The Morris GOP AWOL on defense of parental rights.

The NJEA argues that removing any book from a school library is something akin to the book burning that went on in 1930s Germany. Of course, the NJEA and its allies think nothing of canceling an author with whom they disagree – mirroring a practice common in authoritarian regimes of all ideological stripes.
 
There is a great difference between canceling an author along with his or her work and deciding that certain reading material isn’t “age appropriate” for a certain audience. If it is all the same, then it would follow that Penthouse magazine and Hustler would be found on the shelves of school libraries, and their presence supported by the NJEA as a “defense against book burning.”
 
You can’t cancel the author of the Harry Potter series because you disagree with her, but then claim that setting age-appropriate standards at a school library is a bridge too far. But that’s what’s being done at the Roxbury School District in Morris County. This recent Fox News coverage explains the controversy:

“The battle for our children’s future is not being fought in China or in the Middle East. It’s happening inside their minds and inside our classrooms.”

Roxbury has become ground zero in the fight for parental rights in New Jersey. Advocates and parents are even being sued by a board of education employee, a school librarian, for pushing back and demanding that the board remove certain sexually explicit books from the school library. Books that parents believe are inappropriate for their minor children.
 
Remember, unlike those who want to cancel author J.K. Rowling, an adult, for having an opinion – these parents only wish to limit the access their minor children have to this material. Adults are free to do what they like (and that goes for their children, once they are adults).
 
At a meeting of the Board of Education on Monday night, parental rights advocates from around the state showed up to support the parents being sued and to speak out in their defense. But not the Morris County GOP. Not the Republican establishment.
 
Parental rights advocate Josh Aikens was there. Aikens, a candidate for Assembly, was joined by running mate Jason Sarnoski. Aikens delivered an impassioned defense of parental rights – as he has hundreds of times before throughout his effort to recruit and train conservative school board candidates. But where were all those Republicans who claim to be “conservative” and claim to be “pro-parent”.
 
Are the language pimps who run the campaigns of GOP establishment politicians doing to the phrase “pro-parent” what they did to the word “conservative”?
 
A year ago, the GOP legislative caucuses were big on parental rights. After all, parental rights is the issue responsible for Republicans winning in Virginia in 2021 and for Florida going from a purple state to one that is bright red.  
 
But then a GOP State Senator stood up in caucus and claimed a family member was “transitioning”. And that’s how quickly the rot sets in. Never underestimate the power of the personal to undermine policy. To a GOP leadership unsure of its principles, not wishing to offend a colleague is a ready excuse to take the chicken run on a controversial issue.
 
Overnight… the GOP’s digital and social media campaign in support of parental rights dried up. Now, “pro-parent” is just a convenient label, to be applied on campaign mailings, and media advertisements – by the language pimps who run establishment politicians’ campaigns. A label that, if allowed to, will be forgotten the moment the election is over.

Murphy tries to wiggle out but his June 2020 Resolution is crystal clear

By Rubashov

Governor Phil Murphy is a desperate man. He’s losing the support of his own party. Yesterday, a prominent Democrat Party Senator – the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, no less – walked away from Murphy’s radicalism and called for a halt to proselytizing age-inappropriate sex acts to school children.

That Democrat, Chairman Vin Gopal, did so after he was lied to by the Murphy administration. Senator Gopal (D-11) related the lie told him in a Facebook post yesterday:

In response to multiple articles relating to curriculum education in our schools, I have read through the 66 pages of the Department of Education Guidelines '2020 New Jersey Student Learning Standards - Comprehensive Health and Physical Education' as well have spoken in detail with New Jersey Acting Commissioner of Education Angelica Allen-McMillan. Here is what I have learned:

…According to the Department of Education Commissioner, these guidelines are not being mandated - they are recommended. It is up to a local board of education to use them if they want but they don't have to.

You can read the full post here:

https://www.facebook.com/100003265460331/posts/4911458728972927/?d=n

In a series of statements, Governor Murphy and his political allies at the NJEA and such, lied about where these standards came from and the nature of their enforcement. Unfortunately for them, the record is clear and is easily found on a state website.

After extensive lobbying by activists – including Governor Phil Murphy's wife, Tammy – the New Jersey State Board of Education, in a split vote taken in 2020, adopted new “Comprehensive Health and Physical Education 2.1 Personal and Mental Health by the End of Grade 5” learning standards. The New Jersey Department of Education instructed local boards of education to consider this new curriculum a mandate for the 2021-2022 school year.

The Minutes of the June 3, 2020, meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Education are crystal clear about this:

Resolved, the State Board of Education reaffirms its commitment to ensuring the Standards both set expectations for and meet the needs of New Jersey’s students and by adoption of this resolution hereby directs school districts to integrate the New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Visual and Performing Arts, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Computer Science and Design Thinking, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills in kindergarten through grade 12; and be it further

Resolved, the State Board of Education hereby directs that the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards – Visual and Performing Arts, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies, Computer Science and Design Thinking, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills will serve as standards of quality for public school students in kindergarten through grade 12 programs in New Jersey; and be it further

Resolved, district boards of education shall fully comply with this resolution and shall implement the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science, Visual and Performing Arts, World Languages, and Career Readiness, Life Literacies, and Key Skills by September 2021 and Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Social Studies, and Computer Science and Design Thinking by September 2022, align their curricula with the standards, and ensure students learn and are assessed as required by federal law; and be it further

The entire Minutes of the June 3, 2020, Meeting can be accessed here:

www.nj.gov/education/sboe/meetings/minutes/2020/June%203,%202020.pdf

…district boards of education shall fully comply with this resolution and shall implement the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards… by September 2021 and… by September 2022, align their curricula with the standards…

With all due respect, Governor, this kind of screws your bullshit all to hell.

...that goes for you too, Mayor Sean Spiller, Democrat Party politician, feed bag to numerous political consultants, partisan hack, and (oh, yes) President of the NJEA.

Governor, it's time to take responsibility. Listen to parents and taxpayers. Do the right thing.

Make the word “democracy” actually mean something.

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.

Bramnick vs. Sweeney: The politics of competing plans

Good for Jim Florio… at least he remembers who he is.

When asked whether or not he would endorse law partner Doug Steinhardt for Governor, the former Governor put it very simply:  “He’s not the right party as far as I’m concerned.  I would not vote for him.  I’m a Democratic voter.”

Doug is the Chairman of the Republican State Committee.  The two are partners at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Cappelli.  This insight came courtesy of that doyen of bloggers… David Wildstein. 

But hey, Florio gets it.  Party means something.

It is the job of the leader of every legislative party caucus – the Speaker, the Senate President, and the minority leaders – to defend and expand their caucus at the expense of the other side.  Those are the rules.  It is first and foremost.  We all understand this.

