Hugin should think before hurting the GOP any further

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Planned Parenthood refuses to account for spending

It is a neat trick to disguise your business as a cult.  Generally this is the domain of some dubious religious hucksters of questionable denominations, east and west.  But you got to hand it to Planned Parenthood, Inc.  They have their followers convinced that what they're doing is religion.

Hence, their resistance to open their accounts and explain what they're doing with all the money they get from taxpayers.  During an Assembly Budget hearing earlier this week, Planned Parenthood again refused to answer questions about their finances -- such as its annual budget, annual revenue and executive compensation -- put to them by legislators. 

The kicker here is that these legislators actually support Planned Parenthood in principle -- they just want to make sure that the taxpayer money spent by them isn't wasted.  But just like any corrupt religious scam job, Planned Parenthood holds that you don't ask questions of god... even if it is your job as a legislator to protect taxpayers.

What's at stake is a proposed $7.45 million supplemental contribution to Planned Parenthood from New Jersey's taxpayers.

Two weeks ago, at a different committee hearing, Assemblywomen Holly Schepisi and Nancy Munoz asked the same questions.  They requested a breakdown of how the money would be spent, what the organization’s annual federal and state revenues are, and how much it pays its executives.  Why Planned Parenthood needs $7.45 million in taxpayer dollars, and how those dollars will be spent, still has not been answered.

To answer these questions, Planned Parenthood sent its Political Director.  That's right, they pay someone to be their Political Director.  Why?  Are they in politics or women's health?

When asked to produce a budget, the political director looked for a time as if she was going to find one up her bottom, but it wasn't there.  So she had to reply to the committee that she had no budget to share with them.  No budget?  Who works that way?  She also couldn't produce an answer as to what Planned Parenthood's annual revenues were.  For that answer, she didn't even go through the motions of finding it up her bottom.  When asked about executive compensation (what rich know-nothings like herself pocket) she flatly refused.

Why would working class taxpayers wish to spend their hard-earned money on an organization that pays an arrogant white-collar hack like her?

We understand 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.

Planned Parenthood is a classic case of crony capitalism, delivered by that master of Wall Street chicanery himself... Governor Goldman-Sachs 2.0, Phil Murphy.  On Thursday, February 15th, the entire Assembly is set to vote to give that $7.45 million to a business that won't answer basic questions about how they spend it.

And if passed, you know that Governor Goldman-Sachs 2.0, Phil Murphy, will sign it -- no questions asked.  Just like those bailouts they gave to his corrupt friends on Wall Street.  No questions asked...

NJ Assembly backs license plate deal for revoked group

Last week, the New Jersey Assembly passed legislation designed to use the power of government itself -- and your tax dollars -- to fund Garden State Equality's lobbying and political efforts.  In effect, the Democrats want to create a program of government -funded lobbying and political campaign activity -- but only for one side. 

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

The legislation passed by the Assembly last week, A-4790, specifically funds Garden State Equality, LLC, the political action committee.  Here's what it does:

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

Now here is the really wild thing.  Apparently, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the sponsor of A-4790, along with the brain trusts at OLS and the Democrat Assembly Caucus, were so excited about securing this funding rip-off in service of the latest fashion statement of the "Feeling Class", that they forget to do their homework and vet the group that was to benefit.  If they had properly vetted Garden State Equality, LLC, they would have learned that the organization had been revoked by the New Jersey Department of Revenue in 2012 and that in 2015, it had been dissolved and terminated.

That's not all, Garden State Equality Action Fund, Inc., is currently under suspension by the New Jersey Department of Revenue and has been so for five years.  The group filed its last annual report in April 2010 and has been pretty much a scofflaw since.  In 2012, Garden State Equality Action Fund’s status was listed as "revoked" and it was placed on "suspension" in July of that year. 

Curiously, the entity responsible for filing the most recently available IRS 990 tax statements for Garden State Equality Action Fund is none other than John M. Traier & Associates, of Wayne, New Jersey.  Mr. Traier is the chairman of the Passaic County Republican Committee.  Traier was a fierce critic of conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett during last year's re-election campaign.

And finally, according to the most recent IRS 990 tax statement filed by the Garden State Equality Educational Fund, the organization is in the process of repaying a $47,581.00 loan it received from Steve Goldstein.  The loan was negotiated without a written agreement and is a "loan for operating expenses", according to the information provided to the Internal Revenue Service.  Rather interesting, is it not?

So this is how you make government work for you -- and you don't even need to follow the basic rules to do it. 

Along with the herd of frightened Democrats, several Republicans voted to join the Left and give a government bank account and source of government funding to an organization that is involved in lobbying, political campaigns, and funding the Democrat Party.  Among those Republicans were Assemblywoman Maria Rodriguez-Gregg (R-08), who is embroiled in legal troubles; Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-39), mentioned as a potential candidate for Congress; Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), who is running for the State Senate; and Assemblyman Chris Brown (R-02), also a candidate for State Senate.

We are surprised that any Republicans would have voted for A-4790, as it was rushed to a floor vote without the benefit of any committee hearings at all.  This was a short-circuiting of the normal legislative process and deeply un-democratic.  As a result, whether by accident or design, the press and the public were not afforded the opportunity to vet the intended beneficiaries of this taxpayer-funded accommodation.  The people were not given the opportunity to question the wisdom of doing such a deal with a lobbying and political action group. 

