Gubernatorial Debate: Murphy laughs about violence against women.

By Rubashov

There is a disturbing intensity about Phil Murphy -- and it’s something his campaign team evidently approves of and draws upon. In his recent attack ad on GOP opponent Jack Ciattarelli, his team selected a clip of a wildly gesticulating Murphy waving his arms up and down in the manner Fidel Castro. Disturbed as much as it is disturbing?

At last evening’s debate, Phil Murphy didn’t appear to listen to or consider the questions posed to him. At no point could you catch the wheels turning in the back of his brain somewhere. Instead, Murphy rabbited back his replies with all the thoughtfulness of a child repeating his catechism. Murphy exists not so much in a world of ideas as in one of certainties, which become more certain the more often repeated. This he did, stopping only to relish the “sacredness” of certain words. For example, Murphy genuflects before the phrase “Planned Parenthood” the way another Murphy, a generation or so ago, might have before the phrase “Virgin Mother.”

He seems genuinely beyond discussing anything with. A post-rational politician who is pursuing his own way into “heaven” – trying to be his version of “good” and unable to imagine any other versions. In short, an invincibly intolerant man.

Then there is Phil Murphy’s pride. He seems incapable of apology – even of acknowledging his own humanity. Phil Murphy does nothing wrong. There is no fault he needs to acknowledge. No wrong done that he needs to apologize for. It is always someone else’s fault or responsibility. To disagree with him is existential, to “go backwards” as he tells it. Murphy accuses others of inciting “them against us” divisiveness while he speaks incessantly about people based on the color of their skin or who they have sex with. Did he even once refer to the human whole – to people – as opposed to “black and brown” people or “LGBTQ plus” people or "white" oppressors???

A man, so lacking in original thought, unable to discuss ideas, hangs desperately on to the life preserver of mantra. A strange, distant man – ultimately tragic in his isolation.

That’s why Phil Murphy makes such callous gaffs – like treating the rape of one of his own staffers as if it were a systems flaw to be corrected with the right amount of training or the right number of female appointments (and then patting himself on the back for “getting it right”). His comments concerning the horrendous crimes faced by women realtors – sneering, dismissive, mocking – were particularly telling. Here is Murphy:

“He (Ciattarelli) supports concealed carry… for certain professions like that really dangerous one, realtors…”

The Democrats in the audience hooted very loudly and laughed with Murphy.

Well, Governor (and all your laughing supporters) please consider this video:

Play those screams, Governor. Hear her tell about how she feared she would be raped, Governor. Then tell us, Governor, if this is a laughing matter.

And here are a few headlines for you to consider before your next bout of laughter:

Attacks on Real Estate Agents Are Increasing Every Day
09/09/2019
“In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, 48 real estate professionals died while on the job in 2017.”

The Concerning Rise of Real Estate Agent Attacks
03/02/2019
“Experts on real estate safety agree that the reason so many real estate agents are attacked is because their job requires them to be alone with random members of the public. Unlike customer service jobs that typically include working with coworkers, many real estate agents work alone. They also make scheduled appointments to show homes and advertise when they will be having open houses, so it is easy for a potential attacker to ascertain a real estate agent’s whereabouts.”

Trend of Violence Against Women Real Estate Agents
04/04/2020
“It’s no secret that real estate agents do fear for their personal safety. According to a 2018 Inman survey, 41% of women surveyed said it was a major concern.”

How a Real Estate Agent Survived Attack By Man She Was Showing a Home to
02/12/2015
"And finally I said, we really need to go. So, we started out the door, and I reached down to pick up the lock box. That's when he struck me over the head."

Broker beware: From robbery to assault, realty agents face big risks
12/02/2017
“…in May, while showing a client a vacant property in Avondale, Figueroa heard footsteps and conversation on the second floor. She believes it was a drug deal. All she knows for sure is that a man began running down the stairs toward where she was standing.”

Should Realtors Wear Body Cameras?
03/01/2018
“An Elizabeth City real estate agent found herself in a scary and dangerous situation while showing a rental property this March. A man pretending to be working with a group of investors ended up touching the agent several times and refusing to let her leave the property once he had her inside.”

Are open houses too dangerous to justify?
11/13/2019
“Jen Geisinger was holding an open house alone about a decade ago when she heard what sounded like someone rummaging through the master bathroom’s medicine cabinet…”

The Disturbing Reality of Real Estate Murders
04/15/2019
“According to Psychology Today, real estate professionals face a significant risk when they show homes to strangers. Every meeting with a client means trusting somebody new… Sarah Anne Walker’s body was found in a model home by a couple coming to view it. She’d been beaten, stabbed, bitten, and robbed of her jewelry. Police arrested Kosoul Chanthakoummane for Sarah’s murder thanks to DNA-related discoveries. He’d seemingly been targeting real estate agents he could rob.”

“She’d been beaten, stabbed, bitten, and robbed… and then murdered.”

Imagine if it was someone you knew? A neighbor perhaps? Or a family member?

Still laughing?

This is what happens when a politician stops listening and becomes too certain of his or her own bullshit. Because thinking you are “good” when you are just a fallen human fool like the rest of us is bullshit. It allows you to the laugh at the plight of people who don’t have 24-hour armed security, like Phil Murphy has. Who have to go out and maybe not come back just to put food on the table – something Phil Murphy doesn’t need to worry about.

It comes from an over-abundance of Pride. And a lack of empathy for others who don’t share your good fortune. And a lack of tolerance for those whose perception of the world was shaped differently from yours.

“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Voters oppose Biden pipeline order. 60% expect energy prices to rise.

By Rubashov

On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden signed an executive order blocking further construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Rasmussen polling organization reports that most voters disagree with Biden’s decision.

According to Rasmussen, only 36 percent of Likely U.S. Voters think it is a good idea to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to the United States. 51 percent say canceling the pipeline is a bad idea, and 13 percent are not sure.

60 percent of voters expect energy prices to increase because of President Biden’s energy policies. Only 8 percent think Biden’s energy policies will lead to lower prices, while 25 percent expect prices to stay about the same.

77 percent of Republican voters oppose Biden’s Keystone XL Pipeline decision, but so do 20 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of voters not affiliated with either major party.

Expectations that President Biden’s energy policies will lead to higher energy prices are broadly shared, with 83 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of unaffiliated voters and even 37 percent of Democrats saying they expect to pay more because of Biden. Only 10 percent of Democrats expect Biden’s policies will lead to lower energy prices.

New Jersey residents face a double threat, with the administration of Governor Phil Murphy pushing a Wall Street backed $100 billion Energy Master Plan that will raise costs across the state. The Murphy energy plan pushes a new taxpayer-subsidized, government-mandated solar program like the one pushed on the residents of Sussex, Morris, and Somerset Counties a few years ago – the program that became known, infamously, as “the solar scam”.

The solar scam left taxpayers on the hook for millions, while generating lucrative fees for politically-connected law firms, government vendors, and Wall Street bankers. The taxpayers got nothing but the bill. The children and grandchildren of the taxpayers who were promised the benefits of this solar program will be paying for its corrupt broken promises.

We are concerned that the same kind of scam is going on now – only on a vastly larger and ultimately more disastrous scale – with Governor Murphy’s energy plan. Like the scam that so damaged the fiscal stability of northwest New Jersey, the first sign that something is up (something that they don’t want you to see, let alone comment on) is the lack of transparency.

According to Ron Morano, Executive Director of Affordable Energy New Jersey, the Murphy administration’s failure to provide transparency has revealed Murphy’s own concerns about his plan. In a backhanded compliment, aimed at administration officials who clearly recognize the flaws in Murphy’s plan, in December, Morano wrote:

“We applaud state government officials for finally recognizing that releasing the details of their $100 billion green fantasy will show that it is far too expensive for New Jersey taxpayers to stomach.”

“The fact is, when times were good before the COVID pandemic, the state failed to release this information for the public to see the true costs of Phil Murphy’s Energy plan. Now they are attempting to use the pandemic to distract from the fact that they continue to keep the public in the dark about their flawed plans.

While the Murphy Administration says they need to go back to the drawing board before releasing any analysis of costs, the fact is they need to go back to the drawing board on Phil Murphy’s Energy Plan itself.”

In response to Murphy’s lack of transparency, Affordable Energy for New Jersey submitted an OPRA request to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, asking for a copy of a report outlining the cost of NJ’s energy goals. Murphy has repeatedly delayed the release of this analysis, which details what the state’s energy policies will cost consumers and businesses to transition to a clean-energy economy.

AENJ's own analysis has totaled just the electrification costs at a minimum of $65 billion. This is only a portion of what is calculable, as the state refused to release additional cost analyses. The overall total is significantly higher.

