Sussex Democrat Chair’s “X-Rated” video

By Sussex County Watchdog

We believe in free expression. 

The Sussex County Democrats do not.  State Democrats asked them to find something on the county Republican Chairman.  Murphy operative Leslie Huhn “friended” his Twitter page, and two days later the Sussex County Democrats’ Communications Director was in front of the Sussex County Community College Board of Trustees, asking that the Republican be fired.  It was a partisan political scam by people looking to be “offended” in order to score political points.

Worst still is the role played by SCCC Trustee Howard Burrell.  Last year, when Burrell wanted to be a trustee, this website wrote in support of him.  Burrell gave his word of honor that he would not be political while a member of the college board.  Then he sat there while he was running for Mayor of Vernon.  He didn’t even disclose that he was campaigning when he took a vote against the Republican Chairman.  Just days later, he campaigned at a Democrat political event with the very Democrats who slashed education funding in Sussex County.  An ethical person would have recused himself from taking that vote.  But not Burrell.  

The question is:  Why didn’t SCCC Trustee Chairman Bill Curcio ask Burrell to recuse himself?  Why did Curcio and the board allow the college to be used this way – to sink into partisan politics? 

Yes, we believe in free expression… but hypocrisy needs to be addressed too.

Katie Rotondi, the Sussex County Democrat Chairwoman, has led the stalking of other people’s social media pages.  She and her fellow stalkers have found things to be “offended” by and have demanded that people be punished.  But has anyone looked at what she puts out?

She isn’t re-tweeting something by mistake.  She produces and edits this stuff.  She promotes it.  And there is a whole lot of it.  What follows is one of the milder examples of her stuff (and make sure no children are around to see this)…

https://vimeo.com/182943568

There are things in this video that many people in Sussex County would find to be offensive.  We highly doubt that we could get Bill Curcio and Howard Burrell and the other members of the SCCC Board of Trustees to read out some of the lines in this video.  They would be too embarrassed to do so… although we might just show up and ask them to. 

The SCCC trustees essentially allowed the Sussex Democrat Chairwoman to script their proceedings.  With the help of the SCCC’s newly hired Democrat law firm – a major funder of state Democrat campaigns – Rotondi and the state Democrats used the college to implement a political strategy that actually involved one of their trustees as a Democrat candidate.  This is a very serious ethical issue for the college.

In the midst of turkey vulvas and facial treatments and peeing on desks, we think this video should be reworked to show footage of the trustees… you know, talking and reacting and stuff like that.   After all, they allowed themselves to become part of Katie Rotondi’s body of work, so they should be part of her reel.  Call it performance art.    

Stay tuned…

Hey Fred… It is called getting “Frelinghuysened”

By Sussex County Watchdog

InsiderNJ’s Fred Snowflack can’t think of a single Republican who was targeted by the Left and then driven out of office?  Well, we can.

Was there a nicer gentleman than Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen?  The Antifa Democrats targeted him and upset the old guy so much that his doctor told him to give it up.  They tormented a man whose public service began in the jungles of Vietnam and drove him out of office.  And it didn’t end – even after he agreed not to run again.  Remember how the Antifa Democrats held a party and mocked him, even as he closed his office?   

Two of these Antifa Democrats are now running for the Assembly – Lisa Bhimani and Darcy Draeger.  They and their comrades showed up to the old gentleman’s office on its last day open – to “celebrate” by acting like dirtbags.  Well good for you.  You showed all the world what measure of class and grace you possess – obviously the kind of folks who get their jollies by pulling the wings off flies.  

Well, nobody is getting Frelinghuysened in Sussex County.  Antifa can hold its breath and kick and scream and all they are ever going to get in Sussex County is a sympathetic flip of the bird and the sincere advice to suck it. We give as good as we get and will keep on and on… until all the participants are dust.

God always saves a remnant.  Here, in Sussex County, we are that remnant.

We remember who we are.  We remember that America is a Republic.  That we are a nation of laws.  We have due process.  We have the Bill of Rights.  We do not succumb to the emotional howls of lynch mobs.  We do not honor vendettas or fatwas.  We don’t give in to terrorists.  We don’t let them have their way.  We are… Americans. 

Which brings us to Fred’s silly comparison between the NAACP’s Jeffrey Dye, who held a taxpayer-funded state Labor Department job, and the Sussex GOP’s Jerry Scanlan, who is a volunteer county college trustee.  Dye lost his taxpayer funded job for (as reported in InsiderNJ) having “authored some Facebook posts that were anti-Semitic and anti-Hispanic.”

In the dismissal of Jeffrey Dye, we hope that the Murphy administration followed the law and there were work rules that addressed Dye’s actions.  We hope that Dye was afforded the due process that is the right of every worker when facing the often arbitrary power of an employer.   

