Wirths and Space block Chinese Communists from gaining foothold in Princeton

America won!  Thanks to Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space, the Chinese Communists will not be buying a college in Princeton.

Alerted by businessman-philanthropist Mike Hennessy, the Assemblymen got to work generating grassroots opposition to the all but done sale of Westminster Choir College to a Chinese company controlled by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and the Communist Party of China (CPC).  Westminster is a division of the Westminster College of the Arts, and is part of Rider University.

Last June, Rider University had signed a purchase and sale agreement with a newly created entity called Kaiwen Education, which is controlled by the Chinese navy and its Communist Party masters.  Assemblymen Wirths and Space were concerned that the sale could give the Chinese government a foothold on the Princeton campus, with all its sensitive research and technology facilities.

Rider had provoked the ire of Hennessy and others, when it banned Chick-Fil-A from opening on campus, despite a majority vote by students asking for a Chick-Fil-A restaurant on campus.  It seems Rider’s administration thought that Chick-Fil-A’s ownership was too Christian and therefore “controversial”.  Apparently Kaiwen, the PLA Navy, and the CPC were just the right amount of communist.

Along with other Rider benefactors, Hennessy organized a grassroots effort to stop the sale, while there were protests by students and faculty, as well as legal challenges. Federal authorities were contacted and had become interested in the matter.  Under this pressure and the pressure from legislators like Wirths and Space, the state attorney general's office delayed the pending sale in March, asking Rider for more information about the deal.

Westminster Choir College is the world’s foremost college of religious music.  A residential college located on a 23-acre campus in the heart of Princeton, it is a four-year music college and graduate school that “prepares men and women for careers as performers and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches and professional and community organizations.”

Rider University announced on Monday that the two sides had mutually agreed to not extend the agreement.  This essentially cancelled the sale, although the money-hungry Rider administration still publicly held out hope for an “alternative relationship” with the Chinese Communists.

Assemblymen Wirths and Space, who introduced a resolution (ACR-222) in opposition to the sale, called the announcement a big win.

"It took many vocal opponents, but our efforts paid off.  Rider University made the right decision to stop the sale," Wirths said. "From the very beginning, the company's interest in the music college for the purpose of academia seemed suspicious."

Kaiwen Education has no experience in higher education.  It was a made-up subsidiary of a government-owned Chinese defense contractor.

"Today's announcement is a big win against the authoritarian Chinese government who we feared might be using the guise of academia to access Princeton's world-class scientists, researchers and institutions for nefarious purposes," Space said.

State Senator Steve Oroho introduced the Senate version of the resolution, SCR-160.  Surprisingly, no Democrats and few Republicans saw it as a battle worth fighting, let alone one that they could win.

“Standing up to one of the world’s most repressive regimes – on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square – wasn’t considered important enough to most of the Legislature,” one grassroots campaigner said.  “While millions of people in Hong Kong are protesting this oppressive regime, the Democrats who run the Legislature were more than happy to turn a campus in Princeton over to them.”   

Another noted:  “Guess it lacked a connection to LGBTQ… that’s all that matters these days.”   

This could have been a real moment of unity in Trenton for Republicans and all but the most craven Democrats.  Instead, the Democrats tried to block legislative action in opposition to the sale, while most Republicans didn’t have the good sense to take a stand.  Thankfully, guys like Hal Wirths and Parker Space did, but where the hell is everybody else’s political radar these days???

No wonder so many members of the Republican base share sentiments like these…

The week ahead in Trenton (or Brave New World).

This week we start a new feature called “The week ahead in Trenton.”  The name is self-explanatory.  We hope it will give activists and other interested parties a heads up on the nonsense about to happen – some of it shocking, much of it crazy, all of it expensive to taxpayers.

This week we focus on the Assembly Human Services Committee, which will hold a hearing on Saint Valentine’s Day – Thursday, February 14th – at 2pm in Committee Room 16, on the 4th floor of the State House Annex in Trenton.  And remember, all of those in attendance are on the ballot this year in June and November.  Don’t forget them.

Now if ever there was a Christian holiday to excite the “Love is Love” crowd, this should be it.  And for the record, the Democrats do not disappoint in handing out presents to their favorite special interest.  But is it “Love” or Fear???  We’ll let you decide. 