Government works better when it is open and transparent. That’s not only our opinion – it is the opinion of the civilized world. Governments around the globe have signed-up to the United Nation’s Open Government Partnership. So, why is New Jersey under Phil Murphy lagging behind? Why isn’t New Jersey living up to international standards and universally recognized norms?

On transparency and open government, New Jersey needs to pull itself out of the gutter and up to the level of international norms. The Legislature, the Counties, and local governments should demand a financial impact statement from the Murphy administration. Make Murphy detail how his Energy Master Plan will affect the lives of the state’s residents, as they struggle through a pandemic – the government reactions to which have left people without the means to afford basics like health care.

“A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.”

— President James Madison

N.B. We welcome a conversation on this and all topics raised on this website. Jersey Conservative is entirely open to your ideas and opinions. To submit a column for publication, please contact Marianna at Marianna@JerseyConservative.org.

NJ Republicans must have the courage to engage on the Second Amendment

There are three kinds of people who favor gun control: (1) Those who do so in reaction to horrific events and the media coverage of those events. (2) Those who emotionally or intuitively dislike guns or the idea of weapons. (3) Those looking for power, whether in the form of votes or other forms of power as would come from the confiscation of firearms.

Conservatives like United States Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) are taking a lead in the process of finding common ground with the first group and engaging with the second, which represent most of those who say they want stricter gun control. Here, Senator Cruz meets with prominent gun control advocates…

Senator Cruz has given a lot of thought to the Second Amendment and he knows who he is, where he stands, and why he stands there. This is important, because in order to have a conversation with those who hold a different position, you must first have a position of your own.

Most New Jersey Republicans get nervous around the Second Amendment. Most, not all, but most. This is an institutional thing that goes back decades. Sad to say, but even Bernie Sanders had a better voting record on the Second Amendment than did many New Jersey Republicans. When President Bill Clinton pushed a bill through Congress that required a seven-day waiting period for the purchase of a hand gun, Congressman Sanders (Socialist-Vermont) voted “NO”, while all but one of the Republicans in the New Jersey congressional delegation supported the bill.

Forget the Trump Revolution, New Jersey Republicans never really embraced the Reagan Revolution The brain and nervous system of the party tends to reject new stimuli. Nevertheless, the world has moved on, and the body of the party – those who identify or who could identify as Republicans – bears no resemblance to the past. Too often, the brain and nervous system reacts to them as outsiders and actively rejects them, looking, as they often do, like the Democrats of old.

So the Republican Party in New Jersey – the brains and nervous system of it – needs to adjust itself to its new body, for just as the body cannot function without a brain, the brain is fairly useless without a body to command. Step one in this process is an intellectual one. It requires engagement – brain with body – to learn again who it is and what it wants to do.

Before attempting to convince “swing” voters or Undeclared voters or “soft” Democrats… New Jersey Republicans must first know who they are, what they stand for, and what they would do in power. Only then can they engage in a dialog and adjust their message to sell their beliefs more effectively – that’s sell… more effectively, not scrap. And it really does help to get literate about this and to write it down, as an outline or a platform or whatever you wish to call it, so that it may be referred to and passed along.

As for the more tactile branches of the body – the activists – it is good to keep in mind the advice of Benjamin Franklin to the citizen who wished to know the form of government that we’d got. “A Republic,” he answered, “If you can keep it.” By this Franklin was instructing that citizenship is a daily duty. It does not end with a victorious election but begins there. The body sends a continuous flow of messages to the brain. It does not celebrate and then go dormant. Neither can the activist – or the good citizen.

Leftists threaten to “stab” Senator. Where is the media?

“Stab the Mother F**ker in the heart!”  So say the Antifa warriors and their political allies here in New Jersey.  Tucker Carlson reports…

So where are the outraged women of the one-percent?

Why no comment from mega-wealthy one-percenters like Lisa Bhimani (who, in addition to her million dollar home, owns a $1.6 million dollar nook in Manhattan for when she happens to be there) or Darcy Draeger or Stacey Gunderman or Lisa Mandelblatt?

Where is Sussex County Democrat Chairwoman Katie Rotondi?  She’s good at trash-talking Disabled American Veterans.  Why no comment about this? 

Why the silence? 

Hypocrisy.

Could Fred Snowflack pass a lie detector test to prove his moral superiority?

It’s bad enough Fred Snowflack writes for a blog owned and operated by a government contactor – an insurance operation no less – part of that grease-machine for which New Jersey is so famous.  Back in the day, when Snowflack was employed by actual newspapers, those journalists had a phrase when describing what you got from the grease-machine… they called it the “corruption tax” that made everything your tax dollars paid for more expensive.

But Fred doesn’t criticize the folks he works for these days.  These days, he argues against the Bill of Rights.  Snowflack claims that any time some Internet mob decides somebody has done anything they consider to be “offensive”, the mob has the right to have that person fired.  And Fred doesn’t seem to think this kind of extra-judicial mob “justice” will have a chilling effect on Free Speech??? 

Hey, if somebody broke the law… charge him.  If somebody broke the rules… discipline him (or her).  But if we are really going to demand someone’s head every time somebody writes or says or even “re-tweets” something somebody else finds offensive… then we better have pretty darn perfect people to start out with.  Because the Internet mob can be fickle about who it destroys… just ask former United States Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota). 

We think it time to break out the polygraphs.  Lie detector tests for everyone! 

Every member of the Board of Trustees of Sussex County Community College (SCCC) should be made to take a lie detector test.  They should be asked every question under the sun to cover every possible kind “offensive” behavior that could be imagined at some later date by some Internet mob.  From adultery and bad words to excessive drinking and the veracity of how they file their taxes… have they ever lusted after one of the SCCC students (even in their mind, because thought crime is the real crime, didn’t you know).

We should make Fred Snowflack take it too… and the monsters he works for.  It would be a blast…

Speaking of monsters.  There’s an old saying among machine politicians in Philadelphia.  It goes like this, “If you say you’re the boss, and nobody says you aint the boss, then you’re the boss.”

John F.X. Graham probably heard it back in the day, when he was prowling around amongst the ward healers in that sainted city of brotherly love.  Back when “ethnic” meant second or third generation Irish or Polish or Italian and individual neighborhoods developed their own dialects (yes, people really did talk like Rocky back then).

John F. X. moved to New Jersey where he followed the yellow brick road of selling insurance to government entities.  Unlike South Jersey’s George Norcross, John F. X. wasn’t really interested in building a political machine.  He was content with a money machine – the old-fashioned kind, the grease machine that uses campaign contributions to lube the representatives of the taxpayers, so that their money pumps out in a nice, steady stream.

In December 2017, the Observer wrote about John F.X. and his operation – the Fairview Insurance Agency – in a “special report” about “How Insurance Brokers Reap Public Funds Without Disclosure.”  It makes for interesting reading:

Insurance brokerages that make political donations are declining to disclose large amounts of money received indirectly from public entities.

One of the biggest goldmines for contractors in New Jersey is selling insurance plans to public entities, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers across the state.

But an Observer review of dozens of public documents shows that in some cases, it’s difficult or impossible to get a complete accounting of the money going back and forth between insurance brokerages — some of which are deep-pocketed campaign donors — and the public entities that award lucrative insurance contracts.

For instance, Fairview Insurance Agency Associates is one of the largest political donors in New Jersey, giving more than $120,000 to various candidates and committees in 2016, the ninth-highest among businesses in the state, according to the state’s campaign finance watchdog agency.

The Verona-based brokerage is also a big contractor, raking in at least $1.1 million through public contracts or agreements across New Jersey in 2016.

Under state law, the firm is required to report annually all of its political donations and public contracts to the Election Law Enforcement Commission, provided it gets at least $50,000 in public contracts and makes at least one political donation of any amount. Curiously, however, some of the money Fairview gets indirectly from public entities is then reported to ELEC as $0.

The effect is that, to the average observer reading ELEC reports, Fairview would appear to have made much less from public entities and institutions than it actually got — directly and indirectly — in a given year.

Observer reviewed ELEC disclosures for five companies, only three of which were required to itemize their contracts and donations.

A review of six ELEC disclosure forms, 29 invoices, four contracts and eight resolutions by school boards and local councils revealed a loophole in state law that allows brokerages such as Fairview to not report to ELEC tens of thousands of dollars, or more, that they receive as a result of working for governments or public entities.

In 93 cases, three brokerages reported receiving $0 from public agreements in 2016 on their disclosure forms filed with ELEC...  In one case, Observer found that Fairview was paid $54,000 indirectly from Jersey City’s school board but later disclosed $0 to ELEC.

