young Republicans," YR Chairman Giancarlo Ghione wrote:

“It’s upsetting.  The attacks on fellow Young Republicans began months ago.  The decorum of these incidents is similar to the harsh words that Lonegan had for (a Democrat candidate for Mayor in Bogota).”  Ghione said referring to articles published on the “Jersey Conservative” blog.  “Young Republicans have consistently been referred to metrosexuals while these anonymous bloggers hide behind their computer screens.”

Wow.  That is just so liberal... and precious.  There is nothing like issuing a statement to prove your detractor's point.

The YR Chairman works for BCRO Chairman Paulie "the hand" DiGaetano.  We remember Paulie for the threats Republican Senator Kevin O'Toole said Paulie made against him.  It was widely reported on. 

O'Toole claims former assemblyman DiGaetano once threatened his life

https://www.politico.com/states/.../otoole-digaetano-once-threatened-my-life-102642

Jun 9, 2016 - Paul DiGaetano, a once powerful Republican assemblyman and former gubernatorial candidate, is on the cusp of returning to an active role in New Jersey politics for the first time in a decade.

O'Toole Claims DiGaetano Threatened His Life | Observer

observer.com/2016/06/otoole-claims-digaetano-threatened-his-life/

Jun 9, 2016 - Soon-to-retire state Senator Kevin O'Toole (R-40) has made claims that former Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Paul DiGaetano threatened his life during a one-on-one conversation the two men had over ten years ago as DiGaetano was mounting his gubernatorial run. O'Toole spoke with ...

'I'll f---ing kill you!' Senator's chilling account of closed-door N.J. ...

www.nj.com/.../ill_f_-_-_-_ing_kill_you_senators_chilling_account_of_closed-door_...

Jun 10, 2016 - A sitting state senator says a candidate for governor demanded his endorsement, and threatened to kill him if he refused. ... all the key parties. O'Toole (R-Essex) says the threat was made in 2005 by Paul DiGaetano, then a leading Republican assemblyman dreaming about a long-shot bid for governor.

When operating in the cesspit that is Bergen County politics, it is wise to follow the advice of our nation's Founders and be anonymous.  Of course, in being anonymous, one gives up all that attention, and any chance of celebrity.  But we are a humble little blog.

We wouldn't expect a metrosexual to understand.

Perhaps this is a teachable moment for all those YR's who want to join with their YD comrades in a war against words.  In some places that tide is being turned back, while here in America it might have to get worse, before it gets better. 

At this point, America is at the stage where a mob is whipped up and asks for your resignation.  But the laws will follow.  The criminalization of speech will follow.  And who will the leaders of that movement be?  Are we getting the chance to meet them now?

A few years ago, the British began rolling back their insane cultural war on words.  They have far to go, and at some point we should expect to meet them... they, on the road to liberty... we, on the road to serfdom.

Liberal Democrats rally around McCann's candidacy

After losing the coveted "Column One" position in Bergen County and filing a campaign receipts and expenditures report with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in April that showed his campaign was deep in debt and not raising enough money to sustain itself, candidate John McCann apparently sent out an SOS to his friends and colleagues.  They responded in a big way.

A former Democrat candidate for Mayor of Bogota (Bergen County) stepped forward to accuse McCann's opponent of saying some pithy things about him a decade or so ago.  McCann's campaign neglected to fully vet this Democrat (who they, oddly enough, describe as a "Christian conservative"), who recently attacked the policies of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. 

This too is odd, coming from the McCann camp, which claims to be pro-Trump even as it puts forward "spokespersons" who are decidedly anti-Trump.  We get "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing, but McCann can only take this so far.

Shambling forward came the "Ghost of losing the Legislature past" -- that impresario of the brylcreem set -- Paulie "the hand" DiGaetano.  He reached out to the "mastermind" behind the Bridgegate scandal with the story about how McCann's opponent had said mean things about the guy who ran for Mayor as a Democrat.  Mind you, this is the same DiGaetano who Senator Kevin O'Toole (R-Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Morris) claimed had threatened him.  It was widely reported on. 

