The Corruption Protection Acts are before the Assembly on Monday

By Rubashov

On Monday, at 10am, the Assembly State & Local Government Committee will take up three bills that can collectively be called “The Corruption Protection Acts”. A-4889, ACR-166, and A-4094 all seek to undermine the already weak ethical transparency laws that were created to afford New Jersey taxpayers some measure of defense against the predatory actions of the political class in what has become widely known as “The Soprano State.”

Note: When you remember that the last Republican to win statewide in New Jersey – Chris Christie – did so based on a career battling the exact kind of political corruption “The Corruption Protection Acts” seek to shield, one cannot imagine any minority party member having anything to do with this stuff. But in case they have forgotten, let us remind them:

“Politics in New Jersey is organized crime.”

(from the documentary)

A-4889 “removes the requirement that local government officers disclose their property addresses, including their home address, in certain financial disclosure statements.  Instead, this bill will only require local government officers to disclose the county and municipality where their property is located.”

In other words, the property taxpayers of a municipality will no longer have an easy way of finding out if the politician who just raised their property taxes pays his property taxes.
 
This legislation acts as a shield to the kind of corruption in local New Jersey government that investigative journalist John Stossel uncovered a few years ago…
 

“Is it true that four (members of local government) get loans from (a bank controlled by a big developer) and is it true that (the mayor) gets a discounted apartment in (that developer’s) building?”

Investigative Journalist John Stossel

This video and an earlier one on the subject were watched on YouTube more than two million times.

In an investigative report, Stossel details how the town’s mayor and three members of council had financial ties to a local developer under federal indictment. The only way a citizen could figure this out was through a local government ethics financial disclosure statement that listed the politician’s address and the address of property he owns. But that could never happen under A-4889.
 
Court records – both criminal and civil – are all tied to property addresses. So are tax liens and liens for unpaid debts, foreclosures and bankruptcies, lawsuits and ethics proceedings. Often the only way to confirm which common name is connected to which legal action is by an address. Under A-4889, voters will not be permitted to have the information necessary to make an informed judgment about the actions of someone they employ to collect and spend their property taxes. Voters will have to take politicians at their word, there will be no way to “trust but verify”.   
 
By-the-way, the current law is already lax because the local government ethics financial disclosure statement form states that reporting of a home address is “optional”. This makes it impossible for a citizen to check to see if the elected government official actually resides at the address he is registered at. A cursory review of recent filings (2022) uncovered that at least one county official was collecting rental income from the address at which he was registered to vote.
 
A-4889 will further restrict the taxpayers’ right-to-know by blocking access to the address of every parcel and property owned by every local elected official and their spouses in New Jersey. We understand that the impetus behind this is the recent boom in mega-warehouses in New Jersey. Some politicians have some prime parcels that they’d like to sell at inflated prices and some developers would love to buy them.
 
ACR-166 is a “concurrent resolution” that “amends the Legislative Code of Ethics to remove the requirement that legislators disclose their property addresses, including their home address, in annual financial disclosure statements.  Instead, legislators will only be required to disclose the county and municipality where their property is located.” This resolution is designed to “take effect immediately and apply to financial disclosure statements filed in 2023 and thereafter.”
 
In other words, incumbents on the ballot next year could have their dealings with property developers shielded from the eyes of the very electorate who will be asked to vote for them. How can people make an informed judgment if they don’t know, for example, that a legislator is enjoying a substantial property tax break by operating a “fake farm”?
 
With the Murphy administration’s push to convert more agricultural land – even preserved farmland – into lucrative solar fields, voters should know if a politician is profiting from a taxpayer-subsidized industry while benefiting from a property tax break. ACR-166 will protect this kind of institutional corruption.
 
A-4094 goes even further and extends this protection to candidates for elected office in New Jersey. That’s right. Under this bill, you don’t even need to be elected, you just have to run for office.
 
New Jersey has seen every imaginable kind of scumbag run for office, from murderers to pedophiles – there was even a candidate for county office who was later convicted for his role in a plot to kidnap, murder, and eat (yes, eat) his victims. Does the average voter really want to know less about these critters before being asked to vote them into power?
 
According to the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services, A-4094 “prohibits the disclosure of the home address of a person seeking election to a public office, a current elected official, and a former elected official.  Under the bill, ‘elected official’ means any person holding a State or local government office which, under the State Constitution or by law, is filled by the registered voters of a jurisdiction at an election, including a person appointed, selected or otherwise designated to fill a vacancy in such office...”
 
By covering former elected officials, it could shield some of the folks involved in the Sean Caddle murder-for-hire investigation, making it more difficult for local journalists to get to the truth. Even more troubling is the fact that it creates a “political class” in New Jersey with special privileges in law. At its founding, America rejected the idea of creating a nobility. The title “Citizen” was supposed to be as good as it gets. All equal before the law! Everyone on-the-level.
 
Taken together, these Corruption Protection Acts are profoundly un-American and anti-democratic. They create a privileged nobility in New Jersey law that is protected from public scrutiny but has the power to tax, regulate, and spend the public into debt.
 
We will be examining the Corruption Protection Acts and how they relate to historic cases of political corruption and possible current corruption throughout December and into the new year. Stay tuned…            

"We are in a strange period of history in which a revolutionary has to be a patriot and a patriot has to be a revolutionary."
George Orwell

Last weekend’s NJGOP Summit was a lost opportunity.

By Rubashov

For many establishment Democrats, their party is their religion. They have this in common with ordinary folk who identify with the term “Democrat” and place it at the center of their lives. Political identity has taken the place of religion. The unquestioned certainty that these Democrats once reserved for, say, the virgin birth, they now give to the idea that a man can become a woman merely by thinking it so.

These Democrats recite their positions on issues like abortion and guns with the rote certainty of 1950s era children reciting their catechism. But there it ends. The line is drawn at the woke religious “social issues” embraced by party elites and repeated by everyone else. Practical issues, like health care and a livable wage, are not treated like holy writ but rather as points of opinion. For example, the idea of illegal immigration is holy writ. What it does to suppress wages and lard profits is always a matter of opinion.

Like the Church of old, Democrats ask adherents to forego thoughts of earthly needs like eating and keeping warm, and instead keep focused on the great “progress” made. As the high priests of the Democrat Party daily remind us: Who needs a job when you have ass?

Establishment Republicans, on the other hand, are almost always heretics. Always in denial of their ideological roots, always disputing the need for a platform at all, always regretting that it exists. Seeing the virtue of belief, of ideals, as an incumbrance. Far from being “true” believers, the GOP establishment are not really believers at all. They demand a “big tent” of hot air in which to diffuse and disperse the tenets of Republican principle.

When you have expanded in consideration of so much, what is left bears no resemblance to what you started with. Whether this is the goal of the “big tent” preachers, who replace political leadership for profitable followership, it is always the outcome. They want success because success is profitable and leads to power. To have power they need to sell a candidate who will be a mirror to all who look upon him. Unfortunately, this means that the candidate, when he arrives and assumes power, having sacrificed all principles, will use it only to satisfy the will for more power. And a candidate who believes in nothing other than his own will to power is fast on his way to becoming a sociopath.

The “big tent” preachers were much in evidence at the weekend’s 2022 NJGOP Leadership Summit. Instead of figuring out what language to use to successfully argue Republican principles and achieve victories that move the cause forward, they argue that the cause be abandoned wholesale and embrace what some algorithm tells us is the fashion of the day. The promise of hollow victories by hollow men.

The “big tent” preachers seem to forget that the only two statewide Republican victories in this century were achieved by Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment Republican Chris Christie who defeated a filthy-rich incumbent Democrat Governor in 2009 and went on to be re-elected with more than 60 (yes, SIXTY – 6-0) percent of the vote in a General Election. That’s a lot of meat on that win.

We have been here before. This was the old lie put about by the Christine Todd Whitman wing of the Republican Party. The mantra that “no social conservative” could ever win in New Jersey. Governor Chris Christie blew that argument all to hell… twice!

And again, we heard the bizarre claim that last November’s gubernatorial defeat “was the best election day in 30 years for New Jersey Republicans.” 30 years?

Some of us were around for those election nights. For us who were, there are a lot of them we’d take over November 2, 2021.

Comparing similar years, let’s look at the gubernatorial election years that have occurred since 1991 (30 years ago):

28 years ago… November 1993.
New Jersey Republicans defeat an incumbent Democrat Governor and win both chambers of the Legislature with large majorities. Republicans not only control counties like Burlington and Somerset – but Bergen and Passaic too. Heck, there was a Republican County Executive running Mercer County and, a year later, a Republican County Executive in Essex County too. Oh, and just for good measure, Republican Bret Schundler was elected to a full-term as Mayor of Jersey City.

Yeah, think most sane GOP folk would take that over November 2, 2021.

24 years ago… November 1997.
New Jersey Republicans re-elect an incumbent Governor and win both chambers of the Legislature. Republicans not only control counties like Burlington and Somerset – but Bergen and Passaic too.

20 years ago… November 2001.
New Jersey Republicans win 20 seats in the Senate – to share control of the State Senate and 36 seats in the Assembly. Currently, Republicans hold 16 seats in the Senate and 34 seats in the Assembly.

16 years ago… November 2005.
Republicans have 18 Senators and 31 Assembly members.

12 years ago… November 2009.
New Jersey Republicans defeat an incumbent Democrat Governor. They have 17 Senators and 33 Assembly members. Republicans control counties like Burlington and Somerset.

8 years ago… November 2013.
New Jersey re-elects a Republican Governor with more than 60 percent of the vote. Republicans have 16 Senators and 32 Assembly members. Republicans control counties like Burlington and Somerset.

4 years ago… November 2017.
Republicans are defeated in the gubernatorial race and elect 15 to the Senate and 26 to the Assembly. Burlington County falls to the Democrats in 2018 and Somerset County follows in 2019. In 2018, we lost every Republican member of Congress – except one – in New Jersey.