It works like this. Brokerages — which sell insurance plans to local governments — are often paid commissions or fees by third-party companies. In this scenario, the actual contract does not go to the brokerage, but to the third-party company, while the brokerage still gets a cut of the business.

In some cases, the dollar amount of these fees or commissions can be traced back by filing public records requests with local governments. Some public entities that answered such requests from Observer provided copies of the original public contracts, which in turn detailed the actual fees or commissions paid to insurance brokerages that were reported to ELEC as $0.

In other cases, there is no mechanism to piece together what a third-party company paid to a brokerage in commissions. Some public entities did not disclose or could not say how much their brokers were paid indirectly by their contractors.

In March 2015, the Jersey City Board of Education passed a resolution to award Fairview a $54,000 contract to be the school district’s prescription insurance broker for fiscal year 2016.

Fairview did not end up receiving an actual contract. The school board struck a deal two months later with Express Scripts to manage its prescription benefits plan, and in that contract, it directed Express Scripts to pay Fairview $4,500 per month on its behalf, according to a copy of the contract provided by the Jersey City school board. The school district essentially paid someone else to pay Fairview.

In the end, Fairview reported that it received $0 in 2015 and 2016 from its work for the Jersey City Board of Education, according to its annual reports filed with ELEC. The firm noted that the amounts it disclosed “do not include commissions received from the insurance carriers.” (Observer, December 6, 2017) 

Campaign contributions flowing one-way, huge contracts flowing the other… minimal to no transparency. That’s New Jersey.

The problem is… the Fairview Insurance Agency owns the news agency (InsiderNJ) that hands out the designations as to who is who in New Jersey media.  And so we come to the quote used earlier…

“If you say you’re the boss, and nobody says you aint the boss, then you’re the boss.”  It is a scam, perpetrated by a bunch of b.s. artist insurance salesmen.

John F. X. Graham owns both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ (he holds titles of founder and publisher, respectively).  Michael J. Graham is Chief Operating Officer of both the Fairview Insurance Agency and InsiderNJ.  Ryan Graham is the Director of Business Development for the Fairview Insurance Agency and the Associate Publisher of InsiderNJ. 

That’s it folks… John F.X.’s grease machine has its own media mouthpiece with which to skew perceptions.  And that’s a handy thing to have in an age of hollowed out local coverage and a dearth of what was once called “investigative journalism.”  The press is now routinely used to punish the whistleblower, the taxpayer advocate, citizen activist, the underdog.  It’s easy to see why.

Now don’t get us wrong, just because John F.X. is all about the money… and the money… and the money… and the money… That doesn’t mean he’s not above playing the part of the noble, the enlightened, crony capitalist.  Hey, didn’t some notorious mob boss put a roof on a church?  Doesn’t Johnson & Johnson make up for failing to warn women that their product could cause uterine cancer by being oh so woke on LGBTQ?  It pays to have fashionable connections and to assist those connections in the higher causes of fashion.

John F.X. is a friend of Hillary.  Yes, that old wind bag.  You could forgive him being a friend of Bill because, heck, who wouldn’t want a night out on the town with Bill Clinton?  He’d make a Saturday night seem like a month of weekends.  But Hillary?  You know that’s just fashion.

Nevertheless, John F.X. has been called “a top Democrat fundraiser” by newspapers like the Bergen Record and the Newark Star-Ledger.  In addition to Hillary Clinton, John F.X. raised money for John Kerry in his 2004 presidential race, and he’s been a big giver to United States Senator Bob Menendez.  In fact, it was John F.X. who pushed the idea of Menendez on a national ticket as vice president:

In January 2008, the Jersey Journal along with other media outlets reported that “John F.X. Graham, one of Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Co-Chairs, thinks that New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez would make a great choice if Clinton wins the Democratic Primary… Graham fired off an email this morning to Clinton Campaign Manager Terry McAuliffe listing politicians who would make good vice presidential material, including the choices most often brought up:  Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John Edwards and Joe Biden.  But Menendez, a Clinton campaign national co-chair, would be the “most intriguing” choice, Graham wrote.”

“The name Richardson does not sound exactly Latino,” wrote Graham.  “The Latino voting block is becoming the most influential in this election, especially with the immigration and other economic issues confronting our prosperity.  For lack of a better term, he is the Latino Barack Obama with the experience.” 

Why would John F.X. think that encouraging people to vote along racial or ethnic lines is good public policy?  Has he not heard of the former Yugoslavia? 

Finally, John F.X. made his pronouncements while Senator Menendez was the subject of an FBI investigation.  Not that something like that matters when you are making a fashion statement.

Yes, so it seems that InsiderNJ can also be considered an outpost of the far-flung Clinton Empire.  Ahhhh, corruption at its most tasty. 

And it looks as though John F.X. is quite a big deal.  Even Wikileaks picked up loads of correspondence between John F.X. and his fellow Clintonistas.  Here is an example:

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As far as the money goes, national contacts and a national reach does have its advantages.  We found dozens of John F.X.’s insurance agency’s outposts around the country.  All making him money – but northern New Jersey and Essex County in particular is his base.  It was reported in Politico (November 24, 2014) that Essex County Democrat Party boss Joe DiVincenzo’s son worked for John F.X.’s insurance agency.  He also held a full-time public job as well. 

So it was no surprise that the most corrupt political machine in the state – the Essex County Democrats – inducted John F.X. into their “Hall of Fame” in March of 2015.  InsiderNJ editor, Max Pizarro wrote the panegyric, which we suppose was less messy than the alternative. 

Now can we ask this again?  What are these people doing handing out the rankings on New Jersey journalists?  Shouldn’t some organization, like the Society of Professional Journalists, be doing it?  Or the Columbia School of Journalism?  Or anything but the god-damned grease machine itself!

Ten years ago, the authors of The Soprano State – two old-school investigative journalists – joined with journalists like Josh Margolin to decry the “corruption tax” that added to the cost paid by New Jersey taxpayers on everything to do with government.  Could they have guessed that, ten years later, not only would the tax be more imbedded and less transparent, but that the very news agencies responsible for exposing and reporting on it would now be wholly-owned subsidiaries of the same grease machine responsible for the corruption?

New Jersey… you can’t make this stuff up.

Regina Egea: Connecticut’s housing crash a warning for NJ

The Garden State Initiative’s Regina Egea has once again brought home some hard truths that New Jersey’s political class had better embrace.  Egea is one of the smartest thinkers on public policy in New Jersey.  An M.B.A., former AT&T executive, state Treasury Department official, and Governor’s Chief of Staff – Egea also served in local government as a Deputy Mayor and School Board Member.  As President of the Garden State Initiative, she’s been collecting data, studying issues, and coming up with solutions to New Jersey’s most pressing fiscal concerns.

On May 9th you too can be part of the solution.  The Garden State Initiative will be holding its 2nd Annual Economic Policy Forum.  Join policy leaders like Senator Steve Oroho, Senator Declan O’Scanlon, and Senate President Steve Sweeney in a discussion about the future of New Jersey.  The details are below:

Garden State Initiative's 2nd Annual
Economic Policy Forum  
Thursday, May 9th, 4 to 6 pm
Hyatt Regency - New Brunswick

Egea recently wrote:  “The Garden State Initiative's first research report in 2017, “Connecticut’s Fiscal Crisis Is a Cautionary Tale for New Jersey”, detailed how our neighbor up I-95, with its struggling economy, saddled with massive public debt and high taxes, served as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for New Jersey unless we take the necessary measures to get our own fiscal house in order.”

Below are excerpts from Regina Egea’s op-ed published today in the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com:

A recent Wall Street Journal report, “Wealthy Greenwich Home Sellers Give in to Market Reality,” on Connecticut’s real estate market should concern all New Jersey residents.

The report documents a severe price decline among high-end real estate in the Nutmeg State’s most exclusive areas, notably Greenwich, long a symbol of modern American affluence. Despite America’s booming economy, the report cited numerous reports of owners selling homes for far below what they paid a decade or more ago. 

This was typically preceded by these homeowners' establishing residences in more fiscally attractive states like Florida. (Sound familiar, New Jersey?)

The evidence is staggering. The median home price in Greenwich dropped by 16.7% last year to $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a report by brokerage Douglas Elliman, with early reports showing a 25% decrease in early 2019. In a jarring anecdote, the Journal cited “a stately Colonial-style home on Greenwich, Conn.’s tony Round Hill Road is being sold in a way that was once unthinkable in one of the country’s most affluent communities: It is getting auctioned off. Once asking $3.795 million, the four-bedroom property will be sold … for a reserve price of just $1.8 million.”