First on Thursday’s Valentine’s Day agenda is AR-146 – a resolution calling on the federal government to recognize what it calls “children of certain LGBTQ parents” as United States citizens.  This is something out of a dystopian novel (we’re thinking Aldous Huxley and his writings, most notably, “Brave New World”) and attempts to create a new path to citizenship. 

From what we can learn, there is a brisk business in the monetization of the wombs of working class and/or economically disadvantaged women.  Rich “gay” men can, for a fee, avail themselves of the wombs of these women in order to do what they cannot do biologically – give birth to a baby.  (And remember, in the coda of today’s woke establishment, it aint a “baby” until it is actually born… and even then not until the mother and her medical provider have had a discussion as to whether or not to kill it). 

The problem occurs when one rich American guy marries a rich guy from another country and they use the sperm of the non-American to impregnate the womb of the woman they have procured for the purpose.  Currently, the State Department can require a DNA test to determine if a child is, in fact, a “blood relationship” to an American citizen.  This messes with the plans of those who travel outside the United States to procure their women for the purposes of their wombs and who opt to use the sperm of a “husband” who is not an American citizen.   

As one can imagine, this dilemma concerns a very, very tiny group of rich men (married to men who are non-citizens) who want to travel outside the United States to obtain a womb at, shall we say, third-world prices.  It will doubtless be examined by the State Department – no bastion of traditional orthodoxy, by the way – and some rule change or accommodation will be forthcoming. 

But that is not good enough for the folks at Garden State Equality (GSE) who apparently wield so much power over the Democrats in Trenton that legislation like A-146 gets pushed to the front of the line and ahead of the more than 90 bills languishing that would address the highest in the nation property taxes… or the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  Every week, we hear from the Murphy administration’s own Attorney General about the rise in cases of identified human trafficking in New Jersey… but hey, it’s not about some rich jet-setter looking to buy the womb of some desperate, third-world woman or girl (Itself a case of human trafficking?  We wonder).

Next on Thursday’s agenda is AR-210, a resolution condemning the “Trump Administration’s policies towards transgender individuals.”  Specifically, the Democrat sponsors are pissed because the Department of Defense has sought to ban “transgender people” from serving in the military by proposing a definition of sex that “excludes gender identity”.  Okay, this has been covered a great deal in the national media… but does it really trump the issue of growing child poverty in New Jersey?  Yes, it is on the wish list of a private special interest group that last week bragged about whipping the Legislature into passing 222 pieces of legislation that they desired, but is it really more important and pressing than the opioid crisis?  Apparently so.

Next up is a spending bill that will cost us more in property taxes – but it will be a financial windfall for groups like Garden State Equality, who provide training programs like those mandated in A-4427.  Here is the text of the bill’s description:

“This bill provides that the Commissioner of Human Services or the commissioner’s designee, develop a training program designed to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in the delivery of certain services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex senior citizens in the State.  The bill requires that the training program be developed no later than nine months following the bill’s enactment.

The training program would be designed to increase awareness among, and provide cultural competency to, service providers about the issues encountered by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex seniors in order to ensure equal access to services for senior citizens, and improve the delivery of those services to senior citizens and caregivers in the State.

The bill requires that a provider of services or supports to senior citizens that contracts with, provides services through programs administered by, or receives funding from, the Department of Human Services, any of its divisions, or any Area Agency on Aging must complete the training program no later than six months following the availability of the program. Thereafter, each new service provider would be required to complete the training within one month of commencing the delivery of services or supports.”

Moe money, moe money, moe money for GSE and its allies... mandated higher property taxes for everyone else.

And finally on Thursday’s agenda we have A-4870, a bill that “requires modernization of all state blanks, forms, documents, and applications to incorporate new standards for collection of information about sex, gender, and sexual orientation.”  This is Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker’s personal genuflection to a special interest that he’s indebted to.  It is shocking to see the brazenness of it, but a role for the lobbyist group is specifically spelled out in the actual bill:

“…any questions relating to sex, gender, or sexual orientation are to be posed in a manner that is sensitive to the individual, and that does not infringe upon or threaten the individual’s mental and physical wellbeing; are to allow for non-binary designations; and are to be consistent with relevant best practices, as recognized by Garden State Equality and other relevant organizations that engage in advocacy on behalf of the State’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) communities”.