At the very least, Republicans should have been unified in standing up for the democratic process.  They should have demanded a hearing and done so loudly.  Instead, they failed, and in some cases participated in the corruption.  Sad, really, sad.

Don't let the Democrats "vote rig" redistricting

Led by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Norcross) the Democrats have proposed a constitutional amendment that will create legislative districts designed on purpose to elect members of a certain party, using a formula that will permanently elect more Democrats than Republicans.  Wow.  It isn't bad enough that in our so-called "democracy" we only get two choices (often bad and worse), now they are taking that away from most of us.  If we happen to live in all but a handful of districts we will be left with just one choice... only Democrat or only Republican.

Sweeney and the Democrats are proposing a model called "one party democracy" which, when you think about it, isn't really democracy at all.  It's an oligarchy that allows the bosses of political machines to do away with competitive elections in the vast majority of districts -- assigning them instead to one party or the other.

How is that fair?  Last time we checked, most New Jersey voters refused to belong to a political party.  If the bosses were going to be fair, then half of the legislative districts should be "swing" districts, belonging to no party.

But the idea of this seat or that "belonging" to some political party and the cretins who run it is revolting.  The process of choosing our elected representatives is the only thing that allows us to boast that we "live in a democracy!"  Hell, it's the reason we puff out our chests and chant "USA, USA" as we send sons and, increasingly, daughters to kill those who will not become "democratic" (of course, the elections we set up there have a dozen or more choices, while we -- back in the motherland -- are stuck at a 19th Century... two).

Sweeney and the bosses like to point to election results.  The idea that -- when given just two choices -- so many are forced to vote one way or the other.  What they ignore (and know only too well) is that they have made it so money controls the outcomes of elections and that they operate the conduits (political machines) to get the money from the bribe giver (sorry, "access" seeker) to the candidate or incumbent.  Third parties and independents are too idealistic to even understand what is taking place.  They don't stand a chance and won't until they can organize themselves along the lines of a criminal enterprise.  Only then will they be able to compete in the "democratic" process.

On Thursday, a committee dominated by those who would benefit from "one party democracy" will be meeting in Trenton to go through the motions of listening to "the people" who vote for them.  They are not to be confused with "the people" who actually put them in office by limiting the choices voters are given.  We urge you to attend and testify.  Let them know that you are on to them.  Nothing wipes the smile off a con's face faster.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

10 AM

Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation

Committee Room 7, 2nd floor

State House Annex

SCR 188

Legislative Reapportionment Commission

Speaker Prieto: Suspend the Bill of Rights

Speaker Vinnie Prieto stepped away from the podium yesterday to suggest that the Bill of Rights be suspended if it will save one life.  Later, Assemblyman Lou "man hair" Greenwald said much the same thing.  This phrase has become a kind of last refuge when they run out of logic:  "It is worth it, if it saves just one life."

Good thing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn't think so, otherwise he would have surrendered to the Japanese Empire and the Nazis.  Quite a few "just one" lives would have been saved.  Of course our freedom would have been screwed and our country would have looked something like out of the video below, but hey, "if it saves just one life..."

Of course, Speaker Prieto ignores the thousands of lives sacrificed to an undefended border that allows violent criminals into America illegally.  When fellow Hudson County Democrat Senator Robert Menendez wrote a book in which he took leaves of his senses -- suggesting that the United States change its emphasis from patrolling our southern border with Mexico to focusing on our northern border with Canada -- Speaker Prieto sat in silent agreement.  But there the words remain, as a testament to the madness of political correctness:

“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.”  (Page 147)

“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 that border in search of jobs as gardeners, busboys, hotel workers, and maids.”  (Pages 148 and 149)

Speaker Prieto's hold on reality was just as tenuous when he supported allowing the United Nations to continue to vet refugee applications from Islamic war zones for placement of those refugees within the borders of the United States.  Speaker Prieto did this only days after the terrorist attacks in Paris -- in which at least one terrorist used Syrian refugee status to gain entry into Europe -- and just days before America suffered a similar terrorist attack in California.

While Speaker Prieto and the Democrats he leads in the New Jersey Assembly trust the United Nations -- with its employees from member states like Yemen, Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, and Vietnam -- to vet refugees that include combatants from Islamic zones of conflict, many Americans are concerned that we may be importing Islamic terrorism into the American homeland.  And while Speaker Prieto and his fellow Democrats call for disarming law-abiding American citizens every time terrorists attack a military base, a recruiting office, or a Christmas party, many ordinary Americans question why they should be made defenseless in the face of the importation of terror into the United States.

So much of our illegal immigration comes from countries with violent crime rates many times higher than in the United States and we have no way of safely vetting refugee applications from Islamic war zones.  Speaker Prieto and the Assembly Democrats are adding to our hazards, while trying to take away our ability to defend ourselves.  They should be held responsible for every violent young man who slips into the United Sates and commits an act of violence here.  They should be held responsible for every act of terror nurtured by their words and actions.