Last week, Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick rolled out his plan for addressing New Jersey’s fiscal crisis.  It was a direct appeal to elect more Republicans to the Assembly and centered on what they would do if elected.

Bramnick did exactly what he needed to do.  After pointing out the fiscal evils perpetrated by legislative Democrats, Bramnick lays out three solid policy positions that points New Jersey Republicans in the direction of what we should be for…

(1) Cap State Spending at 2% (just like local government spending is capped).

(2) Cut the State Income Tax by 10% (make NJ more competitive w. other states).

(3) Full Deduction of Property Taxes on the State Income Tax (a move that takes the property tax issue away from Democrats like Andy Kim, Mikie Sherrill, and Josh Gottheimer).

In a political sense, the Assembly Republican Leader’s plan does not demonize any organized, well-funded interest groups – it simply starves government for the benefit of taxpayers.  Bramnick makes war on spending, not people.  And that is good politics.    

Bramnick avoids the mistake made in 2015 by then Governor Chris Christie and his Republican Party.  Christie’s pension/health benefits commission called for many changes but he went further and directly confronted the unions and their members, demonizing them in the process.  Christie inadvertently created well-organized, well-financed cells of opposition in every Republican district in the state. 

Like this year, 2015 was a low-turnout election with the Assembly at the top of the ticket.  Public employee unions targeted Republicans and Democrat super PACs – including those controlled by George Norcross – poured money into the campaigns of Democrat challengers.  Republicans lost four seats – four friends by the names of Donna, Caroline, Mary Pat, and Sam.

Yesterday, Senate President Steve Sweeney announced his “bi-partisan” plan that targets many of the same people that Governor Christie pissed off in 2015.  It should be noted that Sweeney’s plan was formally rolled out after the filing deadline for the Democrat primary.  Unfortunately for Republicans… it is some months until the November election.

This is not about the merits of the “bi-partisan plan” but rather, it is about the politics and timing of the plan.   

Are Republicans in danger of repeating 2015 again? 

Will the super PACS’s controlled by Sweeney allies like George Norcross back up every Republican legislator on the ballot this year?  Or will they stay true to form and support their Democrat challengers?  Will the Republicans on the ballot this year end up getting it from both ends?

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.

Matt Rooney calls out the Democrats on their hypocrisy

This is a must read from Matt Rooney – one of New Jersey brightest Republican stars (and, hopefully, a future candidate for public office).  Rooney is a South Jersey attorney and editor of the Save Jersey news website.  He often teams up with NJ 101.5’s Bill Spadea both on radio and on Fox’s Chasing News program.

Rooney’s latest column is titled, As rich white guys battle for control, N.J. Democrats’ rhetoric doesn’t match their reality.  In it, Rooney makes these important points:  

For all the progressive/woke/social justice warrior BS we hear from New Jersey Democrats these days, their party’s power structure is remarkably simple and boils down to two mega rich white guys (Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Norcross, a labor leader turned insurance industry titan) battling over the Garden State’s Iron Throne.

Power, money, tax credits, crony capitalism, special legislation… even loyalty oaths.

…My issue here is one of intellectual integrity. The public sector unions are powerful, you bet, but the NJEA couldn’t touch Steve Sweeney (the Senate President and the Norcross-led machine’s top elected asset) in the 2017 election.

Diversity gets a lot of lip service from the Left in this state, but New Jersey’s most powerful Democrat decision-makers (Murphy, Sweeney, Norcross, Assembly Speaker Coughlin) are all older white dudes. We hear a lot about the “working class” from Trenton, but each and every policy and budget are designed to put the screws to taxpayers in favor of keeping these rich guys and their power structures chugging right along.

What I’m saying is that Democrats’ lofty rhetoric doesn’t match their reality. On either side of this fight. New Jersey’s true form of government is a blend of socialism and oligarchy (with a sprinkle of kleptocracy for good measure).

They may disagree with one another on tax credits and a small handful of other issues, but Leftist economic policies supported by both sides of the Murphy-Norcross divide haven’t helped the Middle Class in this state. New Jersey’s women, minority communities, and millennials are being left out of the economic BOOM sweeping the rest of the country as a direct result of the aforementioned bad decision and sometimes self-serving business decisions of the Democrat power elite which has dominated the legislature (and therefore Trenton) for almost two full decades.

Helping the Middle Class = lowering property taxes. None of these guys are talking about that. Ever wonder why?

Yes, why indeed?

You can read Matt Rooney’s entire column here…

https://savejersey.com/2019/05/as-rich-white-guys-battle-for-control-n-j-democrats-rhetoric-doesnt-match-their-reality/

The people who teach our children are shilling for a human trafficker. Yes, the world is a bad place.

Throughout the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh, we heard a lot from the Democrats and their allies – from newcomers like Antifa and the Women’s March to usual suspects like NOW and the NJEA.  We heard them shout in unison about “accusations” and “FBI investigations” – and how these things are enough to block someone from high office.  Well, there were enough allegations against Senator Bob Menendez, for President Obama’s Justice Department to indict him on federal corruption charges and to take him to trial.  It ended in a mistrial.  Out of that came a formal admonishment by the Senate Ethics Committee in April of this year.

What came out of the FBI investigation was that Senator Menendez was helping to bring young women into the United States for his friend and donor, Salomon Melgen to use as sexual objects.  It is our opinion that these women were being trafficked for sexual purposes and the FBI investigation appears to have led to the same conclusion. 

As was reported in the national and New York media, the FBI investigation came up with “corroborating evidence” concerning uncharged allegations of underage prostitution.  Specifically, prosecutors claim that the Senator and his donor friend traveled to the Dominican Republic to have sex with prostitutes, some of whom would have been underaged. 

If, in the era of #MeTooism, allegations are enough – as we were endlessly told by the Democrats and their Antifa allies – then why are Democrats and groups like the NJEA supporting Bob Menendez?  Why are they allowing RealPolitik to trump #MeTooism?

There is a lot more evidence of #MeTooism with Senator Menendez than ever existed in the case of Brett Kavanaugh.  And yet we still hear the self-serving dribble from the likes of Democrat congressional candidates Mikie Sherrill, Tom Malinowski, and Andy Kim.  Not to mention Senator Cory Booker – who wants to turn Israel, or what would remain of it after he removed their defensive wall, into a vast Yugoslav-style rape camp.  Does anyone doubt what would happen to the Israeli population – particularly its women and children – if they were ever turned over to the tender mercies of Hamas, Hezbollah, or even the garden variety governments of its “neighbors”?

In addition to their hypocritical support of Menendez and opposition to Kavanaugh, the indictments against these three candidates are as follows:

Mikie Sherrill worked with far-left radical elements allied with Antifa and the Jihadist Linda Sarsour (a racist allied with Louis Farrakhan) to drive out a moderate, bi-partisan member of Congress, who had served in-country during the Vietnam War.  They knew he was elderly and in failing health, but they worked on him until he had to give up.