November 2, 2021.
Republicans are defeated in the gubernatorial race and elect 16 to the Senate and 34 to the Assembly.

Clearly, last November’s election represents a strong improvement over the result four years earlier, building on an uptick that began in 2019 and continued into 2020, but it is certainly not better than actually winning the Governor’s office. And while the organizers of the NGOP Summit presumably recognize this, they went out of their way not to invite the architect of last year's outstanding upset victory in District 3, where an underfunded Republican named Ed Durr defeated the massively funded incumbent Senate President.

While we recognize that such events are sales-marketing tools for vendors and political consultants, the NJGOP shouldn’t play favorites and feature the same insider consultants while gagging the one consultant who we all could have learned something from. A tragic lost opportunity for those in attendance.

The NJGOP Summit won't be featuring NJ Globe's "Consultant of the Year".

A tragic lost opportunity.

GOP Insiders: BLM Republicans rather than MLK Republicans?

By Rubashov

David Wildstein has been a Republican candidate, an elected Republican office holder, a Republican campaign manager, a Republican political consultant, and a high-ranking appointee in a Republican administration. His PoliticsNJ and PolitickerNJ political blogs supported the rising political fortunes of childhood friend Chris Christie. When Christie was United States Attorney, Wildstein’s blogs would often break stories before established media outlets had even got wind of one.

After Bridgegate, Wildstein joined with fellow Republican political consultant Ken Kurson to start New Jersey Globe. And when Kurson found himself in some trouble, it was a Republican President who granted him a pardon. By any measure then, David Wildstein is a Republican insider.

We thought about this when reading a column Wildstein posted on Friday, bidding farewell to New Jersey Globe reporter Nikita Biryukov. Wildstein wrote:

“Frankly, I can’t help but have pride in the careers of some of journalists who began their career working for me, including three of my first hires: MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki, who spent three years as a reporter at my old site, PoliticsNJ; and the Boston Globe’s James Pindell, who spent a few years at PoliticsNJ and is now the nation’s premier expert on New Hampshire presidential primaries; and POLITICO’s Matt Friedman, who was just developing his snark and perhaps had not yet owned a cat. Reporters I’ve helped train now work at the Philadelphia Inquirer, POLITICO in Washington, Roll Call, National Journal, Advance Publications, and other news organizations, and I wear that with a badge of honor.”

Wait… he’s a Republican, right? So, why didn’t anyone he mentored go on to work at Fox or Newsmax or National Review? Why isn’t conservative media represented at all?

Steve Kornacki and Matt Friedman are among the most knee-jerk corporate Democrats writing today. They, along with everyone Wildstein recruited, worship big government power and push a relentlessly Establishment line. They all became what Leftwing populist Jimmy Dore calls media “shitlibs”. All good little members of the MSM – mainstream media – and all dedicated to splitting the American people into marketable silos, creating the reality described by journalist Matt Taibbi in his book, Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another.

Just the other day, Nikita Biryukov was bashing Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli for daring to question Governor Phil Murphy’s unfunded mandate LGBTQ+ curriculum that teaches anal sex to grade school children. As only a very young man could, Biryukov wrote: “Many LGBT issues are considered settled in New Jersey.” Considered by whom? The corporate, media, government, and academic establishment? The One Percent?

You may ask: But Wildstein is a Republican, right? A former GOP campaign manager, an insider in the Bergen County Republican Organization, a GOP mayor, a former consultant to the NJGOP, one of Governor Christie’s top appointees… How is it that he unerringly recruited and produced employees who hate traditional values, who hate conservatives, who hate the platform of the Republican Party? Why was this man rewarded for doing so? And why does he continue to be rewarded by the GOP?

People like David Wildstein are turned on by power. Very early on, they learn to mimic the attitudes and language of those who have power in the institutions they wish to be a part of. In the Republican Party in New Jersey, that means the corporate elite, the lobbyist community, and the Trenton establishment. These are not conservative people. They do not hold with traditional values or with any of the party platforms since Ronald Reagan captured the nomination in 1980.

They are exactly what you would expect corporate people to be… woke. They are exactly what you would expect people who lobby for woke corporations to be… paid to act woke. They mind their language and keep in fashion. And people who want to get ahead in the GOP do the same and act like they do.

That goes for party people – staff and such – all those appointees who keep the engine going. And that’s why it goes the way it does. That’s why, as Tucker Carlson recently observed: “And you wonder why you no longer recognize the party that you vote for.”

And it’s not just the Republicans in New Jersey. This is as much the case in Washington, DC…

The Google lobbyist and the GOP Leader.

Of course, not all Republican leaders are in lock step with the Establishment. Many actually listen to the members of their party and to the people who vote for them. Republican elected officials who listen to average party members and voters tend to do better at elections than those who simply try to mimic Establishment attitudes. Anyone who has closely watched the campaign of GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli has been impressed by his ability to listen to what average voters have to say.

Did you know the Establishment actually runs finishing schools for wokeness that Republican operatives are enrolled in before going out and imparting their wisdom to candidates, party committees, and campaigns? They go by names like the Center for America Women and Politics or CAWP. It’s part of Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics and it claims to be bi-partisan – in that it trains both Democrats and Republicans. Yes, it may be bi-partisan, but it is 100 percent woke and in service to the modern fascism of identity politics. Catch this language from a statement CAWP put out last year:

“The Center for American Women and Politics was founded to examine and disrupt the gender bias built into America’s political institutions. But these institutions – formal and informal – were also constructed to privilege whiteness. To uphold that privilege, entire communities have been dehumanized, exploited, endangered, and disempowered. Our work has made us keenly aware that changing institutions built to uphold the power of white men is difficult, and it requires those who benefit most from these power dynamics to call for and actively participate in their disruption. It also requires changing who holds power within those institutions.

We denounce the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, Tony McDade, as well as the systemic racism, sexism, transphobia, and inequity that their deaths illuminate. We condemn the long history of police violence against Black Americans and the legal system's failure to respond. We state unequivocally our commitment to anti-racism and to our continued work to transform political institutions to make them more inclusive and responsive to the demands and experiences of all Americans.

…committing to anti-racism also means educating those who are privileged within racist systems to confront their own privilege, and to become both active and accountable in transforming these racist systems.”

No Republican should be a part of an organization that puts out racialist slop like this. As the party of Lincoln – the party that was formed to end slavery and the party that ensured civil rights for all – Republicans should follow the color-blind path of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. NOT the racist neo-fascism of BLM.

This is the kind of nonsense Republican operatives are being fed before they are handed the keys to run things. This is why there is a disconnect between party operatives and grassroots activists. It’s simple: They are NOT on the same page.

To be sure, the people who run CAWP are racialists. Their ideology is fascist rather than Marxist, because there is no mention of economic class.

In White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making, Duke University Professor Nick Carnes cites studies showing that while a majority of Americans work in blue-collar employment, only 2 percent of Congress were blue-collar workers before being elected and only 3 percent of State Legislators are employed as blue-collar workers. Carnes and others hold that this disparity reflects the economic decisions and priorities of legislative bodies in America. But in the happy-clappy rainbow fantasy world of the One Percenters who run CAWP, Oprah Winfrey is oppressed and the Appalachian family living in a shack are the oppressors. Based on their skin color. The Germans had a word for this.

Conservatives, traditional Republicans, those who believe the party is something more than a racket must demand and keep demanding a seat at the table. Understand that you are not going to be liked, get past it, and keep insisting on an accommodation. They want to keep you out. It is up to you to muscle your way in.

“It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.”

Robert A. Heinlein

Murphy endorsement of McCann endangers Hugin

FACT:  There is one thing that rigs an election more than gerrymandering.  It is called "the line". 

WHAT IS "THE LINE"?

A few county party organizations in New Jersey (both Democrat and Republican) have usurped the actual government-prepared ballot so that they can use it to advertise who their "official" candidates are.  That's right.  A few party bosses in a few counties are using the taxpayer-funded ballot to "instruct" the voters of their party on how to vote.

This doesn't happen anywhere else in America, and it happens in New Jersey only because the state's unelected courts have allowed it to happen.  Of course, these are the same courts that have given us Abbott Districts (where all the money for education goes to a few counties controlled by urban political machines). Because of Abbott we have the highest property taxes in America.

If you want to know why you pay so much, look no further than "the line" which keeps the same corrupt party machines in power, selecting the same insider politicians, who make the judges who inhabit the courts.  So if you are content with paying the highest property taxes in America, keep supporting the same party bosses and go on voting "the line."

Candidate John McCann has defended this misuse of the official ballot by political party bosses.  He has done so even when the party boss is someone like Passaic County's Peter Murphy, who was convicted of public corruption and sent to prison.

Passaic County Republican Chairman Is Indicted on U.S. Bribery and ...

www.nytimes.com/.../passaic-county-republican-chairman-is-indicted-on-us-bribery-a...

Dec 5, 2000 - The chairman of the Passaic County Republican Party was indicted today on federal bribery and mail fraud charges in a continuing investigation of the Republican-dominated county government that has already resulted in guilty pleas by two other officials. ... For most of that time ...

Once prosecuted by Christie, Passaic GOP power broker poised for ...

https://savejersey.com/2015/07/christie-passaic-murphy-rumana-traier/

Jul 16, 2015 - Former Passaic GOP chairman Peter Murphy of Totowa ultimately plead guilty to mail fraud back in 2003 after a lengthy prosecution and conviction (the ... involving dishonesty or moral turpitude or which constitutes a felony in either the State of New Jersey, Federal jurisdiction or equivalent of same in ...

Why would anyone in their right mind support someone like Peter Murphy?  Isn't politics corrupt enough already?

Not only is "the line" an aberration used nowhere in America outside a few political machine controlled counties in New Jersey, it wouldn't pass muster in a Third World election overseen by the United Nations.  "The line" -- the Murphy/ McCann endorsed vehicle for public corruption -- is arguably in violation of several United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, including A/RES/46/137 (1991), A/RES/55/96 (2001), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966).

