How GOP insiders caused Senator Ed Durr’s primary to happen.

By Rubashov

When Ed Durr beat Steve Sweeney – the longest serving Senate President in New Jersey’s history – it was international news. Newspapers overseas carried photos of the truck-driver who spent a few hundred bucks to beat the powerful Senate President who spent millions. Durr was featured on Fox News and praised by Tucker Carlson.
 
So, how did Senator Ed Durr end up in a primary with an opponent funded by the GOP establishment? An opponent whose campaign is run by establishment consultant Chris Russell, a moderate insider who is 2025 gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli’s top campaign advisor. Russell is the same political consultant brought in by Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho to run the Space-Fantasia-Inganamort team in LD24.
 
Over a year ago, Senator Durr’s LD03 was identified as the number one target the Democrats would be coming for in 2023. The Senate Republican leadership and SRM were told that if Republicans had a chance at gaining a majority, they needed to hold all the 16 seats (at the time) they had. To do this, special provision would need to be made to protect Ed Durr, who was the most vulnerable Republican incumbent.
 
SRM’s top consultant at the time, and a nationally recognized talent in the field of political campaigning, looked at the data and made this clear assessment of Durr’s chances for re-election:
 
Look, Ed Durr didn’t fit the prototype of someone straight out of central casting. But you know what? His message connected with voters…and while he was outspent WILDLY by the Democrats, it turns out he had enough money…and he worked harder than Steve Sweeney. And guess what, he won. 
 
As I am out recruiting candidates for office next year, I am much more focused on candidates that connect with voters, will put in the effort to raise money and will work hard than any particular box of gender, color or the like.  
 
I am about winning, plain and simple…and those three qualities are what makes winning happen.
 
SRM’s generalissimo went on to note: 
 
These historic victories were driven by voters angry at the status quo… In Senator Durr’s district, 17% of the Republican vote came from people who don’t usually show up the polls! 17% of the Republican vote came from newly registered voters…people who were registered but had never showed up before…or people who only vote in presidential elections – these are all voters who never show up…but 17% of the Republican vote in District 3 came from Republicans who usually sit out elections like the one we just had – that’s unheard of!
 
The polling was good, the seat located in a populist region of the state in which the GOP was growing, and Durr was well known and his numbers solid. What he was weak on – owing to the underfunded nature of his upset win – was money. So, the SRM team pushed to have someone assigned to Senator Durr to help him start fundraising early. This is what any political campaign professional would have counseled anywhere in America. It is what you do.
 
But this is New Jersey, where things are generally not what they seem. That idea was repeatedly shot down by Senate leadership – Durr’s Senate colleagues – including Senators Oroho and Bramnick. Senate Minority Leader Oroho sounded bizarrely Darwinian in his insistence that Senator Durr be left to figure it out on his own.
 
Senator Oroho and top aide Jeff Spatola seemed angry that Durr had defeated Sweeney and offered contemptuous assessments of both the Senator and his remarkable victory. Again, and again and again, attempts to prepare Senator Durr for an expected 2023 assault by the Democrats were thwarted. He was the NJ Senate Republicans’ rock star – known nationally in conservative circles – but attempts to take Durr to Washington for a fundraising roundtable were nixed, as was a planned fundraiser hosted by a major conservative legal group.
 
A superPAC, planned to raise money to help incumbents like Durr, was killed in its infancy. Its inaugural event was essentially cancelled by Spatola, after a significant expenditure.
 
While suggestions to hire a fundraiser to work with Senator Durr were repeatedly rejected, as early as May 26th, there were internal memos circulating by Senate Republican leadership that SRM would need to go into triage mode, with the argument that an underfunded Durr would be too much of a strain on SRM’s finances:
 
“…we need to win six seats to get a net 5 because saving this seat [LD03] is way over what we can raise for all seats.”
 
That was on March 26, 2022! They looked to be giving up and seemed to be offering Durr up to the Democrats on a silver platter. So, Senator Durr, lacking the fundraising component the Senate GOP and SRM recognized that he needed, was allowed to roll into an election year in a vulnerable financial position. This all but ensured the Republican civil war that the Democrats were hoping for.
 
In conversation, Senator Oroho nourished the pipe dream that a GOP majority might be gained by the South Jersey Norcross wing of the Democratic Party joining the GOP en masse. Oroho spoke openly of his “lovely relationship” with Democrat Steve Sweeney. Along with his aide, Spatola, they appeared supportive of Sweeney’s gubernatorial ambitions.
 
Now Senator Durr is locked in a battle for re-election run by a consultant who trousers money from SRM and its candidates. The GOP establishment seems determined to prevent the Ed Durr miracle from happening again. If they succeed in destroying Ed Durr, will that 17% of the Republican vote from people who don’t usually show up at the polls that came out in 2021 to vote against the Democrats and all they stand for, come out again? Will they come out in 2025? And why would they? 

A "Lovely Relationship"?

Did Bob Hugin arbitrarily put NJGOP on the side of LGBTQ+ Curriculum?

By Rubashov
 
All across America, parents want the right to control the sexual indoctrination of their children. They are trying to re-establish primacy over when and what their children will be exposed to. Until recently, parental primacy over such matters was a given – universally accepted. My house, my rules.
 
Special interest money – their lobbyists and activists – ran a successful stealth campaign that undermined parental rights. Until the COVID pandemic sent school children home and distance learning exposed their parents to the curriculum they were learning from. The backlash was predictable.
 
Many in the academic, media, corporate, and political establishment are in hock to the special interest money that looks upon public schools as their house, their rules. Of course, what they forget is that property tax payers pay for most of the public education in New Jersey – and income tax payers pay for the rest. That’s whose house it is. The establishment are really just a group of squatters. Illegal trespassers. Which is why they need to cheat.
 

***

 
If you are a member of one of the world’s traditional religions – and literally billions of people are (billions) – the word “pride” carries a warning with it. Throughout the world’s great faiths, “pride” is something to keep in check. The Buddha warned to “let go of anger, let go of pride.” In Hinduism, pride is a poison that presents an obstacle to one's peace and happiness. Islam warns us that “evil is the abode of pride.”
 
In the Christian tradition, pride is the original sin. Thomas Aquinas argued that all other sins stem from Pride, making this the root sin and the most important to focus on: “Inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin...the root of pride is found to consist in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule.”
 
In modern America (and elsewhere in the West) we no longer celebrate many of the Christian holidays, but we do celebrate the Advent-long festival of Pride, named after one of the seven deadly sins of the Bible (listed, in order, as “pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth”). What anthropologists of the future will make of it we can only guess?
 
Who came up with such a name might be their first question? Apparently, it is generally accepted that the term was first used during an act of violence – specifically, a riot, directed at the police. Think of it as if America celebrated the Boston Massacre instead of Independence Day. The Stonewall Riot (“Stonewall” being the name of a bar) took place on June 28, 1969. It has also been called the Stonewall Uprising and the Stonewall Insurrection. The term “Pride” came from the brain of one of the insurrectionists, Brenda Howard, known as the “Mother of Pride”.
  
Brenda Howard was a Marxist and anti-war activist who became a feminist because she believed the anti-war movement was too dominated by men. According to Wikipedia: “In 1987 Howard helped found the New York Area Bisexual Network to help co-ordinate services to the region's growing Bisexual community. She was also an active member of the early bisexual political activist group BiPAC/Bialogue, a Regional Organizer for BiNet USA, a co-facilitator of the Bisexual S/M Discussion Group and a founder of the nation's first Alcoholics Anonymous chapter for bisexuals. On a national level, Howard's activism included work on both the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation where she was female co-chair of the leather contingent and Stonewall 25 in 1994. In addition to being openly bisexual, Howard was openly polyamorous and involved in BDSM.”
 
That said, Brenda Howard’s most profound accomplishment must be her etymological feat of turning what had been every religion’s sin – Pride – into America’s foremost high holy month. A stunning achievement by any measure.
 

***

 
The advance of so much of the “Pride” agenda has been done apart from the democratic process. Public pressure, threats, name-calling, and ostracization have featured heavily in moving the agenda forward. Special interest group lobbying, political contributions, and appointed judiciaries won victories instead of democratic argument and the votes of both legislatures and electorates. America didn’t get it done the way countries like Ireland did, by a democratic vote of the people, and so the winners have never been comfortable in the way that those who win the hearts and minds of actual voters can be.
 
And so the ceaseless, insecure demands continue. The insistence that more can always be done… must always be done. What should have been a celebration of “live and let live” or “do your own thing” has taken the form of religious proselytization – a replacement religion of a kind America has never had: Standardized, mandatory, practiced everywhere and by everyone… or else, face the consequences.
 