Tom Malinowski turned a career as a human rights advocate on its head when he joined Obama’s Clinton-Kerry State Department and promptly became an apologist for those who use slave labor and who engage in human trafficking and the exploitation of women and children.  Far from standing up to dictators and authoritarian governments, he made excuses for them.

Andy Kim is one of the founders of “The Resistance.”  And he has lied about his record from the first – at one point even describing himself or allowing himself to be described as a “veteran” when he has never served in the military.  Now he’s running on a ticket that includes – not only Senator Menendez – but a Freeholder candidate who has been arrested for domestic violence and who had stalking complaints filed against him. 

These candidates are not pro-women or pro-anything, they are Democrat Party politicians looking for votes, and they will do anything or say anything to get them.  They are committed to getting power so that they can take away YOUR freedom.

So now we know how far they’ll go.  What are we going to do to stop them?  How determined are we?  Are we determined enough to tell our neighbors about their hypocrisy?  Are we determined enough to stand up after the church social and put it out there?  Are we determined enough to let everyone we know on Facebook where we stand and what the stakes are?  Or are we too pussy to do any of that?

Republicans who want to stay pussies are not going to make this fight any easier.

Don’t be pussies.  There’s too much at stake.  At the very least, think of those young women – the trafficked and the sexually exploited – those women the NJEA and Mikie Sherrill, Tom Malinowski, and Andy Kim conveniently forgot about.

Now go to it and motivate your friends, family, and neighbors to vote for reform.  Go to it like you really mean it… and don’t be afraid if the coddlers of human traffickers and sexual exploitation call you names.  Suck it up.  Embrace it.

Why are NJ property taxes the nation’s highest?

www.GardenStateFamilies.org

By: William Eames

For many years, the Tax Foundation has listed New Jersey as having the nation’s highest property taxes.

 [1]  Why are they so high?  And why do most folks believe they are powerless to do anything about it?

      First, is it true?  NJ property taxes are higher, per capita, than others.  The Tax Foundation’s ratings[2] rank New Jersey #1 in the nation (highest property taxes per capita) for each of the past five years.

• 2018:  NJ ranks #1 (highest) in property taxes; #50 (worst) in overall tax climate. (data from 2016)  For reference, in property taxes, California ranks 34th!

• 2017:  NJ ranked #1 (data from 2015)[3]; In overall taxes, NJ Ranked 50th (worst).

• 2016:  NJ ranked #1 (highest property taxes per capita)(data from 2014)[4]

• 2015: NJ ranked #1 (highest property taxes per capita)(data from 2013)[5]

• 2014:  NJ ranked #1 (highest property taxes per capita)(data from 2012)[6]

Seven Key Reasons

      Most folks tend to blame our high property taxes on schools or the “Mount Laurel” school funding decisions by the courts.  But there are other causes.  Susan Livio of NJ Advance Media, writing last year for NJ.com[7], listed these:

1. Our population density – of the states, NJ has the highest population density.[8]

2. High labor costs – in the Industrial Era, it was demand that produced high labor costs, but during the Progressive Era and beyond, labor rules and guaranteed benefits have put us near the top.

3. Generally high cost of living – The population density, proximity to both New York and Philadelphia, and demand for housing, utilities, high quality medical services … all boost costs.

4. Property taxes pay most of the costs – While New Jersey taxes just about everything imaginable, it has historically grouped municipal operations, county operations, the lower courts, jails, and schools under the “property tax” umbrella.  In other states, some of those costs are paid by sales taxes or local income taxes.

5. Home rule – This is a point of debate.  Some argue having 565 municipalities, 21 counties and 605 school districts increases costs; others argue that having decision makers close to the taxpayers (“we know where you live”) helps hold spending down. 

6. Public worker pensions & health care costs – This is not in dispute.  The public policy decisions in the 1930s and 1940s to allow governments to offer defined benefit pensions and lifetime health benefits to public employees … and often keep those costs off budget … are now wreaking financial havoc.  Those policies allowed governments to skip putting money into pensions and health funds paycheck by paycheck, and allowed them to pass costs forward, only paying once folks retired.  Kick the can down the road.  This is changing slowly, but the damage of under-funding these programs may result in fiscal insolvency in the next decade.

7. Education costs – New Jersey has good schools, based on the reports.  But it costs a lot to get those results, and decisions in the 1970s to significantly boost starting salaries boosted costs significantly.

A Deeper Look

      But if we take a deeper look, our position as one of the original colonies, as a center for the Industrial Revolution, and our dubious reputation for hosting several of the world’s most progressive liberals (think Woodrow Wilson) all play a role.  Consider:

• In 1875, the 1844 NJ Constitution was amended by adding the infamous “thorough and efficient” clause:  “The [NJ] Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all the children in this State between the ages of five and eighteen years.”  This obligation was carried forward, verbatim, into the 1947 rewrite of the NJ Constitution.  The intent was an outgrowth of this colony’s Quaker origins, and a recognition of the importance (as observed by Alexis de Tocqueville) of enabling each citizen to read.  At the time, the verbalized intent was for the State to pay education costs.  But almost immediately, the State began pushing those costs to towns.

• New Jersey’s own Woodrow Wilson, - as president of Princeton University, then as governor of NJ, 1911-1913, then as President – brought us Progressive policies and liberal labor benefits.  (Including but not limited to labor agreements as policy, like project labor agreements and arbitration, creation of the NJEA and other ‘mandated fee’ associations.)

• In 1947, New Jersey’s Constitution was radically revised.[9]  The process was steered by self-admitted progressives within the legal and court system, who openly bragged of their desire for independence for the Courts and of their Progressive leadership and insight.  Chief among the revisions was a complete reorganization of the judicial branch, abolishing the state’s former judicial system and its replacement with an entirely new and independent judicial structure.  Heavily influenced by a well-known and politically powerful attorney named Arthur Vanderbilt, by 1950 the NJ Supreme Court had proclaimed itself as having the exclusive authority to control its own affairs, to interpret the NJ Constitution and to exercise unprecedented new rule-making powers “not subject to overriding legislation.”

  As Chief Justice, Vanderbilt wrote more than 200 opinions, always advocating for a living/breathing judicial system not bound by past precedent or “old” legal doctrines, but one that was responsive to society’s contemporary needs.  That legacy includes court rule-making such as the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and the Abbott school district funding issues.

