Oroho leads fight to end Human Trafficking of children

The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a global problem that is happening in communities across New Jersey.  The commercial sex industry targets children regardless of their gender.  Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs when individuals buy, trade, or sell sexual acts with a child; and sex trafficking is "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act... in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age."  

Children become victims through interaction with predators.  Traffickers target vulnerable children and lure them into prostitution and commercial pornography using psychological manipulation, drugs, and/or violence.  75% of all children who are trafficked were lured into sexual exploitation through Internet porn.  There is an inseparable link between pornography and human trafficking. Children have been kidnapped, abused, drugged, threatened and coerced into doing porn, which is by definition, sex trafficking.

On Monday, January 23rd, the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act was proposed in both the New Jersey Senate and Assembly.  It was proposed in the Senate (S-2928) by Senator Steve Oroho, and in the Assembly (A-4503) sponsors include Assemblywoman Nancy F. Munoz, Assemblywoman Betty Lou DeCroce, Assemblyman Parker Space, and Assemblywoman Amy H. Handlin. 

This legislation requires Internet-connected devices to have digital blocking capability that can only be removed by an adult and would make it unlawful "to manufacture, sell, offer for sale, lease, or distribute a product" that makes pornographic content accessible "unless the product contains digital blocking capability that renders" certain obscene material "inaccessible" and ensures that "all child pornography and revenge pornography is inaccessible on the product... prohibits the product from accessing any hub that facilitates prostitution; and render websites that are known to facilitate human trafficking... inaccessible."

Any digital blocking capability could be disabled by an adult consumer by (1) requesting same in writing, (2) presenting identification to verify age, (3) acknowledges receiving a written warning regarding the potential danger of deactivating the digital blocking capability, and (4) paying a one-time $20 digital access fee.

The fee will be collected by the manufacturer or distributor and then forwarded to the New Jersey State Treasurer.  Proceeds will fund the operations of the Commission on Human Trafficking and the Attorney General's office.  The legislation allows the manufacturer or distributor to pay the $20 opt-out fee instead of the consumer.

The legislation also requires manufacturers and distributors to establish a reporting mechanism -- a website or a call center -- to allow consumers to report unblocked obscene material or blocked material that is not obscene.

The legislation was fashioned using directives from the United States Supreme Court regarding the use of digital blocking or filters.  Great attention was paid to the arguments of the ACLU and others when fashioning this legislation. 

The Human Trafficking Prevention Act is a nationwide, bipartisan effort to cut-off the grooming and trafficking of children into prostitution through commercial, for-profit pornography.  New Jersey Senator Steve Oroho gave the legislation the name it is known by and it is being proposed in each of the 50 states.  For a full list of the legislation and its sponsors in each state, go to this website:

http://humantraffickingpreventionact.com/

“Sexually exploiting children causes long term, if not lifelong damage and confusion,"  Said Rev. Greg Quinlan of the Center for Garden Sate Families.

For more information on how to organize to support the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act in New Jersey, visit the Center for Garden State Families at http://www.gardenstatefamilies.org/.

Gas-Tax Repeal Rally a No Show

If the gas-tax repeal is Senator Tom Kean Jr.'s plan to save the endangered liberals in his caucus, it totally crapped the bed on Saturday when the kick-off rally to a series of rallies across the state was cancelled and a pro-Senator Steve Oroho rally popped up in its place.  The repeal is being pushed by "Red Shirt" movement leader Bill Spadea, cultural leftist Senator Kip Bateman, and the petroleum lobby. 

Slated for Newton Green on Saturday, October 22nd (11am-2pm), the rally was organized with support from the petroleum lobby by people claiming to represent the Tea Party and other groups.  The run-up to the rally benefitted from paid advertising and media coverage, including a front page story on the New Jersey Herald the day before.  Organizers claimed that the response had been huge and claimed to had lined up a dozen speakers -- including 5th District congressional candidate Michael J. Cino. 