So while we send American service men and women far from home to make the world "safe for democracy," a few county politicians in New Jersey are laughing at them by corrupted the process and are making a mockery of the sacrifice of those young lives.  They should be ashamed but corrupt party bosses like Passaic County's Peter Murphy are beyond shame.  And candidate John McCann is right there with them.

President Donald Trump was criticized recently for employing the term "shithole" to describe some Third World nations.  Well, as far as political processes go, there are quite a few "shithole" county party committees (both Democrat and Republican) who are making an effort to turn New Jersey into a political and economic "shithole."

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin is running on a platform with corruption as its centerpiece.  Can Hugin accept Peter Murphy's endorsement and run on Peter Murphy's slate, while making a serious argument against Senator Bob Menendez?  After all, Murphy was convicted and sent to prison, Menendez was not.

Bob Hugin shouldn't take our word for it, he should ask his friend and ally, former Governor Chris Christie, about Peter Murphy.  It was Christie who said of Murphy: "We are pleased with the end result here – that Mr. Murphy served a considerable amount of time in prison for crimes which he has finally acknowledged committing as Republican party chairman in Passaic County... For those crimes, Mr. Murphy has lost his prestige and power, nearly a year of freedom and now is a convicted felon."

Good luck playing this one down the middle, Mr. Hugin.

Bob Hugin's campaign staff enjoys the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations at convict Peter Murphy's bar.  (And these clowns want to piss on Bob Menendez?)

McCann is backed by a convict, calls opponent "loser"

Anyone who has worked for Peter Murphy knows how the guy brags about how much power he has.  He brags, downs a shot of his favorite whiskey, and then brags some more. 

Who is Peter Murphy?  Peter Murphy is the GOP party boss of Passaic County who was convicted of public corruption and served time in prison.  Here's what blogger Matt Rooney had to say about him:

Former Passaic GOP chairman Peter Murphy of Totowa ultimately plead guilty to mail fraud back in 2003 after a lengthy prosecution and conviction(the original result of which the 3rd Circuit set aside and remanded for a new trial), Save Jerseyans, but if the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization’s executive board moves forward with a working resolution on July 22nd, he may very soon be back at helm of that organization. Or running for elected office?

Here’s the bylaws article that they might repeal:

No person shall be qualified to serve as Municipal Leader or member of the Executive Board who is otherwise unqualified to hold elective office or has been convicted of a crime of the third degree or higher, involving dishonesty or moral turpitude or which constitutes a felony in either the State of New Jersey, Federal jurisdiction or equivalent of same in another jurisdiction. All Municipal Leaders or members of the Executive Board shall execute a certified statement that the individual has not been convicted of a crime of the third degree or higher, involving dishonesty or moral turpitude or which constitutes a felony in either the State of New Jersey, Federal Jurisdiction or equivalent of same in another jurisdiction.”

The ultimate result here, as ever, only almost as interesting as HOW we got here in the first place.

The man who derailed power broker?

“We are pleased with the end result here – that Mr. Murphy served a considerable amount of time in prison for crimes which he has finally acknowledged committing as Republican party chairman in Passaic County,” then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie crowed in a November 7, 2003 statement released by his office. “For those crimes, Mr. Murphy has lost his prestige and power, nearly a year of freedom and now is a convicted felon.”

The Passaic County Regular Republican Organization’s executive board went ahead and repealed the bar to convicts serving as their Chairman.

And a few days after doing so, the same Passaic County Regular Republican Organization executive board made John McCann their candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress.

Is your skin crawling yet?

Selling out: Media's decline from Al Doblin to Jonathan Salant

New Jersey's establishment media -- its editors and reporters -- are in a freefall and have lost their sense of decency.  Job security is such that they have all become free agents, writing articles to please prospective employers. 

So we have Star-Ledger Editor Tom Moran performing a masochistic panegyric to please Democrat machine boss George Norcross.  Over at the Bergen Record, that newspaper's editor was turning out pro-Democrat columns non-stop while engaging in backdoor negotiations with Senate President Steve Sweeney's office.  A few years ago, boss Norcross tried to buy the Philadelphia Inquirer, now his machine is getting all the talent on the cheap.

The NJGOP's answer to this was predictably self-defeating.  It's idea of a GOP counterbalance to the growing Democrat hegemony over media was to bring back Bridgegate mastermind David "Wally Edge" Wildstein, possibly the only person more hated in New Jersey than his old boss, Chris Christie.  To fund Wildstein's operation they found former Jamestown alumnus Ken Kurson.  It was Kurson who ran such memorable efforts as incumbent Marcia Karrow's loss to Mike Doherty in 2009 and incumbent Jeff Parrott's loss to Parker Space in 2010.  But losing has never been a bar to advancement in the NJGOP.  In fact, it generally is an asset.

Yep, Kurson has been accused of sexual harassment by writer and cancer-survivor Deborah Copaken.  This comes at a time when Kurson's old firm is trying to convince the women of New Jersey that the NJGOP's choice for U.S. Senate -- Bob Hugin -- is a new kind of man, when it comes to women (whatever that is supposed to mean).  You can read about what Kurson gets up to here: 

https://www.mediaite.com/online/author-deborah-copaken-accuses-ex-observer-editor-ken-kurson-of-sexual-harassment-in-powerful-op-ed/

It was Wildstein who outted Al Doblin as the ethical-free-zone he is.  Doblin plainly hated the kind of attention he's bestowed on others his entire working life.  In a series of whines, he complained to Wildstein:

“I am the editorial page editor.  If someone makes me an offer, I have the right to consider it,” Doblin explained.

Doblin called a request for information regarding his employment search “truly horrific.”

“This is unfair.  Truly unfair,” he said.

But Doblin is not the worst of the bunch.  That "honor" must surely go to Jonathan "short-ass" Salant, a reporter worthy of his own Duranty Prize for consistent blindness to all but the party-line.  In case you've forgotten Walter "the hand" Duranty.  He's the assbandit who denied that Stalin was starving to death millions of human beings in the Ukraine and elsewhere in what was once called the "Soviet Union".  He even won a Pulitzer Prize for it. 

Duranty wrote for the New York Times, which later was forced to admit that his articles denying the famine constituted "some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper."  There have been calls to revoke his Pulitzer, but you know how tough it is to get elitist filth to admit they made a mistake.  So Duranty's award -- for 1930's era Fake News -- still stands.  And so much for journalism.

Salant's latest dry-humping of the news came a few weeks back, when he attempted to write an update of the various congressional races in New Jersey. 

He started off by being childishly giddy about Republican Leonard Lance's district having gone for Hillary Clinton in 2016, while failing to mention that Democrat Josh Gottheimer's had done the same for Trump that year.

Salant never fails to describe a Republican donor negatively, offering bits of color, always dark.  On the other hand, old short-ass describes such creatures as George Soros in this light:  "Malinowski (received a donation of) $5,400 from investor George Soros, a major Democratic donor."

Investor?  A major Democratic donor??  How about convicted financial scammer who liberal economists have criticized for his callous manipulations of currency? 

Perhaps Salant is displaying his talents for the consideration of one of the many Soros media organs?  That seems to be the way these days.

In writing about the fifth district, Jonathan Salant somehow missed the fact that a third Republican, Jason Sarnosky, had dropped out of the race weeks before.  He wrote about him as if he were still campaigning. 

He went on to cover the race in southern New Jersey's first district.  And once again, Salant behaved like he was on a job interview.  He never once mentioned the machine that bears the Congressman's name and wrote as if it didn't exist.

Not to place Donald Norcross in the context of the machine of which he is a part is misleading and unethical.  It promotes bad government by purposefully covering up the truth and it gives aid and comfort to one of the most authoritarian political machines in America.  Don't want to see it, Jonathan?  Well just try being an ordinary citizen when the machine decides it wants to use eminent domain to take your property in order to give it to one of their corporate friends.  That's what you are shilling for.

The southern region of New Jersey is an example of a dominant-party system or one-party dominant system of government.  According to South African political scientist Raymond Suttner, such a system occurs when there is "a category of parties/political organizations that have successively won election victories and whose future defeat cannot be envisaged or is unlikely for the foreseeable future".  It is a de facto one-party system, often devolving into a de jure one-party system, a semi-democracy. Usually, the dominant party has a tendency towards "suppressing freedom of expression and manipulating the press in favor of the ruling party." 

Well, short-ass, that is who you are shilling for.  That is who you are now.  All those romantic post-Watergate notions about doing right... well you're over that, right?  Expensive restaurants and sexy vacations got the better of you, didn't they?

Sell-out.

Are NJ Republicans heading for civil war?

By Rubashov

Remember the great culling of 2007?  That's when a bunch of young up and comers like future Bridgegate figure Bill Baroni, future LGBT lobbyist Tom Wilson, and a number of individuals associated with the Chris Christie project decided that some incumbent legislators had been there too long.  They were members of the Great Generation, had fought our nation's wars, and had rebuilt our party after the Watergate debacle.  But the youngsters said they were old, their time was up.

And so they set upon them and worked from within and without to push them, unceremoniously, from office.  Guys like Senator Bob Littell resisted such rude attentions, so they circulated rumors about his health and attacked him on blogs like the old PoliticsNJ.  In fact, the genesis of this blog can be traced from those efforts to defend that old gentleman. 

It is a decade later, and another culling is afoot.  Only this time, it is being led by the fag end of a depleted and demoralized party who strangely believe that the road to salvation is to become as close to the Democrats as possible on issues like abortion, LGBT, the Second Amendment, climate change (or global warming or whatever they are calling it this week), crime, Abbott Districts, COAH, and pretty much everything except a few balance sheet issues and the hobby-horses of this lobby group or that.

The voices in favor of this culling are not just limited to the metro-sexual wing of the Young Republicans.  Younger party leaders, some quite powerful, will assure you in all seriousness that the future of the Republican Party is about identities instead of ideas.  They earnestly believe that we must compete with the Democrats in having our very own LGBT or Muslim contingent.  Some will insist that only a set of breasts and a fashionable haircut will win the day.

