DiGaetano: Is CD05 a choice between two bigots and the PR Firm from Hell?

The battle to represent the 5th congressional district has turned into a real shit show since candidate John McCann lost the favored ballot position in Bergen County and then followed up that bad news with the announcement that his campaign was in deep in debt.  For his latest attack on opponent Steve Lonegan, McCann dug up a twelve years old allegation by a Democrat candidate for Mayor in Lonegan's hometown of Bogota.  The Democrat is an avowed supporter of President Barack Obama and, like McCann, has campaigned against the Trump tax cuts.

The Democrat claims Lonegan called him a bad word in a heated exchange more than a decade ago.  This has led the McCann campaign to label Lonegan as the "Roy Moore of New Jersey" -- a reference to Alabama Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore.   But apparently someone on the McCann campaign didn't think this through because McCann's big fundraiser was built around a guest speaker who was one of Moore's main allies, a guy named Sebastian Gorka.  Take a look at the video below and note the fellow with the beard standing directly behind Moore:

McCann's attacks are taking place while his former boss and department -- the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County -- are being sued for laying-off and allegedly harassing police officers.  McCann was named by the Bergen Record as the Sheriff's "right hand man" and McCann openly takes credit for getting rid of the police.  We will let NJTV tell the rest of the story:

https://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/lawsuit-bergen-county-officials-ignored-gay-cops-harassment-allegations/

Andrew Kara was one of the dozens of Bergen County cops who lost their jobs followed the merger of the sheriff’s and county police forces that congressional candidate John McCann takes credit for making happen.

“Andrew was called a fag, a queer, a freak and a homo,” said Kara’s attorney, Matthew Peluso.

The abuse went on for years and, according to a suit, the County Executive Jim Tedesco, County Sheriff Michael Saudino and the county prosecutor, now state attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, ignored his complaints.

“Andrew reported this conduct up the chain of command and nothing ever happened,” Peluso said.

During this period, candidate John McCann was the lawyer for the Sheriff's office and the "right hand man" to Sheriff Saudino, according to the Bergen Record.

Peluso says the lawsuit is "about standing up for a gay officer who has been treated cruelly by his supposed colleagues and the county’s leadership structure."

The suit has 21 plaintiffs who allege a variety of harassment.  It calls for reinstatement of the officers, including Kara, back pay, as well as punitive damages for pain and suffering.

Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) Chairman Paulie "the hand" DiGaetano has written to all the other GOP county chairs of the 5th congressional district, threatening them and telling them to demand that any GOP candidate connected with bigotry be required to stand down.  Does this mean that DiGaetano intends to deliver the 5th District meekly into the hands of Democrat Josh Gottheimer? 

We certainly hope not.

Is DiGaetano -- the doyen of the brylcreem set -- forgetting the kind of pissbag Josh Gottheimer is?  Doesn't he know the record of Josh "the breath monster" Gottheimer?  Well thank goodness someone does and she has his number.  Her name is Rachel Maddow, perhaps you've heard of her?

Before getting elected to Congress in 2016, Josh Gottheimer followed his buddy Mark Penn, the Clintons' polling guy, to take over an international public relations/lobbying corporation called Burson-Marsteller.  These people are real turds. 

Hey, don't take our word for it.  Here's what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had to say about the firm where Josh Gottheimer held the number two position as International Vice President (his buddy Mark Penn was International President):

Yep, Josh Gottheimer and his pal Mark Penn ran the "PR Firm from Hell"!  So now we know what kind of shithouse Paulie is shilling for.

Trump fired speaker for McCann event

Why is candidate John McCann rummaging through the detritus of the Trump administration to find supporters?  And can he really argue that being endorsed by someone who was fired by Trump makes him more of a Trump supporter?

Apparently, McCann thinks so.  On the same day that President Trump fired his Secretary of State, the McCann campaign announced that it was bringing in a former White House foreign policy appointee who was also fired by Trump. 

The guy's name is Gorka.  No, not that Gorka.  He's cool.  You can catch his act here...

No, McCann's Gorka was linked to some weird groups,  like the  Hungarian Guard, a paramilitary group described by various sources as "neo-fascist".

And on August 25, 2017, President Trump had enough of McCann's guy's bullshit and his White House tenure ended, one week after Steve Bannon's departure.  Of course, McCann's guy stated that he had resigned because White House officials were "undermining" the Make America Great Again platform, but the White House disputed his claim that he resigned and confirmed he was no longer employed there and did not have further access to the White House grounds.  Yep, it certainly sounds like Trump canned him.

But it's typical of "Stumbling John" McCann and his campaign to think that bringing in a guy who was fired by Trump will get you support from Trump voters.   Of course, someone like McCann has to work real hard to act like he's a Republican, because he was working for Bergen County's Democrat Sheriff just last year.

McCann pocketed $167,000.00 a year to work for the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County.  McCann held this patronage appointment because he had helped the Democrat Sheriff turn Bergen County into a one-party county belonging to the Democrat Party.

The Democrat Sheriff that John McCann worked for ran for re-election in 2016 on a ticket headed by Hillary Clinton for President and Josh Gottheimer for Congress. So now we know where John McCann is coming from.

Be careful Peter Murphy. John McCann will get you in trouble.

And if you are Peter Murphy, you certainly don't need that again!

Candidate John McCann served as the right-hand-man to the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County (according to the Bergen Record).  He's the guy who switched Bergen County from GOP red to Democrat blue.  In 2016, the Sheriff ran on a ticket headed by Democrats Hillary Clinton for President and Josh Gottheimer for Congress.  John McCann worked for him then, and continued to work for him until late last year, when he departed to run for Congress (after sending Saudino a love letter about how proud he was to have worked for the Democrat).