• In 1972, a group of enterprising attorneys, urban school districts and cities sued the State and Gov. Cahill[10], alleging that the State’s system of funding free public schools was unconstitutional, namely, whether the equal protection and education clauses of the State Constitution were being violated by New Jersey's statutory financing scheme.[11]  According to the court, the argument was that the then-current system of financing public education in New Jersey relied heavily on local property taxes, producing wide disparities in educational expenditures.  The plaintiffs contended that public school education is a state function which must be afforded to all pupils on equal terms. But the state was funding districts on a formula basis that was not “full” funding – forcing each town to tax property to make up the difference (sometimes nearly 80% of the school budget). Thus, actual spending per pupil varied significantly, which they argued violated the “thorough and efficient” clause, as well as the “equal protection” clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The Court used statistics to document “a distinct pattern in every county in the State. In most cases, rich districts spend more money per pupil than poor districts,” and argued that “most of the poorer communities must serve people of greater need because they have large numbers of dependent minorities.” The Court ruled that “The Education Clause was intended to do what it says, that is, to make it a state legislative obligation to provide a thorough education for all pupils wherever located.” 

    In the 1975 Robinson v. Cahill decision, New Jersey’s Supreme Court began to exercise “the unprecedented new rule-making powers not subject to overriding legislation” that it had given itself through interpretation of the 1947 Constitution. The Court said, “each child in the State has the right to an educational program geared to the highest level he is capable of achieving, permitting him to realize his highest potential as a productive member of society.” It also said, “that pupils of low socio-economic status need compensatory education [greater funding than others] to offset the natural disadvantages of their environment.” … “Providing free education for all is a state function. It must be accorded to all on equal terms,” the Court said.

   The conclusion was, “The State must finance a "thorough and efficient" system of education out of state revenues raised by levies imposed uniformly on taxpayers of the same class.”  The Legislature and Governor were directed to come up with a new tax plan to equally fund the education of every student.  They didn’t.

• By 1985, the inequities had not been resolved, and a new lawsuit was filed, “Abbott v. Burke”.  This time, the Court named 28 specific school districts (commonly called “Abbott districts”[12]) “that were provided remedies [by the court] to ensure that their students receive public education in accordance with the state constitution.”

• In 1990, another lawsuit was filed which became known as “Abbott II”.  The Court ordered the state to fund the (then) 28 Abbott districts at the average level of the state's wealthiest districts.

A Wikipedia article[13] summarizes in this way: 

Abbott districts are school districts in New Jersey covered by a series of New Jersey Supreme Court rulings, begun in 1985, that found that the education provided to school children in poor communities was inadequate and unconstitutional and mandated that state funding for these districts be equal to that spent in the wealthiest districts in the state.

The Court, in Abbott II and in subsequent rulings, ordered the State to assure that these children receive an adequate education through implementation of certain reforms, including standards-based education supported by parity funding. It added various supplemental programs and school facilities improvements, including to Head Start and early education programs.

      In the time since these decisions, many structural changes have been made, and vast amounts of public money have been spent.  But property taxes remain the highest in the nation, most funding from schools is still from the property tax, and school funding is anything but “equal.”

      Finally, Federal tax policy that favored a few “high cost” states, allowing them to write off property taxes against federal income tax obligations, allowed a few states including New Jersey to skirt responsibility for their spending.  There are arguments on both sides of the recent tax changes that took this write-off away, but while it lasted, it gave New Jersey towns the ability to spend more while lessening the threat of taxpayer revolt.

Why do most folks believe they are powerless to do anything about high property taxes?

      Many citizens say they’re not actively engaging in policy issues because they’re too busy and stressed from all the obligations of living in such an intense part of the country.  While we’re all stressed, in my experience, it would be more accurate to say the obstacle is that they’ve never gotten involved.  That’s not a criticism, but an observation.  When we run orientations, or take “newbies” to a public meeting or to a legislative hearing, they often report that it wasn’t intimidating at all. 

      Many volunteer to go to another, or to several, because the “live action” beats television any day of the week … and there are no commercials.

      This, however, is very serious business, with very serious consequences for Christians, Jews, and ordinary citizens.  That’s because those who can gain from the favors of legislators work every day to assure their future economic benefit.  More often, these days, their efforts also restrict our freedoms.

      Want some fun?  Research the origin of this quote:  “If not us, who?; If not now, when?”  But it deserves some really serious consideration.  “Politics” is the civil side of policy.  You can be absolutely certain of another quote by Edmund Burke:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  You can rest assured that evil men are active.

      The Center for Garden State Families is a starting point.  But a few active citizens isn’t enough.  Emails to legislators are good, but they’re not enough.  A check for $25 is good, but it isn’t enough.

      Get involved.  No experience necessary.

      God Bless.

# # #

[1] The Tax Foundation, Tax Foundation

[2] The Tax Foundation, 2018 Facts & Figures

[3] The Tax Foundation, 2017 Facts & Figures

[4] The Tax Foundation, 2016 Facts & Figures

[5] The Tax Foundation, 2015 Facts & Figures

[6] The Tax Foundation, 2014 Facts & Figures

[7]see http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/02/7_reasons_why_njs_property_taxes_are_highest_in_us.html

[8] see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population_density

[9] see https://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/courts/supreme/vm/vanderbilt.html

[10] Robinson v. Cahill litigation

[11] see https://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-published/1972/118-n-j-super-223-0.html

[12] see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district

[13] see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district

*Mr. Eames has worked as an instructor for the Center for Self Governance and has been a candidate for NJ Senate, LD 27.  He has served as CEO of the New Jersey Tooling & Manufacturing Association and the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

Peter Murphy screwed his own GOP Freeholder candidate

How mercurial is Peter Murphy?  Enough to recruit a solid Republican candidate for Freeholder and after that screw him by recruiting an Independent to split the vote. 

In 2014, Murphy recruited a solid Republican candidate in union leader John Capo, but then he turned around and had his Republican town committee contribute $1,000 to another candidate recruited from Totowa -- Sami Merhi -- but this guy was running as an independent.  Merhi's candidacy undercut the Republican's chances and virtually insured that the Democrats' would win. Here's the contribution...

On top of this, Sami Merhi was a highly controversial candidate, having been rejected by the Democrats as a candidate a couple years before over what many in the media described as "anti-Semitic" remarks: 

"Passaic County Democrats withdrew their endorsement of a Lebanese-American freeholder candidate who had been criticized for remarks some critics said conveyed sympathy with Palestinian suicide bombers...

The decision came following reports that at an April 2002 rally and at a fund-raiser the same day for Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Dist. 8), Merhi made comments allegedly conveying sympathy with Palestinian suicide bombers. According to a report in The New York Times, he rejected a comparison between such attacks in Israel and the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, in which he lost a godson, and he quoted a would-be bomber captured in Israel in a way that some observers interpreted as a justification for such attacks.

According to Julie Roginsky, a spokeswoman for Democratic Party county chair John Currie, Merhi is to be replaced by Joanne Graviano, a Hawthorne school board member who is also active with the New Jersey Education Association. Roginsky quoted Currie as saying Graviano should have had the nomination from the start and that there was no room for divisiveness in the party.