Hey, does this make the lobbyists over at Garden State Equality government bureaucrats and subject to the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA)?  We hope so… for the sake of transparency.  How every form in New Jersey is re-worked and re-worded should be open to public scrutiny.

Garden State Equality should fall under OPRA anyway because they already exercise a disproportionate control over the Legislative agenda in Trenton.  We all remember GSE founder Steve Goldstein’s hissy fit over the Democrats’ failure to pass same-sex marriage in 2009.  Goldstein publicly threatened Senate President Steve Sweeney and the Democrats – telling them that he would withhold “gay” money from their campaigns in future, unless they publicly recanted.  And sure enough, they did, at something resembling a religious revival meeting.

Since then, the Democrats (and some Republicans) have knelt before GSE and the “gay” lobby like attendant concubines, awaiting instructions.  Remember that in 2017, the Legislature passed a bill designed to use the power of government – and your tax dollars – to fund Garden State Equality's lobbying and political efforts.  In effect, the Democrats created a program of government -funded lobbying and political campaign activity -- but only for one side. 

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

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The legislation passed in 2017 (A-4790) specifically funds Garden State Equality, LLC, the political action committee.  Here's what it did:

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

   1.    a.  Upon proper application, the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall issue “Equality” license plates for any motor vehicle owned or leased and registered in this State.  In addition to the registration number and other markings or identification otherwise prescribed by law, the license plate shall display the Garden State Equality, LLC (“Garden State Equality”) emblem, consisting of: an image of a silhouette of the mathematical equivalency sign in the background and the shape of the State of New Jersey in a circle in the foreground.  The chief administrator shall select the design and color scheme, in consultation with Garden State Equality.  The “Equality” license plates shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 3 of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes, except as hereinafter otherwise specifically provided.

     b.    Application for issuance of an “Equality” license plate shall be made to the chief administrator on forms and in a manner prescribed by the chief administrator.  In order to be deemed complete, an application shall be accompanied by a fee of $50, payable to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, which shall be in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle.  The chief administrator shall collect annually, subsequent to the year of issuance of the “Equality” license plates, a $10 fee for the license plates in addition to the fees otherwise prescribed by law for the registration of a motor vehicle.  The additional fees required by this subsection shall be deposited in the “Equality License Plate Fund” created pursuant to subsection c. of this section.

     c.     There is created in the Department of the Treasury a special non-lapsing fund to be known as the “Equality License Plate Fund.”  There shall be deposited in the fund the amount collected from all license plate fees collected pursuant to subsection b. of this section, less the amounts necessary to reimburse the commission for administrative costs pursuant to subsection d. of this section. Monies deposited in the fund shall be appropriated annually to Garden State Equality and shall be used to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy and educational programs in the State.  Monies deposited in the fund shall be held in interest-bearing accounts in public depositories as defined pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1970, c.236 (C.17:9-41), and may be invested or reinvested in securities approved by the State Treasurer.  Interest or other income earned on monies deposited into the fund, and any monies which may be appropriated or otherwise become available for the purposes of the fund, shall be credited to and deposited in the fund for use as set forth...

Apparently the sponsors of A-4790, along with the brain trusts at OLS and the Democrat Assembly Caucus, were so determined to secure this government funding for GSE, that they forget to properly vet Garden State Equality LLC.  If they had, they would have learned that the organization had been revoked by the New Jersey Department of Revenue in 2012 and that in 2015, they had been dissolved and terminated.

At the time, Garden State Equality Action Fund Inc. was also under suspension by the New Jersey Department of Revenue and had been for five years.  The group had filed its last annual report in April 2010 and had been pretty much a scofflaw since.  In 2012, Garden State Equality Action Fund's  status was listed as "revoked" and it was placed on "suspension" in July of that year. 

According to the most recent (at the time) IRS 990 tax statement filed by the Garden State Equality Educational Fund, the organization was in the process of repaying a $47,581.00 loan it received from Steve Goldstein.  The loan was negotiated without a written agreement and is a "loan for operating expenses", according to the information provided to the Internal Revenue Service.  So this is how you make government work for you… and you don't even need to follow the basic rules to do it. 

The Democrats who run the New Jersey Legislature are setting its committee agendas as though it were an auction – legislation likely to fetch a high price (in campaign contributions) is being pushed ahead of the peoples’ business.  In a state where so many are, due to financial hardship, moving out of state and away from their families, one would think that cutting property taxes and creating jobs would be higher on the list than the now ubiquitous “transgendered” this or that.  But as Steve Goldstein knew back in 2009, rich guys always get what they want in the end… whether it’s a womb in a third-world country or the agenda of a legislative committee. 