…The storm that is currently hitting Connecticut’s real estate market has clouds gathering in New Jersey.

When the wealthy flee a state, sustaining massive losses on their homes in the process, it is unfortunate for the individual but likely devastating for those remaining, particularly if this occurs in New Jersey due to our extraordinary reliance on property tax revenues to sustain local governments and schools. 

The research firm Wealth X reported that New Jersey lost 5,700 people with liquid assets from $1 million to $30 million in 2018 — and that’s before the implications of the state and local tax (SALT) cap on federal taxes were truly felt. Recent reports indicate that New Jersey’s income tax receipts are falling well below projections.

Discussions around yet another tax increase on the wealthy, to fund the nearly $40 billion state budget, will only exacerbate the exodus of wealth. As reference, Connecticut has a top marginal tax rate of 6.99%; last year’s budget agreement increased New Jersey’s to 10.75%. The top 2% of all New Jersey income tax filers (those making $500,000 per year) account for over 40% of all income tax revenue to the state. Since close to 40% of state revenues are from personal income taxes, increasing dependence on this group exacerbates our vulnerability at both the state and local levels. An individual loss in this income category reverberates throughout the state.

The risk now is not just those wealthy fleeing our state. As high-end real estate values deflate, as in Greenwich, the taxes to support our local governments and schools will be redistributed to moderate- and lower-value property owners.

A recent Monmouth University poll illustrates that New Jersey residents’ views of the quality of life in our state are tumbling to an all-time low. The latest poll shows that only 50% of residents are positive, down from the prior result of 54%, and in no surprise, 45% of residents named property taxes as the state’s most pressing issue.

To read the entire article, visit NorthJersey.com…

https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/2019/04/29/connecticut-housing-crash-predictive-nj/ 

For more information on The Garden State Initiative, visit…

https://www.gardenstateinitiative.org

Sabrin pummels young Dem on taxes. Grossman weighs in on Kate Smith

When a young Democrat suggested that a frustrated property taxpayer was wrong for pulling up stakes and leaving the Garden State, libertarian stalwart Murray Sabrin, a finance professor at Ramapo College beat him about the head (rhetorically) with a large dose of economic reality.  Here’s what Sabrin had to say:

In a nj.com guest column millennial entrepreneur and Kinnelon Board of Education member Jason DeAlessi criticizes a previous guest columnist who explained why he is leaving New Jersey for Pennsylvania where taxes are lower.

DeAlessi’s criticism reflects the prevailing collectivist ideology that has been embraced by individuals from all generations who believe: “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs.” If this sounds familiar it should, because it is the foundation of Karl Marx’s vision for the world.

DeAlessi makes the egregious assertion that successful people should be the “cash cows” for social welfare spending. This is the heart of the rationale for all taxes in contemporary America. Taxes have become the prime vehicle for politicians to “buy” the votes of the public who believe the redistribution of income will make them better off and not have any negative consequences for the economy.

The millennial critic of anyone who does not want to pay exorbitant taxes states: “But year after year, the value of your stock portfolio, IRA, and 401K goes up – on the backs of your fellow hard-working New Jerseyans.” This is not only false but defamatory. People earn their money by providing goods and services in the marketplace. In other words, they improve living standards for those who buy their produces and use their services. Entrepreneurs like DeAlessi are dependent on customers who value their services and pay their employees a wage or salary reflecting their value to the firm. This how a free market economy works.

Finally, an analogy should lay to rest the notion that people should stay in New Jersey despite the high taxes. If a slave owner prior to the Civil War decried the escape of slaves from his plantation with the assertion that their labor is needed to keep the plantation functioning, anyone who values individual liberty would consider that an outrageous assertion. Slavery being the most egregious involuntary relationship is no different than taxation, which is the modern equivalent of “slavery.” Why? Both slavery and taxation abuse and individual’s right to liberty.

In short, escaping a slave plantation and leaving a high tax state are not “selfish.” They are noble actions to be free and have more freedom over one’s income and wealth.

You can read more by Professor Sabrin at his blog…

https://www.murraysabrin.com/

Meanwhile, former Atlantic County Freeholder Seth Grossman is kicking some socialist ass of his own.  In an email blast earlier today, Grossman wrote: 

Last year, Stockton University lied about its namesake Richard Stockton and removed his statue.   Last week, the same "progressive" mob lied about Kate Smith, and bullied the Philadelphia Flyers into covering her statue, and taking away her song.   Today, they took away her statue.
 
Details at https://libertyandprosperity.com/kate-smith-latest-victim-of-fake-education-real-hatred-taught-by-colleges-public-schools-today/
 
This did not happen overnight.   This is the latest result of 50 years of people who hate our country, our freedom, and our independence using our public schools and colleges to lie to our children.

Richard Stockton and his family dedicated their lives to ending slavery in America.   Yet Stockton University professors falsely taught its students that he and his family were racists because they temporarily owned some slaves while in the process of giving them educations and preparing them to live on their own.  The real reason Stockton professors hate Richard Stockton is that they hate the Declaration of Independence he signed, and the America based on limited government and individual rights that he helped create.

Kate Smith introduced America to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” at a time when it was needed most.   But our schools and colleges are now teach the lie that she was a racist because the perfectly acceptable language she used 86 years ago is now considered offensive by some.

Get the facts on what is going on, and what we can do about it.

Few people in America have more knowledge on this subject than Dr. Duke Pesta.   One of our members, Steve Jones will host a workshop and discussion featuring Dr. Pesta’s latest video presentation this Wednesday, April 24, at the Shore Diner in Egg Harbor Township.

Topic:  Campus Carnage:  Moral Chaos and Indoctrination in the University.
Video Presentation by Dr. Duke Pesta
This Wednesday, 7pm at Shore Diner
6710 Tilton Road (corner of Fire Road near Parkway Exit 36)
Egg Harbor Township, NJ  08234

No charge, but please order and pay for dinner off the menu and tip your server.
Please RSVP with Steve Jones at  sjones-LP@See-More-Facts.com.  Or leave a message at (609) 927-7333. Feel free to contact him for details.    Thanks.
 
Seth Grossman, Executive Director
LibertyAndProsperity.com
453 Shore Road
Somers Point, NJ  08244
info@libertyandprosperity.com
(609) 927-7333

Why did Murphy aide leading anti-Sweeney effort try to kill Hebrew school?

Late yesterday afternoon it emerged that Action Together NJ – a Democratic Socialist group closely aligned with LD25 Democrats Lisa Bhimani and Darcy Draeger – was organizing to counter a bi-partisan effort to cut property taxes and make New Jersey more affordable led by Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Gloucester County Democrat.  That’s right, the whacked-out Democratic Socialist wing of the New Jersey Democrats is out to derail an effort to cut property taxes, led by fellow Democrats.  This is how nuts they are.

The move appears to be an attempt by embattled Governor Phil Murphy to divert attention away from hearings into why he and his top lieutenants allowed an apparent predator to sexually assault multiple female Democrat Party campaign workers.  After which they rewarded him with a taxpayer-funded state job.

The Star-Ledger reported:

“A top aide to Gov. Phil Murphy, in a conference call with liberal activists, suggested ways to push back against state Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s big plan to fix New Jersey’s long-term fiscal problems, NJ Advance Media has learned.

The aide — Deborah Cornavaca, Murphy’s deputy chief of staff for outreach — said during the call Wednesday that Sweeney, a frequent Murphy rival, is pushing ‘a false narrative’…

The conference call, organized by advocacy group Action Together NJ, came 24 hours before Sweeney is scheduled to host a town hall in Sewell on Thursday night to discuss his ‘Path to Progress’ report, which he commissioned to find ways to save the state government money.”

Curiously, Ms. Cornavaca has yet to speak out against the sexual assaults made on her fellow Democrat women who had the misfortune of working on the Murphy for Governor campaign.  Say what you will about Steve Sweeney, but if anyone molested a woman on his campaign… well, let’s just say the perpetrator would find himself in great need of dentures.    

It doesn’t surprise us that Ms. Cornavaca has been selected by Governor Murphy to lead the attack on Democrat Steve Sweeney’s bi-partisan solution to save money and cut property taxes.  As a local elected official, Cornavaca defended raising property taxes in 2008 – in the face of record joblessness, foreclosures, and child poverty.  Government is a beast and the beast must be fed – no matter who falls victim to its appetites. 

And like the Governor, Cornavaca doesn’t mind rubbing up to some rather questionable sentiments.  In 2012, she fiercely opposed the efforts of the Jewish community in Middlesex County to open a school to help preserve the Hebrew language and Jewish culture.  Ms. Cornavaca opined:  “The school is not a need, but a want for a small subset of the population.”  Ouch. 