O'Toole claims former assemblyman DiGaetano once threatened his life

https://www.politico.com/states/.../otoole-digaetano-once-threatened-my-life-102642

Jun 9, 2016 - Paul DiGaetano, a once powerful Republican assemblyman and former gubernatorial candidate, is on the cusp of returning to an active role in New Jersey politics for the first time in a decade.

O'Toole Claims DiGaetano Threatened His Life | Observer

observer.com/2016/06/otoole-claims-digaetano-threatened-his-life/

Jun 9, 2016 - Soon-to-retire state Senator Kevin O'Toole (R-40) has made claims that former Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Paul DiGaetano threatened his life during a one-on-one conversation the two men had over ten years ago as DiGaetano was mounting his gubernatorial run. O'Toole spoke with ...

'I'll f---ing kill you!' Senator's chilling account of closed-door N.J. ...

www.nj.com/.../ill_f_-_-_-_ing_kill_you_senators_chilling_account_of_closed-door_...

Jun 10, 2016 - A sitting state senator says a candidate for governor demanded his endorsement, and threatened to kill him if he refused. ... all the key parties. O'Toole (R-Essex) says the threat was made in 2005 by Paul DiGaetano, then a leading Republican assemblyman dreaming about a long-shot bid for governor.

DiGaetano was in the middle of a campaign to be Bergen County GOP Chairman, so his opponent seized upon this to demand that he withdraw from the race:

After O'Toole Threat Claims, Yudin Wants DiGaetano to Leave BCRO ...

observer.com/.../after-otoole-threat-claims-yudin-wants-digaetano-to-leave-bcro-race/

Jun 9, 2016 - Current Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) Chairman Bob Yudin is calling for his competitor, former Assemblyman Paul DiGaetano, to step out of the race for the position in the county organization. Yudin's call comes after allegations that DiGaetano once threatened the life of LD40 state ...

 Of course, DiGaetano disputed Senator O'Toole's claims and even threatened to sue him.

Bergen GOP chairman sues O'Toole over death-threat claims - Politico

https://www.politico.com/.../bergen-gop-chairman-sues-otoole-over-death-threat-clai...

Jun 15, 2017 - Republican Sen. Kevin O'Toole claimed DiGaetano, now the GOP chairman in Bergen County, delivered a “threat of great bodily harm” during a one-on-one conversation more than a decade ago.

We haven't heard any news about the lawsuit, but it appears as though Paulie "D" learned a new trick, because he is pulling the same thing on McCann's opponent that was pulled on him.  Now it is DiGaetano who is making phone calls on behalf of McCann, urging that their opponent be made to drop out of the race for the Republican nomination for Congress in the 5th District. 

You couldn't make this silly shit up.  As a county chairman DiGaetano has been a disaster.  Now he is calling GOP leaders asking them to join him in demanding someone drop out for being accused of saying actually far less than what he was accused of saying -- only the guy DiGaetano wants to drop out was accused by a Democrat and DiGaetano was accused by a Republican. 

"Stumbling John" McCann and his followers are real pieces of work. 

The BCRO's strange fundraiser: Any rules broken?

We have written before about the GOP establishment's creep into conservative institutions like GOPAC.  Once this group was a vital source of grassroots activism.  Today, the establishment squats on it like it was a prime piece of property on a monopoly board.

Recently, GOPAC held an event, but it was it a GOPAC event?

How could Kim Guadagno and Congressman King be the guests at two different events held at the same place at essentially the same time?

Why is there no disclaimer on the BCRO invitation?  And what is the Bergen County Republican Finance Committee?  It isn't filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC)?  It doesn't appear to be associated with a Federal PAC. 

In promoting the event, the BCRO would later adjust the time to more precisely fit the GOPAC speakers event.  How could the speakers be in two events at the same time?