The two great protections of the working class are the Bill of Rights and the right of workers to collectively organize.  If it ever becomes routine that an employer can simply fire someone when any old mob of people claims that he or she did something that gave “offense” then employers will have a ready tool to sweep away every protection that the working class has. 

In the case of Jerry Scanlan, the Board of Trustees of the Sussex County Community College failed to create a written policy to address the private use of social media by trustees, faculty, administration, and staff.  Scanlan broke no SCCC rules and did not use SCCC property.  He has no charge to answer for.  The Board’s only real course was to ask him very politely.  This they failed to do (and ultimately they placed the college in legal jeopardy).

Nobody would wish to live in a country in which the opinions of any old screaming mob constitutes the law.  Or a country in which laws are made up to appease the mob and then applied retroactively.  That would be a vigilante nation, a lawless nation. 

That might happen in other places… but not here.

SCCC Trustee Burrell (D) running for Mayor of Vernon

So now we know what tonight’s circus is in aid of…

Politics.  Real scumbag politics.  The kind that masquerades as self-righteousness when it is really only about self-dealing.

It turns out that for some time now, SCCC Trustee Howard Burrell has been discussing and planning a comeback political career.  Trustee Burrell was a Democrat Freeholder until he was defeated for re-election in 2002 by 4,000 votes.  Sussex County Democrat Committee Chairwoman Katie Rotondi and Murphy county coordinator Leslie Huhn are both Burrell backers.  

We understood why Democrats like Dan Perez and Lorraine Parker wanted to hold an anti-Trump rally disguised as a special public meeting of the SCCC trustees, but we couldn’t figure out why SCCC Board Chairman Bill Curcio went along with it.  Now we know. 

SCCC Trustee Howard Burrell managed Democrat Dan Perez’ 2017 Freeholder race against Republican Freeholder Director Herb Yardley.  Perez lost by 7,000 votes.  Now Perez is returning the favor and supporting Burrell.

The SCCC Board of Trustees dumped a Sussex County firm as its attorney and hired the Union County Democrat machine firm of former State Senator Ray Lesniak.  So it is official.  The facts surrounding this appointment are shocking and will be dealt with in length but suffice to say that Ray Lesniak was a big defender of the corrupt practice of pay-to-play.

So now we know why some players on the SCCC Board of Trustees have dragged their colleague of seven years through the dirt for something he’s apologized for again and again…

Politics.  Dirtbag politics.  The kind of politics that sacrifices human decency, forgiveness, and pity for self-advancement. 

Sussex County Community College isn’t supposed to be about politics.  The SCCC Board of Trustees aren’t supposed to create venues by which to hang one trustee so that another can launch his political comeback campaign.

In fact, using SCCC facilities for partisan political purposes is explicitly against the rules of the Internal Revenue Service.  The process by which an executive session of the Board was called (a trustee is not “personnel” and no lawsuit has been filed by any party) and a public meeting held could pose legal hurdles for the SCCC.

Curiously, Howard Burrell launched his original political career 30 years ago in the midst of the same rhetoric being used by some Democrats today… accusing anyone they don’t like of “racism” and “bigotry” while they push legislation that even most Democrats say is anti-Semitic.  It seems some Democrats have learned nothing in 30 years.

Also worth noting are the assurances made by Trustee Burrell to the Freeholder Board at the time of his appointment just last year.  Burrell’s appointment had been held up by an earlier Freeholder Board over concerns that he would use his position on the SCCC Board of Trustees as a springboard to political office.  The current Freeholder Board appointed him after being assured that politics would not be part of it.  This has obviously turned out not to be the case and Trustee Burrell will have some explaining to do.

It looks like former Freeholder Carl Lazzaro was right about Howard Burrell and Watchdog was wrong to have advocated for Burrell’s appointment to the SCCC Board of Trustees.  We admit our mistake.

SCCC teachers union pushes hateful agenda

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is noteworthy for its aggressive, sometimes outright hateful agenda towards President Donald Trump and his administration.  In 2017, a rally organized by a local teachers union turned violent and the United States Secretary of Education was pushed and shoved in an effort to block her from entering a school.  Such violence should come as no surprise, given the level of rhetoric employed by AFT during the 2016 presidential campaign.

In a widely circulated speech, the President of the AFT endorsed Hillary Clinton and attacked Donald Trump in a most hateful way…

Clinton 'the best candidate for president'
“Hillary understands the most urgent issues confronting our country… She's proved time and time again that she is a dreamer, and a doer.”

Trump 'perilously close to fascism'
“…in my lifetime, we've never faced anything like what we're facing this year… What do you call it, when a candidate for president debases an entire religion, mocks a disabled reporter, refers to women as pigs and calls Mexicans rapists? I call it a threat to civil society, to decency and to the values that underpin our country. Frankly, it is perilously close to fascism..”