Well, there’s a lot of that going around these days.  Just look at who has taken over the Women’s March…

Is Andy Kim trying to pretend he’s a veteran AGAIN?

Look at this text going out through the 3rd congressional district in the last hours before Election Day…

Andy Kim tries to pass himself off as a veteran.  In fact, Kim never served in the military.

It is one of the Six crazy things about Andy Kim you should know before you vote.

With the election for Congress just hours away, one of our readers compiled this list of crazy things about 3rd District congressional candidate Andy Kim…

(1) Andy Kim tries to make it seem like he was in the military.  He led Burlington County Young Democrats to believe he was a veteran.  In fact, Kim never served in the military.  In 2017, the Burlington County Young Democrats tried to pass Andy Kim off as a veteran…

Here are the other crazy things about Andy Kim…

(2) Andy Kim brags about a civilian award he got from General Petraeus when, in fact, it is a lesser award than the one the General gave to his girlfriend.  It seems there was a lot of award giving going around. 

(3) Andy Kim is a founder of the so-called “Resistance Movement” made up of Washington, DC-based former Obama administration appointees.  He later lied about it, claiming it was just a “Facebook group” when, in fact, Andy Kim incorporated a Soviet-style “educational” organization and a lobbying group in the State of Delaware. 

(4) “Resistance” leader Andy Kim promoted the political writings of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal.  He sold the murderer’s book right on his website.  Kim also endorsed the organization run by Jihadist Linda Sarsour, a racist supporter of Louis Farrakhan and convicted cop-killer Joanne Chesimard. 

(5) Andy Kim was a staff member with a Homeless Advocacy organization in Chicago.  The group Kim worked for fought legislation to prevent “aggressive” panhandling and efforts to prevent people from fouling the streets.  Kim’s efforts added to the violence of that city and a decline in the quality of life there.

(6) Andy Kim doesn’t really live in New Jersey.  He’s never paid property taxes in New Jersey and never paid personal income taxes in New Jersey.  Kim doesn’t own property in New Jersey, but owns an expensive property in Washington, DC – with his DC-based lawyer spouse – on which they claimed a property tax deduction as residents.

Congressional candidate Andy Kim dropped out of nowhere and the corrupt New Jersey Democrat political machine anointed him as their candidate…

Another case of child trafficking stopped by police

NJ101.5 News Radio reported yesterday that Middlesex Borough police had uncovered a case of child trafficking that could have ended in something even worse.  Fortunately, police arrested the suspected trafficker and reported there were as many as twenty victims:

A man who threatened to share pictures he received from a local girl if she didn't send him more is now behind bars thanks to a multi-state investigation.

Police in New Jersey and Illinois worked together on the investigation that led to the arrest of Joshua P. Breckel, 19, of Mascoutah Illinois. Breckel was identified after Middlesex police were notified back in April that the girl had been "coerced to send a suggestive photo of herself to an online acquaintance," Chief Matthew P. Geist said. The man then asked the girl for more pictures and videos, and also offered to pay her if she got her friends to send him images as well, Geist said.

After refusing to send anything else the man, later identified as Breckel, threatened to share the photo she had sent him with her family and friends "through various online means." Working with the police in Mascoutah as well as the FBI it was determined that Breckel had extorted several girls, "including one that appeared to be 9 or 10 years old." Geist said.

When police came to his home Breckel admitted to attempting to exploit the girl and also told police that he had child pornographic images on his computer. He pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis.

http://nj1015.com/nj-girl-one-of-as-much-as-20-extorted-for-child-porn-cops-say/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_14076946

Human Trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, second to drug dealing and tied with arms dealing.  The FBI recently uncovered and arrested 42 child sex traffickers in New Jersey.  The Star-Ledger reported that the 42 were arrested on charges that included sex trafficking, child exploitation and prostitution.  A total of 84 children were rescued during the operation.  Human Trafficking is modern day slavery and it is happening TODAY -- in the HERE and NOW!  

Modern technology is rapidly expanding the means by which human beings are ensnared and trapped into modern slavery and then trafficked as though they were meat.  The modern "slave ship" is embodied by certain websites and social media -- its "ocean" is the Internet.  The media recently reported about the rescue by the FBI of a "3-month-old girl and her 5-year-old sister" who were being trafficked by a child predator "who was offering to sell the children for sex" using the Internet.  Isn't it time to adopt the technology to blast these scumbags from the Internet?

Child trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year industry and is on the rise in all 50 states, according to the U.S. government.  4.5 Million of trafficked persons have been sexually exploited and nearly 300,000 Americans under 18 have been lured into the commercial sex trade.  The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported that in 2016, human trafficking in the United States increased by 35.7% -- in one year!  But we have the technology to stop it.  So why aren't we adopting it?

We have the legislation.  It's called the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act (S-540/ A-878).  And it offers a constitutional way to prevent predators from using the Internet to sexually exploit children.  It is supported by Thorn, an anti-human trafficking group that uses technology to defeat child sex traffickers.

Some members of New Jersey’s political establishment have undermined this legislation by making excuses for the actions of Senator Bob Menendez and his friend, a wealthy man who was convicted of ripping-off taxpayers and who brought women into the United States.  Some have been reluctant to support the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act on the state and federal level.  We certainly hope that this attitude changes soon and that New Jersey adopts the Act.  For more information about what you can do, visit…

https://www.gardenstatefamilies.org/

http://www.calvarynj.com/c-a-n-church-abolition-network/

https://justice-network.org/tag/mandy-leverett/

Menendez stands with Trump: Canada is the real threat

What’s up with Bob Menendez these days?  Is the senior Senator from New Jersey having memory issues? 

Max Pizarro, editor of InsiderNJ, reported today that Menendez “laid into” President Donald Trump, for arguing with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Menendez said: 

“This is a president who reserves the back of his hand for some of our strongest allies and offers incredible support for some of our strongest adversaries… To suggest that Canada is a national security threat is absurd, to ultimately challenge our European allies, an alliance that is the bedrock of creating western democracy, is pretty amazing.” 

Well hold on there old Bob.  Last time you were running, back in 2012, you touted your book to all and sundry.  In it, you had this to say about the threat posed by Canada: 

“Solidifying the porous northern border should be a priority for the Department of Homeland Security.  And yet, as of 2007, far fewer than ten percent of the fourteen thousand U.S. agents were patrolling the Canadian border.  How is it possible that we haven’t been focusing on the danger of terrorists crossing the U.S. – Canadian frontier?  Instead, we have been listening to hot air from Lou Dobbs and his allies, complaining about people who would cross (the border with Mexico) in search of jobs as gardeners, busboys, hotel workers, and maids.”  (Senator Bob Menendez, from his book Growing American Roots, published in 2009)  

No fooling.  Senator Bob Menendez wanted America to focus on the border with Canada instead of our southern border.  When it comes to Canada, President Trump and Senator Menendez are brothers from different mothers.  Of course, this is right out of South Park.  So does this make Bob Menendez – ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE – the Senator from South Park?

While taken seriously by our state’s senior Senator, South Park’s farcical “threat from Canada” is a well-known spoof.  A theme song, “Blame Canada”, was nominated for an Academy Award.  Take a moment to enjoy and take note of the last frame with the U.S. Capitol in the background and the lyrics:

Yes, South Park is a comedy cartoon.  But let’s hear from Senator Menendez himself on this.  This is what he wrote in his book: 

“It is an understatement to say that borders are insecure, but the focus on the southern boundary with Mexico has left our northern border even more open to attack than ever.” 

Yep, Senator Menendez has lost it.  He wants to spend taxpayers’ money on securing our northern border to the threat he says is posed by Canada.  It does sound nuts, doesn’t it?  

“The decision to build a fence on our long southern border with Mexico is under way.  The idea of trying to shut out poor people with a wall is wasteful and wrong.” 

“A wall symbolizes exclusion and it makes it less feasible for us to collaborate with Mexico in other areas, such as legal, balanced migration control and counterterrorism.  We need to refocus on building friendships, not fences.” 

“Good fences don’t make good neighbors with this wall.  The existence of the southern-border fence is bad enough, and its estimated four-billion-dollar price tag is mind-boggling.  Meanwhile, Americans appear to fret little about those lightly patrolled 3,987 miles on the Canadian border from Atlantic to Pacific.  Our border with Canada is twice as long as the border with Mexico.”

Well, at least now President Trump will know who to appoint to his new task force to cope with the threat posed by our neighbor to the North.  Heck, with credentials like Menendez has, Trump should make him Chairman.

Bob Menendez, the Senator from South Park… absurd.

Did Jay Webber abandon Passaic County conservatives?