Both these events were heavily promoted by the BCRO and GOPAC.  So whose event was it really?  Who got the money?  And to what account did the money go... federal or state?  How was the money used?  On behalf of which candidate?

Questions for the FEC or NJELEC?

Bergen County needs to have a Republican Party again

Many of the state's Republican "leaders" appear to reside up the backsides of Democrat Party bosses, making an appearance when it comes time to tamp down the promise of an aggressive Republican challenge to the confiscatory taxation, social engineering, and crony capitalist economics that are the hallmarks of New Jersey.  In Bergen County, this is especially so.  Here are a couple examples:

(1) The Bergen County (BCRO) Chairman recruited his hand-picked choice for Congress from among the patronage employees of an elected Democrat who is largely responsible for turning the county from red to blue.  That choice -- "Stumbling John" McCann was given the party "line" without benefit of a convention or a vote by the Republican County Committee.

(2) The Chairman's all-but-crowned replacement is the same guy who screwed his party and supported corrupt liberal Democrat Bob Torricelli for the U.S. Senate.  His family plays both sides of the aisle -- holding office as Democrats and taking contracts from Democrat political machines -- while keeping a lid on GOP efforts to get out from under the thumb of Bergen's one-party government.

Bergen County is only the latest GOP organization to go Vichy.  The Republican resistance -- whether it comes from a candidate with an ideology resembling that of a standard Republican, a legislator for a common sense solution, or a group of citizens looking to channel anger into action -- must first take on these GOP quislings before even having a shot at doing battle with the corrupt Democrat machine status quo.

Recently, a letter appeared in the Save Jersey blog from a young Republican who appears to want more from the BCRO than it simply to be the Torricelli wing of the NJGOP.  Please take a moment to consider what he has to say.

An Open Letter to the Next Chair of the BCRO

Dear Future Chair,

My name is Alex Cucciniello; I am 20 year old resident of Mahwah, a former White House Intern, the Executive Director of the Organization For Economic Growth and a proud Republican. This past election I had the job of running the 2017 Senate and Assembly race in LD38 for the Bergen County Republican slate. After returning from my small tenure in the White House Office of Political Affairs, I was ready to bring the knowledge and will power needed to take back the LD38 seats from the grips of the special interest entrenched Democrats.

What I came to find upon my return home was a county organization in absolute disarray. With some help from municipal chairs, county committee and local elected mayors and council; myself, my partner Mike and the three candidates fundraised, put out signs, mailers and walked the whole district all on our own.

Five people, against an absolute Democratic machine? We stood no chance. Long gone are the days of Republican control in Bergen County; long gone are the days when we need a mausoleum of a building in Hackensack (that costs at least $4,000 a month); it is time to bring the organization into the 21st century and compete to win against the Democrats.

This is for the next Chair: I, along with many other Republicans, have a few requests.

Number one, shut down that disgusting money pit of a building we call headquarters. There is no need to have it. It’s a total waste of money, hard to get to, and far too much space since we often have poor attendance at events and other meetings. Maybe save that $4,000 and invest it in desperately needed research that can be used for this amazing thing called “messaging.”

That brings me to my second point: messaging is the only way to gain a base, volunteers and money. Take a position on something and get it out there. Get it to the press, get it on your social media, just get it out there to the Republicans who reside in Bergen County. With messaging and earned media comes volunteers, comes a following, comes attendance to fundraisers.

My third point: fundraise. The Chair must put a team and a plan together to be able to help fund local races, county races and legislative races.

Last but not least, and this should go without saying: be a leader. Please, for our parties’ sake, be an active leader, know what is going on in the towns, and lead and give direction to county committee and municipal chairs. Be relevant! You may be Chair in name but actions speak much louder than words.

All of this is easier said than done but, if you are not up to this and do not expect to get this done, I suggest after reading this you should reconsider running for the position.

We’re in the Murphy era. It is more important than ever to have a robust and functioning county organization to fight to keep New Jersey affordable and livable. 