***

 
Democracy requires humility. It requires the wisdom to reject certainty, that one side has all the answers, and the good nature to accept that “this time we lost but there is aways next time”. Religion is not like that. Religion seeks adherence because it believes that there is only one truth and that everyone should accept it. That is how “Pride” resembles a religion – because it leads otherwise honorable people to subvert democratic solutions in favor of “getting the job done, one way or the other”.
 
And so, we come to the NJGOP and its Chairman, Bob Hugin. Instead of calling for a meeting of the members of the Republican State Committee, to put before them the question of whether they wanted the NJGOP to formally go on the record as celebrating the secular/religious holiday of “Pride Month” (just as they acknowledge and celebrate the secular/religious holiday of Christmas), either Hugin or someone in authority at the NJGOP arbitrarily did so without a vote. The May meeting was cancelled. A June meeting has yet to be held.
 
Sussex County’s Nick D'Agostino, the newest member of the Republican State Committee, bravely took on the party. Under the “Pride flag” posted on the NJGOP’s website, Nick wrote:
 
“You don’t speak for all of us in the NJGOP. Many of us believe the American Flag represent ALL of us and refuse to pander to the woke left. Many of us believe God is in control and not cancel culture. Many of us understand that voters choosing between a Democrat and a wannabe Democrat, will choose the actual Democrat… almost every time. Ultimately though, the people are in charge. They are waking up and they are sick of losing elections and their freedoms. Soon, every weak Republican will be replaced with true patriots and principled conservatives. Then, and only then, NJ will turn red!”
 
Nick D'Agostino spoke up for democratic principles and the consent of the governed. Nick spoke truth to power. That took guts and leadership. Godspeed.

Sussex County Republican State Committeeman Nick D'Agostino and wife Breelagh.

Nick also serves as President of the Sussex-Wantage Regional Board of Education.

Author and civil rights pioneer Lillian Smith gave this sound advice when she accepted the Charles S. Johnson Award for her work:

“It is his millions of relationships that will give man his humanity… It is not our ideological rights that are important but the quality of our relationships with each other, with all men, with knowledge and art and God that count.

The civil rights movement has done a magnificent job but it is now faced with the ancient choice between good and evil, between love for all men and lust for a group’s power.”

“Every group on earth that has put ideology before human relations has failed; always disaster and bitterness and bloodshed have come. This movement, too, may fail. If it does, it will be because it aroused in men more hate than love, more concern for their own group than for all people, more lust for power than compassion for human need.”

“We must avoid the trap of totalism which lures a man into thinking there is only one way, one answer, one option, and that others must be forced into this One Way, and forced into it Now.”

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

New Murphy administration LGBTQ+ Directive tells Sheriffs to confine men & women together

It looks like the Murphy administration is at it again. Punishing democratic institutions with centralized overreach, unfunded mandates, and higher property taxes. At this rate, county and municipal governments will have less power and influence in New Jersey than they had in the former Soviet Union.

To cover this, we would like to introduce a news blog called “The Informed Conservative”. You can access it here: https://informedconservative.blog

This column was posted on “The Informed Conservative” just minutes ago…

The New Jersey Attorney General releases LGBTQ Equality Directive.
November 20, 2019

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal released the LGBT Equality Directive instructing the state’s 38,000 law enforcement officers on how to deal with the LGTB community. The directive’s provisions include law enforcement cannot ask a person’s anatomy unless it’s necessary to an investigation, must use people’s chosen names even if that name does not appear on official documents, cannot question or detain someone for using a restroom “consistent with that person’s gender identity or expression” or conduct “invasive search procedures to determine a person’s genitals or assign gender”. Wouldn’t you or I be arrested for giving police a false name or information?

According to the Attorney General’s Directive it addresses law enforcement interactions with transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals. It states that “law enforcement’s overriding goal must be to treat individuals in a manner that is appropriate to their gender identity or expression, which may be different from the gender they were assigned at birth or the gender that is listed on their official identification”.

The Directive goes on to state:

Law enforcement officers therefore shall:

A. Address individuals using their chosen names that reflect their gender identity—even if the name is not the one that is recognized on official legal records and even if that name changes over time—as well as their chosen pronouns;

B. Include chosen names and chosen pronouns in all relevant documentation.
The Attorney General directs law enforcement that “whenever the action that an officer takes depends at least in part on an individual’s gender, then that action shall be performed in accordance with the individual’s gender identity, regardless of the gender that individual was assigned at birth and/or their anatomical characteristics”. It continues In other words, officers must treat a transgender woman as they would treat any other woman, and they must treat a transgender man as they would treat any other man”.

Not taking officer safety or comfort into consideration the Directive instructs:

For the purpose of conducting a search, officers shall treat a transgender woman as they would treat any other woman, and officers shall treat a transgender man as they would treat any other man, regardless of the gender that individual was assigned at birth and/or their anatomical characteristics.

But certain searches exist for which cross-gender searches are prohibited (e.g.,
non-exigent custodial strip searches) and where the gender of the person being
searched thus matters. In those cases, where only a female officer can search a cisgender woman and only a male officer can search a cisgender man, then it is also the case that only a female officer can search a transgender woman and
only a male officer can search a transgender man.

Not taking into consideration the safety or comfort of other prisoners the directive instructs:

If detained individuals are held in areas that are segregated on the basis of gender, law enforcement shall:

A. House, place, or otherwise detain individuals in line with their gender identity
or expression, regardless of the gender that individual was assigned at birth
and/or their anatomical characteristics unless they request otherwise. In other words, a transgender woman shall be housed with other women, unless she requests otherwise and a transgender man shall be housed with other men, unless he requests otherwise.

B. Permit individuals to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity or
expression, regardless of the gender.

Because the Attorney General apparently believes that New Jersey law enforcement officers do not have more important priorities he further instructs:

To ensure that law enforcement fully understands the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and continues to build relationships with the LGBTQ+ community, the following training and community engagement steps shall be taken:

A. The Division of Criminal Justice shall, by March 1, 2020, develop a training program to explain the requirements of the Directive. This program shall be available through the NJ Learn System or by other electronic means. All state, county, and local law enforcement agencies shall provide training to all officers regarding the provisions of this Directive before June 1, 2020.

B. Further, the Division of Criminal Justice shall, by June 1, 2020, and in consultation with groups representing the LGBTQ+ community, create a broader training on LGBTQ+ rights that shall be available through the NJ CLEAR System. That training shall include information about the basics of gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and intersex status; issues affecting the transgender community; and issues relating to implicit bias and cultural humility.

C. Each County Prosecutor shall, in collaboration with the Division of Criminal Justice, undertake efforts to educate the public about the provisions of this Directive, with a specific focus on strengthening trust between law enforcement and LGBTQ+ individuals. By December 31, 2020, each County Prosecutor shall report to the Attorney General on those public education efforts.

D. All law enforcement agencies shall seek to establish relationships with organizations focused on LGBTQ+ issues, and other community leaders, to maintain a dialogue about issues affecting LGBTQ+ individuals.

Much like the Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive his LGBT Equality Directive is ridiculous, over reaching and puts people in danger. First, if you or I were to give law enforcement fraudulent information such as an incorrect name we’d be subject to arrest. By saying that we “identify” as someone else we are free to go out and commit crimes then give false information to police?

By saying that a man who believes he’s a woman or a woman who believes she is a man can be housed with inmates who are the sex the person “identifies with” the Attorney General is putting all of the prisoners, including the “transgendered” prisoner in danger.

By forcing a female officer to conduct a search of a male prisoner who “identifies” as a female or a male officer to conduct a search female prisoner who “identifies” as a male the Attorney General is not taking the comfort of officers into consideration and potentially putting officers in danger.

Forcing law enforcement to take LGBTQ based training and requiring law enforcement agencies to establish relationships with “organizations focused on LGBTQ+ issues” the Attorney General is wasting law enforcement resources that can be used to fight crime.

A man who thinks he is a woman or a woman who thinks she is a man is mentally ill. Rather than enable people with mental health challenges and potentially put law enforcement officers in danger we should be focused on getting these people the help that they need. Like his Immigrant Trust Directive this Directive ignores the rights of the majority of New Jersyeans and puts people’s safety at risk.