Cino, has attacked conservative Congressman Scott Garrett and the Republican majority in Congress for its "traitorous" votes.  Cino runs a group known as the "Red Dogs" who are described as a sort of vanguard in the "rebellion against the establishment."  We don't know if there is a relationship between the "Red Shirts" and the "Red Dogs."

The morning of the rally was rainy and the forecast called for a light drizzle.  The rally was set expressly "rain or shine" but was canceled a couple hours before it was scheduled to begin "due to weather."

Having explicitly described the rally as "public" in its advertisements, gas-tax-repeal organizers became concerned when they heard that people who didn't agree with them were thinking of attending their public meeting.  The gas-tax repealers asked the police to intervene to "segregate" the rally.  The gas-tax-repeal camp was asked about the criteria they intended to use to "segregate" members of the public at a public rally.  They wouldn't provide a criteria.

A building trades union representing thousands of families in Northwest New Jersey stepped in and obtained  its own permit, which lay outside Newton Green.  But in the end, it wasn't necessary, because with Newton Green vacated by the gas-tax-repeal organizers of the advertised public rally, the people who they had attempted to keep out had the Green to themselves.    

So at 11am on Saturday morning -- instead of the gas-tax-repeal rally that was advertised -- 250 people showed up in support of the Tax Restructuring plan passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Chris Christie.  They came to support conservative Republican Steve Oroho, who has been under attack by the Legislature's two most liberal Republicans -- Kip Bateman and Jennifer Beck -- and they came to combat the lies put out by the petroleum lobby that the 23-cent increase applies to home heating oil and baby ointment and polyester clothing.  All lies designed to frighten people and to inflame hatred and even violence.

The facts, as provided by the Office of Legislative Services, are that nothing new is taxed and that all the exemptions that were in place remain in place. This means the increase does not apply to home heating oil or baby ointment or polyester clothing.  In fact, the law now INCREASES the number of exempt products.  We will discuss these additional exemptions in detail in an upcoming column.

Saturday's crowd -- numbering more than 250 -- was made up largely of trade union members and their families, but many local Republicans turned out, including two Sussex County Freeholders and several local elected officials and GOP municipal leaders.  About a dozen Pro-Life activists were present as well as that many grassroots Second-Amendment campaigners.  About a half dozen people attended who were drawn by the newspaper coverage. 

Three speakers addressed the crowd.  Rev. Greg Quinlan of the Center for Garden State Families reminded those present that Senator Oroho is a leader in the fight to preserve traditional values in New Jersey and America.  He added that those who want to drive Senator Oroho out of office are followers of the two most culturally left-wing members of the GOP in the Legislature and that earlier this week the two had celebrated the deaths of millions of unborn children by honoring the racist memory of eugenicist Margaret Sanger and her Planned Parenthood organization. 

Economics professor Murray Sabrin explained how the gas tax is a user tax and that this is a moral form of taxation.  The gathering was reminded that President Ronald Reagan, the founder of the modern conservative movement, favored user taxes and used the gas tax to fund road and bridge construction in America.  Sabrin went on to remind the audience that those "Red Shirts" who are trying to make the gas tax the big issue of 2017 are doing so to deflect attention away from the real problem tax in New Jersey -- the property tax -- which is a driver of the state's highest in America foreclosure rate.  Those who say the gas tax is the problem do so to support the Abbott-system of spending the state revenue from income taxes.

Finally, a union leader from Sussex County reminded the rally that "this was supposed to be their (the petroleum lobby's) rally" and that they had been there to spread lies about the Tax Restructuring plan and hatred for Senator Oroho.  He went on to thank the working men and women present from Sussex, Warren, and Morris counties and the thousands of union families they represent who live, work, and vote in the 24th Legislative District.  He promised that they would be back again and again and again and again, door-to-door, to carry the message to EVERY household in the 24th District.