I call upon any person  reading this, whether you are 14 or 65, to get up and do something about it. I can only hope to do my part to help rebuild the BCRO. It’s up to all of us to make our county and party what we want it to be, and what it needs to be, for not only us but future generations of New Jerseyans.

–

Sincerely,

Alex Cucciniello

McCann, DiGaetano have turned Bergen GOP into a monkey circus

by Bob Taschler

BCRO is still not organized. 

In an attempt to try to appear politically relevant DiGaetano called a meeting of municipal chairs. It had no real political purpose in that no political decisions were going to be made. DiGaetano was going to make all of the decisions by himself regardless of what anyone else says.

Only about 20 of the muni-chairs showed up. With DiGaetao's minions, YRs, candidates and candidate aides there were about 50 in attendance.

Sen. Cardinale entered the room while Lonegan was speaking. DiGaetano tried to throw him out because he was not a muni chair all the while the YRs, who are not muni chairs, were furiously texting after each question was asked and after Lonegan gave his answers. Could it be that the YRs were communicating with McCann who was hiding in the back office? Sen. Cardinale stayed. So much for the chairman being in charge of his own meeting.

After speaking to 9 people who were in attendance here is what I have learned:

1. The BCRO still does not have a slogan. In spite of claims to the contrary even DiGaetano had to admit that he does not have control of "the slogan". People were alternatively advised to leave the slogan blank on their local petitions, use the old slogan anyway because they were going to get it, or change to a new slogan after they have filed on April 2nd. This means that John McCann and anyone running with him may or may not have a slogan by the deadline and therefore may or may not be in a column. Their names will be stuck somewhere in right field on the primary ballot. This whole issue has left nearly 1,000 county committee without clear direction. Such is the rudderless ship SS BCRO.

2. John McCann is beginning to back-pedal on that $37,000 legal bill he initially claimed against the BCRO for trade-mark or copyright legal work over the slogan. Now he is beginning to imply that the $37,000 might be a contribution in kind. This for writing a legal brief to request the return of control of the old slogan that DiGaetano failed to secure last year. That is $37,000 to write a letter? Even at $740 an hour that is 50 hours to write a letter. Do you think John McCann's legal mind is worth $740 an hour? Seems to me that an MBA graduate of Wharton Business School, as McCann has claimed he is, could write a letter in a bit less time, don't you think? I think I will call the alumni office at Wharton to confirm that MBA McCann claims he has. I wonder what they will say.

3. DiGaetano stated that he made no financial agreement with McCann about any legal bills. So it seems that DiGaetano and McCann can't get their story straight. DiGaetano then asked if there were any attorneys who would work for free to defend the suit that Bob Yudin has against the BCRO. That suit is for the $10,000 Yudin lent to the BCRO but suddenly disappeared off of the BCRO's NJ ELEC reports. Funny how easy it has been for DiGaetano to make money disappear from the BCRO.

4. It was asserted that John McCann failed to vote in the last 12 Republican primaries. McCann never refuted this. Perhaps he was spending too much time writing legal briefs to take the time to vote?

5. It was asserted that McCann was at the epi-center of the feud between County Executive Kathe Donovan and Sheriff Saudino That very public feud soured rank and file voters which resulted in the loss of our freeholder majority, the county executive seat and Sheriff Saudino flipping to the democrat party. It turns out that McCann's actions were the Bergen County Democrats most valuable asset in those years and resulted in their complete domination of county politics.

6. Steve Lonegan articulated clear Republican principles. He has raised over $1.4 million, received endorsements from the majority of the state senators and assembly members representing parts of NJ CD-5 as well as many elected officials outside the area and many political luminaries. I believe that Steve Forbes has endorsed Steve Lonegan and will be holding a major fundraiser for Lonegan sometime next week.