A case in point is John McCann's sneaky little way of getting contributions to Democrat candidates.  Take this example from Passaic County.

McCann's wife used her maiden name and her office address in New York City to slip $1,000.00 to a Democrat running in Wayne Township.  Here is a copy of the report, filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC):

Why is Peter Murphy supporting someone who gives money to Democrats in his own county?  John McCann works for Democrats in Bergen County and donates to Democrats in Passaic County.  Why would any Republican with even a little self-respect have anything to do with him?

Is it because Peter is a kind of shaky guy himself?  Or maybe it's because there's a deal in the works -- one that would turn Congress over to Nancy Pelosi in the hope that the Democrats will allow the County GOP to keep a few patronage jobs over at the County Clerk's office.  Who knows?  With Peter Murphy, anything is possible.

Earlier this month (March 12, 2018) on NJTV, Passaic County Republican Chairman John Traier praised Democrat Congressman Gottheimer -- the liberal they claim they want to beat!  Traier is a placeholder for Peter Murphy, who was barred from holding the party chairmanship because of his conviction for public corruption.  Earlier this month, the Passaic GOP formally changed its rules to allow convicts to run the party organization.

Here's what Chairman Traier (Murphy's beard) had to say about the Democrat:

“Congressman Gottheimer is much more moderate than most Democrats,” said John Traier, chairman of the Passaic County Republican Committee.

“It’s very important for a congressman of either party to be sensitive to the needs of their district, and you’ve got to give them at least satisfactory grades for what’s he’s done and what he’s accomplished for Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties.”

Wow.  What an arsehole! 

Expect to see that quote on Democrat Gottheimer's direct mail and cable ads this Fall.

And when you think back and recall how this same Passaic County GOP Chairman,  John Traier, attacked conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett in 2016 it has to make you wonder if there is such a thing as a Republican Party in Passaic County anymore.  Maybe the critics are right.  Maybe it is just the smaller, weaker wing of the same party -- the "green" party -- on the hunt for a nice wad of hot greasy cash.

McCann skips GOP primaries but works for Democrats

Every Republican with a pulse knows what happens in a primary.  Two or more candidates duke it out -- sometimes it gets downright nasty -- but after the votes are counted and the dust clears, all sides get together behind the winner of the Republican primary and go and beat up the Democrat and win the election in November. 

That's how it was in 2016, when a lot of good conservatives worked for presidential candidates like Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Chris Christie, among others.  They fought for their candidates and against Donald Trump, but then got behind Donald Trump once he became the Republican nominee at the convention. 

Some Republicans, like Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, said that they couldn't support Donald Trump for President.  But at least they didn't support the Democrat ticket led by Hillary Clinton.   Later, Guadagno would be forgiven by many Republicans, including Mayor Carlos Rendo, who agreed to serve on her ticket in last year's gubernatorial race.

A very few Republicans, like candidate John McCann, continued to serve their Democrat paymasters (in McCann's case, Bergen Sheriff Michael Saudino) while Saudino was running for re-election as a Democrat on Hillary Clinton's ticket.  In our view, this is unconscionable.  Any Republican with a spine and worthy of the name should have campaigned against Michael Saudino in 2016.  He shouldn't have been taking a check from him.

But maybe John McCann doesn't understand the primary process too well because he doesn't vote in Republican primaries too often.  If his voting record is correct, McCann has showed up for one Republican primary in the last decade.  That's pretty darn lame.

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 on the Democrat's payroll.

Sheriff Saudino has formally endorsed fellow Democrat Josh Gottheimer for re-election this year.  All this meddling in the Republican primary has the Democrats resembling the Russians.

Have a good weekend.

McCann doesn't do primaries but works for Democrats

Every Republican with a pulse knows what happens in a primary.  Two or more candidates duke it out -- sometimes it gets downright nasty -- but after the votes are counted and the dust clears, all sides get together behind the winner of the Republican primary and go and beat up the Democrat and win the election in November. 

That's how it was in 2016, when a lot of good conservatives worked for presidential candidates like Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Chris Christie, among others.  They fought for their candidates and against Donald Trump, but then got behind Donald Trump once he became the Republican nominee at the convention. 

Some Republicans, like Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, said that they couldn't support Donald Trump for President.  But at least they didn't support the Democrat ticket led by Hillary Clinton.   Later, Guadagno would be forgiven by many Republicans, including Mayor Carlos Rendo, who agreed to serve on her ticket in last year's gubernatorial race.

A very few Republicans, like candidate John McCann, continued to serve their Democrat paymasters (in McCann's case, Bergen Sheriff Michael Saudino) while Saudino was running for re-election as a Democrat on Hillary Clinton's ticket.  In our view, this is unconscionable.  Any Republican with a spine and worthy of the name should have campaigned against Michael Saudino in 2016.  He shouldn't have been taking a check from him.

But maybe John McCann doesn't understand the primary process too well because he doesn't vote in Republican primaries too often.  If his voting record is correct, McCann has showed up for one Republican primary in the last decade.  That's pretty darn lame.

For so many reasons, John McCann is a non-starter.  And this being America, we thought that we were free to express our opinion under the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.  Apparently, there are those who believe these rights should be suppressed by political power.  To this end, the first threats have arrived, from elected officials and those who are employed by elected officials.  We will be collecting them, so please, feel free to keep sending them.

Of course, those who wish to suppress us could send along their thoughts and ideas and join in the discussion that is democracy.  We would be happy to publish their thoughts and ideas if, indeed, they have any thoughts and ideas.

Have a good weekend.