In Bergen County, conservative Steve Lonegan has a full slate of county candidates running against the dregs of the BCRO and its hapless leadership, led by Paulie "the hand" DiGaetano.  There is a weirdness within the Bergen County political establishment -- Democrats and Republicans -- in that they derive great pleasure by mimicking the folkways of a traditional Mediterranean criminal elite.  We don't get it, but it seems to turn them on.

Over in Essex County, Assemblyman Jay Webber has his own slate of county candidates.  Webber, who has taken the phrase "Reagan Republican" and made it his own, was expected to link up with Lonegan in Passaic County -- where they both faced the county machine.   Whether this "machine" is the remnants of the once powerful organization that totally dominated Passaic County or the reconstituted second coming of the same remains to be seen, but it is still formidable nonetheless.  And so it made all the sense in the world for the two conservatives to link up in common cause.

But in the rush towards the April 2nd filing deadline, they failed to agree on ballot slogan and Webber raised objections to some of those candidates recruited by Lonegan.  "It became the Jay show," said one conservative activist. 

Webber bracketed his campaign with that of Brian Goldberg, a candidate for U.S. Senate.  Goldberg is running as a fiscal and social conservative this year -- a curious conversion from the social liberalism he displayed when he ran for the same office in 2014.  Lonegan was left with the conservative insurgents running for county clerk and freeholder.  Essentially, Webber split the movement and cut the conservative insurgents off his ticket.

The only way the county-level conservative insurgency was going to have a chance at winning was to be led by well-financed conservative congressional candidates in districts 5 and 11.  They have Lonegan in District 5 -- but that is just two towns (Ringwood and West Milford).  Webber booted them from his ticket in District 11 -- that's eight towns (Bloomingdale, Little Falls, North Haledon, Pompton Lakes, Totowa, Wanaque, Wayne, and Woodland Park).

To give our readers an idea of what this did, here are two sample ballots, one from a Ringwood, in District 5, and the other from Wayne, in District 11...

Now imagine how strong the conservative ticket would have been if it had stretched from U.S. Senate down through Freeholder in ten of the county's sixteen towns?  Instead, those conservatives running on the county level found themselves cut-off Jay Webber's ticket, all but assuring their defeat in the June primary.

Was this an act of treachery on the part of Webber?  Does he have a deal with the party bosses in Passaic County?  Why assure the defeat of the conservative insurgents and the ensure the hegemony of the machine?

There are many questions here but sadly only one certainty:  A great opportunity was missed to build a conservative infrastructure in the Passaic GOP.

Candidates say the darndest things.

Here is candidate for Congress John McCann, explaining how it works to an enraptured audience of YR's and others...

Andy Kim touts poll by "dark money" nonprofit

Andy Kim -- the guy who owns a million dollar home in Washington, DC, with his lawyer spouse but who rents a place in New Jersey so that he can run here -- took to social media yesterday and put out a press release from his campaign.

Kim claimed that a poll was done for him by a Democrat corporate interest group called Patriot Majority USA.  This group is funded by gambling industry giants like MGM Resorts and Harrahs, as well as public school teachers unions.

The Pulitzer award winning Center for Public Integrity called Patriot Majority USA a "liberal heavyweight fueled by secret, big-dollar donors."  The Center, which won Pulitzers in 2014 and 2017 for its investigative  reporting on money in politics, called  Patriot Majority USA a "dark money nonprofit... that’s not supposed to be primarily political."

The Center for Public Integrity wrote:  "Although it describes itself as a grassroots group, a single $6 million donation from an unnamed source made up one-fourth of Patriot Majority USA’s $23 million... More than half of its haul, $12 million, came from anonymous donors that gave more than $1 million each, its tax return indicates."

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care is another major source of funds for Patriot Majority USA.  This is a trade association representing for-profit nursing care operators and its founding members include the nation's 11 largest nursing home operators "who want reduced  federal regulation." 

Texas prosecutors charged the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care with violating the law against corporate campaign contributions.  The Alliance has denied wrongdoing and the case has not yet been resolved.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Patriot Majority USA told the IRS "it didn’t plan to hire employees and would instead rely on a 'large base of volunteers' to developing and disseminating the organization’s message.  This hasn’t proven true. The organization reported no volunteers last year and paid its founder and president, Craig Varoga, $144,053 last year for 25 hours of work per week... Other expenses reported include $11.6 million on a 'media buy,' $2.5 million for direct mail production and $1.5 million on voter registration efforts."

What's up Andy?  These groups you are hanging with are manure-class fronts.  After putting out a press release with these guys on it, Andy Kim is going to need a bath.

Ross Perot predicted the rise of Mercury-type consultant-lobbyists in 1992

"We've shipped million of jobs overseas and we have a strange situation because we have a process in Washington where after you served for a while you cash in, become a foreign lobbyist, make thirty-thousand-dollars a month, then take a leave (to) work on Presidential campaigns, make sure you've got good contacts, and then go back out."  (Ross Perot, 1992 Presidential Debate)

Is the idea of "two political parties" an illusion to make voters believe they have a choice?  Comedian George Carlin thought so...

Carlin was only half-joking.  In New Jersey, the top leaders of both parties share office space in the same law and lobby firms.  The same public relations firms/ political consultants advise both Democrats and Republicans -- as well as corporations and foreign governments.  Take Mercury Public Affairs as an example.

Once upon a time, there were campaign managers who came up through the ranks alongside the politicians whose careers they helped to manage.  From these managers came the first campaign consultants.  Regional or statewide at first, but with the centralizing power of the national committees and national money there soon came to be the "national" consultant -- recommended by one of the party committees or put in place by them.

But as more money washed into DC and was funneled into campaigns, that changed.  Consultants proliferated and firms became larger.  Following the money, a few either merged with or morphed into public relations and lobbying (government relations) operations.  Why not?  Corporations paid big for access to politicians and there is nobody politicians love more than the person who got them elected.

It was only a matter of time that things went global.  And that is how a number of New Jersey political operatives became members of an international firm that represents the interests of quite a few unsavory foreign governments.  These include Mo Butler, United States Senator Cory Booker's campaign consultant, former chief of staff, and "longtime advisor"; Michael Soliman, United States Senator and former Chairman of the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations Robert Menendez's political advisor and former State Director; and Michael DuHaime, Governor Chris Christie's campaign consultant and someone who has worked on several Republican presidential campaigns.

Mercury Public Affairs began in 1999 as a decidedly Republican shop with connections to the RNC and politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney, around 2013 it embarked on a mission to "diversify" -- meaning making the firm "more bipartisan and full-service."  Mike DuHaime joined the firm in 2009, first as a "managing director" but swiftly rising to partner.  Michael Soliman joined Mercury in 2013 and became a partner in 2016.  Mo Butler joined as a "managing director" in 2016.  Mercury Public Affairs has 10 partners and 160 employees. 

Mercury Public Affairs is itself a subsidiary of an even larger international firm that handles the image-making for Russian President Vladimir Putin, receiving credit for, among other accomplishments, getting Putin's face on the cover of Time magazine -- as the "Person of the Year" for 2007.  Omnicom purchased Mercury in 2003.

Mercury Public Affairs has 18 offices worldwide -- including London; Mexico City; Washington, DC; New York; and Westfield, New Jersey.  The New Jersey offices (a satellite operates out of Trenton) of Mercury are the haunt of Messrs. DuHaime, Soliman, Butler, and other connected operatives like newspaperman Darryl Isherwood (former top political reporter for the Star-Ledger and editor of PolitickerNJ), and "Christie campaign vet" Mark Mowers. 

In January 2015, Michael Soliman registered with the United States Justice Department, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as a person representing the Embassy of the State of Qatar.  You must have read about Qatar in the news...Amnesty International has accused Qatar of being complicit in human trafficking and modern-day slavery.  Yes, slavery.  In fact, the United Nations gave Qatar one year "to end migrant worker slavery" or face an international investigation. 

Qatar is just one of freedom's garden spots represented by Mercury Public Affairs.  Remember the controversy in Uganda, when the President of that country decided that homosexuality was a crime that should be punishable by death?  Well, the law he wanted passed was "moderated" in December 2013, substituting life imprisonment for the death penalty.   In 2015, Mercury was brought on to provide public relations, lobbying, and media monitoring services with regards to the Office of the President and the Ugandan government in general on subjects beginning with "human rights" and ending with "good governance."  For which the contract calls for Mercury to be compensated at the rate of $50,000 per month, with $150,000 up front.

Mercury also represents individuals.  Folks like Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who in 2003 led an anti-American demonstration in which he personally burned an American flag.  For its work, Mercury pocketed a $30,000 monthly retainer, plus expenses.