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The NJGOP is broadening its base under Steinhardt

In last week’s column comparing the state fiscal rescue plan put forward by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-03) with the tax-cut plan backed by Republican Assembly Leader Jon Bramnick (R-21), we wrote :  “This situation might be different if New Jersey Republicans had taken the time to build a base of small dollar donors and activists.  But as fundraiser Ali Steinstra noted at the March NJGOP Leadership Summit, broad-based Republican fundraising can only be accomplished by appeals to the party’s conservative base.   

The GOP establishment in New Jersey is barely on speaking terms with its base, so the ground has not been prepared.  We have no equivalent to what the NJEA and the Norcross super PACs will throw against us, so pissing on a hornet’s nest probably isn’t a good idea.  At this moment in time, it is more likely to motivate the kind of turnout that will cost us another four or more seats in November.

Assembly Leader Bramnick has a sensible, Republican plan that addresses the problem of spending and taxation.  It avoids drawing fire from well-organized, well-funded interest groups.  Those on the ballot this year have a choice to make.”

Apparently we had failed to notice that under the leadership of Chairman Doug Steinhardt, the Republican State Committee (NJGOP) has been pioneering new methods of grassroots fundraising, including the use of “investor reports” to set goals and inspire donors.  The idea of investor reports was summed up by Chairman Steinhardt:  “You don’t invest in a business without a prospectus or something else that lets you know it’s a good investment. We created these with the same idea in mind. It’s been very successful.”

 Some highlights of the NJGOP’s success:
- There were just 68 active donors when Chairman Steinhardt took over.
- As of March 30th, there were more than 1800 active donors. 
- Of these 79% were small dollar donors (under $200).
- There has been a 29% increase in new donors in 2019.
- 2019 had the best first quarter fundraising since 2015 (accomplished without a Governor in office and after the set-backs of 2018).
- The NJGOP team of 3 full and 2 part time employees have logged 20,000 miles to grass roots events as of April 30 vs 25,000 in all of 2018.

Chairman Steinhardt noted that that the NJGOP was “reconnecting with Republicans and it’s showing.”  Kudos to the Chairman and his team.

Seth Grossman on why the “Convention of the States” should concern us.

Our U.S. Constitution provides two methods to amend or change it. They are both found in Article V.   One is for 2/3 of both houses of Congress to propose amendments.   The other is for 2/3 of the State Legislatures to "call a Convention for proposing Amendments".  Amendments proposed by either method become effective "when ratified by the Legislatures of 3/4 of the states by Conventions in 3/4 thereof".

Our Constitution was amended 18 times since it was first adopted in 1787.   The first ten amendments were adopted together as our "Bill of Rights" in 1791.   It was then amended 17 times during the next 227 years.  Each of those 27 amendments was proposed by 2/3 of both houses of Congress.  So far, the states never called a "Convention of States" or "Constitutional Convention" to amend our Constitution.

During the past few years, several well known conservatives proposed a "Convention of States" (Constitutional Convention) to amend or change our Constitution.  They claim that such a convention can propose amendments with good ideas like term limits and limits on borrowing and spending. 

However,  Communists, socialists, and "progressive" Democrats also want to change our Constitution.   They are proposing many bad ideas.  They want to get rid of the First Amendment so that "hate speech" (speech by anyone who disagrees with them) can be punished like it is in Europe, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.  They want to get rid of the 2d Amendment and outlaw all private gun ownership.    They want to get rid of the 10th Amendment that limits the power of the federal government.  They want to get rid of the Electoral College so a handful of big, socialist "sanctuary states" like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey can pick all future Presidents.

If we have a "Convention of States" to propose changes to our Constitution, who would control it?  Whose proposed amendments would come out of it?   Even if 3/4 of all states fail to ratify bad amendments, there will be enormous pressure to change the ratification process if the big socialist states with a majority of the population support them.    Look at how they are already undermining  the  Electoral College!

Since 2014, Legislatures in 29 states adopted resolutions calling for a "Convention of States" to change our Constitution. There will be a Constitutional Convention if 2/3 (34) or just 5 more states adopt the resolution.

Most conservatives agree that America was great when our Constitution was understood, respected, and enforced as written.   We also agree that most Senators, Members of Congress, Judges, and State and Local Officials today routinely ignore and violate our Constitution.   Why not work to elect officials who will  "preserve, protect, and defend" our Constitution?   If those officials ignore the clear written language of the Constitution we have now, why would they respect and comply with a different Constitution?

Last year, our organization LibertyAndProsperity.com voted overwhelmingly to oppose any "Convention of States".  However, during the past few breakfasts, several guests and members asked us to talk about this issue again.

For that reason, we are having a special two hour breakfast program on the Convention of States Issue this Saturday, March 23.  We will begin at our regular 9:30AM time.   There will be special video presentations and speakers during the first hour moderated by Steve Jones.     There will be an optional Question and Answer session and discussion for those who wish to stay during the next hour. from 10:30AM to 11:30AM.

If you like our work, please support us with a tax deductible donation or be a $30 per year supporting member.   Pay online at LibertyAndProsperity.com, or at any Saturday Breakfast Discussion.   Or mail or drop off your check at our Somers Point office.   Thanks!

For More Information contact:

Seth Grossman, Executive Director
LibertyAndProsperity.com
Email:Info@libertyandprosperity.com

Martin Marks is a strange kind of “conservative”

The NJGOP is in an existential fight for its very survival.  The fighting confidence of its flag officers has been shattered and its field officers are rattled.  Nothing they have tried has worked.  Too often they are saved by chance and the victories won are by means less unconventional.  The commanders at NJGOP HQ need to re-think their assumptions, come up with a new strategy, and re-tool their tactics.

Conversely, morale is high amongst the troops.  In some ways, it has never been higher.  Thousands of registered Republicans and ideological conservatives, libertarians, and Trumpian populists engage the machine Democrats and socialist left each day on social media.  They do this on their own – without prodding or direction from their leaders.  They are keen for battle and ready.

What the NJGOP lacks is an NCO class.  It lacks on-the-ground leaders in towns, neighborhoods, parishes, churches, gun-clubs, PTAs, taxpayers’ groups, and community associations to take the message from the generals to the troops, focus them, and then get it done. 

So the job of any thinking conservative who genuinely cares about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement in New Jersey is to help mold that new strategy, the new message, and then to motivate and train a new corps of grassroots NCOs.  This is what must be done and we need everyone focused on doing it.

But people are naturally selfish and cannot be relied upon to set aside their ambitions to do what so desperately needs to be done.  Even in the midst of a crisis, some will continue to  grab for whatever remains to satisfy a swollen ego. 

And so we have the madness of Martin Marks, of late the Mayor of Scotch Plains and someone who likes the activity of running for higher office.  Having failed to achieve it as a Republican, he has announced that he will run as an Independent or Third Party candidate.  Yes, you heard that right:  Unable to accept defeat, he seeks annihilation. 

The annihilation of such a once promising candidate would be sad.  He could be an asset to his party.  But it is worse than that, because Martin Marks intends to run against the Prime Sponsor of the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act, Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, and in doing so Martin Marks will almost certainly ensure her defeat by a machine Democrat or Democratic Socialist. 

In consciously choosing this path – to be on the November ballot, ripping votes out of the heart of the Republican coalition, to the benefit of some Leftist – Martin Marks will most assuredly and consciously be participating in the election of some rabidly pro-illegal immigration, pro-human trafficking, pro-criminal, pro-abortion, pro-Planned Parenthood, anti-law enforcement, anti-Religious Liberty, anti-Second Amendment, anti-First Amendment, anti-Bill of Rights, anti-Constitution scumbag.  Why would any thinking person who claims to be a “conservative” do this?

In stories printed elsewhere, Martin Marks has claimed that he is a supporter of President Donald Trump and that he is running because others within the NJGOP have expressed their concerns about the President’s tone and policies.  Some have noted, for instance, that the President’s tax cut plan passed last year ended up putting congressional Republicans – and, by extension, the NJGOP – on the wrong side of the property tax issue.  There is no disputing that the Democrats seized upon it to campaign to the right of Republicans on property taxes.  In New Jersey, that is deadly for any Republican candidate.  And it was.

It should be noted, that Martin Marks himself was a critic of Donald Trump, even after Trump was assured the nomination.  Marks went out of his way to write a column in SaveJersey that pissed all over Donald Trump:

“I am not happy that Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for President. In a field that at first rivaled the size of your typical Kentucky Derby, Trump was my last choice. “ (Martin Marks)

Having said that – which, of course, is his right – why would Martin Marks then use others’ concerns with Donald Trump as an excuse to assure the election of a machine Democrat or Democratic Socialist?

