Opinion: Assemblywoman DeCroce is a conservative

By Wm. Winkler

The other day, I read an opinion piece by a Mr. William Felegi which argued that Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce was not a conservative because Americans for Prosperity (AFP) had given her a "D" grade.  The writer seems to miss the fact that AFP is not a conservative organization, but rather a libertarian one.  Ideologically, there is a great difference.

When I was a Reagan delegate, back in 1980, the founder of AFP was the Vice Presidential candidate on a ticket opposed to Ronald Reagan, running on a platform of unrelieved social liberalism and international defeatism.  Thank God they were not successful and Reagan was.  President Reagan broke the Soviet Union and consigned Marxist Leninism to the dustbin of history.

The American Conservative Union is a conservative organization.  For the same period as that rated by AFP, it gave Mrs. DeCroce an 84% -- hardly a "D".  To show you just how ideologically different AFP is, here are a few comparisons:

Legislator                                                      AFP                 ACU

Jon Bramnick (R-21)                                  F                      95%

Joe Pennacchio (R-26)                              B                      95%

Nancy Munoz (R-21)                                 C                      91%

Mike Doherty (R-23)                                 A+                   89%

Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25)                A+                   89%

BettyLou DeCroce (R-26)                         D                     84%

Tom Kean, Jr. (R-21)                                 A                     75%

Dawn Marie Addiego (R-8)                     F                      75%

Jennifer Beck (R-11)                                  B                      70%

Ron Dancer (R-12)                                     B                      59%

Chris Brown (R-2)                                      B                      23%

Nia Gill (D-34)                                             D                        0%

Assemblywoman DeCroce received an Award for Conservative Achievement from the American Conservative Union (ACU).  Obviously, the libertarian AFP is pursuing a very different  agenda from that of the conservative ACU. 

Under the leadership of Steve Lonegan, New Jersey's AFP affiliate did take a more traditional conservative path.  That was all due to Lonegan.  I know, I worked for Lonegan.  Much to the chagrin of national AFP, Steve pursued a vigorous conservative agenda on social issues, the Second Amendment, and illegal immigration.  But Lonegan is long gone from AFP, and as its latest scorecard makes clear, AFP is back to being libertarian and not conservative.

Even so, AFP took credit for the work done by Assemblywoman DeCroce.  AFP State Director Erica Jedynak wrote that the tax reform legislation Mrs. DeCroce supported "saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which saved taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies."

The conservative taxpayer advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), wrote that the tax reforms Assemblywoman DeCroce supported "abolished the state death tax, cut the state sales tax and reduces income taxes on retired New Jersey voters."  ATR called it "a victory for taxpayers."  Forbes magazine called her tax cuts one of the "5 best state and local tax policy changes of 2016" nationwide.  Further praise came from the Tax Foundation, the oldest such conservative organization in the nation.

Mr. Felegi goes so far as to call Mrs. DeCroce a "liar" for stating, quite truthfully, that she "ensured money for roads and bridges will be dedicated for their intended purpose rather than pet projects."  The Assemblywoman supported the ballot question that accomplished that in the face of stiff opposition led by radio talk show host Bill Spadea.

The Assemblywoman's voting record, her ratings by ideologically conservative groups, plus her 100% Pro-Life rating and her endorsement by the NRA, make her, on balance, a conservative in the humble opinion of this old winger.

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. . .

AFP flip-flops on tax cuts

What a difference a few weeks and hiring a donor's kid makes. 

Earlier this year, AFP issued a press release detailing what the group "Accomplished in 2016".  It's most recent accomplishment was:  "Saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which save taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies."

Instead of thanking the legislators who voted for these $1.4 billion in tax cuts that AFP is now bragging about as their "accomplishment," AFP decided to screw them and to mark the vote that they listed as a "success" as a "bad" vote. 

Groups like AFP use these appeals to illustrate their effectiveness and ask for money.  This is fraud.  AFP cannot be on BOTH sides of an issue like this.

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Americans for Prosperity (AFP) says “Yes” on Question 2

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) a group that consistently opposed the gas tax increase, dispels all the nonsense being pushed by liberals like Harvey Roseff and Ray Lesniak, and makes its position clear on Question 2.

Americans for Prosperity Advocates “Yes” Vote on Public Question 2

Ballot measure would increase constitutionally dedicated revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund

Boonton, N.J. – Americans for Prosperity, the state’s leading grassroots advocate for economic freedom, is encouraging voters to support Public Question 2 this November which concerns the dedication of certain remaining revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).

Specifically, the referendum asks voters to approve dedicating the remaining 3 cents from the 13.5 cent tax on diesel fuel, as well as all of the revenues from the petroleum products gross receipts tax to the TTF. The current dedication from the petro tax is a minimum of $200 million. The tax has generated $215 million in each of the past two fiscal years.

AFP state director Erica Jedynak provided the following statement.

“Americans for Prosperity supports the ballot measure and constitutionally dedicating the remaining revenues collected from the tax on diesel and the petro tax to the transportation fund.

“At the same time, AFP wants voters to be clear that this referendum does not authorize a gas tax increase, nor does it in any way resolve the transportation challenges the state is facing. The remaining revenue from these two taxes amounts to less than $30 million, a mere fraction of the $1.2 billion collected for the TTF last year.

“Americans for Prosperity is steadfast in our opposition to a gas tax hike. We continue to urge lawmakers to pursue reforms to rein in wasteful spending and to ensure our transportation dollars are used solely for our roads and bridges.”

For further information or an interview, please contact Mike Proto at MProto@afphq.org or 201-400-3666.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org state and taxpayers

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