In January 2016, Mercury Public Affairs partner Morris Reid negotiated a contract with Amsterdam & Partners, an international law firm with offices in London and Washington, DC.  The document is marked "confidential and privileged" but is public information under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  In August of 2015, Amsterdam & Partners signed a contract with the Turkish Ambassador to the United States to provide legal services related to a "matter of importance" to the embassy.  The government of Turkey paid Amsterdam a retainer of $50,000 a month.

While the contract stipulates that the greatest security and confidentiality be observed, under the terms of the contract between Amsterdam and Turkey, third parties may be hired "as the Firm and the Client agree in writing are necessary to further the Engagement."  And so, in March of 2016, Amsterdam hired Mercury to perform work on behalf of the Turkish government for $20,000 a month -- above and beyond what was being paid to Amsterdam by Turkey.  It is in the contract between Amsterdam & Partners and Mercury Public Affairs that we learn what all this cloak and dagger is in aid of.  The Amsterdam-Mercury contract references an "investigation into Fethullah Gulen and his organization in the United States."  So who is Fethullah Gulen?

Gulen has been in the news since the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016.  Gulen is a religious leader from Turkey, and a one-time political ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Erdogan is the increasingly authoritarian and Islamist President of Turkey.  He has been repeatedly in the news for purging the judiciary, jailing journalists who write unflattering reports, and successfully intimidating the opposition.  Erdogan had a law passed to allow the government to ban websites and he has promised to "rip out the roots" of Twitter.  He has even attempted to censor speech in other nations, in 2015 Turkey demanding that Germany prosecute a poet who had written some verse critical of Erdogan.

Erdogan and Gulen had a falling out over allegations of political corruption by Erdogan in 2013.  Gulen's books were banned.  First, he was indicted on charges that a Turkish judge threw out, but then was indicted a few months later for treasonable offenses that carried the death penalty.  Gulen fled Turkey, came to the United States, and was convicted in absentia. 

The government of Turkish President Erdogan has attempted to extradite Gulen back to Turkey to face punishment, but the government of the United States hasn't cooperated.  In the hours after the coup attempt, Erdogan was quick to blame Gulen, while Gulen put forward the theory that Erdogan had staged the coup himself in order to consolidate power.

Why does Mercury Public Affairs want to be a part of extraditing a moderate cleric to satisfy the rage of an Islamist dictator? 

Last year, Mercury Public Affairs was the subject of a subpoena in the on-going investigation into Russia's meddling in the United States presidential election in 2016.  According to the Washington Post, former FBI Director and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller obtained the subpoena seeking information about work Mercury had done for a pro-Putin political party in the Ukraine:

"The investigators asked Mercury for information about their public relations work at Manafort’s behest for a Brussels-based organization called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, which pushed for improved relations between Ukraine and European countries. The Brussels group primarily advanced the interests of a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party that had been a client of Manafort’s before he joined the Trump campaign.

Mercury, which has prominent Republicans among its senior partners, had worked on the Ukraine lobbying project with the Podesta group, led by Anthony Podesta, brother of John Podesta, who led Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign."

The full article can be accessed below:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-lobbying-firms-receive-subpoenas-as-part-of-russia-probe/2017/08/25/55e547de-89c2-11e7-a50f-e0d4e6ec070a_story.html?utm_term=.f43579514869

This is exactly what Presidential candidate Ross Perot warned about in 1992.  He said our politics was headed here and here we are...  some of New Jersey's "top political operatives" are now foreign agents (as far as the U.S. Justice Department is concerned).

How can any of this be good for our Republic?

FACT: John McCann defends political corruption

FACT:  There is one thing that rigs an election more that gerrymandering.  It is called "the line". 

WHAT IS "THE LINE"?

A few county party organizations in New Jersey (both Democrat and Republican) have usurped the actual government-prepared ballot so that they can use it to advertise who their "official" candidates are.  That's right.  A few party bosses in a few counties are using the taxpayer-funded ballot to "instruct" the voters of their party on how to vote.

This doesn't happen anywhere else in America, and it happens in New Jersey only because the state's unelected courts have allowed it to happen.  Of course, these are the same courts that have given us Abbott Districts (where all the money for education goes to a few counties controlled by urban political machines). Because of Abbott we have the highest property taxes in America.

The same courts that have allowed political party bosses to usurp power with "the line" have eroded our Second Amendment rights to make us less safe.  The same courts that have refused to allow citizens the right to take legal action against government when it fails to protect them from violence and murder.

If you want to know why you pay so much, look no further than "the line" which keeps the same corrupt party machines in power, selecting the same insider politicians, who make the judges who inhabit the courts.  So if you are content with paying the highest property taxes in America, keep supporting the same party bosses and go on voting "the line."

Candidate John McCann has defended this misuse of the official ballot by political party bosses.  He has done so even when the party boss is someone like Passaic County's Peter Murphy, who was convicted of public corruption and sent to prison.

Passaic County Republican Chairman Is Indicted on U.S. Bribery and ...

www.nytimes.com/.../passaic-county-republican-chairman-is-indicted-on-us-bribery-a...

Dec 5, 2000 - The chairman of the Passaic County Republican Party was indicted today on federal bribery and mail fraud charges in a continuing investigation of the Republican-dominated county government that has already resulted in guilty pleas by two other officials. ... For most of that time ...

Once prosecuted by Christie, Passaic GOP power broker poised for ...

https://savejersey.com/2015/07/christie-passaic-murphy-rumana-traier/

Jul 16, 2015 - Former Passaic GOP chairman Peter Murphy of Totowa ultimately plead guilty to mail fraud back in 2003 after a lengthy prosecution and conviction (the ... involving dishonesty or moral turpitude or which constitutes a felony in either the State of New Jersey, Federal jurisdiction or equivalent of same in ...

Why would anyone in their right mind support someone like Peter Murphy?  Isn't politics corrupt enough already?

Not only is "the line" an aberration used nowhere in America outside a few political machine controlled counties in New Jersey, it wouldn't pass muster in a Third World election overseen by the United Nations.  "The line" -- the McCann endorsed vehicle for public corruption -- is arguably in violation of several United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, including A/RES/46/137 (1991), A/RES/55/96 (2001), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966).

So while we send American service men and women far from home to make the world "safe for democracy," a few county politicians in New Jersey are laughing at them by corrupted the process and are making a mockery of the sacrifice of those young lives.  They should be ashamed but corrupt party bosses like Passaic County's Peter Murphy are beyond shame.

And candidate John McCann is right there with them.

President Donald Trump was criticized recently for employing the term "shithole" to describe some Third World nations.  Well, as far as political processes go, there are quite a few "shithole" county party committees (both Democrat and Republican) who are making an effort to turn New Jersey into a political and economic "shithole."

And candidate John McCann is right there with them.

Republican Assemblywomen join labor unions in standing up to Murphy

Better get used to it, Governor Murphy!

At this week's Assembly Health Committee hearing two Republican Assemblywomen took on Governor Murphy's plans to pour taxpayers' money back into crony capitalist groups like Planned Parenthood.  Yeah, yeah, we know that for the uneducated few, Planned Parenthood is synonymous with "women's health."  But it's not.  It is only one of many providers all jostling for market share.

No, you say?  It's a non-profit organization?  Sure, and so was the NFL.  And so are a lot of organizations that make billions and pay their executives millions.  Setting up as a "not-for-profit corporation" is simply a business model -- it's not an "I'm not greedy" pass.

And Planned Parenthood is greedy.  It wants total market share.  That's why it organized the way does -- to spend millions on lobbyists and even more on grassroots marketing -- to convince American women that only they provide the services that, in fact, hundreds of other organizations provide.  We're sure Macy's would like to have the same deal.

Planned Parenthood uses well-paid lobbyists and political pressure to secure government money with as little questions asked as possible.  They want to keep all the vittles for themselves and starve their competition.  Planned Parenthood wants to have a monopoly -- and we all know what that does to consumers and taxpayers.  Consumers pay more and have less choice.  Taxpayers get ripped-off.

Well not when Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi and Nancy Munoz are around!

Holly Schepisi is like a Bergen Bulldog when ripping into a bureaucrat.  The Assemblywoman asked for Planned Parenthood's financial details -- its annual budget, annual revenue and executive compensation, none of which the group's political director could provide during the hearing. 

We can only suppose that Murphy told the director to drop by and pick-up a blank check.  But Schepisi wasn't having it.

"If it was that important, how could the head not be able to explain any of these items?"  Schepisi asked the Health Committee's Democrat Chairman.  "If it wasn’t just a political football, if it was that important to women’s health, how do we not have these answers?"