There is a job for Martin Marks to do and it is an important one.  If he wants to show that he can motivate and lead, there is something that he can do this year that will unite Republicans and conservatives around him.  Recent changes to the law now allow candidates for school board in New Jersey to bracket together and run as a team.  They don’t run as Democrats or Republicans, these are non-partisan elections, but they can run as pro-taxpayer or pro-traditional values.

People like Martin Marks can be leaders in the NJGOP fightback by going school district by school district in his county and recruiting like-minded people to run for school board.  Then he can provide direction and guidance to see them through to victory… his victory and a victory for our movement.  Instead of destroying, he will be building.  

The school board is everything.  Every day we hear people complain that kids don’t know the Constitution, they don’t know their history, geography, the process of government, and their responsibilities as citizens.  Well take the school boards over and teach them!  Children only know socialism because they have only been taught socialism.  That’s our fault… but we now have this great tool to recruit, run, and take it back.  What we lack are people with a working knowledge of campaigning who are willing to set aside their own egos and spend a cycle or two building the party.  After 2021, the districts will all be different again and new opportunities will be present, only now you will have built something. 

Conservatives seek to C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E the institutions that are the vessels of our values and hopes.  The Republican Party in New Jersey is in an existential fight for survival.  For better or worse, it is the best political institution we have to conduct the fight from the right.  Don’t work to weaken it.  Don’t kill it.  If you do, your soul will regret the part you played in doing so.

In New Jersey, does “Republican” equal “conservative”?

Unfortunately, not even close.

After years of ignoring its base – and a series of losing election cycles – the New Jersey Republican Party is in the process of figuring out who it wants to be.  It doesn’t have a lot of time, because it faces yet another legislative election in which it will likely be at a disadvantage in terms of financial resources and motivated grassroots manpower.

There is a ready-made model.  It is called the Republican Party – the Republican Party that the rest of America believes in.

The Republican Party – in which the NJGOP participates through two National Committee Members – has a wonderful, ready-made, polling and focus-group tested, set of principles for American renewal.  Here they are:

CONSTITUTION

Our Constitution should be preserved, valued and honored. 

ECONOMY

We need to start growing America’s economy instead of Washington’s economy so that hard-working Americans see better wages and more opportunity. 

BUDGET

We need to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, make government more efficient, and leave the next generation with opportunity, not debt. 

HEALTHCARE

We need to start over with real healthcare reform that puts patients and their doctors in charge, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington. 

VETERANS

Our veterans have earned our respect and gratitude, and no veteran should have to wait in line for months or years just to see a doctor. 

SECURITY

Keeping America safe and strong requires a strong military, growing the economy, energy independence, and secure borders.  

EDUCATION

Every child should have an equal opportunity to get a great education; no parent should be forced to send their child to a failing school. 

POVERTY

The best anti-poverty program is a strong family and a good job, so our focus should be on getting people out of poverty by lifting up all people and helping them find work. 

VALUES

Our country should value the traditions of family, life, religious liberty, and hard work. 

ENERGY

We should make America energy independent by encouraging investment in domestic energy, lowering prices, and creating jobs at home. 

IMMIGRATION

We need an immigration system that secures our borders, upholds the law, and boosts our economy.

SOURCE: https://www.gop.com/principles-for-american-renewal

On its website, the Republican National Committee offers a survey that asks which of the above eleven principles are most important to the individual taking the survey.  Notice the tone and language used.  It is a very proactive message:  “This is what we believe in… where do you fit in?” 

Top of Form

When RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel laid out her vision for Republican leadership, she outlined the Principles for American Renewal.

These are the core principles that unite and drive the Republican Party. These are the core principles that inform and inspire our policymaking. And these are the core principles that we need to get our country back on track. 

SOURCE: https://www.gop.com/principles-for-american-renewal-survey/

Now compare it with the survey on the NJGOP website.  Notice the difference in tone and language…

The NJGOP is a diverse group of individuals and organizations, with multi-­faceted views on a variety of issues. As we develop a winning strategy for all 21 counties and 565 municipalities, we want to hear from you. Take our brief survey and let us know what issues are most important to you!

What issues are most important to you? (Select all that apply)

Top of Form

Controlling government spending and reducing the debt

Improving health care

Strengthening New Jersey’s economy and protecting jobs

Improving education

Fighting crime and improving public safety

Keeping property taxes down

Improving New Jersey’s roads, bridges, and highways

Protecting the state from threats of terrorism

Protecting the environment and open space

Reforming government to make it more transparent and accountable

Other

SOURCE: https://www.njgop.org/issues-survey/

Instead of “this is what we believe in… where do you fit in” there’s a laundry list of “concerns”, most of which would be just as suitable on a Democrat Party website.  Instead of a unifying message and focus, it is as if the NJGOP were appealing to voters to “tell us who you want us to be.”

X

Improving health care

Strengthening New Jersey’s economy and protecting jobs

Improving education

Fighting crime and improving public safety

X

Improving New Jersey’s roads, bridges, and highways

Protecting the state from threats of terrorism

Protecting the environment and open space

Reforming government to make it more transparent and accountable

Other

In contrast, the message of Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Democrats couldn’t be clearer.  New Jersey Democrats have the sense of who they are that the NJGOP lacks.  In the video on their website, the Governor lays out the Democrats’ message – point by point, no bullshit.  Murphy nails it when he says, “We are who we told folks we would be.”  That is being straight with the voters and they are looking for that.

SOURCE: https://njdems.org/

New Jersey Republicans have fallen far since 2001 and are now in an existential crisis and a battle for survival.  The next three years will determine whether or not the NJGOP continues as a viable alternative to the Democrats – the Legislative elections of 2019, Congressional elections of 2020, and Gubernatorial election of 2021.  It’s life or death.  Time to be bold.

Is AFP even a conservative organization anymore?

Can we get serious?

In America, there is a consensus, a generally accepted agreement as to what the word “conservative” means.  Take a poll.  Ask the average voter what the word means.  The four pillars of modern American conservatism are pretty easy to remember:

(1) The Right to Life.  Conservatives, real conservatives, Reagan conservatives, we oppose abortion.  Full stop.  

(2) The Second Amendment.  Hey, how many court rulings do you need before you finally get that the government has no duty to protect you?  In a Republic, that is on you.  Conservatives oppose the anarchy of crime.  We support gun rights, local police, and laws that are tough on crime – especially violent crime.

(3) Less Government/ Lower Taxes.  Conservatives know that smaller government and less government regulation leads to less spending and debt, which enables governments to cut taxes.  Conservatives also know that crony capitalism is a form of political corruption and as such is itself a tax on the goods and services used by ordinary citizens.

(4) Illegal Immigration.  Conservatives like America and American culture.  We welcome anyone from anywhere who wants to come here and join us and become an American.  We don’t want to be colonized by foreign cultures with authoritarian or anti-democratic traditions.  We don’t want to be told that we need to change to accommodate those who gate-crash the laws of our country. 

In order to call yourself a conservative in America, you pretty much need to be all four of the above.  Maybe you can get away with being a little mushy on one and still be considered a “soft” conservative.  But if you are bad on more than one, you need to think about why you are a Republican.  (Hey, haven’t these people ever read the PLATFORM of the party they claim membership of?)

That’s not to say that anybody is a “bad” person.  It’s just saying that you’re not a conservative.  See, the word “conservative” actually does mean something.  It’s not just a term of praise used in the proper setting to describe people we happen to like… or want to suck-up to. 

“Conservative” doesn’t mean “libertarian”.  It is per se a traditionalist point-of-view.  Conservatives want to C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E the traditions and values of our American Republic.  Unlike our libertarian brethren, we don’t want to replace Mom and Apple Pie with the Orgasmatron and the Orb.

That’s not to say that conservatives and libertarians (or anyone else for that matter) can’t agree on certain issues and work together.  But having a conservative point of view on this or that issue doesn’t make one a conservative.  Heck, Bill Clinton called himself a “fiscal conservative” – that didn’t make him a conservative.  It made him a liberal who saw the political advantages of conservative policy on issues like welfare reform.  He was still a liberal. 

And so we come to the especially Jersey-style, end of year crap that recently went spewing itself all over the Internet.  For years now, New  Jersey has been working very hard at being the place words go to lose their meaning.  Reading “The Right 40 Women to Watch in 2019” (written by AFP’s head honcho in New Jersey) it’s now clear that this trend has reached new depths of meaninglessness – with many of those mentioned being members of the “Right” only in the way that Hillary Clinton can be considered being to the “Right” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

AFP – Americans for Prosperity – is the group formed by the super-rich Koch brothers as the political and lobbying arm of their business empire.  Anyone who knows anything about the Koch brothers knows that they come out of the Libertarian Party – in fact, one of the brothers actually ran against Republican Ronald Reagan on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980.  Yes… THAT Ronald Reagan. 

