NJGOP destroys Trump narrative with on-line vote for Chairman

By Rubashov

What were they thinking?  While President Donald Trump is arguing that massive fraud occurred in the November presidential election, the NJGOP has undercut him, conducting its own election for Chairman using a company that is trying to transform elections in America away from in-person voting, embracing on-line technology.
 
Sources said that Tuesday night’s election for Chairman was conducted on-line, using software provided by a company called ElectionRunner.  NJ Globe noted that “Michael Mulligan, a state committeeman from Salem County, objected to the electronic vote and sought to delay the election.”  Mulligan noted the apparent incongruity between how the NJGOP vote was being conducted and a party that has criticized the move away from in-person voting.
 
One GOP leader called it “hypocrisy” that “undermines President Trump’s argument.”  The NJ Globe reported Mulligan as saying: “What we’re going to be doing caused major problems in this country.  We are jumping the gun at the present time.”
 
But Warren County Freeholder/State Committeewoman Jason Sarnoski didn’t see it as abandoning Trump’s argument, claiming that there was “no reason to delay the meeting.”  Sarnoski told NJ Globe: “This is the same process we’ve followed in the past.  We’re not voting on Dominion machines.  We’re going to be virtual for the time being.”
 
One state committee member contrasted the NJGOP’s Murphyesque social distancing for a meeting of such few people, with the hundreds that gathered at Trump National Golf Course on October 20th for the Arise-NJ event hosted by Pastor Phil Rizzo.  There were no reported cases of COVID-19 as a result of that event.  “If hundreds could gather and conduct business six weeks ago, why can’t the NJGOP safely hold an in-person vote of 42 people?”
 
Forbes magazine identified ElectionRunner as one of nine technology companies that want to “revolutionize” voting.  Forbes noted that “computer science professors warn that internet elections are seriously vulnerable to bugs and foreign attack.”

"The problems are growing in complexity faster than the methods to keep up with them. From that perspective, looking at a system that relies on the perfectibility of computers is a really bad idea," says Stanford computer science professor David Dill, who founded the Verified Voting Foundation. Beyond attack, voting online challenges traditional staples of the electoral process. Online, preventing voter fraud, guaranteeing anonymity and ensuring vote verifiability become considerably more difficult. 

Nevertheless, ElectionRunner – which makes a product that allows users to run elections on any device in any location – hopes to be able to expand its customer base beyond organizations and schools. Being able to claim that a major state Republican organization used their on-line voting app in 2020 (of all years!) is a big plus towards getting others to sign-on.

A follow-up NJ Globe story today portrayed the vote as a contrast between Mike Lavery’s hail-fellow-well-met personality and Bob Hugin’s impressive record of raising and donating money. Going forward, we will be watching to see how far the NJGOP can get by on a smile and a handshake.

Stay tuned…

“People that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims... but accomplices.”

George Orwell

AFP rhetoric produces threat against Senator

Senator Steve Oroho is a traditional Reagan conservative:  One-hundred percent Pro-Life, a proud NRA member, a Sunday churchgoer, Chairman of New Jersey's American Legislative Exchange Council, a Heritage Foundation supporter, a believer in that old-fashioned conservatism that says avoid borrowing and spend only what you take in.  His rural, hill country district isn't a wealthy one, but it is filled with the kind of salt-of-the-earth conservatives who have since 2007 elected and re-elected Steve Oroho with 70 percent of the vote or more.

Senator Oroho is a practical numbers man.  He's a certified financial planner and CPA.  Before beginning his career of public service, Steve Oroho was a senior financial officer for S&P 500 companies like W. R. Grace and  Young & Rubicam.  Steve has helped to put companies like Burson Marsteller back on a healthy financial track.

Steve Oroho is considered to be one of the more knowledgeable members of the Senate Budget Committee.  He learned the budget process at the grassroots -- as a borough councilman and county freeholder.  It has taken decades of experience and thousands of pages of balance sheets to make Senator Oroho what he is today.

The Oroho family is an extended clan that stretches across the state -- from Sussex to Salem County.  For the most part, Oroho's only leave New Jersey to fight for their country.  Steve Oroho's brother is a decorated U.S. Army combat helicopter pilot, one son served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, another is a U.S. Army Ranger.

As a father and grandfather, Senator Oroho is concerned for the future of New Jersey.  He's placed politics aside to take a data-centric, realistic look at what causes New Jersey to be so uncompetitive when it comes to commercial investment and job creation.  Steve Oroho has been fighting to lower taxes that prevent businesses from growing here, like the estate tax, which has been dumped by most of the other states we compete with. He's also targeted taxes on retirement income and property taxes -- that break up families by forcing older people to leave the state for financial reasons.

Senator Oroho is especially concerned about the unfunded Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), which has already begun to deny local governments the grant money they need for road and bridge repairs.  From his experience in local government, Steve Oroho knows that this will lead to property tax increases to pay for those local repairs.  Either that or roads and bridges will be closed for safety reasons and as the transportation infrastructure slowly erodes, so will commerce and inward investment.  And he can cite case studies where it has happened.

Steve Oroho wants to see a competitive, thriving New Jersey -- fit for the 21st Century -- not a failed state with a third-world infrastructure.   He believes that realistically New Jersey is faced with the binary option of paying for future road and bridge maintenance through a user tax on gasoline or by increasing property taxes.  And he makes the point that the user gas tax is fairer, because it allows out-of-state drivers to pay for their use of New Jersey's roads.

Think of it this way, approximately one third of gas tax revenues in New Jersey are paid by out-of-state drivers, while 100% of property taxes are paid by New Jersey residents. Knowing this, which do you think is the best option to pay for roads and bridges, an increase in the state gas tax or an increase in property taxes?

Others disagree.  They claim that they can borrow their way out of the crisis or use the revenues from increased ticketing and collections of nuisance fines.  All of these proposals need to be examined in detail, to see if they are adequate to address the very real problems that the state will face when there is no more money to maintain a road or repair a bridge.

Then there is the rhetoric.  Americans for Prosperity (AFP) -- the old vehicle for Steve Lonegan's numerous campaigns for Governor, Senator, and Congress -- has launched an intensely personal campaign against Senator Oroho.  Well, it is what you would expect, the nastiest fights are often within the church choir.

Once upon a time, AFP was very fond of Steve Oroho and often sent out correspondence praising him and his voting record.  But AFP is funded by the libertarian Koch Brothers, who make their money off of petroleum products, and who do not like the idea of increasing a tax on their product. Senator Oroho is a more traditional conservative who -- like the Tax Foundation -- believes in the basic fairness of a user tax on gasoline rather than higher property taxes.

So now AFP hates Steve Oroho... and the hate is catching.  Yesterday, Steve's wife was greeted by a Facebook post earmarked so that his family couldn't miss it.  It featured a bloody, dead pig.  The Facebook post was from an AFP supporter who must have just received an email claiming that Senator Oroho wanted to raise the gas tax by 40 cents (which, of course, isn't true).  The AFPer called Steve Oroho a porker that "needs to be shot stuck and put in the freezer," adding, "for those offended I am offended at a 40 cents plus new gas tax."  Here is the accompanying photograph:

Maybe AFP needs a timeout?