As with any culture brought up on watery advertising, they eschew data and have developed myths and mythological figures.  Chief among these is the "soft Republican."  They will tell you that we must ignore all those old-timers who still judge people by their ideas and conduct, instead of their identity or surface appearance.  "Soft Republicans" (limp dicks?) is where it's at.  These softies -- in both mind and groin -- constitute a great untapped vein of young voters.  "They are the future!"  Or so we are endless told.

So here is a wake-up call for the metros who seem to run the party these days.  The data is in, and you are going to have to wait awhile for that coming day of the 57 genders.  The old f*cks aren't dying off quick enough and they'll dominate the party until some of you are well into middle age.

Nearly half a million registered Republicans, 43 percent of all Republicans in New Jersey, are aged 60 or older.  Another 31 percent are middle aged -- 45 to 59.  10 percent are 35 to 44.  9 percent are 25 to 34.  With just 6 percent 18 to 24.  The Democrats are not so much a young party as a middle aged one, with their two youngest groups coming in at just 8 and 13 percent, respectively.  37 percent of their voters are aged 60 or older.

The truth is that young people really don't like political parties.  They don't trust them.  So if you really want to appeal to the young -- quit party politics and organize a group around an issue that matters, like human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.

Political party organizations are about as exciting as newspapers and about as relevant.  Except for the BCRO, whose website currently features a couple in a rather explicit situation.  But old people like them -- political parties and newspapers, that is -- and so for the next few more years we will have them.  But nothing is following.  There will be no GOP metro-sexual new day.  There will be something else, but it won't be a party as we know it today.

Now don't all you metros go running to the lavatories at once.  Your sperm counts weren't that much to begin with.  Have a good cry on your best mate's shoulder and buck up.  Because the old f*cks are still here... and so you still have a party.  But you are going to have to cater to them.  Or lose even more than you lose now.

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.

Will Robert Hugin meet conservatives half way?

It's "the-past-as-future" for the neo-Whitmanites who want to make the New Jersey Republican Party their private, personal playground.  Yep, just like the good-old-days of "pass the cigars" and "let the interns beware."  And that was just what the ladies got up to! 

The current mantra coming from some GOP establishment types in New Jersey is 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.  

Besides, 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.  Period.

Despite this, there is a full court press to mint Republican candidates at all levels who intentionally suppress key parts of the GOP base.  And the trend has got worse, with the suppression of actual conservative candidates by key players in the neo-Whitman, "My-Party-Too" crowd.  Like true greedy crony capitalists, it's not in them to share.  But in elections that increasingly depend on identifying and turning out anyone who will even consider voting Republican, this is a disastrous trend. 

Of course, squishy candidates are real popular with the dregs of the GOP's Whitman-era glitterati --  cocktail-party liberals and crony capitalists who still want to show that 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 straight forward.  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.  This is an issue that unites both Left and Right:

Which brings us to Mr. Robert Hugin of the Celgene corporation.  He is the promising candidate for the United States Senate that has the whole GOP establishment buzzing.  They say this erstwhile Marine is the man to beat Bob Menendez.  And a big reason they are so excited about Hugin is his ability to fund his own campaign.

Hugin earns over $20 million a year -- making him one of the best paid bosses in the pharmaceutical industry.  Before joining Celgene, he worked for Wall Street's J.P. Morgan & Company.  Hugin is a longtime member of Chris Christie's fundraising inner-circle, whose allegiance was transferred to Donald Trump after Christie dropped out of the 2016 presidential contest.  Hugin even served as a Trump delegate.  This biography strongly defines the man, making it hard to see how the average Bernie or Hillary voter could ever mark a ballot for him. 

But sure enough, it has emerged that Hugin is conveying to people the idea that he is "a different kind of Republican" and not one of "them" -- as in Pro-Life, et al.

Hey, you donated six figures to Chris Christie and served as a Trump delegate... so do you think you're going to fool a committed Democrat with that Pro-Choice on Abortion line?  You will only drive away thousands upon thousands of voters who want to vote for you, but for whom you will make it so that they can't, in good conscience.

Could Hugin run as the kind of populist who doesn't need cultural conservatives?  Sure, as a Democrat.  Those chocolate and vanilla "kitchen table" issues are grafted onto a cultural worldview that makes you a Trump populist or a Bernie populist.  Neither could have attracted so many voters had they adopted the other's cultural positions. 

In trying to have it all their own way, the "My-Party-Too" crowd might end up destroying the Republican Party in New Jersey.  Ideas matter to most voters and it is ideas that draw people to identify with a political party in the first place.  But in New Jersey, ideas are merely advertising gimmicks for the lobbyists, vendors, and consultants who increasingly run the GOP.  It is something almost unknown to most Republican voters... but too, too easy to demonstrate.  So few don't have Democrat money in their DNA. 

Many GOP leaders make money off Democrats -- or with Democrats.  Lots of money.  While most Republicans just get taxed by Democrats.  That's the great divide.  So where do you stand?  And would you like to know?

Already, conservative libertarian Dr. Murray Sabrin is thinking about another third party run -- like the one in which he almost sunk Christie Whitman.  Perhaps an even stronger candidate will emerge.  Surrendering cultural issues conservative voters to these candidates would not be a good strategy for Mr. Hugin. 

If cultural conservatives, reform conservatives, good-government conservatives, non-insider/crony capitalist conservatives, were to figure out that the fix was in, and that no matter how hard they worked with the GOP establishment they would never get a break, then who knows  -- in these troubled times of Trumpian rebellion and Bernite reaction -- how this could flower?  Would we see its fruit in the low, low turnout 2019 elections?  Would a third-party, seeking that elusive 10 percent, find its way?

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 issues like abortion and LGBT rights, Robert Hugin could act boldly to unify Republicans -- the establishment thimbleful and the conservative majority -- by finding a way to meet both half way. 

Yesterday, Senate Democrats blocked an effort to bring the United States into line with most of the nations on earth in preventing abortions after 20 -weeks, the point at which science has shown that an unborn child is sensitive to the pain of being... killed.  Every other country on earth recognizes this fact except North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands.  Isn't it time we bring our laws into line with science and the rest of the civilized world?

The Senate's vote was on whether to stop the Democrats’ filibuster of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.  This legislation highlights how unborn children feel intense pain when they are killed in abortions. Fifty-one senators (forty-eight Republicans and three Democrats) voted to take the bill up for debate, but 60 votes were required.  Because Republicans don’t have 60 votes in the chamber to overcome the filibuster, Democrats successfully stopped the bill, which came after President Donald Trump indicated he would sign the bill into law.

Hey, you can still support Roe v. Wade and acknowledge the scientific fact that after 20-weeks, a child should not suffer the kind of death that the U.S. Supreme Court wouldn't apply to serial killers, mass-murder terrorists, and rapists who murder children in the commission of a sexual assault.  That, the Court would argue, is "cruel and unusual" for the worse criminals... but for unborn children... are we supposed to look the other way?

So be "Pro-Choice" on abortion.  But support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act too.  Give conservatives something.

When it comes to shitholes, many are hypocrites

By Rubashov

Shitholes... seems like there are a lot of them. 

And how they are defined depends on one's perspective.

When we go to a diner and the soup has a fly in it, the eggs are adorned with someone's hair, the table top is greasy, and we can smell the restrooms (another cozy euphemism, eh?) we say that "we'll never go back to that shithole."

But for others, the bar is set much, much higher.

Like Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, who once said of Binghamton, New York, and its environs:  "This place is kind of a shithole... There was nothing that I passed (on the three-hour ride from New York City) that I couldn’t milk."

We get it.  For some Americans, the fly-over portion of America is, to use Jon Stewart's phrase, "a kind of shithole."

In the aftermath of President Donald Trump's alleged remarks about a few Third World nations, some have attempted to define it as "racist" -- the most overused moniker in use today.  So much today is called "racist" that the word has lost its punch, much in the way the word f*ck has (though still blocked by some Internet filters). 

But can we actually define the term "shithole" in any meaningful way?

Actor James Woods made this attempt:  "Rule of thumb: if the water where you live is not potable because local engineers can’t somehow separate well water from sewage water, you live in a #shithole country."

Fair enough.

Writer Scott St. Clair suggested that we turn our attentions to the Research Institute for Compassionate Economics and its studies of each country's level of "open defecation" to determine which are "shitholes" and which are simply borderline.  Does a high level of shitting in the street define one's nation as a "shithole"? 

Many people don't like the idea of characterizing a whole nation that way.  They say that you can't paint with a broad brush like that.  But many of these same people are quick to claim that all white Americans have "privilege" -- ignoring the fact that there are more of them in poverty than any other "group."  Many of these people assume that all white Americans have ancestors who owned slaves (percentage wise, it is far more likely that a black American had an ancestor who owned a slave or was involved in the slave trade).  Black Lives Matter's great misstep was to ignore all those "sovereign citizen" videos on YouTube and to assume that their white fellow citizens were racists instead of fellow sufferers (albeit, for many, to a lesser degree) of a vastly empowered and increasingly militarized regime of policing. 

BLM could have won outright had it not taken a "minority" position.  But when one considers that Al Sharpton and Chris Christie use the same establishment public relations firm, maybe it has gone the way it was supposed to go.  After all, working class black Americans and working class white Americans haven't been at each others' throats like this for decades... while the one percenters are getting richer and richer off a booming stock market.  Go figure.

The media is constantly programming Americans to paint groups with a broad brush.  The entertainment industry's portrayal of black Americans are the imaginings of suburban Gen-X writers and is decades off.  So too are its ideas about the South -- while its portrayal of working class America, particularly of those who reside in mobile homes... well, talk about one's perception of what a "shithole" is -- the suburban trailer park must jump in the minds of America's media.