And what a ticket that was… it supported everything from the decriminalization of narcotics and prostitution to America’s standing down as a world power.  If that crew had been elected, we’d still have the Soviet Union (and maybe they would have won).  But happily, Reagan won and the Koch operation was forced to rebrand itself as fake “conservative” – a move that started the process of unwinding the meaning of the word. 

Over the last decade or more, the Koch operation has done much to corrupt the conservative movement in America – in an effort to remake it in their own crony capitalist image.  Now they’ve come full circle and are back to advocating a soft-on-crime approach while pushing to flood the open market with recreational marijuana… this, in the midst of an opioid epidemic that is killing upwards of 50,000 people each year.

In fact, AFP in New Jersey has become so crony capitalist, so establishment, so anti-conservative values, that it has taken to shilling for far-Left politicians like U.S. Senator Cory Booker.  Just before Christmas, AFP paid for a mailing that lauded Senator Gropicus (a great moniker, courtesy of SaveJersey’s Matt Rooney) for a soft-on-crime package of feel good “reforms” that miss the problem entirely, but make for good media ads for his 2020 run against President Donald Trump.  Why the heck would AFP do something like that?  The Democrats don’t need the resources – they already have George Soros – now they have the Koch operation’s millions too? 

Among those women on “the Right” we were asked to “celebrate” were a half dozen who made the list because of their service on the just completed campaign of Bob Hugin for United States Senate.  Now maybe the writer didn’t get the memo, but Bob Hugin didn’t run from “the Right” and his campaign did all it could to distance itself from said “Right” – starting with millions in advertising assuring the electorate that he was a “different kind of Republican” who explicitly rejected at least one of the four pillars of modern American conservatism.  So WTF?

And since when did the legalization and sale of marijuana become a conservative issue?  Hasn’t anyone read about the vaping problem in our schools?  And this is with nicotine… imagine what it will be with marijuana?  And edibles?  How will policing the use of chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and cookies work?  Candy for children… So how the heck did the “co-founder and executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Industry Association” make a list of “women on the Right”???

Get out of your offices and talk to average people sometime!  Ask them if they think legalizing and selling an entry level drug in the midst of an opioid epidemic is a conservative political position?  Average voters will think you have lost your mind.  But there she is, on the list for being “at the helm” in her quest to “unleash a new industry within the State.”  What’s next?  Narcotics?  The legalization of human trafficking?  Prostitution?  Body parts?   Wait… it will come.

Rosemary Becchi made the list too.  She’s the president of a “new grassroots advocacy organization” formed in 2018 “to fight Jersey’s high taxes and propose policy solutions to the state’s complex financial problems.”  Except that she hasn’t.  Ms. Becchi is a DC lobbyist who has donated to the Democrats.  Hey, we get that lobbyists do that kind of thing, but let’s not call it conservative. 

Nobody has seen Ms. Becchi testifying in Trenton, or providing information to legislators, or even returning telephone calls from those interested in finding out more about her “organization”.  Cynics would say that it is nothing more than a front – a cover for her personal ambition to run for Congress.  This is something she openly explored against incumbent Congressman Leonard Lance (R-07) a year ago, with her “grassroots” organization forming a kind of parentheses between that and her expected formal announcement for 2020.

But as far as labeling her a “conservative” – we don’t really know where she stands on big government and taxes, leaving aside her unknown positions on abortion, the Second Amendment, and illegal immigration.  So who is trying to fool who here?

Finally, AFP’s list is memorable because of the genuine conservatives – four pillar conservatives – that it leaves out.  Champions like Marie Tasy and Christine Flaherty and Rev. Mandy Leverett… they are fighting to maintain the value of human life, to recognize the threshold of fetal pain, to end the trafficking of human beings and the sexual exploitation of women and children.  Of course, in today’s cash register world of “new industries” like pot and such, none of that matters – except that it does matter to conservatives, and there are a great many of us.

Also dissed were Freeholder Deborah Smith of Morris County – a great advocate for the Second Amendment – and incoming Sussex County Freeholder Dawn Fantasia who took down an incumbent Freeholder by winning 63% of the vote!  Nobody who made AFP’s list ever beat an incumbent.  Why are conservative winners ignored and pot pushers lauded as “conservatives”?   And how about an operative like Kelly Hart, the executive director of the Sussex County Republican Committee.  A four pillar conservative who actually won for Bob Hugin by more than was expected – outperforming everywhere but receiving scant recognition for it.  Obviously, there is a “cool girls” table, just as in high school, and some are not part of it… no matter how much they actually WIN elections. 

So in future, be a bit more judicious in who you label “conservative.”  Be honest with voters.  Stop telling them that you are something you’re not. 

Yes, we expect to hear arguments from pro-abortion, mushy on illegal immigration, soft-on-the-Second Amendment types who claim that they “feel” they are conservative.  But isn’t that just the times we live in?  We’ve all heard of gender-fluidity… well, these people are ideologically fluid.  And just as our chromosomes determine whether we are male or female, how we stand on the four pillars make us conservative – or something else.

Hey, don’t worry.  Not being conservative doesn’t make you a “bad” person.  And it doesn’t mean that you don’t hold conservative points of view on this issue or that.  You can still work with conservatives.  It just means that you recognize that you don’t come from the same ideological place that conservatives do.  And in your heart, you already know that, so let’s cut the bull and get honest with the voters.  Restoring their faith in the labels politicians apply to themselves will perhaps restore some measure of trust… for when the very words people use to describe themselves have no integrity, what confidence can voters have in anything?

A reader reacts to John McCann

By Sam Adams

The young Republicans love affair with John McCann.

Seems the latte-sipping, basement dwellers over at the young Republicans are so desperate to become a political power in New Jersey, they backed John McCann.

Sadly though when researching McCann, I think they may have thought McCain was their guy. But hey that's alright, both democrats hiding in Republican clothing.

The problem though, this is do or die for the Young Republicans, and with the baggage McCann has, it will be a flaming wreck.

Let's see, flip flops on right to life issues.

Wasn't allowed to speak at a 2nd amendment rally because he wouldn't fill out a questionnaire.

Lawsuits.

Paying for endorsements.

Caught on tape admitting he has to lie. Yes caught on tape.

Sadly he isn't suited to be a dog catcher.

But thank God for Steve Lonegan. True conservative.

Lots of endorsements Record of lowering taxes Right to life.

Asked to speak at both Trump and 2nd amendment rallies.

Don't worry boys, Dunkin Doughnuts has a new latte coming out just for you.

McCan't again latte. Drink up.

Jersey City blog to network with reform blogs across NJ

Take a look at this blog and see what it has accomplished already…

http://www.realjerseycity.com/

Real Jersey City editor Michael Shurin is a pro-freedom, pro-reform, anti-corruption crusader who doesn’t stop until the bad guys are in jail.

http://www.realjerseycity.com/about/

He’s becoming a role-model for citizen journalists throughout New Jersey. 

http://www.realjerseycity.com/10-things-to-know-ex-jcpd-chief-philip-zacche-was-convicted-for-my-reporting-mayor-fulop-prosecutor-suarez-and-director-shea-condoned-the-corruption/

We at Jersey Conservative are proud to be part of a growing network of citizen journalists from throughout the Garden State.  People of many different political perspectives understand that a corrupt process not only corrupts outcomes, but it ruins people’s faith in the integrity of what should be their government.  It not only suppresses voter participation – it destroys hope.

We will be working closely with Real Jersey City to expose the corruption there that every taxpayer in the state is subsidizing.  And we will examine how an intricate network of bi-partisan political deal making keeps the money flowing into Jersey City to the benefit of – not the poor, or even the working poor – but the very wealthiest corporations and professionals.

So stay tuned and follow the money…

AFP: The pothead/ amnesty for illegals wing of the GOP

“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” (Eric Hoffer)

Is AFP even conservative anymore?

Looking at their positions on some of the major issues facing New Jersey, you would have to conclude NO.

Establishment GOPers are very good at worming their way into conservative causes and turning them into husks.  A short history of this could occupy a chapter in a book -- or a lengthy article.  A good starting point would be what happened to "Hands Across New Jersey" after the Whitmanites offered their help and money.  And the 2009 gubernatorial primary with Brother Todd and his checkbook would make interesting reading too.