Curiously, the AFT President said those words while AFT was passing its own resolution condemning Mexico for fascist behavior.  The AFT Resolution accused Mexicans of murdering teachers and of illegally detaining protestors.  It claimed that Mexico had a policy of “arbitrary and unjustified harassment” and accused the Mexican police of using “excessive force”.  The AFT filed an official complaint with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

How different was this from the warnings given by the Trump campaign over the violence in Mexico?  How did AFT’s resolution not feed into the very perceptions of Mexico and Mexicans that AFT would attack Trump for?

Why is it “hate” when one does it, but okay for the other to do it?

AFT Local 4780

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 4780 represents the faculty at the Sussex County Community College (SCCC).  The Local is not without incident. 

For example, in 2010, the Local got caught up in allegations that it was harassing the then Chairman of the Board of Trustees of SCCC.  According to the official legal proceedings… 

“The College alleged that the (Local)  was engaging in conduct that encouraged individuals to harass the College’s Chair of its Board of Trustees. The College alleges that the  (Local) was responsible for individuals posting union flyers in (the Chairman’s) store without permission, distributing flyers containing  (the Chairman’s) business and home telephone numbers and home address; hanging union signs on  (the Chairman’s) business sign without permission, and calling and making harassing calls to  (the Chairman’s) home and business…

On the day of the rally, four individuals came into (the Chairman’s) business and posted six flyers on the walls in his store. Those flyers contained pictures of (the Chairman) and the College Counsel and  (the Chairman’s) home address, telephone numbers and remarks related to the College negotiations. A larger poster was placed over  (the Chairman’s) outdoor business sign.
Later on February 20, harassing telephone calls were received at (the Chairman’s) home. The callers were not identified, but they made derogatory remarks about (the Chairman)... Such calls continued through February 24, 2010.

Were these acts of “hate”?  They certainly don’t sound nice.

A quick glance through the website of AFT Local 4780 gives a flavor of who they are and the vehemence with which they attack Republicans in general and President Trump in particular.  Sussex County has a lot of Republicans and a lot of Trump supporters.  They hold clear majorities in Sussex County.  So how can the Sussex County Community College (SCCC) create a welcoming environment for them when all those teaching them belong to a union that hates them and everything they stand for? 

We ask the question:  How can Republicans or Trump supporters or those who support traditional values or who oppose illegal immigration feel safe at Sussex County Community College (SCCC)?  Take a look at what’s on Local 4780’s website and then you decide…

AFT-endorsed candidates won big on election night

The Nov. 7 election results were a clear and overwhelming rebuke of the fearmongering and race-baiting that embodies Trumpism… "This election was a real 'which-side-are-you-on?' moment”.

Highlights from Election 2017

In New Jersey, AFT-endorsed candidate Phil Murphy won the governor's race by 13 points, and state Sen. Steve Sweeney was overwhelmingly re-elected. These victories offer new hope and new opportunity for the people of New Jersey who for years have had a blustering bully for a governor, who disrespected educators, nurses and working people.

Like true Socialists the world over, the AFT celebrates the Marxist holiday of May Day…

AFT members make May 1 actions memorable

"Build schools, not walls" was the crisp, compelling message delivered by AFT activists at a series of May 1 actions stretching from Miami to San Francisco… Through marches, rallies and meetings, AFT members joined with immigrant communities, students, parents and engaged citizens to support public education and to fight for a more fair and just immigration system. The rallies showed collective resolve: to keep schools as safe spaces, free from immigration raids, bigotry and hate, and to demand that funds meant for a border wall be used instead to strengthen public schools.

For Rutgers AAUP-AFT members, one individual's story galvanized May 1 actions Carimer Andujar, the energetic and outspoken president of UndocuRutgers, has Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, but her renewal was recently delayed for no apparent reason. Rutgers AAUP-AFT helped create the #HandsOffCarimer campaign, and Andujar says she thinks the bureaucratic snag has been solved. She remains fearful, however, about an upcoming renewal meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and spoke as part of the protests for all immigrants. Members of the Coalition of Rutgers Unions, AFT New Jersey and student organizations rallied on three Rutgers campuses to make New Jersey a sanctuary state and for a $15 minimum wage, the right to form a union and racial justice for all.

"Our number one goal is to elect a president who shares our values and that means beating Donald Trump. But to win our endorsement, candidates will have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. As we look ahead to Election Day, we are committed to engaging our members every step of the way."
— The AFT President

So where is the welcome for students in a Republican, Pro-Trump county?  Even if the SCCC doesn’t want to actively embrace creating a welcoming environment for traditional values, shouldn’t it at least strive to be neutral?