It seems to us that two kinds of people make a nation a "shithole" -- that nation's politicians and the world media.  Rich celebrities like Bono -- a world class tax-avoidance artist -- reap public relations windfalls from advocating for the Third World, sending working class taxpayers' money into the hands of a corrupt political class, who invests it in places like Switzerland.  When anyone notices this, they are called "racist" by the media -- who run heart-tugging appeals that picture suffering children, covered in flies, without proper drinking water.  America's taxpayers see all this media and say, "What a shithole!  We need to help those people!"  The people who live there say, "This place is home, but the politicians have turned it into a shithole and there is no getting rid of them, so we're out of here."  You can't blame them.

Yes, you can't blame them, because they are no different than most Americans in wanting to escape the "shithole" and move on.  In America, the grass is always greener somewhere else.  We are a people on the move.  That's not how is used to be.  A few generations ago, we stayed in one place for so many generations, we developed regional --even neighborhood -- accents.  Once upon a time, there were people in a section of Philadelphia who talked like Rocky did.  Now it is an out-of-date stereotype on SNL. 

That's why so many of our most educated and well-to-do fellow citizens take a relaxed view of illegal immigration.  Lacking loyalty to a place -- leaving it for greener pastures instead of staying to make it better -- is a way of life for many Americans.  And when there is something they don't like, they move.  No wonder they so readily understand when others abandon somewhere, leave it to those who would despoil it, to come here.  The working class and the poor, they can't move as easily and are often left with no choice but to improve their community in order to improve their circumstance.  Of course, they look upon illegal immigrants coming into their community differently than do the rich and mobile.  They see increased competition for jobs, increased taxation to support expanding social services, increased pressure on remaining green space, the potential disruption of established folkways, and the loss of property value (which, for many, could lead to them to ending their days in a substandard nursing home, laying in their own piss).

We might expect the better-off and well-educated in places like Haiti to stay put and help their nation out of its troubles -- but how many rich people stayed in Detroit, Michigan, to help the town that raised them get out of its troubles?  No way!  It is easier to tear the shithole down, street by street.  In the end, there will just be two groups left in Haiti -- the political class stealing the international money that media coverage and the western elites bring them -- and the poor who will be kept poor so that those appeals and the money keeps coming.  Who is to blame the more adventurous of poor Haitians who attempt to follow their middle-class to places like France and the United States?  And you can say just about the same thing for Detroit.

If the nation's moving companies are to be believed, New Jersey is one of America's main shitholes.  Lots of people are moving out of New Jersey because of the tax and regulatory policies imposed on them by the political class here.  Not that the political class itself stays.  Rich guys like former Speaker Joe Roberts, Democrat of Camden, get out of this over-taxed shithole the moment they leave office and move to Republican-run states, like Florida. 

Of course, there are a lot of people who come from a whole lot worse shitholes and who would love to get to New Jersey.  So maybe, in the end, what is or isn't a "shithole" is a matter of where you are?

We thought of this when reading a Facebook post by a Republican candidate -- a fellow named John McCann -- who repeated the silly mantra:  "All are welcome."  Yeah, yeah, but this candidate has moved from state to state throughout his life.  He's a lawyer, his wife is a doctor, and they are plenty rich to say "enough of this shithole" if too many people he ends up not wanting to live near take him at his word.  Yep, "all are welcome" until too many of those "open defecators" take advantage of your front lawn, and then... "we're rich honey, so we can move to someplace better."  Only the poor and the working class who can't move get screwed by the silly virtue-signaling of elites like this guy.

Speaking of which, we came across a breathless article on a Trenton-based political website, written by a former official of the administration of Governor Christine Todd Whitman.  This fellow was demanding that every Republican publicly break with President Trump by calling him bad names over his alleged "shithole" comment.  He really had his knickers in an uproar over it.

Too bad that he never had anything public to say about all the sexual abuse and skirt-chasing (by both males and females) that went on during the Whitman administration.  We distinctly recall one high-ranking official chasing after her female assistant with a cigar.  Then there was the high-ranking legislator whose staff made sure that females were accompanied whenever they ventured into his lair, as is done during physical examinations in a doctor's office.  Or another high-ranking legislator who enjoyed luring the female members of his staff into attending what can only be called "sex" parties.  Oh, it goes on and on, and it is all far worse than saying the word "shithole."

Look, for better or worse, Donald Trump is a performance artist.  Always has been.  Like Jon Stewart, he practices what can be called a transgressive art form.  He engages his audience by getting a rise out of us.  By the time his presidency is over, he will probably be running through George Carlin's list of "words you can't say" at the start of his press conferences.  But hey, he is the elected President of the United States and will be so for the next three years unless there is an illegal coup of some kind.  By-the-way, such an act would make the United States of America... officially... a shithole -- politically, if not materially.

Always remind yourselves -- you holier-than-thou pricks in the political and media and corporate establishments -- that it didn't need to be this way.  The Democrat Party could have run an honest primary process.  You didn't all need to conspire to give us the "President" you wanted us to have.  You fixed the Democrat Party primary process but couldn't fix the national election.  So here we are.  Stop complaining about it.

Is Rendo endorsement the first shot in a GOP civil war?

We were thinking about that stupid statement by that fellow we thought we liked, Carlos Rendo, and who we were prepared to forgive for his anti-religious musings and his work as an immigration attorney.  The statement was made yesterday, by Rendo, in an attack on Republican Steve Lonegan, on behalf of John McCann.

Rendo told InsiderNJ that, of the two, McCann was the "only candidate with an actual record of putting taxpayers first."  

It's funny Rendo put it that way, because "Putting Taxpayers First" is the title of the 2007 book written by Steve Lonegan.  In it, Lonegan provides the blueprint for the conservative movement on how to address New Jersey's worst-in-America business climate and poor record of job creation, the state's highest-in-the-nation property taxes, subsidized COAH housing, the public employees union-dominated education system, and the activist judiciary -- among other things.

We can't expect the younger generation to remember what it was like after party liberals like Christie Whitman and Paulie DiGaetano lost Republicans our majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.  Under Democrats McGreevey and Corzine, the Democrats grew government with tax hikes and new regulations -- and always with Republican support.  Conservatives watched dismayed as the GOP provided the votes to end the death penalty for serial killers, child rapists/ murderers, cop-killers, and terrorists.  

While this was happening, John McCann was threatening to run for Congress, telling GOP leaders that Senator Gerry Cardinale and Assemblyman Scott Garrett were "too conservative" for the 5th District.  McCann's candidacies are cyclical.  Like the cicada, he surfaces from the mud about once a decade.  McCann called himself an "Arlen Specter Republican," going left on the issues, mimicking the Democrats' platform on such issues as abortion and gun-control.

Meanwhile, Steve Lonegan was organizing the modern conservative movement in New Jersey.  He led the fight against the Newark arena taxpayer rip-off, fought  state government borrowing without voter approval all the way to the Supreme Court, winning key concessions and transparency.  The Court's decisions in Lonegan I and Lonegan II paved the way for the (then Senator Leonard) Lance Amendment.  Lonegan organized conservatives to sue to stop eminent domain and taxpayer-funded elections.

Lonegan pulled off the unheard of accomplishment of defeating two statewide ballot questions -- stopping government-funded embryonic stem cell research and a sales tax increase.  Lonegan broke the back of the Corzine administration's plans to hike tolls on state roads and he successfully organized conservatives to stop the RGGI fuel tax.  Again, and again, and again, Steve Lonegan was the essential man -- leading the conservative movement forward, providing hope to the GOP in its darkest days.

Steve Lonegan became the glue that held the conservative movement together in New Jersey.  He took over the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and made it the premier chapter in the nation.  His fundraising prowess saw to it that conservative initiatives had resources.  When the GOP opposed same-sex marriage in 2009-10, it was Lonegan who made the calls to ensure they had the funding.

Because of Steve Lonegan, Chris Christie tacked right in his 2009 campaign for Governor, and New Jersey elected -- and re-elected -- a Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment Governor, something the Whitman/DiGaetano wing of the GOP had long held was an impossibility.  Lonegan held seminars, put together conventions, organized demonstrations and rallies -- a flurry of grassroots activity unheard of in the NJGOP.  He nurtured the careers and helped fund the campaigns of younger conservatives like Mike Doherty, Michael Patrick Carroll, and Alison Littell McHose.

Under Steve Lonegan, AFP became the thing that SRM and ARV have most desperately needed in the last few cycles -- a superPAC able to independently hit the Democrats and hold them to account.  Lonegan's relationships with national conservatives ensured that the efforts of groups like the General Majority PAC would not go unchallenged.  

All this ended abruptly when Steve Lonegan departed New Jersey to work on the national scene.  AFP became a shell of its former self.  Activism died overnight.

And the NJGOP, the SRM, the ARV?  Unprecedented losses over and over again.  You have to go back to the period after the Watergate Scandal (do any YR's or CR's even know what that is?) to find a time when New Jersey Republicans held this few seats in the Legislature.  Next up... the culling of the GOP's congressional delegation in New Jersey.

The Republican Party in New Jersey has been studiously ignoring its conservative base for years.  Meanwhile, its once dominant "country club" crowd has gone Democrat and is now fielding candidates from its ranks against GOP incumbents like Jon Bramnick.  In 2001 there were more so-called "wingers" than "country-clubbers" -- 17 years later, the country-club set is kidding itself if it still believes it counts for more than 20 percent of the party's registered voters. Now it is a discussion between populist "Trump" Republicans and their ideological comrades of the more traditional  "Reagan" right.  It's not your party anymore, Ms. Whitman.

Steve Lonegan's return to New Jersey politics could be a great shot-in-the-arm for the NJGOP, for SRM, and for ARV.  Lonegan has the relationships to bring national conservatives into New Jersey to take on groups like the General Majority PAC.  As we speak, a superPAC composed of medical professionals is forming -- the first of many.  