GOPAC was once a dynamic organization and a pillar of the conservative movement.  Today -- in New Jersey at least -- it is run by Ocean County GOP boss George Gilmore.  Would anyone in their right mind describe George Gilmore as a "movement conservative"?

Establishment types apply the word "conservative" the way old tarts apply makeup -- to hide many sins.  But trust one and see what you are left with.  It won't be fresh faced idealism. 

They say they are "conservative" and then they vote to make your daughter share her high school shower with someone sporting a penis.  They vote to confirm a judge who backs COAH and Abbott.  They vote to obstruct a woman's ability to obtain a legal handgun to protect herself and her family.  They vote to fund abortion. 

Last year, we suggested an alternative to the "screw card" put out by AFP.  We said it should be based on the highest authority in the Republican Party -- the platform of the Republican National Committee.  Well, a couple people took up the idea and word is they'll soon have the money necessary to publish and distribute a score card that is truly representative of the conservative movement in New Jersey.

Of course, there are those within the NJGOP who will feel threatened by this and who will work against it, as they work against all alternative ideas.  They don't like the First Amendment, preferring worship to speech.  But they shouldn't be threatened, because nothing attracts and grows a cause or a party better than open debate and free participation.  It breaks the stale boring monopoly of establishment language and ads the spice of truth.

Loosen up and all will be well.

Are endorsements more important than issues?

Endorsements can be powerful tools to reinforce or create perceptions.  When they make sense.  When they don't, it usually backfires on the endorser, like when Newt Gingrich foolishly joined with Nancy Pelosi in an ad campaign to address climate change. 

It didn't move a single Republican vote.  Conservatives looked at it as a gross betrayal, and it essentially f*cked Newt Gingrich's chances of ever being the Republican nominee for President.  Again and again, the poor idiot had to disown his own words.

Newt's a pretty smart guy.  Taught college, wrote dozens of books, given hundreds of speeches, masterminded the Republican takeover of Congress, became the first Republican Speaker in half a century.  And even he couldn't come up with a good reason for his F-up.

Recently some GOP insiders have been putting the cart before the horse.  They have recruited some very interesting first time candidates that they are enthusiastically pushing.  They are on an endorsement hunt, except that they have yet to sit down with their candidates to honestly figure out where they stand on the issues that matter to that unwashed conservative mass who constitute the great majority of the party that they lead. 

Elected officials who endorse candidates who have no record on the issues are all potential sin-eaters, in that one day soon those candidates will have to take a position and then that position will become your sin.  That's why it is so important to get the issues clear -- up front.  Remember poor old Newt. 

And it will be no picnic for the endorsee either.  For a candidate to announce an endorsement in February, take a position opposite the endorser in March, only to have the endorser (under intense and sustained and constant grassroots pressure) publicly state that they oppose the candidate they endorsed on one or many hot button issues, is not a good plan.  So then the narrative for April is... "even so-and-so, who endorsed this candidate in February, now thinks his position on X sucks large."  And the direct mail, cable, radio and all the rest is about how the prominent elected official who endorsed you has broken with you over the important issue of X.  Both endorser and endorsee are left with a sore ass.  Watch, because this will happen. 

Issues always come first.  Issues are the WHY.  Get them right and everything else  follows.  Issues matter.

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.

Ted Cruz Endorses Lonegan For Congress In New Jersey’s 5th District

HOUSTON, Texas – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today announced his endorsement of New Jersey's conservative standard-bearer Steve Lonegan who is running for Congress in New Jersey’s Fifth District.

“Steve Lonegan is a tireless advocate for our founding principles who has proven his willingness to boldly take his message directly to the people of New Jersey, and I am proud to endorse him to become the next Member of Congress from the Fifth District,” Cruz said. “I have known Steve for many years, and look forward to working with him to grow jobs, expand freedom, and ensure the security of the American people.”

Lonegan graduated from William Paterson College with a B.A. in business administration, and went on to earn his MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  He is the former Mayor of Bogota, NJ and was the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in the 2013 special election.

The endorsement by Senator Cruz is only the latest in a string of endorsements coming to Lonegan from state legislative leaders like Bergen County's Senator Gerry Cardinale and grassroots organizations representing Second Amendment voters, property taxpayers, Pro-Life and traditional values.  Conservatives continue to rally to Steve Lonegan as their best chance to elect an alternative to the warmed-over Clintonista policies of liberal Democrat incumbent Josh Gottheimer.

Later today, Lonegan will be meeting with conservative leaders in Washington, DC, including Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.  For more information on Steve Lonegan's campaign for Congress, visit www.Lonegan.com.

GOP screws up trying to appeal to the blue-collar Right

Look at that crazy shit they pulled in Burlington County.  Those over-the-top attacks on a Sikh, trying to make him out to be a Muslim.  Nuts! 

But that's how it goes when GOP establishment types try to fashion a message they think will appeal to conservatives.  They don't try to communicate to Bill Buckley -- it's more George Wallace they have in mind (except, he was a Democrat).  GOP moderates think poorly of their conservative brethren, and it shows by the way they try to motivate us to vote their way.  They do more than talk down to us... they use grunts.

Case in point:  The Burlington County freeholder election that resulted in victory for two Democrats and accusations of over-the-top campaigning against one of the Democrats, a Sikh.  Now calling a Sikh as Muslim is just plain ignorant.  The Sikhs are like the Scots and are the backbone of the military class in India, a decidedly non-Muslim nation (although Muslims are free to worship there).  You could not ask for a more loyal comrade to fight beside than a Sikh.

According to some of the media coverage, GOP radio ads mocked the candidate's last name, Singh, which means "sovereign prince" and is common to male Sikhs.  This is as silly as mocking the "Mc" or "Mac" that means "son of" in Gaelic names or the "ski" (also "sky" and "ska", female) that means "from or of" that ends many Slavic names. 

This fellow was running on a ticket with "sanctuary state" Phil Murphy and is part of a party that has embraced the Women's March co-chaired by a genuine radical named Linda Sarsour.  It was Sarsour who called for "jihad" against the elected government of the United States of America and the Women's March that honored terrorist cop-killer Joanne Chesimard.  There are plenty of real things to call out the Democrats on without getting silly about it.

Here's the problem.  The GOP establishment actually believes that its base -- that unwashed mass of voters who are either working class or grew up working class --are a bunch of racists who think in terms of skin color.  In fact, they are not.

But they do think in terms of jobs and opportunity.  They know that the same party that says it's helping them with the minimum wage is screwing them by flooding the market with cheap labor and then failing to give a damn as the gray economy expands and the on-the-books economy contracts. 

Standing in opposition to Phil Murphy and the Democrats' plan to make New Jersey a sanctuary state is not about the color of anyone's skin -- or their religion, or their shoe size.  It is about milk on the table and a roof over your head.  It is about losing your job to a non-minimum wage robot and having to cobble together three jobs in the gray economy -- while competing against the whole world.  Because globalists like Phil Murphy have advocated the economics of outsourcing your jobs while advocating the economics of cheap illegal labor.

Ever ask yourself why the globalist lobby dominated United States government makes it so easy to come and work here illegally but such a bureaucratic pain-in-the-ass to apply for legal residency and citizenship?  The answer is easy:  They want it this way.

Politicians like Phil Murphy appreciate the functionality of illegal immigrants because for them they represent the modern equivalent of slave labor.  They eat poorer, live in poorer housing, and cannot complain about it -- either as voters or members of a labor union.  And they block the ability of legal workers to collectively stand up to crony capitalism.  That is pretty good if you are a global crony capitalist like Phil Murphy.

Here is a primer on how Murphy and the Democrats intend to screw the working people of New Jersey:

A "sanctuary state" will mean a huge influx of people who need the social services safety net more than average.  The Democrats have promised to impose a so-called 'millionaire's tax' that will chase away those who currently fund the state's social safety net.  Those who are left... the middle class who can't leave because of a job, or because they can't sell their home for what they paid for it, or because their child wants to finish school -- they will have to make up for the shortfall in higher taxes.

That won't be easy, because at 26.1% of income, the cost of living in New Jersey is, according to Bloomberg, by far the most expensive in the nation.  Meanwhile, state household income is nearly seven percent lower than it was in 2008 and has only grown by a little more than one percent since then. 

Those coming to the new Sanctuary State of New Jersey will enter the workforce of the gray economy, where the minimum wage doesn't apply.  But for everyone else it does -- which will leave trade union workers, manufacturing, medical care and health workers, service industry workers, and mothers with part-time jobs all at a disadvantage when competing for a job.  It will be bad news for people trying to pay their mortgage, their property taxes, those hoping to avoid foreclosure. 