How the Democrats turnout their people to vote.

2013 should have been a blow-out for the Democrats.  Republican Governor Chris Christie romped to victory by an impressive twenty-point margin.  And yet, the Democrats were able to hold on to their legislative majorities and Republicans failed to pick up a single seat in either the Senate or Assembly. 

The following year -- this time in Pennsylvania -- Republicans pulled off a similar feat, capturing 12 legislative seats from the Democrats while the Democrat candidate for Governor was coasting to a ten-point win.  How did they do it?

For some insight into how the Democrats held the Legislature in 2013 and to what Republicans should be doing this year with the possibility of a 2013 in reverse, we need only look to Legislative District 38 and how the Democrats held this seat in the wake of the 2013 Christie landslide.  In a February 2014 article written for Campaigns & Elections magazine, an associate with the political consulting firm, The Campaign Group, explained how they prevented SRM and ARV from capitalizing on the Christie landslide.

The Campaign Group is a Philadelphia-based media firm that has run advertising campaigns for Commerce Bank of New Jersey, Cooper University Hospital, Comcast, Rob Andrews for Congress, and John Adler for Congress.  The article sets the scene:

"In 2011, incumbent state Sen. Bob Gordon eked out the narrowest victory of any state senator, and 2013 promised to be even more competitive, particularly after Christie singled out Gordon for criticism. Voters in each New Jersey legislative district elect one state senator and two assembly members district wide, and both Democrats running for state Assembly in this district were relatively untested: Paramus Borough Council President Joe Lagana and first-term incumbent Assemblyman Tim Eustace, the first openly-gay person elected to an open seat in New Jersey. So it was clear that all three races would be hotly-contested."

The article goes on to helpfully explain that the Democrats  "were rightly concerned the lackluster campaign of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Barbara Buono could lead to decreased Democratic turnout that would sink their candidates."  So they resolved to do something about it by going back to their base:

"They convened focus groups in LD38 of Democrats who were not certain to vote in November’s election. If we could find out what would motivate them to turn out, despite the lack of a competitive gubernatorial campaign, we’d have a real shot at altering the turnout dynamic."

They launched an effort "independent of what the candidates were doing."  The field campaign connected with more than 11,000 voters and generated 803 vote-by-mail applications.  The article continues:

"Field Strategies identified a list of 2,300 households with voters believed to contain only rock-ribbed Democrats. These voters didn’t need to see our ads criticizing the Republican candidates, because there was no way there would vote for a Republican. But many of these voters were not particularly likely to vote in the November elections, so we wanted to build on the existing GOTV messages and use our TV buy to motivate them to get off their behinds and vote."

The trend in New Jersey over the last two decades has been to target fewer and fewer "likely" voters.  You've all heard those references to 4 of 4 voters and 3 of 4, and so on.  What these  Democrats did was to reach out to their "unlikely" voters and persuade them to "change their habits" and come out to vote.  It is what the Republican legislative campaign did in 2014 to produce a pick-up of 12 seats that year in the face of a gubernatorial defeat.

All this happened in 2013 and 2014.  Pennsylvania Republicans used it again in 2016 to pad that "blue" state's Republican legislative majorities -- giving them a 34 to 16 Republican majority in the State Senate, and a 121 to 82 Republican majority in the State House of Representatives.  In contrast, New Jersey Republicans ignored their conservative base in 2015 -- and lost legislative seats.

This year marks yet another in which the lessons of 2013 have not been applied.  Movement conservatives were not called upon until very late in the campaign and at this point, with less than two weeks to election day, have still not been fully mobilized.  In contrast, in 2013 the Democrats had all their base's issues groups activated and with marching orders to begin their voter turnout operation nine weeks prior to election day. 

In Pennsylvania, conservative grassroots activists are part of the party's bloodstream and issues groups form a sharp-pointed "irregular" militia working in general concert with the GOP "regulars."  This has been resisted in New Jersey and, sadly, the prospects for 2017 appear headed for a repeat of 2013 and 2015 -- except with the added sadness that the gubernatorial campaign may be blamed and no lessons learned.

But fight on while the fight is still going.  There is time enough still.