The event was topped off with two announcements:  First, that Franklin Mayor Nick Giordano, who had been moved to oppose Senator Oroho after listening to the propaganda of "Red Shirt" lies, had written a letter endorsing the Senator and the Tax Restructuring plan.  And second, that the Senator's youngest daughter had safely delivered a child.  Steve Oroho's new grandson.

Rutgers bosses stonewalling about PAC

While the boss of the Rutgers SuperPAC makes fashion statements, the Rutgers President and the Chairman of its Board of Governors hide out from public scrutiny.

Three weeks ago, religious leader and family rights activist Rev. Greg Quinlan wrote to Rutgers President, Robert Barchi, and Chairman of the Board of Governors, Greg Brown.  Rev. Quinlan's letter was very respectful.  Like any taxpayer of New Jersey, he wanted to know how Susan McCue, as a member of the Board of Governors, can run a Super PAC whose sole purpose is to influence the election of legislators in New Jersey.  Those same legislators who are responsible for taxing and spending money on behalf of Rutgers.

Rev. Quinlan has yet to receive the courtesy of a reply from these two "role models for the leaders of tomorrow."  Does having a position of power give you the right to display contempt for the ordinary citizens who fund your institution and its salaries, perks, and benefits?  Apparently it does -- and apparently this is what they are teaching at Rutgers these days.

We have been assured that the issue is not going away and that eventually, Messrs. Barchi and Brown will have this placed under their noses so much and so often that they will end up commenting on it, if only by mistake.  Watch... and see if we are not correct. 

Here is the letter:

Garden State Families

Rev. Greg Quinlan, President

October 21, 2015

Mr. Robert Barchi, President

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

83 Somerset Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1281

Mr. Greg Brown, Chairman of the Board of Governors

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Chairman & CEO

Motorola Solutions, Inc.
1303 East Algonquin Road
Schaumburg, Illinois 60196 

Dear Messrs. Barchi and Brown: 

I would like to bring a serious conflict-of-interest to your attention. 

Susan M. McCue -- of Alexandria, Virginia -- is currently serving as one of the 15 members of the Rutgers' Board of Governors responsible for policy and oversight of the University.  Ms. McCue is a political consultant who controls a business called Message Global LLC, where she serves as President. 

Susan McCue is also President of the General Majority PAC -- an organization that in the last two election cycles has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat or elect members of the New Jersey Legislature.  This is from her biography on the General Majority PAC webpage:

Susan M. McCue is one of the nation’s top political strategists and President of Message Global, LLC, a firm she founded... Susan served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for eight years, where she built and managed his leadership, policy and political operations.

She also co-founded the much-praised Senate Majority SuperPAC to elect Democrats in 2012 to the U.S. Senate, and in 2013 she founded the Fund for Jobs, Growth and Security, now called General Majority PAC, to elect Democrats in state races. 

The taxpayers, through their elected representatives in the New Jersey Legislature, fund Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey.  Should a member of Rutgers' governing Board be engaged in the election or defeat of members of that Legislature?  

What effect will her presence on the Rutgers governing Board have on legislators who, when exercising their own statutory oversight, find themselves facing a quarter-million dollar cable buy advocating their defeat or re-election? Will legislators think twice before taking up the cause of a disgruntled Rutgers employee or student.  Legislators must already know that they take on Rutgers' powerful and incumbent at their peril.  McCue's presence has already had a chilling effect on free expression in and outside the Legislature.  

Lastly, the source of Susan McCue's power -- Citizens United and other decision by that failsafe of the establishment, the national Supreme Court -- and her misuse of it to amplify the voice of rich corporations to drown out the voices of millions of American people makes a mockery of our democratic process and threatens democracy itself.  Is this the example you want Rutgers students to follow? 

Thank you for your time and consideration.  I look forward to your answers to my questions  and to any ideas you might have on how to address this threat to legislative independence and democracy. 

Sincerely,

Rev. Greg Quinlan

*Rev. Quinlan can be reached at: GQuinlan@gardenstatefamilies.com