And just where will all these newcomers to the Sanctuary State of New Jersey reside?  Why in subsidized sanctuary housing -- courtesy of COAH and its plan to build tens of thousands of new subsidized no-questions-asked units throughout New Jersey. 

This will require massive infrastructure investment by taxpayers -- and an increase in property tax collections.  To pay for it, the Democrats intend to scrap the 2-percent cap on local government spending.  Under the Democrats property taxes rose an average of 6.1 percent a year -- triple the rate of inflation.  Since the cap, property taxes have gone up an average of just 2.1 percent a year.

On top of this, there is the question of what happens to the flow of illegal narcotics, human trafficking, crime, and terrorism when you set out to obstruct law enforcement:  Do those ills go up... or down?

In short, what is wrong with candidate Balvir Singh is that he is Democrat.  As a Democrat, he is part of a party whose platform calls for higher taxes for everyone and the destruction of the social safety net; less job creation and greater economic uncertainty; and using property taxes to subsidize a flood of opportunity-killing cheap labor.  That is anti-worker while refusing to confront modern day slavery and it will make working people poorer,  more susceptible to foreclosure and poverty, and more vulnerable to violent crime and terrorism.

Unless Balvir Singh stands up to his party and openly fights it (or becomes a Republican) he will be one of the bad guys and worthy of defeat.

Winston Churchill on dealing with National Socialists

As the weak, irresolute rhetoric flows, let us stop for a moment and consider the words of the leader who stood against the Nazi state... alone.  At a time when the Leftist Soviet Union was feasting on half of Poland, through a deal made with the Nazis, a Conservative Prime Minister rallied his people to oppose Hitler.

Here are his words:

To discuss Sir Winston Churchill,  here is Boris Johnson, journalist and writer, the former Mayor of London, Her Majesty's Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, and the Conservative Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip:

Who is NJ's conservative conscience?

Looking at a popular GOP blog today we came across a paid advertisement on said blog by Assemblyman Jay Webber.  The paid advertisement featured a quote from the blog's owner, calling Webber "The Conservative Conscience of the State Legislature." 

Well, OK, fair enough -- but we remember when that blog was the chorus for the campaign of an establishment GOP gubernatorial candidate named Chris Christie, and we remember when Assemblyman Jay Webber was so besotted with candidate Christie that he wouldn't appear in public with then-AFP State Director Steve Lonegan, because he thought the movement conservative was going to challenge Christie in the primary.

On the whole, Jay Webber has been a fine Republican legislator, but he has often straddled the line between being an establishment politician and a movement conservative.  An admirer of President Ronald Reagan, in October of 2014 Webber wrote a strong argument for increasing the user tax on gasoline in return for the elimination of the estate tax.  It was a classic conservative argument that showed how much he understood conservative policy and the effects of different types of taxation. 

Unfortunately, Webber would later reverse himself in order to bask in the kind of alt-right populism served up by "Red-Shirt" broadcaster Bill Spadea -- a Reagan critic who rejected Reagan Republicanism for third-party populism way back in the 1990's.  As evidenced by Spadea, the alt-right isn't so much an ideology or a set of policies, as it is an attitude and an anger. 

We have heard from members of the alt-right who think all government sucks and who say they are taxed too much and then reveal themselves to be public employees and go on to complain that their taxpayer-funded benefits are not enough and their pensions are not secure.  Where do they think the money comes from?  We have heard from alt-righters who live off government disability complain about the government that taxes others to pay them.  Anyone who can engage us all day in social media debates is certainly employable as something in today's economy.  Instead of bitching, go find a career, a job, and get to work.

Many of the same people who want tax cuts see nothing strange in concurrently asking for more "free" stuff from the government.  They aren't thinking balance sheet.  They aren't thinking at all.  It is emotion.   They are the same who believe that they should get paid more for what they do while everyone who provides the services they take for granted should be paid less.  The military who guards them should be paid less, ditto for the police and firefighters, bridges and roads should appear miraculously and for a minimal cost, ditto for clean water, electricity, and on and on.  And if they don't get their way, all that they want, for as cheap as they want it, then they can always tune in to the man on the radio and throw something.

Those who proselytize or celebrate this juvenile anger, this rejection of adult reasoning, are calling for the end of rational government.  We will end with two sides -- each appealing to deranged emotion, each perpetually lying to their followers, each refusing to belief in anything the other side says --  governance as a kind of thug life.

Rob Eichmann could see all this.  Elected to the Republican State Committee from Gloucester County -- on movement conservative Steve Lonegan's ticket -- Eichmann rejected the emotional pap put out by some and always carefully weighed the various attributes of any given policy.  He looked to the Republican Party Platform for guidance -- and to the conservative policies of Republican leaders like Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, and Newt Gingrich.  Eichmann was the NJGOP's conservative conscience.

Shortly after Chris Christie won the Republican nomination, Christie and the NJGOP were asked by Rob Eichmann and other members of the State Committee to embrace the platform of the national Republican Party that was debated and passed at the Republican National Convention in 2008.  Christie declined to endorse that platform and his appointed State Party Chairman -- Assemblyman Jay Webber --  got quite nasty towards Rob Eichmann and those pushing the NJGOP to embrace basic Republican principles. 

Under pressure, NJGOP Chairman Webber promised to put a committee together to draft a "statement of principles" for the NJGOP.  That was in 2009.  That committee has yet to meet.

Another Republican National Convention came in 2012 and an updated party platform was debated and passed by the assembled delegates.  Governor Christie was the keynote speaker at that convention.  Nevertheless, he did not endorse or to allow his state party to adopt the platform that was democratically chosen at that convention.

In 2013, the NJGOP went a step further and launched a campaign to defeat sitting members of the State Committee who supported the national Republican Party platform and candidates who said they would do so.  They used state party funds, supposedly under the control of the State Committee, to defeat sitting members of the State Committee, without any formal vote allowing them to do so. 

One of their chief targets was Gloucester County State Committeeman Rob Eichmann.  At the time the  conservative was hospitalized, suffering from cancer, and was in no position to fight back.  The NJGOP ignored pleas to take this into consideration and launched an aggressive and negative campaign to defeat Committeeman Eichmann using the State Committee's own money.  Eichmann was defeated along with the other conservatives who supported the Republican Party platform.  Rob Eichmann, the conservative conscience of the NJGOP, died a few months later, aged 48.

Last year was 2016 and yet another Republican National Convention has come and gone.  The NJGOP has still not formally adopted the platform of the national Republican Party as its own.  The NJGOP and its candidates have no guidance as to the principles and policies that inform their party.  And so we get the case of Kim Guadagno, candidate for Governor, see-sawing between the gross pragmatism she openly practiced for over seven years and the dishonest "cover" she has accepted from the alt-right in an attempt to quickly "re-make" herself. 

If Assemblyman Jay Webber wants to earn the title "The Conservative Conscience of the State Legislature," he needs to stand up and start demanding that the NJGOP adopt the RNC platform as its own.  Without a written explanation of what the Republican Party stands for and what it means to be a Republican, our ability to recruit and train others to recruit new members is limited.

It is time for the NJGOP to declare what it is and what it stands for.  If it is informed by the principles of the national Republican Party and the platform of every Republican President from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, then say so.  If it is not, then please explain what it is that you stand for and the policies that you intend to pursue if elected.  Simply having the word "Republican" in your name is not enough.

AFP supports Planned Parenthood

How does ANY organization worthy of the name CONSERVATIVE give someone an "A+" who voted to pass a formal state commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the abortionist Planned Parenthood?  Well, the New Jersey chapter of American for Prosperity did.  Whether this was because of AFP State Chair Frayda Levy's personal position on abortion or the time AFP Executive Director Erica Jedynak (nee Klemens) spent with W.A.N.D. (Women's Action for New Directions) we cannot tell. 

Jersey Conservative is unique among political blogs in New Jersey in that we never pick fights.  That cannot be said about other blogs.  And that goes for groups like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) too.  You know the way they operate.  Some innocent conservative is just minding his or her own business when one of these wind-bags just has to start slinging crap.  They start the crap because they want to be noticed (basic primate behavior) or because someone somewhere has some grand stupid plan to take us back to 1991 or something or other (advanced primate behavior). 

So now the innocent conservative is under attack -- the victim of a drive-by -- and so off we go, to place things in perspective, provide some balance, and set the record straight.  Of course, this is perceived as an attack by the handjob who started it in the first place, because handjobs firmly believe that they and only they should be permitted to talk crap about other people.  And under no circumstances should anyone be permitted to talk crap about them.  See, this is the lack of balance that we seek to correct.