Following Saturday’s vote, Merhi told the Associated Press: 'I’m in shock, feeling betrayed. They should be ashamed of themselves.' Merhi, who narrowly lost the party’s endorsement in 2004 because of the same issue, said he asked the party leaders on Saturday to support him and accept his explanation that his comments were misinterpreted. He said he reiterated his opposition to all forms of terrorism and his belief that killing innocent people is always wrong."

The full article can be accessed here: 

http://njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/033006/njPassaicDems.html

Apparently, Sami Merhi is a personal friend of both Passaic County GOP boss Peter Murphy and liberal Democrat Congressman Bill Pascrell.  Murphy and Pascrell are the nexus of horse-trading in Passaic County.  The following year, Murphy slated Merhi as a Republican candidate for Freeholder, which resulted in a predictable loss to the Democrats.  Apparently, Merhi was unavailable to make a run for Congress against Republican Assemblyman Jay Webber this year, hence his substitution with another Totowa resident.

Who is Peter Murphy?

He's the GOP party leader who runs the 23 insiders who pick which candidates represent the Republican Party in Passaic County.

He's been to prison.  Convicted on charges of public corruption.  But don't take our word for it, ask the man who sent him to prison.  Here's what then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had to say about Peter Murphy: 

"We are pleased with the end result here – that Mr. Murphy served a considerable amount of time in prison for crimes which he has finally acknowledged committing as Republican party chairman in Passaic County... For those crimes, Mr. Murphy has lost his prestige and power, nearly a year of freedom and now is a convicted felon."

And that's who is choosing the official Republican candidates in Passaic County. 

Every candidate running in the June 5th Republican primary on the line PASSAIC COUNTY REGULAR REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION is backed by Boss Peter Murphy, convicted of public corruption.  It is time to reject the GOP establishment and its coddling  of corruption.

Linda Sarsour casts shadow over Murphy speech at Women's March

She's the Steve Bannon of the Left -- an angry, trash-talking Democrat Party political operative with ties to some pretty unsavory people.  But in Linda Sarsour's case, it isn't the Russians we need to worry about, but rather Islamic Jihadists bent on defeating the West and changing America's culture.

Linda Sarsour, the co-founder of the Women's March, was on the front page of many New Jersey newspapers today -- in an Associated Press story, running her mouth about how many allies she intends to get elected to take power in the United States of America.  Her group is being funded so that they can hold a candidate training seminar in Las Vegas. 

Funny thing though, there was no comment from Governor Phil Murphy about the shadow cast by Linda Sarsour over the group he is set to speak before on Saturday.  Democrat congressional candidate Lisa Mandelblatt, an attorney in Westfield, had nothing to say about Sarsour either.  So let's refresh their memories:

Last summer, the New York Times (08/01/17) looked into some of the antics of the Linda Sarsour, co-founder of the Women's March organization:

The Times piece was titled -- "When Progressives Embrace Hate."  Times Editor Bari Weiss noted that the Women's March is connected to some very unsavory people but that groups like the NJEA (the state teachers' union) and Democrats like Governor Phil Murphy and candidate Lisa Mandelblatt don't seem to care.  Weiss wrote:

"The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.

Start with Ms. Sarsour, by far the most visible of the quartet of organizers. It turns out that this 'homegirl in a hijab,' as one of many articles about her put it, has a history of disturbing views, as advertised by . . . Linda Sarsour.

There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: 'Nothing is creepier than Zionism,' she wrote in 2012. And, oddly, given her status as a major feminist organizer, there are more than a few that seem to make common cause with anti-feminists, like this from 2015: 'You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sound nice, doesn’t it?'  She has dismissed the anti-Islamist feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the most crude and cruel terms, insisting she is 'not a real woman' and confessing that she wishes she could take away Ms. Ali’s vagina — this about a woman who suffered genital mutilation as a girl in Somalia."

Democrats failed to call out Linda Sarsour, the co-founder of the Women's March, even when she advocated for "jihad" against the democratically elected American government.

Yes, the co-founder of the Women's March actually called for "jihad" against the government of the United States of America.  And Democrats have remained politically-correct silent about it.  Instead, Democrat leaders have praised the Women's March and continue to do so -- lending their support to its leadership while American troops are in the field, engaged in a fight against jihadists.  Why have the Democrats and their candidates refused to comment on these threats of "jihad"?

Last year, Linda Sarsour -- a prominent Democrat Party activist and co-founder of the Women's March -- called for a "jihad" against the American government.  You can catch her act here:

Here's what she said:

"During a speech to the Islamic Society of North America convention in Chicago last weekend, Sarsour, a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention who is an anti-Israel and pro-Sharia activist, made the startling call and also urged against 'assimilation.' 

'I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad,' she said. 'That we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.'

'Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority,' she said.

'Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community. Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah,' she said."

Sarsour started off her call for "jihad" by praising Siraj Wahaj, who she described as her "favorite person in the room."  Wahaj is a controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of American authorities for years.  Federal prosecutors included him on a 3½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged, the Associated Press reported.

Since the election of Donald Trump as President, some Democrats appear to have gone completely loopy.  We believe that dissent is an American right, but "dissent" isn't "jihad".  When did the democratic concept of a "loyal opposition" morph into "jihad" -- a "holy war" to be waged by all means necessary?  And why are Democrats and their candidates too afraid to talk about it?

And here is another thing that they are afraid to comment on.   It was reported extensively in the media last year that the Women's March "honored" cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur). 

Referring to the notorious cop-killer, who murdered a New Jersey State Trooper in cold blood, as a "revolutionary" whose words "inspire us to keep resisting", the far-left Women' March organization issued a statement "celebrating" Ms. Chesimard's birthday.

The Star-Ledger reported on this:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/07/womens_march_wishes_nj_cop_killer_a_happy_birthday.html

So did the Save Jersey blog: 

Joanne Chesimard, the Black Liberation Army member hiding in Cuba after murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973, has long eluded American justice and vexed New Jersey public officials as well as the public at large.

Donald Trump made headlines in June by spiking the Obama-era Cuba deal and citing the case of Chesimard (a/k/a Assata Shakur) as one of the reasons.

Eyebrows were therefore raised on Sunday when the far-left Women’s March’s social media accounts CELEBRATED the notorious cop-killing fugitive’s birthday:

 “I think you guys accidentally left out the part where she shot a police officer in the face, escaped from prison, then fled to Cuba in this post,” responded one Facebook user.

Why haven't we heard from Democrats like Governor Phil Murphy and candidate Lisa Mandelblatt or the NJEA about this?  Why have they remained silent?

Why don't some Democrats appear to mind associating with radicals calling for "jihad" and cop-killers?  Do they consider these legitimate forms of "dissent"?  We are very interested in hearing what Democrats like Governor Phil Murphy and candidate Lisa Mandelblatt think about all this.