7. John McCann now claims that he has raised $50,000 for his campaign. I can't wait to see his next Federal Election Commission report. This begs the question - Who will help the county and local candidates more? A congressional candidate with $1.4 million to spend or one with only $50,000 to spend being managed by a chairman who lost 40 local seats over the past two years?

8. DiGaetano claims that McCann will have the better chance of beating Gottheimer in November. Given DiGaetano's candidates have an unbroken losing streak since winning the chairmanship and the fact that he is in the clear minority opinion among elected officials it appears to me that DiGaetano is trying to sell political snake oil. His next job could very well be as a used car salesman at one of the lots on Route 46. He would likely do very well in that environment. 

9. While the HQ is still filthy, at least they managed to put paper products in the women's room and served some coffee.  

10. The BCRO and Republican brand has been so trashed by DiGaetano's antics that it no longer has any credibility or value. Better if a candidate were to avoid it as much as possible It does not raise money. It does not attract volunteers. It does not command respect among voters.

Are liberal Dems trying to take over the Bergen GOP?

With InsiderNJ.com and other sources reporting that Bergen County Republican Chairman Paul DiGaetano will be stepping down soon "for the good of the party" an interesting battle for the soul of the once powerful and respected Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) is taking place.  The frontrunner to succeed DiGaetano is his loyalist Jack Zisa -- the notorious one-time mayor of Hackensack who blotted his copybook by endorsing corrupt liberal Democrat Bob Torricelli over his Republican opponent.

Zisa's brother is a former Democrat Assemblyman and crony of leftist Senator Loretta Weinberg, the darling of the Anti-Second Amendment, Pro-Abortion, Pro-Sanctuary State, Pro-Tax Increase, and Pro-Slavery Democrat establishment.  In December, Democrat Weinberg blocked passage of the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  Because of this, the safeguards that could have been there to protect children from being lured into the sex trade and slavery will not be there this year.  Maybe next year?

Another Zisa family member runs All County Media, a political consulting & public relations firm that represents the South Hackensack Democrats and holds lucrative contracts throughout New Jersey with such Democrat-machine controlled entities as the Hoboken Housing Authority, Camden Housing Authority, and Secaucus Housing Authority.

All County Media is the consultant to John McCann's campaign for Congress and its principal serves as his campaign manager.  Many see McCann as a Democrat straw man.  The Bergen Record has identified McCann as the "right hand man" to Democrat Sheriff Michael Saudino.  It was Saudino's feud with the Republican County Executive that undermined and ultimately lost Republicans control of Bergen County.  The coup de grace came when Saudino, a one-time Republican, joined Hillary Clinton and Josh Gottheimer on a ticket that crushed Republicans in Bergen County.  McCann remained Saudino's consigliore through all of this and ran for Congress (as a Republican) with Saudino's blessing and while still being paid by him.

John McCann is just one of the phony Republican straw candidates managed by All County Media.  Another is Dana Wefer, a former Bernie Sanders Democrat who is now running in the Republican primary for the United States Senate, where she can bash the Republican frontrunner to the benefit of corrupt Democrat Senator Bob Menendez.  Wefer runs the Hoboken Housing Authority.  Yes, the same one listed as a client on All County Media's website.  Small world.

Incumbent Republican Leonard Lance is also facing a Leftist Democrat turned Republican in his bid for re-election.  And before he dropped out of the race, so was incumbent Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen.  The Left has even found a candidate to run in the GOP primary against incumbent Republican Tom MacArthur.  This appears to be a common strategy this year: Damage Republican prospects for November by playing in the Republican primary in June.

But in Bergen, the Democrats appear to want it all.  They want to permanently place the BCRO under their governance.  And John McCann and Jack Zisa are the way it can happen.

Will the Republicans in Bergen County fall for it?  Will they swallow the plug of shit being served up by Paulie DiGaetano, in the form of a compromised congressional candidate and a "replacement" for Chairman who is, incredibly, far worse than Whitman-era sellout DiGaetano himself?

Stay tuned...

On Getting People to Vote, Fred Snowflack has some words of wisdom.