Unfortunately, there is this Rendo endorsement.  Normally, the endorsement of some moe from Hudson County who got elected mayor in Bergen County wouldn't count for much.  But this guy was the establishment's choice for Lt. Governor, so many conservatives are conflating his move with the establishment's wishes.  This misunderstanding could lead to conflict, which could become a very debilitating civil war at a time when resources are thin and the congressional delegation is at stake.

Right now, New Jersey Congressional Republicans are not speaking with a single voice on any issue and they are certainly not following the President in any collective fashion.  There are a lot of GOP messages out there.  Taking back CD05 is going to be a formidable challenge, with holding CD02 perhaps more difficult.  Congressman Frelinghuysen has been taking a terrific beating for months and faces a very attractive opponent.   If Josh Gottheimer doesn't wake up with a sore ass every morning, if Jeff Van Drew isn't sledge-hammered regularly, if Rodney doesn't learn how to punch back... the Democrats with all their money and all their superPACs are going to move on new opportunities.  It is time to stop them.

Does anyone really believe that a candidate like John McCann can even piss straight?  For years he's lived in the moist dirt of county patronage politics, sucking up what the boys -- Republicans and Democrats -- feed him.  McCann is where he is because he threatened to run in a primary against conservative Republican incumbent Gerry Cardinale.  That's right, this asswipe thought it was a good idea to primary Senator Cardinale and make SRM spend money it didn't have, so there would be less to spend fighting the Democrats in November.

Oh, and at the time, McCann was the patronage employee of Democrat Sheriff Michael Saudino, who would have had to sign-off on his antics.  No conflict there, right?

At the time, Bergen County GOP boss Paulie DiGaetano was messing in a divisive primary of his own (one he couldn't raise money for) and dissuaded McCann by promising him the Congressional nomination.  Paulie got crushed in the primary and here we are now.  McCann thinks the nomination is his by gift from a party boss who couldn't raise the money required to fund his own legislative race!  Does anybody think Josh Gottheimer is going to take this clown seriously?  Josh will be able to campaign fulltime in CD11.

Steve Lonegan's presence on the ballot has given new life to the state's conservative movement.  It has energized the base, made them happy, and caused them to think well of the GOP.  Carlos Rendo's stupid move has jeopardized that and the conspiracy theories are already circulating.

John McCann can't raise the money, can't stir the troops, won't rally the base, and will only provide Josh Gottheimer with the leisure to make mischief in another district.  But maybe that's all beside the point.  Perhaps his loyalties are still with Democrat Saudino?  As has been suggested, perhaps he is one of them?

There is no "moral obligation" to root for Phil Murphy

Yes, we know that it sounds "cute" for a Republican to claim that he wishes the new Democrat Governor success and then to lay out a list of Republican options for the Governor to take to "help" him achieve that success.  It sounds cute until you consider how it undermines confidence in the claims politicians and political parties make during the course of their campaigns.

Was it all just bullshit?  Were the claims made and the warnings given regarding the clearly articulated policies of Phil Murphy just so many lies paid for and distributed by the Republican Party and its candidates?  Or do Republicans sincerely believe that those major policy pronouncements that fell from Phil Murphy's lips were all lies to his own constituencies and that he has no intention of pursuing any of them?

If you want to give people a reason to give up voting -- if you want to suppress turnout into an even deeper gutter than it already is -- then pursue the line that it is all an illusion that doesn't matter in the end.  You'll do it.  You'll get them to give up on voting altogether. 

Look, either the two parties mean what they say at election time, or it is all just a pantomime put together for the entertainment of the media and the manipulation of the electorate.  Is it all one big corrupt filthy gang at the end -- are all those Trump voters right? 

Certainly, both parties are broadly the same when it comes to their embrace of globalism and crony capitalism.  Both will not hesitate to employ government to pick economic winners and losers.  Both work against the interests of the working class -- in support of products made with modern day slavery, suppressing American job creation or exporting American jobs, and growing the gray economy through an immigration system that makes it difficult to come here legally but easy to do so illegally.  Looking at the chumminess of the parties when it comes to fashioning lobbying firms, or law firms, or consulting businesses -- they certainly do appear to be in each other's pocket.  So are they really less competitors than cooperators in the goal of picking the taxpayers' pockets?

One needs only to gaze upon a creature like John McCann -- the very embodiment of this corrupt culture -- who the Bergen Record newspaper reported was "the right hand man" of the Democrat county sheriff as he was launching his supposedly "Republican" campaign for Congress.  The MC McCann chose for his kick-off was the liberal daughter of a former Democrat Assemblyman -- part of a bi-partisan "show-us-the-money" political family that lives up the bunghole of Democrat Loretta Weinberg and company. 

And yet, the differences between the political parties are real enough for many.  Guys like Steve Lonegan know that what the Republican Party stands for is supposed to be in marked contrast to the policies pushed by Democrats like Phil Murphy.  So do legislators like Mike Doherty and Steve Oroho.  Where Mike Doherty is a big picture conservative -- coming up with big plays like the Fair School Funding Act -- Steve Oroho is a transactional conservative who moves the ball forward, negotiating a phase out of the Estate Tax, turning a property tax hike into property tax relief, shaving 43% off a user tax increase while winning a series of tax cuts in exchange for supporting the remaining 57%. 

These Republicans understand that Democrat Phil Murphy means to turn all New Jersey into a sanctuary state.  They know he means to and are resolved to oppose him in that.  They know that Murphy meant it when he said he wanted to raise taxes by $1.3 billion.  They have done the math and know that his promises add up to $8.5 billion in new spending.  They know that Murphy's policies will grow the burden of government, suppress the economy, kill jobs, drive away capital, undermine the social safety net, and make us less safe.  They know and they will oppose him every step of the way -- watchful for the moment when they can force a compromise, negotiate something to the advantage of taxpayers and job creators. 

Despite its outward coarseness, the Christie era was marked by an aggressive bi-partisanship achieved by party bosses who control political "families."  This era is ending as it began, with a rich globalist Wall Streeter holding the ultimate power. 

That Chris Christie was as conservative a governor as he was had more to do with his first primary and his subsequent quest for the White House, than with any personal philosophical leanings.  Now the dam will break and the ruinous legislation -- ruinous for anyone who is working (or trying to) and trying to keep out of foreclosure -- will flow forward.  Now is the time for opposition.

The inequitable way in which the state's political establishment (through its failsafe, the unelected judiciary) misuses the revenue from the income tax, should unite both Right and Left in opposition to seeing the working poor being made to subsidize rich corporations and wealthy professionals in cities like Hoboken and Jersey City.  The corrupt political establishment that has relegated New Jersey into the last place to start a business now has a "face" in the venial, corrupt form of corporate globalist Phil Murphy.  Murphy's cash-for-favors background and his history as a Wall Street and foreign banker make him a perfect foil.

An intelligent, well-read opposition will know what to do with Phil Murphy.  There is a real opportunity to put together a non-traditional coalition to meet Murphy's loose and weakly calculated policies with policies that work.  But it will need to employ the language of opposition. 

No less than Ralph Nader has pointed the way forward, in his 2014 book, "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State." Dismantle... not partner with.  We need to employ the language of opposition to block corporate globalist Murphy and to put forward popular policies that he will be forced to accept.

Fat Norman's take on InsiderNJ's election predictions

Fat Norman is a comedian who says whatever pops into his mind.  Here is his take on InsiderNJ's "insiders" and their predictions.

JOSHUA HENNE, progressive communications wiz. “Unfortunately for Kim Guadagno, it’s not her name on the ballot. It’s Chris Christie and Donald Trump.   

Needs his eyes examined.   Where does he see "Christie" and "Trump" on this ballot?

SCOTT RUDDER, chair NJ Cannabusiness Association/former GOP lawmaker, “No matter who wins today, we will see cannabis decriminalized and medical cannabis more accessible. This happens in either a Guadagno or Murphy Administration. And that’s a good thing.  That being said, if Murphy wins, we expect to see a more aggressive approach towards correcting unjust cannabis laws. The expansion into the adult-use cannabis market will create tens of thousands of new jobs and help accelerate our economic recovery.”

Pothead.  An economic recovery based on getting stoned.  What an asshole.

JIM McGREEVY, former NJ Governor. “New Jersey reasserts true blue status; NJ as an alternate policy laboratory to DC as to training and education, jobs and the economy.”

Ass.  He sees NJ becoming a laboratory for fuckedupedness. 

ARLENE QUINONES PEREZ , chair Hundedon County Democrats.  “Low voter turnout. Phil Murphy  between 9-12%. One LD39 D wins. In LD 16, two Assembly D wins but by small numbers may not be called until Wednesday.”

Hundedon County?  One LD39 win???  How are things in Hundedon?

JOEY NOVICK, ACLU NJ/Former Flemington Councilman... Jay Lassiter continues to write clever and entertaining columns for InsiderNJ after Election Day.”

A handjob in love with the Man from Ass.

LYNDA HINKLE, Camden County Democratic Committee. “A Phil Murphy win is a win for legalization of cannabis which means a new revenue stream for the state. But I think Kim Guadagno comes closer than originally expected despite many in her party working against her or at least not for her.

How come she gets why the GOP loses but the GOP doesn't?

ALEX LAW, former Congressional candidate/anti-machine liberal. “As a huge believer in good old fashioned grassroots door knocking, I’ve been thrilled to see the Murphy campaign send thousands of people out to talk to voters one on one all across the state. I think his resoundingly progressive platform and his grassroots execution will carry him to a convincing victory.”

Good Guy... but it's called paid for astroturf.  Shameful is nothing to be thrilled about.

LOU MAGAZZU, former Cumberland Freeholder. “Bob Andrzejczak and Robert Bruce Land will win by historic margins for anyone not named Van Drew. They have done a great job as Assemblyman and candidates and the voters will reward them today.”

The wanker speaks!  WTF?  Did someone shit in his brain and forget to flush it?

CHRISTIAN FUSCARINO, chair Garden State Equality. “We trust that Phil Murphy, Sheila Oliver, Vin Gopal, and all the candidates that stand for equality and justice will trump their opponents by a landslide, sending a resounding message of hope across the nation.”