Schepisi told the group:  "We have a lot of phenomenal organizations in this state that approach us for funding. The amount of money that you guys want is more than every school that I represent gets for school funding every year."

Assemblywoman Munoz advocated using the funding for organizations that aren’t supported by billions of dollars like Planned Parenthood, such as federally qualified health centers and other clinics.

“Why don’t we give this money to the New Jersey Coalition for Sexual Assault?” she asked.

Munoz noted that there are 279 walk-in clinics, 37 retail clinics, 187 urgent care clinics and 9 pediatric urgent care centers throughout the state that perform women’s health services without public funding.  Why should they be left high and dry with all the funding going to Planned Parenthood?

The efforts by the Republican Assemblywoman to keep the process honest was matched by the efforts of some labor union leaders to question why a former Lehman Brothers executive was going to get a no-questions-asked Murphy appointment to head the state's Economic Development Authority.  

Led by the redoubtable Bill Mullen, of the New Jersey State Building & Construction Trades Council, many blue-collar unions questioned the priorities of Murphy-pick Tim Sullivan, late of Lehman Brothers and currently the deputy commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Economic & Community Development.

Like the Wall Streeter he is, Sullivan has steered a decidedly anti-blue collar course in Connecticut, giving priority to more fashionable projects in what he called the "six key business sectors" he wants to focus on: "insurance and financial services; digital media; green technology; advanced manufacturing; bioscience; and tourism. "

A state like New Jersey, with a new Governor who is committed to bringing in tens of thousands of sanctuary seekers -- many of whom lack language and job skills, should be looking to invest in projects that more broadly employ blue-collar workers and those who, through blue-collar apprenticeship, can learn the skills they need to get onto the employment ladder.

Stay tuned...

Did the McCann campaign lie to national Republicans?

The campaign of congressional candidate John McCann recently issued a press release claiming to have been placed "on the radar" by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).  "On the radar" is the first designation in the NRCC's "Young Guns" program, which highlights "promising" candidates.

To get considered for this program and to obtain the "on the radar" designation, a candidate's campaign must first fill out a lengthy questionnaire and complete a background survey with questions like:

- If you are an attorney, please list the type of clients/nature of litigation (corporate, criminal defense, family, etc.) and any noteworthy cases that could potentially be relevant in a congressional campaign:

- Have you ever owned or run a business?

- If so, has this business ever been a part of any legal proceedings such as a suit, judgment, bankruptcy, etc.?

- Please list any history/problems with your business partners (bad breakups, criminal history, sanctions, significant lawsuits, etc.).

- Have you or your business ever had any tax warrants, liens, etc., filed against you? Were annual business filings consistently submitted on time?

- Have your personal finances been thoroughly examined, including analysis of any foreclosures, personal bankruptcy filings, investments, etc.? Are all taxes up-to-date?

- Is there anything in your past that has not been addressed in this questionnaire that you see as a potential vulnerability in your run for Congress?

Considering the answers that McCann would have had to provide to questions like these -- if answered truthfully -- we fail to see how the McCann campaign could have possibly obtained entry into the program or secured the designation for their candidate.  If answered truthfully, that is.

We understand that some law enforcement officers who have been in legal disputes with Mr. McCann, an attorney, have accumulated enough background material on him to choke a horse.   And his tax liens and such make for a poor public record.  A quick look at this website will make you wonder what is going on inside the brain cavities at the NRCC:

https://www.realjohnmccann.com/

Could it just be desperation?  The chicken wing of the congressional GOP has been cutting and running rather than standing on its record in 2018.  Nearly half of New Jersey's Republican incumbents have quit rather than fight.  Because of them, New Jersey might well be on its way to becoming another Massachusetts.  And it is no surprise that these incumbents are -- like McCann -- from the GOP's liberal Whitman "My-Party-Too" crowd.  They long ago cut ties with the conservatives who make up the Republican base. 

Maybe the NRCC is taking anyone with a pulse into these programs?  Based on its acceptance of a candidacy as shambolic as McCann's is, the NRCC no longer has the high standards and stringent requirements it once did.

Well, we owe it to you -- our readers -- to get to the bottom of this.  So we are going to publish the questions asked by the NRCC, and the details of what should have been revealed by the McCann campaign to them.  Then we are going to ask the NRCC... Why? 

But not just the NRCC staff.  Because anyone who has read Donna Brazile's new book knows how corrupt national committees can become.  Here's a piece of the story, courtesy of Politico...

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774

So judge for yourself as to whether or not "corruption" of one kind or another could have figured into what happened.  What we do know is that there are eight elected public employees who are responsible for the oversight of the NRCC and should be held to account for its decisions.  They are all members of Congress themselves, and all accountable to the people and to the media -- inside their districts, as well as the wider media.  So we will be reaching out to them as well and asking them:  "Knowing this... why did you allow this to happen?"

Maybe they didn't know?  Maybe they caught a line of bullshit?  Maybe somebody is doing somebody a favor?  Maybe they are scared and believe that it's all over but the shouting?  Who knows?  And that's why we are going to ask.

Inside scoop: Phil Murphy practicing for his Women's March speech on Saturday

Like they say, a picture really is worth a thousand words...

Credit to Art Gallagher of More Monmouth Musings

Don't let the status quo block tax cuts and job creation

The Republican Tax Cuts & Jobs Act passed by the House of Representatives and advancing through the Senate will free up an enormous amount of capital for new investment and job creation.   Many struggling businesses -- especially younger corporations -- will benefit immediately and start looking for talented employees to fill the demand.  The taxes those new employees pay will help fund the social safety net that is so important to many in New Jersey.  And just as important, employment frees people from government dependency so that more resources can be directed to those in dire need.

Of course, there are those who don't want the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act to succeed.  The status quo suits them just fine.  They are beneficiaries of the current crony capitalist system, in which winners and losers are not so much chosen by government, as by the globalist corporations that spend billions lobbying government.  The dominant media corporations that decide what you read, hear, and see are some of the biggest global corporations in the world.  They have every reason to want to starve the new enterprising forms of media coming from younger competitors.  And so do their allies in Congress -- like Josh Gottheimer and Cory Booker.  These media "darlings" want to keep rewarding the corporations who reward them and so they are trying to make the argument that the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act is "anti-business".  Sure it is... if you are a crony capitalist insider.  But if you are an honest business trying to make it in the open market, the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act represents some breathing space -- fresh air and the opportunity to grow your business and employ your fellow Americans.

The Tax Foundation calls the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act "a big step forward toward comprehensive tax reform".  As the nation's oldest pro-business, taxpayer watchdog, the Tax Foundation has seen a lot of false hopes in its day and isn't quick to hop on a bandwagon.  After careful analysis, they have endorsed this legislation and offer this long list of positive details about the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act:

"The bill makes a number of noteworthy changes and would, according to our Taxes and Growth Model, increase GDP, raise wages, and create more jobs.

Below is a summary of the major provisions of the House package:

• Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets:  Consolidates current seven income tax rates into four, while retaining the top marginal rate of 39.6 percent and including an income recapture provision which phases out the effect of the 12 percent bracket for high earners.
• Standard Deduction:  Increases the standard deduction to $12,200 for single filers, $18,300 for heads of household, and $24,400 for joint filers.
• Itemized Deductions:  Retains the state and local property tax deduction, capped at $10,000, while eliminating the remainder of the state and local tax deduction, except for taxes paid or accrued in carrying on a trade or business; limits the mortgage interest deduction to the first $500,000 in principle value.
• Child and Family Tax Credits:  Increases child tax credit value to $1,600, with the phaseout for joint filers beginning at $230,000, while creating a new $300 per-person family tax credit for those not eligible for the child tax credit, to expire after five years.
• Treatment of Pass-Through Income:  Caps the pass-through rate at 25 percent and adds a lower minimum rate, with anti-abuse rules.
• Corporate Income Tax:  Cuts the tax rate to 20 percent, effective tax year 2018.
• Capital Investment:  Increases the Section 179 small business expensing cap from $500,000 to $5 million, with the phaseout beginning at $20 million, and maintains current depreciation schedules for real property.
• Tax Treatment of Interest:  Caps net interest deduction at 30 percent of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
• Business Credits and Deductions:  Eliminates credits for orphan drugs, energy, private activity bonds, rehabilitation, and contributions for capital, among others.
• International Income:  Moves to a territorial system with base-erosion rules.
• Deemed Repatriation:  Enacts deemed repatriation of currently deferred foreign profits at a rate of 14 percent for liquid assets and 7 percent for illiquid assets.
• Estate Tax:  Increases exemption to $10 million, indexed for inflation, with repeal after six years.

(Source:  The Tax Foundation)