Fred Snowflack is a wise old owl.  A career journalist of the old school, card carrier of the Society of Professional Journalists, an exceptional editor, and the type of old-fashioned liberal that every small community once benefitted from -- be it town or neighborhood.  His traditional liberalism, long out of fashion today, was tuned to Professor Karl Polanyi's warning that... "Robbed of the protective covering of cultural institutions, human beings would perish from the effects of social exposure; they would die as the victims of acute social dislocation through vice, perversion, crime, and starvation.  Nature would be reduced to its elements, neighborhoods and landscapes defiled, rivers polluted, military safety jeopardized, the power to produce food and raw materials destroyed."

We are fortunate that Mr. Snowflack still has a venue for his writing.  The balanced opinions he once offered in the pages of Gannett publications like the Daily Record are now available on InsiderNJ.com.  Yesterday's column by Snowflack, was evidence (if any was needed) that he has lost none of his abilities to get to the heart of something and touch it with a needle.  Writing about the Women's March rally in Morristown over the weekend, he offered this insight:

" Are we seeing a Democratic version of the Tea Party?

Perhaps.

That thought crossed my mind last weekend as I covered the Women’s March in Morristown and read about similar marches all over the country.

I came across one quote in particular from a Bergen County woman who attended the march in Manhattan. She said that until the election of Donald Trump as president, she and her circle of friends spent much of their TV time watching “reality shows.”  Now, they watch news programs, or if you prefer, “real reality shows.”

This is important for politics now and going forward. 

Follow politics for a while and you quickly realize that a key to winning elections is not convincing those who disagree with you to come over to your side. That’s unlikely to happen, especially in these very polarizing times.

The key is to somehow get those who agree with you to actually vote.

This is critical at a time when voter turnout is considered good if it reaches 50 percent. The more “non-voters” you can energize, the better it is for you.

His full column is here:  https://www.insidernj.com/anti-trump-political-movement-search-name-catchy-tea-party/

Wow!  Now there is a man who gets it! 

The key to winning elections is to motivate people who generally don't vote, but who would consider voting for your party. 

That's contrary to the mantra coming from some GOP types -- like defeated gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno.  They claim that only a "moderate" can win statewide.  This is, of course, simply an opinion and an opinion that ignores the fact that the only Republican who has won statewide in the last twenty years has been Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment, and opposed to Same-Sex Marriage.

This unreason is widespread and it gets even worse.  Indeed, in the case of the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO), the claim is made that only a "moderate" can win in a congressional district that voted for Donald Trump. 

In these very partisan times, merely having an "R" next to your name -- leave out supporting Donald Trump or Chris Christie -- is enough to preclude any significant support from voters who self-identify as Pro-Choice on Abortion, Pro-Gun Control, and Pro-LGBT.  If these are your first tier issues, what floats your boat, you are not voting Republican in 2018.  Period.

Despite this, there is a full court press to mint Republican candidates who intentionally suppress key parts of the GOP base.  Like the BCRO's Pro-Abortion John McCann.  In elections that increasingly depend on identifying and turning out anyone who will even consider voting Republican, this is a disastrous trend. 

Of course, these left-of-center Republicans tend to be popular with the dregs of the GOP's Whitman-era glitterati --  cocktail-party liberals and crony capitalists who still think they run the NJGOP -- and who are increasingly uncomfortable in the knowledge that they make up just a thimbleful of actual Republican voters. 

Unfortunately for them, most voters are not looking to transfer more wealth and power to the one-percent, while infantilizing various "groups" deemed worthy of protection. 

Working class Republican voters and working class Democrat voters are really not that different.  They care about being able to have the means to life.  They want jobs, the opportunity to start a small business; to be free from the worry of foreclosure; an education system that balances costs with results; a safety net that hasn't all been spent before they need it, and a justice system that looks on them a free citizens and that keeps safe the places where they live, work, and shop. 