A lot of smiling goes on in Trenton.  Smile, smile, smile. . . but don't let those smiles fool you.  There are lots of smiling Jacks and Jills who when you're not looking are eyeing up the back seat of your trousers.  They go around with these barbed-wire enemas and they'd like nothing more than to stick them where the sun doesn't shine.  So back away if someone is smiling too earnestly at you. 

AFP has long been purveyors of the barbed-wire enema.  But back when its guiding mind was Steve Lonegan, an economic and social conservative, its annual scorecard was a means of rewarding conservative friends while dissing members of the GOP establishment.  All that has changed now.

Whereas an event under Lonegan's tenure would have featured a renegade like New York's Lt. Governor Betsy McCaughey or someone like Michelle Malkin, now AFP rallies around that enduring figure of traditional values and conservative principles. . . Senator Tom Kean Jr.???   Really?  Back when AFP meant something in New Jersey, back when Steve Lonegan was running it, they knew who was and who wasn't a "movement" conservative and there were just three "movement" conservative legislators in all New Jersey. 

No, not Jay Webber.  He had the chance but ended up taking a dump on Ronald Reagan's platform. 

Under Lonegan, AFP used its scorecard to shepherd legislative efforts -- like repealing the RGGI energy tax -- and to help legislators articulate conservative principles.  Yes, it was built around those "movement" legislators who were so often shit on by the establishment -- and it often employed vote "searches" in order to find ways to reward a legislator who was "trying" to be a conservative. 

These are certainly corruptions of a kind, but under Steve Lonegan, AFP never turned its rating system over to the GOP establishment -- to bestow a "seal of approval" on their moderate economic mush and social issues assbanditry.   And Lonegan never participated in the mass screwing of Republicans that the two "handmaidens of the establishment" now running AFP just allowed to happen.

So when does a pig get to call itself a sheep?  When it grows a wooly covering.  When do liberal Republicans get to call themselves "conservatives"?  When they get AFP to grossly corrupt its process to provide that covering.

So this is where we come in.  A corruption has occurred.  There are victims of this corruption.  Republicans have been injured (and injured by other Republicans, on purpose, mind you).  We are the corrective.  We seek to bring things back into balance.

We would like to have seen AFP take responsibility for their craven sell-out, for the flip-flop on the "success" story they put out just a few weeks ago.  But these rich social liberals are so used to getting their way that we feel it would take too long to educate them that we are not the typical American working people that they are used to screwing.

So here is what we propose.  AFP assigned high grades to certain people.  We will make sure that they earn them -- every voting session.  We will report on EVERY bad vote, every voting session, every week, by every phony.  We will report on your bad votes in committee.  Every committee, every week, every phony.

You will be exposed for who you really are, week upon week, or you will become good conservatives -- at least on paper.  You may have found it easy to corrupt AFP and engineer a phony grade, but you will find that it is a much more difficult thing to live up to.

Stay tuned. . .

The Hill: What conservatives got wrong in 2016

Conservative 'social issues' are winnable

— if the GOP grows a backbone

December 20, 2016

By: Frank Cannon

NB:  In the November 8, 2016, election, Republicans picked up one State Senate seat, extending their majority to 35-15, and Republicans maintained their 74-46 advantage in the State House of Representatives.

When Gov. Pat McCrory (R-N.C.) dared to sign HB2, a bill that repealed a Charlotte ordinance which would have forced private businesses and charitable religious organizations to allow grown men who “identify” as women to use the same public bathrooms and showers as girls, the left banded together with its allies in corporate America, the entertainment industry, and the mainstream media and spent the next eight months carpet bombing the state of North Carolina.

As my colleague Terry Schilling pointed out in The Federalist:

“They launched corporate boycotts. They took away the NBA All-Star game. They cancelled sold-out concerts. And then, after ensuring the economic pain would be as excruciating as possible on residents of North Carolina, Roy Cooper and the Democrats placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of McCrory.

“The left essentially staged an economic crisis in order to win an election. Nasty.”

This blitzkrieg by progressives, an obvious attempt to bully the GOP into submission on the “gender identity” issue, made McCrory’s race one of the most consequential of the 2016 cycle.

He was outspent by nearly $8 million and was up against an avalanche of opposition from progressive elites, who dominated the news media and pop culture.

And despite all of this, McCrory barely lost. Just one or two million dollars more in financial support from conservative donors likely would have put him over the top. Unfortunately, these donors largely froze. Why?

One of the big fads among conservative organizations and donors is spending millions and millions of dollars in an attempt to change institutions that are virtually unchangeable — academia, the mainstream media, pop culture, the entertainment industry — institutions over which the left has a complete stranglehold.

This is misguided, at least when it comes at the expense of engaging in critical political races.

Politics is the only part of the culture that can easily be driven by ordinary people. Everything else — academic institutions, Hollywood, the entertainment industry, even corporate America — is all controlled by the progressive elites.

We can’t decide what books are published, what TV shows are produced (and what agendas those TV shows push), what universities teach, or what corporate America sells. The idea that we are going to direct all our money attempting to change those aspects of culture, rather than the one aspect of culture where we can have a real impact and reverse cultural trends — by winning in politics — is insanity.

So why aren’t conservative organizations and donors spending more on politics? Why didn’t they protect McCrory, go on offense fighting the culture war, and save themselves tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in future spending on efforts to play defense?

Conservatives don’t succeed by persuading the elites. We succeed by persuading the people.

There was no academic work in favor of Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts. It was opposed by every elite. Yet ultimately, Reagan’s tax cut model became GOP orthodoxy… because Reagan won.

Trump’s policies on trade, immigration, and even abortion were universally derided by GOP elites during the campaign. Now, he is completely transforming GOP policy and preparing to affect real change on those issues, despite being opposed by elites. Why? Because he won.

Winning elections is not only an efficient and cost-effective way of affecting cultural change, but for conservatives, it is perhaps the only way to do so successfully.

The irony of ironies is that McCrory would have almost assuredly won had conservative organizations and donors pitched in just another $1 or $2 million — relative pocket change when compared to multi-million dollar projects being funded merely to study how conservatives might use different messaging on social issues in future elections.

While those projects go on, and while Washington policy wonks wonk out, winnable political battles are being outright surrendered — such as what happened in North Carolina, where voters, by and large,  supported the actual provisions in HB2.

Now, with a political establishment that is in all likelihood unwilling to go the way of McCrory, believing that fighting on social issues is a death sentence, conservative organizations and donors are going to pour their money into legal efforts to defend against activist courts and academic efforts to write white papers no one will read.

Amazingly, despite Republicans now holding the House, the Senate, and the presidency, those of us who believe that men probably shouldn’t be showering with women are preparing for 2017 as if we were relegated to minority status!

The underlying message of not letting men shower with our daughters is a winning one, but only if it is actively promoted. That doesn’t happen unless conservative donors pony up.

Liberals and their corporate and entertainment allies spent millions of dollars driving home the shameful idea that, if North Carolina voters didn’t vote Democrat, liberal institutions would abandon the state, and people would lose jobs. Extortion was their central campaign message!

This was an easy message to counter, especially given the extreme nature of the Left’s position — that grown men have a civil right to shower with young women, and that any business or organization that dissents from this view should be removed from the public square.

But driving home a message takes money, and the money wasn’t there.

Conservative organizations and donors pinched pennies and refused to go all-in to help McCrory, and now those same donors are going to spend ten times, twenty times, maybe even a hundred times as much fighting the narrative created by the very election they abandoned — the idea that progressive gender ideology cannot be defeated or discussed in politics without it spelling sure defeat for the Republican.

Get ready, donors, to spend millions of dollars in court fighting the practical implications of “gender identity” being considered a protected class.

Get ready to spend millions more fighting the Left’s new “proven” strategy — that by colluding with corporate elites, the entertainment industry, and the mainstream media — they can get literally anything they want, and the GOP will just cave.

This could have been prevented. We could be celebrating a popular defeat of progressive gender ideology. Instead, we are up against a narrative, promoted even by the likes of establishment conservatives like Sen. Thom Tillis, that “controversial social issues” cost us big league.

What a shame. The only question now is, will conservative organizations and donors learn this lesson for the next North Carolina? Or will we continue channeling Don Quixote — tilting at windmills we can’t defeat, while refusing to fight the battles we can actually win?

Frank Cannon is the president of American Principles Project.  Follow him on Twitter @FrankCannonAPP..