Ass.  And why did Jennifer Beck think it so important to kiss up to these phonies?  Why does any Republican kiss up to GSE?  

JEANETTE HOFFMAN-HENNE, GOP TV pundit, 

Who are you?

KATHY O’LEARY, Longhill Residents for Responsible Development.

Why should we know you?

BRANDON MCKOY Deputy Chapter Director of New Leaders Council – NJ

Another person known only to the Hand of Lassiter.

BRIAN EVERETT, BlueJersey. 

Blue Balls in Jersey... or why liberal ass bandits don't get any.

Is Save Jersey playing it straight?

We remember when Save Jersey was created as a vehicle for the election of Chris Christie as Governor of New Jersey.  That's the actual origin of the website's name:  Chris Christie was going to "Save Jersey." 

Save Jersey was to be a Lonegan-bashing adjunct to Wally Edge's PoliticsNJ (aka PolitickerNJ and Observer.com).  The Christie people already had the somewhat mercurial David "Wally Edge" Wildstein in their pocket, so Save Jersey's young editor, Matt Rooney, worked slavishly to impress the boss.  The website even went so far as to mock conservative Steve Lonegan's blindness. 

There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then.  Rooney got out of school and failed to get that social media job at the Governor's office he had his eye on.  Wally Edge left his website, got a political patronage job at the Port Authority, did his BridgeGate thing, and pleaded guilty in federal court.  Chris Christie went from being (in Rooney's eyes) New Jersey's savior and potential occupant of the White House to a liability.  Rooney, along with Kim Guadagno, and an assortment of rats, "jumped ship" and began to attack their former master, the one-time object of their somewhat overly intense affections.

Once upon a time they praised Governor Christie for "reaching out" to secure the support of organized labor, much as Ronald Reagan had done.  Today, they treat anyone in a blue-collar as a pariah.

For the record, the contributors here at Jersey Conservative (except for Professor Murray Sabrin) were uniform in their support for Steve Lonegan in his 2009 gubernatorial battle with Chris Christie.  It is not that we have ever supported the Governor's agenda (although parts have been very worthy of that support), it is just that we abhor the craven, vulgar, opportunistic disloyalty shown towards Governor Christie, by those who once attacked us for not following him.  We marvel at how their intensity has not changed.  They were jerk-offs then and they remain jerk-offs now.

Take Matt Rooney as an example.  A shameless self-promoter, even by New Jersey standards.  He is a lawyer who belongs to a firm that exists in the highly political, you-scratch-my-ass-and-I'll-scratch-yours, world of municipal contracts. 

And we have to tell you, that for all Rooney's protestations about being anti-Democrat Party, he doesn't seem to mind being associated with a law firm that takes contracts from Democrat machine towns in South Jersey.  Hey, didn't someone say "follow the money"?  Okay, let's do that:

Save Jersey's Matt Rooney is a lawyer with the Camden County firm of DeMichele & DeMichele.  According to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, the principals of that firm hold the following public contracts/offices:

We searched for Matt Rooney, but came up with nothing:

But that doesn't jive with what Rooney puts in his lawyer's biography:

Matt Rooney has been a member of the New Jersey Bar since 2011 and the District of Columbia Bar since 2012. A significant portion of his practice concerns matrimonial matters including divorce, custody disputes, support modifications, and domestic violence. Matt also handles personal injury, municipal court, and a variety of other types of litigation. He currently serves as a municipal prosecutor in four (4) different South Jersey communities.

So what gives?  Aren't you the guy who is preaching disclosure?  So how about compliance with Local Government Ethics rules?

Matt Rooney

Photo credit: Madison Mae Photography (2014)

Phone: (856) 546-1350
Fax: (856) 546-1365
Email: matt@southjerseylawfirm.com
LinkedIN: MattRooneyNJ
Facebook: MattRooneyNewJersey
____

Practice areas: family law (divorce, child support, domestic violence); municipal court; personal injury; civil litigation; collections

____

Matt Rooney has been a member of the New Jersey Bar since 2011 and the District of Columbia Bar since 2012. A significant portion of his practice concerns matrimonial matters including divorce, custody disputes, support modifications, and domestic violence. Matt also handles personal injury, municipal court, and a variety of other types of litigation. He currently serves as a municipal prosecutor in four (4) different South Jersey communities.

http://southjerseylawfirm.com/blog/attorney-profiles/matthew-rooney/

Seth Grossman stands up for Tom MacArthur

Seth Grossman, one of the state's foremost libertarian-conservative leaders, has come to the defense of Congressman Tom MacArthur.  Seth, who some at Jersey Conservative have had policy differences with, particularly on social issues, has made a well-reasoned argument in support of the Congressman:

Two months ago, Republican leaders in Congress (including South Jersey Congressman Frank LoBiondo) met in secret and tried to ram though an Obamacare replacement that was just as bad as Obamacare.   They were stopped only by the determined opposition of some three dozen conservative Congress members known as “The Freedom Caucus”.    

For weeks, it looked like no repeal of Obamacare was possible.   That was when our own Republican Congressman Tom MacArthur of Ocean/Burlington County stepped forward and became a game-changer. 
 

Tom MacArthur reached out to conservatives in the Freedom Caucus and found common ground with Republican moderates.   MacArthur almost single handedly worked out the compromise that includes some very good conservative ideas.  If Republicans in the Senate do their part, MacArthur’s bill can bring free markets, competition, better care, and lower prices back to our health care system. 
 

The Republican Establishment is now punishing MacArthur for doing the right thing.  Earlier this week, they forced MacArthur out of the “Tuesday Group”– some 40 “moderate” Republicans who include anti-conservative NJ Republican Congressmen like Leonard Lance, Frank LoBiondo, and Chris Smith. These “Tuesday Group” Republicans are generously funded by “the swamp” that Trump promised to drain.  

It is not enough to just criticize and politicians when they oppose us.  We must also thank, support, and help officials when they do the right thing--even when they are not Constitutional or conservative on some other issues.   That is why every conservative in New Jersey should now publicly thank and support Republican Congressman Tom MacArthur. 

The compromise package he put together is not the simple and complete repeal we favored.   However, it is much better than what we have now.  It also gives President Trump and the states new power to restore individual choices and costs in the future.    Finally, it also won recognition and respect for conservative, Freedom Caucus members who are too often ignored or marginalized by Establishment Republicans.

Please contact Tom MacArthur's office and thank him yourself.  Please visit is webpage for contact information at https://macarthur.house.gov/contact 

Also, please forward copy, paste, email, “like” and “share” this post with everyone you know in MacArthur’s district of Ocean and Burlington Counties.  Please do it every way you can. 

Please post your support in the comments section of newspapers like the Asbury Park Press at www.app.com.     You can submit a letter of 200 words or less for publication there to yourviews@app.com

For more information or help, please contact me at info@libertyandprosperity.org or at (609) 927-7333. 

And let's talk more about it over breakfast.   This and every Saturday morning at the Shore Diner, 6710 Tilton Road, Egg Harbor Township/Northfield, NJ.   Thanks.

Seth, who is supporting Jack Ciattarelli for Governor, has some insights into the upcoming Republican gubernatorial primary on June 6th.  It must be noted that some of our contributors here at Jersey Conservative are supporters of Pro-Life, pro-Second Amendment candidate Steve Rogers.

This is what Seth has to say:

The Governor's Race:   Conservatives have no interest in who gets the Democratic nomination this year.   At the debates, all Democratic candidates agreed, "We are all progressives!".   Here is the latest Stockton University poll for June 6 Republican primary:  
Kim Guadagno:   37%
UNDECIDED:        31%
Jack Ciattarelli:    18%
Steven Rogers:      4%
Joseph Rullo:         3%
Hirsh Singh:           3% 

Republicans have 12 days to stop this trainwreck.  Guadagno is tied to a very unpopular Christie. She also improperly let top officials collect both salaries and state pensions as Monmouth County Sheriff.  Many local Republican officials privately worry that Guardagno will be an anchor around the neck of every Republican candidate in Atlantic County this November. But they publicly support her.

Polls eight years ago showed only 11% of Republicans undecided in the primary battle between Chris Christie and conservative Steve Lonegan. Today, 31% are undecided. That is more than enough to tip the election to conservative Jack Ciattarelli.   

However, this poll indicates that there are not enough undecided voters to elect Rogers, Rullo, or Singh.   The only way Ciattarelli can defeat Guadagno is if most undecideds and some Rogers/Rullo/Singh supporters switch to conservative Ciattarelli.  

 Seth Grossman, Executive Director. Liberty and Prosperity

All this so Phoebus can sign-off on a liberal judge?

As a young married man, just starting a family, Steve Oroho got involved in public policy by going to March for Life walks and as a numbers-cruncher for W. R. Grace and Company -- who fed those numbers into something called the Grace Commission, set up President Ronald Reagan to find ways to make government run efficiently.  Steve's son was Senator Bob Littell's paper boy, and it was through him that he met Bob and became the Senator's campaign treasurer.

Alison Littell McHose urged Steve to get involved in local government in Franklin Borough.  He started with the economic development committee and then was elected to borough council.  He helped the town manage its debt and brought in new procedures to monitor spending.  Steve was elected to the freeholder board in 2004, where he worked with Hal Wirths and Gary Chiusano to overhaul Sussex County's budget process and establish fiscal restraint.

In 2007, he stood for State Senate after Senator Bob Littell became too ill to run for re-election.   Steve was the underdog.  Nobody in Trenton thought he could win and none of the usual sources of fundraising were open to him.  But Steve had been asked by leaders in the Sussex County community to run anyway, to try to keep the Senate seat in Sussex County.  His opponent was a Morris County resident and Morris County was crowded with Senate seats. Sussex County only had one. 