NJEA leaders fail to oppose all political violence

Over the weekend, we heard from a college-educated, professional woman, who resides in a new McMansion in an upscale suburban community, and drives a very expensive energy-efficient automobile.  From all outward signs perfectly sane.  The argument she put forward is this:  That Kim Jong-il is "only trying to protect his country" and that Donald Trump is "a far greater threat to the world's peace."

This is Trump Derangement Syndrome at its worse.  We run into egregious examples of it all the time.  For instance, there's a group of social warriors called Action Together Sussex County.  This group has been doing a lot of virtue-signaling lately, with calls for "peace & love" and the like.  They recently did an "education rally" with two NJEA-backed legislative candidates in which a lot of holier-than-thou language was employed.

Unfortunately... they have a past.  And it's a not-too-distant past. 

Take April 9, 2017... the Action Together Sussex County Facebook page.  Get a load of this "peace & love" routine:

"Got a friend who hates Trump"?  WTF!

"...Please email share this link with Democrats and progressives not on Facebook so that they can participate."  Participate in what?  Hating Trump, that's what.

How's that for spreading the hate?

On June 14, 2017, a United States Congressman was shot down while attending a baseball practice.  Action Together Sussex County makes no mention of this act of violent hate on its Facebook page... ever!  Why?  Is it because the victim is a Republican and the perpetrator a "leftwing activist" (per Wikipedia)?

Where were the vigils, the rallies, the calls for "peace & love" then?  Isn't the life of a Republican worth as much as that of a Democrat?  Apparently not.

Also shot were a female Capitol Police officer, a Congressional aide, and one other bystander.  They too did not earn a mention.

Then there is Action Together Sussex County's support of the Women's March and its silence when the media reported that the Women's March "honored" cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur), a terrorist on the FBI's "most-wanted" list.

According to groups like the Women's March (which the NJEA supported, by the way) terrorists like Chesimard -- who murdered a New Jersey State Trooper in cold blood -- "inspire us to keep resisting."  Oh do they?

The Women' March organization issued a statement "celebrating" Ms. Chesimard's birthday, praising her as a "revolutionary."  Which brings us to the NJEA leadership's statement on the murder of a young protestor in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.

To begin with, the purple prose is somewhat embarrassing, particularly as it comes from people claiming to be educators.  Remember, this is the organization that consistently uses restrained language when describing the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.   While describing September 11th as a "tragic event" the NJEA uses the term "horror" to describe a young man driving his automobile into a crowd of protestors.  That is an odd formulation given the relative scales of the two incidents.

We believe that what James Alex Fields did was willful murder and that he should pay for it with his life.  On this point, we part company with the NJEA, who oppose the death penalty.  They employ hard words.  We prefer hard sentences.  In this case, the murderer's life.  Enough talk.

The NJEA has often been silent in the face of political acts of violence.  When they do rouse themselves, it is more often about the ideas expressed than the violence that has become a part of our general political discourse.  Often enough, the NJEA's reaction could be misconstrued as itself an incitement to violence.  Take its statement on Charlottesville as an example, with its calls to "act boldly" for the cause of "social justice" and to change society.  "Act boldly" means what?  "Social justice" includes which issues and solutions? 

Was James Hodgkinson -- a "leftwing activist," late of Belleville, Illinois -- acting boldly when he sought to shoot some Republican members of Congress in June?

The NJEA's statement is full of such unclear language, open to gross misinterpretation.  Again, shocking for educators who should know how to write clearly.  We suggest they pick up a copy of The Elements of Style, a classic by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

The statement by the NJEA's leadership never mentions the act of murder -- and instead conflates this act with a tragic aircraft accident that occurred.  The NJEA never acknowledges that America is rapidly devolving into a place that no longer understands the idea of a "loyal opposition"  -- a place where people can no longer peaceably hold contrary points of view.  The NJEA statement does not call for an end to political violence.  Instead, the NJEA focuses on the ideas expressed by "neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hatemongers" (Are the Women's March and Action Together included amongst those "hatemongers"?) and on the "symbols" displayed and by "rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi Germany" (As in the aftermath of the Reichstag fire, perhaps?).

Is the NJEA statement a call to fight violence with violence... to "act boldly"?  You must ask them.

We believe that this is the moment for the NJEA to place aside its inner Che Guevara and dust off and channel its inner Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr.  We should not fear ideas -- especially the stupid ideas expressed by racists and neo-Nazis.  They are too easy to refute and make a mockery of.  We should not need to stoop to their level -- to call for censorship or speech bans or other forms of authoritarianism -- to undo their foolish propositions.

Speech must be met squarely with speech.  It does no good to force ideas underground.  It is far better to lure out foolish ideas, into the sunlight, where they can be tested, argued, and disposed of.  Those who do otherwise lack confidence -- or are simply propagandists and scam artists on the make who will use the same violence that they pose to condemn.  There is no idea, no argument, that an intelligent, civilized people need fear.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right when he said, in a somewhat different context, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."  Instead of stoking fear, the NJEA's leadership should be pushing the debate forward into the "bright sunlit uplands" of clarity. 

NJEA should withdraw backing from Jihadist and cop-killer supporters

From our friends at Sussex County Watchdog

We all remember the Women's March organization and who was very loud about supporting it:

...And then it turned out that the leadership of the Women's March was calling for "jihad" against the elected government of the United States of America.

...And then the Women's March posted a birthday greeting on its Facebook page praising a terrorist who murdered a New Jersey State Trooper.  That terrorist cop-killer is on the FBI's "most wanted list" -- with a $2 million reward.

Even the New York Times gets it.

In an August 1st piece titled -- "When Progressives Embrace Hate" -- NY Times Editor Bari Weiss points out that the Women's March is connected to some very unsavory people but that groups like the NJEA (the state teachers' union) and those candidates they support don't seem to care.  Weiss wrote:

"The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.

Start with Ms. Sarsour, by far the most visible of the quartet of organizers. It turns out that this 'homegirl in a hijab,' as one of many articles about her put it, has a history of disturbing views, as advertised by . . . Linda Sarsour.

There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: 'Nothing is creepier than Zionism,' she wrote in 2012. And, oddly, given her status as a major feminist organizer, there are more than a few that seem to make common cause with anti-feminists, like this from 2015: 'You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sound nice, doesn’t it?'  She has dismissed the anti-Islamist feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the most crude and cruel terms, insisting she is 'not a real woman' and confessing that she wishes she could take away Ms. Ali’s vagina — this about a woman who suffered genital mutilation as a girl in Somalia."

