Hugin should think before hurting the GOP any further

Bob Hugin’s campaign for the United States Senate was a disaster.  Everyone associated with it should be embarrassed, should wear the scarlet letter “L” as an external sign of their shame and contrition.

But there will be no contrition because these are people too proud to admit that their “vision” was flawed, that they outspent an extraordinarily flawed incumbent three to one and still lost badly.  Hugin lost to Bob Menendez, a Democrat incumbent so flawed that one in three Democrat primary voters rejected him.

What’s worse is that the Hugin campaign was deliberately designed to suppress traditional Republican turnout while enormous amounts were spent to create a surge amongst “soft” Democrats and Democrat leaners who had soured on Menendez.  The result of this strategy is best summed up when veterans of the Hugin campaign brag that they “won six Congressional districts.” Too bad that in five of those six districts, the Republican candidate for Congress lost, including two incumbents.  

As recently as 2016, all six of those districts had been represented by a Republican.  Now, just one remains.

Writing in the New Jersey Globe today, David Wildstein notes the re-emergence of Bob Hugin, addressing a meeting of Mercer County Republicans, placing his stamp of approval on the state’s first transgender candidate for the Legislature.  Here we go again. Let’s not learn the lesson that $40 million wasn’t enough to convince voters that Republicans are more reliable social liberals than Democrats, instead… try, try again.

The candidate Hugin spoke on behalf of is Jennifer Williams.  She is running for Assembly in the 15th Legislative District, a district that Republicans have almost no chance of picking up in 2019.  But because Jennifer Williams is the first transgendered candidate of either party to run for the Legislature, she will become a focal point of the 2019 campaign cycle.  Williams worked on Hugin’s campaign, so perhaps Hugin will provide her with the resources to make her campaign even more of a focal point.

The trouble is, 2019 will be a low turnout election, and Republicans are not fighting a statewide campaign but instead, are fighting to hold on to a few remaining Republican enclaves.  Is this the time to be highlighting “a different kind of Republican” or is it time to drag everyone who is likely to vote Republican to the polls? And as for non-traditional Republican voters, are these more likely to be LGBTQ voters or poor working class Roman Catholics?  Yes, there are choices to be made and making one choice often negates the other. So which is the surer bet?

Unfortunately, from all the hype, all we know about Jennifer Williams is that she is what some call a “transwoman”.  That is likely to be of little use in motivating traditional Republican turnout and – in the era of Donald Trump – unlikely to motivate enough LGBTQ voters to make up for what you lose.  The hoopla resulting from this “first” will most certainly bleed beyond the borders of the 15th District, turning off and giving up as it goes.  So that Republicans could neither gain the 15th or the boost necessary to save endangered seats.

For the good of her party, Jennifer Williams should play down the significance of her “gender” and instead focus on a message that aggressively defines the Trenton Democrats as what they are.  But can Williams even use the term, “Trenton Democrats”, as a negative in Legislative District 15? Williams claims to be a “conservative”, well this would be the time for her to craft a message that illustrates what that means.

Candidate Williams has secured the endorsement of the GOP establishment in Mercer and Hunterdon Counties.  We suspect that there will not be much competition for such a thankless task. We wish her well but hope that she does not become the “face” of this year’s Republican legislative campaign in New Jersey, and we hope Bob Hugin doesn’t make it his mission to make it so.

Zwicker is an anti-faith, anti-average guy elitist

When he first arrived in Trenton, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker appeared to be something of a nice guy.  A little nerdy, a little too liberal, but earnest enough and appearing to want to do the best he could for the state and his constituency.

But wow did he change fast!  In less than one term, Zwicker went from it being about other people to it all being about him.  Instead of working with others to address the many problems faced by New Jersey residents, Assemblyman Zwicker behaves like one of the Kardashian sisters -- endlessly blathering about who he is and how he feels.

We thought we were electing a scientist and instead we got a celebrity.

We've all heard about the demeaning remarks that the Assemblyman made about his constituents who live outside the "holy city" of Princeton.  Zwicker publicly turned up his nose at the thought of all those "unenlightened" folk outside that Nirvana on earth that is Princeton.  Hey, does Princeton even have a good bookstore anymore?  Lots of she-she coffee houses at which to be seen, but reading... hey, this is celebrity culture disguised as intellectualism.  We no read, we virtue signal.

And if the people of Hunterdon County are too blue-collar for a white-collar science guy like Assemblyman Zwicker, then one can only wonder what he thinks about a genuinely working class hamlet.  I suppose, in Zwicker's eyes, "those people" would be scarcely human.

Politics involves communities and is a social undertaking.  Most successful people in politics look for commonality with their fellow man.  Not Assemblyman Zwicker.  Like the celebrity culture he embraces, he is always looking to show that he is smarter and better than all of us. 

As an example, let's go to the beginning, when he was being sworn into office.  While everyone else was going through the traditional ceremony, Zwicker took it as an opportunity to show us all how "special" he is. 

'Surrounded by family and friends, I took the oath of office with my hand on a copy of Sir Isaac Newton’s 'Principia,' published in 1805, and considered one of the great books of science. Tucked inside the book was a copy of the NJ Constitution, the US Constitution, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. For me, it was a perfect way to respect both my background as a scientist and my new responsibilities as a Legislator,” said Andrew Zwicker in a newsletter .

About 21 minutes into the YouTube recording of the swearing in of the 217th NJ General Assembly you find Andrew Zwicker.  He is the guy refusing to say “so help me God” as he took the oath of office.  Every other Assemblyperson did but him.  You can view the youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c3UoM2ttuc

Get it?  Andrew Zwicker is special -- and if you haven't heard already, he is from... Princeton.  And he has no time for those lower forms of life in places like Hunterdon County because... well, if you must ask then you will never understand, and how could you even hope to understand, because you are not... him.

Andrew Zwicker not only turns up his nose at average working people, he turns up his nose at God too -- and at everyone who believes in God.  But maybe he's not as smart as he thinks he is.

Sir Isaac Newton’s “Principia.”

Does the freshman Assemblyman know that Sir Isaac Newton was a devote Christian -- an Anglican who studied theology more than science?  Newton wrote that he was moved to study science because of his deep faith in God, who he viewed as his Creator.   http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-30/newtons-views-on-science-and-faith.html

How can a legislator with so little common sympathy with so many of his constituents understand their concerns and make laws to address those concerns?  Zwicker has got it all wrong by making it about him instead of them.

Zwicker takes his "no God" celebrity so seriously that he goes out of his way to make a fashion statement by refusing to say the words “One nation under God” every time he is someplace during the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States.  But then he is seen visiting places where they fly the "rainbow flag" talking about love and acceptance... as long as you are from Princeton, or at least aspire to working each day to become more like Princeton.   

We've all heard of something called the "scientific method."  It is the rational basis on which Science is founded and conducted.  It is all about observation, questioning, measurement, experimentation, and then fashioning theories -- explanations subject to change based on new information. 

What is so odd about Andrew Zwicker's statements as a legislator is his ideological certainty about everything.  It is especially odd because he is a trained scientist and they are supposed to keep open minds and ask questions.  But Assemblyman Zwicker never asks a question.  He just knows.  Because he is better than us.

And if you don't think so, just ask him.  He'll tell you so.

Sen. Doherty is wrong to attack Lonegan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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