So Steve put his own money up.  It was a hardship for him and his growing family, but he did it anyway, because he listened and understood that Sussex County needed its own Senator.  That counties without proper representation become orphans in Trenton and got short shrift.  Running with an all-Sussex team of Alison Littell McHose, Gary Chiusano, Hal Wirths, and Jeff Parrott -- Steve and the whole team won. 

Since then, Steve has served Sussex County, Northwest New Jersey, and the 24th Legislative District.  Whenever a Republican candidate has needed resources, Steve has been there, putting his hand in his pocket or raising it.  Whenever the county GOP was broke and needed money, Steve has seen them through.  When the state party and Republican legislative candidates needed money, Steve has given it or raised it for them.  Conservative organizations have turned to Steve and he has never let them down.  Christian charities, places where young women can have their babies instead of being financially pressed into abortion, have turned to Steve -- and he has never turned them away. 

When Americans for Prosperity (AFP) put up a candidate for Governor, Steve Oroho incurred the wrath of Chris Christie but Steve would not go against AFP's candidate.  And when that man said that he would be a candidate for the United States Senate against Cory Booker, Steve was among the first to rally to his side.

As Senator, Steve has worked with conservative think tanks to fashion model conservative legislation.  Steve serves as chairman of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and he's carried legislation for the NRA and other Second Amendment groups.  He is the prime sponsor of the Pro-Life community's most important piece of legislation.  He has championed the cause of religious liberty and traditional values. 

The business community -- small and large -- has relied on Steve Oroho to protect them from big government and over-regulation.  And he has protected both the job creators and the taxpayers.  Against great odds and with both chambers controlled by the Democrats, Steve has the best record of passing tax cuts in Trenton.  In fact, the Star-Ledger tracked the legislative success of legislators and found that of the top ten, only one was a Republican -- Steve Oroho.

It's true that Steve Oroho doesn't sound like Donald Trump.  He doesn't talk trash about those he disagrees with.  Instead, Steve engages in a policy discussion with them.  He comes armed with facts not curse words.  He is patient, courteous, and kind to those with whom he disagrees.  And that's why he gets other legislators, even Democrats, to see his way.

In 2011, the Tea Party got mad at Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose because she wouldn't support a liberal for the Republican nomination for United States Senate.  That liberal was Dick LaRossa, a former State Senator who the NRA had walked away from in 1996.  The Tea Party had been sweet-talked by Dick.  They liked Dick and thought he was the next big thing.  That all came to nothing.  So, seeking revenge, the Tea Party ran two candidates in District 24 against McHose and Gary Chiusano.  One Tea Party candidate got 5 percent of the vote.  The other got 2 percent.

Now they want to do it again.  And it's all over the appointment of a liberal judge to the Superior Court.  Senator Steve Oroho won't do it.  But a Senator Gail Phoebus would. 

The Tea Party has chosen as its issue the gas tax portion of the tax restructuring package.  The one tax in a five-tax-cuts package.  They have been attacking Steve Oroho for weeks using the most graphic violent and pornographic language.  The vicious rumors have been spread by people who once turned to him in their need.  Why do some people feel the need to damage someone they called "friend" and spread filth just because they disagree over a single policy?  These are people who claim to believe in God -- but what Creator would license this type of behavior towards that which is His?

We don't believe that the Tea Party will be any more successful this time than it was in 2011.  But one day, Steve Oroho will leave the scene.  And who will fill his shoes?  Then the Tea Party will be singing a different tune:

Sen. Doherty is wrong to attack Lonegan

Politics is the realm of any number of social pathologies, but the inability to feel or to express gratitude is one of the least attractive.  We were reminded of this yesterday, when we read Senator Mike Doherty's comments on Steve Lonegan in PolitickerNJ.

Evidently, Senator Doherty now looks upon his old friend with a dismissive arrogance born of pride.  Doherty has been hanging out with establishment liberals like Senator Jennifer Beck.  Nowadays Doherty gets to sit at the cool table.  What use has he now for Lonegan, who Doherty mocked as "the Howard Cosell of politics." 

We recall when Steve Lonegan was New Jersey's Mr. Conservative.  The man who had pushed Bret Schundler off the pedestal to establish himself as the standard-bearer of the movement.  In the spring of 2009, Lonegan was in the fight of his life with Chris Christie.  Both wanted the Republican nomination for Governor to take on Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine. 

Assemblyman Mike Doherty had just been rejected by the members of the Republican county committee to succeed Leonard Lance, elected to Congress the previous November, as the Senator from District 23.  Doherty would now have to face an incumbent in the primary -- Senator Marcia Karrow -- and all Trenton was betting against him.

In stepped Steve Lonegan.  First, Lonegan sent one of his own gubernatorial campaign consultants to Doherty to help him organize his campaign.  Lonegan asked conservative legislators like Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose to back Doherty.  Most importantly, Lonegan raised money for Mike Doherty, practically all of it.

Day after day, when he was finished with the grueling schedule of running for Governor, Steve Lonegan would go into a windowless room at the heart of his campaign headquarters to make money calls for Mike Doherty.  He brushed aside complaints from his own campaign people with the words, "I got to do this for Mike." 

And not only did he raise nearly every dime Doherty spent on that Senate campaign, when Doherty seemed too depressed or unable, Lonegan found him a strong running mate in Hunterdon County Freeholder candidate Jennifer McClurg.

Lonegan placed Doherty, Ed Smith (Assembly), and McClurg on his ticket -- but it was Doherty who benefitted from a Lonegan GOTV operation that pushed just two names in Warren and Hunterdon Counties:  Lonegan for Govenor and Doherty for Senate.   

Lonegan won Legislative District 23 with 11,384 votes and Doherty won with 11,049.  But while Mike Doherty was elected to the Senate, Steve Lonegan lost statewide to Chris Christie.  And so Lonegan began a long slide from the scene in New Jersey, while Doherty, now a Senator, has established himself as a middling sort of legislator, known for his criticisms of government rather than for his constituent service or legislative accomplishments.

Last year, Lonegan re-emerged as a strong figure on the national presidential campaign of the United States Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz.  Doherty, a one-time backer of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, supported billionaire Donald Trump over Congressman Paul's son, the U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.

Now Lonegan has become a leader in a rather broad group of conservatives who are questioning the wisdom of nominating Donald Trump for President, at the Republican National Convention this summer.  Lonegan's effort is quite different from those of more mainstream Republican leaders who seek the same end.

Senator Doherty seems to believe that he can make someone a conservative simply by saying it is so, rather like bestowing it on someone.  Just who he is to believe that he has this power is the question here.  What Doherty suggests is rather like a nun believing that she can "bestow" virginity on a tart, simply by saying it is so.  Next he'll be telling us that Senator Beck is a conservative.

Doherty also mistakes boorish ways for evidence of a conservative intellect.  Loud talk and obnoxious carryings-on, threat-facing and other primate behaviors, do not make a conservative... it makes a baboon.

If Senator Doherty wants to be a good conservative, he should conjure up some gratitude for the conservative leaders who wet-nursed him and gave him the career he has today.  Mike Doherty owes a great deal to Steve Lonegan.  In future, he should show it.

Should NJGOP be "outsiders" in 2017?

The disastrous 2015 legislative elections are behind us.  Now the NJGOP, and especially those Republican members of the Legislature who expect to be candidates in 2017, are in the process of positioning themselves for the elections two years from now -- when both chambers will be up, as well as the Governor.

The first question to consider is whether or not to run as members of the party of government or to run against the Trenton establishment.  Republican legislators do have an option, for while a Republican Governor has held power for the last six years, the Democrats have controlled the Legislature for more than twice as long.  Since 2002, and under four Governors, the Democrats have run the legislative process in Trenton.

If polls are anything to go by, it might serve the GOP well if its legislators were to put away their "party of Governor Chris Christie" slogans and replace them with an up-to-date "outsider" populist perspective. 

Take these numbers for example:  In 1958, 77 percent of the American public "trusted government always or most of the time."  The Pew Center tests that question regularly, and when tested this year, that 77 percent had declined to 19 percent.  As late as the first term of President George W. Bush, that number had stood at 60 percent. So the decline has been as sharp as it's been rapid.  That decline just happens to mirror the period during which the Democrats have run the Legislature in Trenton.

Trust in government is greater among Democrats, but at 26 percent, still nothing to brag about.  For those with no party affiliation/independents it is 16 percent and for Republicans it is 11 percent.

In a study titled, Beyond Distrust: How Americans View Their Government, released by the Pew Research Center for U.S. Politics & Policy on November 23, 2015, only 20 percent of the American public believes that government programs are well run.  74 percent believe that "most elected officials put their own interests before those of the country."  And 55 percent believe that "ordinary Americans would do a better job of solving national problems."

Only 25 percent of the American public views the federal government positively, with 33 percent viewing large corporations positively.  Just 25 percent view the news media favorably, and for the entertainment industry, that rises to 32 percent.

Labor unions are viewed positively by 45 percent, churches & religious institutions by 61 percent, and small businesses by 82 percent.

Back when Bill Clinton was President, Americans were evenly split on whether or not there was a great difference between the two major political parties.  Today, 45 percent believe there is a "great deal" of difference between the two parties, with 32 percent saying there is a 'fair amount" of difference, and 19 percent saying "hardly any" difference.

Only 18 percent of Americans report they are "basically content" with their government.  57 percent report they are "frustrated", with another 22 percent describing themselves as "angry".

On government competence to deliver, only 2 percent report that government programs are being run in an "excellent" fashion vs. 33 percent who say they are being run in a "poor" way. 18 percent report "good" vs. 44 percent who report "only fair". 

More Americans now describe their government as an "enemy" -- 9 percent -- than as a "friend" -- 8 percent.  On the government's management of key issues, it appears to let down both Republicans and Democrats, with just 28 percent saying that it manages the immigration system well, 36 percent saying that it helps people get out of poverty, and 48 percent saying that it ensures a basic income for seniors.

The choice for 2017 is being discussed now.  Will the NJGOP and its legislative candidates -- incumbents as well as prospects -- choose to position themselves as anti-establishment outsiders or the party of government?