Which brings us to Jennifer Hamilton, Kate Matteson and Gina Trish.  They are running for office in Sussex County.  Matteson and Trish have expressed personal support for the Women's March organization and have failed to retract or even comment on the organization's "illiberal" and "radical" (according to the New York Times) leadership or the group's praise of a terrorist cop-killer.  Now, all three have embraced the same NJEA group that organized for these "illiberal" radicals and that also refuses to comment on the group's praise of a terrorist cop-killer or its leadership's call for "jihad".

The NJEA, along with Jennifer Hamilton, Kate Matteson and Gina Trish have failed to call out Linda Sarsour, the co-chair of the Women's March, and a self-proclaimed advocate of "jihad" against the democratically elected American government.

Yes, the co-chair of the Women's March actually called for "jihad" against the government of the United States of America.  And Democrats have remained politically-correct silent about it.  Instead, Democrat leaders have praised the Women's March and continue to do so -- lending their support to its leadership while American troops are in the field, engaged in a fight against jihadists.  Why have the Democrats and their candidates refused to comment on these threats of "jihad"?

Last month, Linda Sarsour -- a prominent Democrat Party activist and co-chair of the Women's March -- called for a "jihad" against the American government.  You can catch her act here:

Here's what she said:

"During a speech to the Islamic Society of North America convention in Chicago last weekend, Sarsour, a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention who is an anti-Israel and pro-Sharia activist, made the startling call and also urged against 'assimilation.' 

'I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad,' she said. 'That we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.'

'Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority,' she said.

'Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community. Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah,' she said."

Sarsour started off her call for "jihad" by praising Siraj Wahaj, who she described as her "favorite person in the room."  Wahaj is a controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of American authorities for years.  Federal prosecutors included him on a 3½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged, the Associated Press reported.

Since the election of Donald Trump as President, some Democrats appear to have gone completely loopy.  We believe that dissent is an American right, but "dissent" isn't "jihad".  When did the democratic concept of a "loyal opposition" morph into "jihad" -- a "holy war" to be waged by all means necessary?  And why are Democrats and their candidates too afraid to talk about it?

And here is another thing that they are afraid to comment on.   It was reported extensively in the media last month that the Women's March "honored" cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur). 

Referring to the notorious cop-killer, who murdered a New Jersey State Trooper in cold blood, as a "revolutionary" whose words "inspire us to keep resisting", the far-left Women' March organization issued a statement "celebrating" Ms. Chesimard's birthday.

The Star-Ledger reported on this:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/07/womens_march_wishes_nj_cop_killer_a_happy_birthday.html

So did the Save Jersey blog:

Joanne Chesimard, the Black Liberation Army member hiding in Cuba after murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973, has long eluded American justice and vexed New Jersey public officials as well as the public at large.

Donald Trump made headlines in June by spiking the Obama-era Cuba deal and citing the case of Chesimard (a/k/a Assata Shakur) as one of the reasons.

Eyebrows were therefore raised on Sunday when the far-left Women’s March’s social media accounts CELEBRATED the notorious cop-killing fugitive’s birthday:

 “I think you guys accidentally left out the part where she shot a police officer in the face, escaped from prison, then fled to Cuba in this post,” responded one Facebook user.

We know where Republicans like Assemblymen Parker Space stand on cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur).  They want her extradited back to the United States to face trial for the murder of a police officer.  They backed that up by sponsoring a legislative resolution (AR-111) to urge Congress and the Administration to make that happen.

Why haven't we heard from Jennifer Hamilton, Kate Matteson and Gina Trish or the NJEA about this?  Why have they remained silent?

Why don't some Democrats appear to mind associating with radicals calling for "jihad" and cop-killers?  Do they consider these legitimate forms of "dissent"?  We are very interested in hearing what Jennifer Hamilton, Kate Matteson and Gina Trish have to say about a group, that the NJEA strongly supports, honoring a cop-killer.

Is Kean out to make Codey Senate President?

There are two kinds of labor unions -- those whose rank and file membership voted for Trump and those whose membership voted for Clinton.

President Trump and Republicans who want to build a sustainable GOP majority for the future, seek to work with those unions whose members are inclined to vote Republican or who will consider voting Republican.  These are the largely blue collar trade unions -- Teamsters, Ironworkers, Carpenters, Cabinetmakers, Plumbers, Bricklayers, Electricians, Heavy Equipment Operators, Laborers -- the Building Trades and such. 

On the other end we have the teachers, professors, administrators, and white collar government bureaucrats, clerks and such.  They love everything the Democrats stand for.  They voted for Hillary Clinton -- although some would prefer a "real socialist."  We aint getting these people.  Ever.  Not unless we lose everyone else.

So why are some Republican candidates this year running around telling conservatives that they have the backdoor support of the NJEA and it is a "game changer"?  Haven't we been here before?  Doesn't anyone remember the aftermath of Whitman years when the NJEA and those other liberal unions whose butts we had kissed for eight years turned on us and helped usher in this endless Democrat legislative majority?

We get that Senator Tom Kean Jr. still holds a grudge against the Governor and Senate President for interfering in his leadership election in 2013.  He had every right to be pissed.  It was a legit gripe.  But there comes a point when you have to do the Christian thing and let it go.  But as the AFP screw card showed, it hasn't been let go, it's been expanded to those members of the GOP caucus who sided with the Governor. 

There was more evidence this week, when the Senate Staff -- those same folks who conspired with AFP on the screw card -- sought to crank it up the asses of a few GOP Senators with a release about repealing the tax reform package and replacing it with... Nobody seems to have got that far.

We could go with the plan Senator Jennifer Beck came up with that froze state education aid for seven years to ensure seven years of brutal property tax increases.  Any takers?

In suggesting that they can "repeal the gas tax" what these assbandits actually mean is that they will repeal the Tax Reform package, the whole thing.  So every assbandit candidate who tells the voters that he or she supports "repealing the gas tax" is actually saying that he or she wants to get rid of $1.4 billion in tax cuts, which is just another way of saying that you want to raise taxes by $1.4 billion.

Here are the $1.4 billion in tax cuts these candidates want to shit-can: 

- A tax cut on retirement income.  Most New Jersey retirees will no longer pay state income tax. This tax cut would be worth more than $2,000 annually to the average retiree.

- Elimination of the Estate Tax. This will protect family farms and businesses from being forced to close to pay taxes.

- Tax cut for veterans.  Honorably discharged active duty, guard, and reserve veterans get an additional $3,000 personal income tax deduction.

- Tax credit for low-income workers.  Worth $100 annually to the average worker.

- Sales tax cut.  Worth another $100 annually to the average consumer.

- TTF local government aid:  $400 million in property tax relief for local governments.

That's a pretty sucky platform.