The needs of working people are pretty straightforward.  If it were an ice cream shop it would be plain vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.  Of course, the oligarchs of the Democrat Party can't provide that -- so they advertise a dozen flavors other than vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry -- while the "My Party Too" Whitman Republicans have placed out a sign that says, "Closed for business, we've run out of ideas."

Why this is so was the subject of a study conducted by Princeton University.  Take the time to listen to this video.  It could be an eye-opener:

Instead of trying to stand-out and apart from the "usual" Republican through the tired and ultimately unconvincing trope of "a different kind of Republican" when it comes to abortion and LGBT rights, the next generation of Republican candidates could act boldly and stand out as pledged to ending modern slavery.  If you need to know how bad it is, just read the newspapers.  Just last week, the Star-Ledger ran this...

"Authorities say a teenage girl found walking along Interstate 295 in Mercer County last week was a victim of human trafficking and had escaped from a motel, where she was forced into prostitution...

An investigation led to the arrests of Ashley Gardener, 29, and her partner, Breon Mickens, 26, both of Trenton.

Mickens and Gardener had transported the teenager to multiple hotels against her will and forced her to engage in prostitution, police said. 

Gardener allegedly forced the victim to engage in sexual activity with multiple men and allegedly collected the money paid by the clients. She also placed sexually suggestive ads on Backpage.com with photos of herself and the victim, police said.

The ads offered adult entertainment and listed a phone number police say belonged to Gardener."

Or you can listen to Ashton Kutcher's testimony before Congress...

According to the U.S. Justice Department, as many as 300,000 Americans under 18 are lured into the commercial sex trade every year.  The Internet is the vehicle for 76 percent of the transactions for sex with underage girls. 

The average victim is between 11 and 14 years old.  These victims come from all walks of life -- from every race, social, and economic background.

The problem is made worse by America's fluid borders.  According to the United Nations (UNICEF), 2 million children are trafficked in the global prostitution trade. The U.S. State Department reports that from 600,000 to 800,000 people (mainly women and children) are bought and sold across international borders every year and exploited for slave labor and prostitution.

Human Trafficking has surpassed the sale of illegal arms and is set to surpass the illegal sale of drugs.  The FBI reports that human trafficking is on the rise in all 50 states and represents a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. 

New Jersey is a "hub for human trafficking," according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.  In September, 14 people were arrested in a child-porn and human trafficking operation in Monmouth County.  In October , the FBI announced that it had uncovered and arrested 42 child sex traffickers in New Jersey.  The Star-Ledger reported that the 42 were arrested on charges that included sex trafficking, child exploitation and prostitution.  A total of 84 children were rescued during the operation.  At the beginning of December, 79 suspects were arrested on a host of charges that included sexual assault, using the Internet to send inappropriate images to children, and child pornography. 

And with schools requiring young students to have access to the Internet, it is no longer about the parent.  The government-run education system supplants the parents and requires the child to be connected to the Internet.  For many children, it's like requiring them to walk to and from school on a dangerous, traffic-filled highway.

There was legislation in Trenton to addresses this growing criminal enterprise aimed at our children.  It was a bill championed by Republican State Senator Steve Oroho, and it attracted substantial bi-partisan support.  Despite having enough legislators committed to passing this legislation -- either as co-sponsors or supporters -- the Democrats who run both chambers of the Legislature killed it.

They listened to objections from the porn industry, who have adopted a "no questions asked" attitude on where their profits come from.  Porn is legal and the corporations who profit from it and their allies are the enablers of human trafficking.

This state legislation has companion bills in nearly every state and in the United States Congress.  Republicans could be its champion.  Instead of taking on the self-defeating label of "Pro-Choice on Abortion Republican", Republicans could be the face of the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act and offer a constitutional way to prevent predators from using the Internet to sexually exploit children.  Republicans could be leaders in championing the technology to defeat child sex traffickers.

Yes, we know it is outside the Whitman-era, "My Party Too" box.  But think about it.