If these machinations are successful and Senator Dick Codey replaces Senator Steve Sweeney as Senate President, conservatives and Republicans who believe in their party's platform will go from having a pragmatic Democrat who from time to time screws us in order to pander to the Democrat base; to a genuine far-left, true-believer, who will spend his every waking hour screwing us simply for the joy of it.  That's not to say that Senator Codey isn't a charming man with a certain integrity.  He just really doesn't buy anything we have on offer and thinks that conservatives and Republicans (the RNC platform variety) are all just full of horse manure. 

Take the Second Amendment for instance.  Senator Codey has proposed two bills to do away with the Second Amendment in New Jersey.  Both S-1159 and S-351 "prohibited the sale, importation, possession and carrying of handguns except by certain authorized persons."  Now why would anyone calling him or herself a conservative or a Republican or even an American ever want to see this despoiler of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights in ANY position of power?

Our worst nightmare will be Governor Phil "Jon Corzine II" Murphy, Senate President Dick Codey, and a Leftist Democrat Speaker.  Then we will know the meaning of being screwed.  Republicans and groups like AFP should not be conspiring to get us there.

The Screw card: Who engineered those AFP ratings?

A whistleblower copied us on a letter sent to the Internal Revenue Service, among other organizations.  The letter outlines the on-going collusion between the New Jersey affiliate of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a tax-exempt organization, and legislative staff and political campaign operatives in the creation of the group's so-called "scorecard." 

AFP's scorecard is a rating system that internal memos show has been engineered to benefit individual legislators for various purposes.  For instance, one legislator, Gail Phoebus, recently hired an AFP donor's child to her legislative staff.  For doing so, she received an "A+".  That's taxpayers' money that paid for that grade.

There was corruption evident in each of AFP's scorecards in the past, but this most recent edition -- the release of which was timed to coincide with a major AFP fundraiser hosted by Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. -- is so corrupt, so convoluted, that it begs description.  Instead of counting actual votes, the "engineers" behind the screw card fashioned a subjective mix of assigned "points" for the effort of proposing legislation -- even if that legislation was never posted for a vote.  That said, in order to injure some legislators and enhance others, co-sponsorship of legislation wasn't given credit  or, on bad bills, deductions.  And even though the rules on the number of sponsors vary in each Chamber, this wasn't taken into account.

Some of the more glaring incidents of corruption:

- Legislation to get rid of the Estate Tax in five years that went nowhere, is marked as a positive.  The legislation that actually did get rid of the Estate Tax in less than two years, is a negative.  Curiously, AFP actually touted the success of the legislation they marked as "negative" in a press release detailing their "legislative successes" for 2016.  In fact, most of the "successes" they used to raise money from their donors came from legislation they marked as "negative."   

- Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) gets credit for sponsoring legislation (A-1059), while running-mate Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce gets no credit for co-sponsoring the same legislation.

- A bill (ACR-213) proposed by far-left Democrat John Wisniewski (D-19) which would allow voters to over-turn all of Governor Chris Christie's vetoes of anti-Second Amendment legislation passed by the Legislature was rated as a POSITIVE by AFP.  Does that make AFP anti-gun?  It certainly seems so.  On top of this, they assigned credit or blame incorrectly.  For instance, AFP credited Senator Michael Doherty even though he hadn't sponsored a Senate version (none exists).

- Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the Senate received an "A+" for his vote on the so-called "gas tax" (actually, the Tax Reform package that included 5 tax cuts as well as the gas tax increase), while Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) got an "F" for taking the exact same vote on the "gas tax."

- There was no mention of legislation to spend millions on Planned Parenthood.  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.  Apparently, legislators get no credit for being Pro-Life from AFP.  Neither do they get it for preventing taxpayers' millions from being spent on abortion facilities.

- AFP is apparently hostile to legislation proposed by Senator Steve Oroho, called the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  It appears to fly in the face of what AFP national chair David Koch calls "free trade."

- A great deal of important legislation, like Senate legislation on paid sick leave, was treated as if it didn't exist.  The scores of some legislators, such as Senator Tom Kean Jr., improved dramatically.  Kean, who just a session ago was in the high 50 percentile range, suddenly got an "A"!

-  Of all the hundreds of votes taken in the Legislature, AFP "counted" just nine Assembly votes and six in the Senate -- and one of those they got wrong because they cherry-picked it from a previous session.  In other words, either the ass-monkey can't read a date correctly or somebody really wanted to screw someone.

(Jersey Conservative has some of best legislative watchers in the state and we will be putting together a comprehensive scorecard of the top 100 votes in the Legislature for 2016 in plenty of time for the June primary.  Instead of the subjective contortions used by the Kock organization's screw card, Jersey Conservative will use as our guide, the RNC platform that Chairman Webber so studiously avoided adopting.)

Who was behind the convoluted calculations that appear to damage some for a primary, while creating an advantage for others?  Whose thumb was on the scale?

We have asked this question before, of a different group that issues ratings -- the American Conservative Union (ACU).  When we spoke with their national office last year, they were most cooperative and forthcoming.  They readily informed us that the office of the Senate Republican Leader had assisted them in picking and choosing which votes to highlight. 

Perhaps that was the reason the ACU left out important votes like providing drug-dealers with taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.  Whatever, because it was child's play compared to what just happened over at AFP.

We can't imagine why a Republican Leader or his staff would have anything to do with an organization that went out of its way to crank it up the ass of five of his own incumbent Republican caucus members.  Are they trying to weed out anyone with a spine or just those who have never thought about visiting the Bohemian Grove?  Is this laying the groundwork for a Republican-NJEA alliance for November with the hope that conservatives will keep focused on "the gas tax" long enough to have their guns confiscated and the institution of co-ed high school showers.  Time will tell.

As for AFP, anyone who dips their snout in the toilet bowl with it can be labeled as working with the petroleum lobby, the illegal immigration lobby, the open borders for terrorists lobby, and also with that peculiar brand of Koch libertarianism that sincerely believes children have the rights to recreational narcotics and to sell their bodies for sex.  We suspect that candidates will be hearing a lot more on this as their campaigns progress through the primary and general election processes. The digging will get deep and the shit will be random. 

Let us leave you with this quote from the Liberty & Prosperity blog run by Seth Grossman.  Grossman was a founding member of New Jersey's AFP affiliate, so he knows of whom he speaks:

"Frayda Levy of Bergen County also supports amnesty for all illegals without taking any measures to stop, arrest, or deport future illegals.   Frayda is one of the super-rich donors who donated more than a million dollars to Americans for Prosperity created by Charles and David Koch."

People like the ones running AFP like illegal labor because it drives down wages and makes average Americans take-it-or-leave-it wage slaves.  Next time some surrogate for these modern day slavers complains about a working man in Morris County supporting a candidate who helps him keep his family fed, clothed, and a roof over their head, we will detail how much dough the folks on the other side are swimming in and the causes they use it on.  Special interests?  What in the hell are the Koch Brothers!