John McCann’s FAKE endorsements (starting with Trump)!

Over the weekend, many of you received a mailer from the campaign of congressional candidate John McCann.  The mailer was professionally designed and carried out by a well-known, national Democrat campaign consultant.

Democrats have been a feature of the McCann campaign.  John McCann was recruited from a Democrat office to run in the Republican primary for Congress.  McCann was a $151,000 a year (plus benefits) Bergen County patronage employee – working for a Democrat office holder in a Democrat-controlled county – when he was plucked from obscurity to challenge long time conservative Steve Lonegan. 

McCann, an attorney, had a deal with his Democrat employers that was so good that they allowed him to collect $498,000 in “fees” in one year – that’s in addition to his full-time salary (with benefits).  That’s right, he owes the Democrats a lot.

John McCann is the hand-picked candidate of a party boss who was convicted on public corruption charges and sent to prison.  McCann’s campaign chair is a liberal pro-abortion campaigner.  McCann’s campaign manager holds contracts from Democrat politicians. 

Photoshopped image of Trump?

The mailer used a controversial image of President Donald Trump.  The image is controversial, because it has been obviously photoshopped to suit the needs of the campaign. 

(SOURCE:  McCann for Congress website)

(SOURCE: McCann for Congress Facebook page)

Unwinding a Scam

This brings us back to the mailer the McCann campaign sent out over the weekend.  The mailer used the words, “Guess Who Is Endorsing John McCann?”

And then it used the same suspect photograph that had been clearly photoshopped above.  But this is a clear lie.  Donald Trump has not made an endorsement.

To make matters worse, on the reverse of the mailer, the McCann campaign listed several endorsements that also turned out to be lies.

Sussex County Freeholder Herb Yardley was listed and he felt so strongly about it that he paid for a call to Sussex County residents and a radio ad that set the record straight:

“This is Freeholder Herb Yardley.  Some of you may have received a mailer from candidate John McCann claiming that I endorsed him.  That is not true, I endorsed Steve Lonegan for Congress.

Now McCann is running a radio ad that lies about our Senator, Steve Oroho.  In fact Steve Oroho and Mike Doherty are the two most conservative Senators in New Jersey, according to the American Conservative Union.

On June 5th, say NO to John McCann’s lies.”

Former Congressman Scott Garrett also issued a statement claiming that Sussex County Freeholder Carl Lazzaro had also not endorsed John McCann, despite being listed as an endorsee on the McCann mailer.

See, this is how Democrats do it.  They lie.  With so many Democrats around him, McCann can’t help it.  He lies too.

UPDATE

We learned that Sussex County Freeholder Jonathan Rose did endorse John McCann for Congress, although he is not listed on the mailer.  The reason for that is probably a reluctance by McCann to list a public official who supports Governor Phil Murphy’s position on the legalization of marijuana.

That’s right, Jonathan Rose backs legalizing pot!  He says so here…

Hey, McCann is a liberal, but he’s not that liberal.  In supporting McCann, Freeholder Rose apparently takes a liberal stand on abortion and gun control.

Last Friday, candidate John McCann outed himself in an interview with the Bergen Record.  Here, read it for yourself…

Lonegan is staunchly pro-life, and recently told an audience at the Knights of Columbus in Fair Lawn that he'd support every anti-abortion bill that came before him. He's tried to tag McCann as being pro-choice, but McCann says the label doesn't fit.  

"I believe that life begins at conception," McCann said.

But when asked whether he would support any future bill to further limit abortion, McCann indicated he would not.

"The law is what is," he said. 

Hey, that’s NOT Pro-Life.  That is pro-status quo, which equals, pro-abortion.

Now on guns:

Both candidates wrap themselves in the Second Amendment right to bear arms. McCann favors requiring universal background checks perspective gun buyers but Lonegan opposes them they would  just "add another layer of bureaucracy."

Ditto on the Second Amendment.

Here read the whole article for yourselves:

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/01/nj-election-2018-john-mccann-steve-lonegan-congress-candidates-play-trump-card-primary/659599002/

In attack on Sen. Doherty, Mandelblatt ignores class

It is becoming clearer by the day, that the anti-Trump backlash led by the Women's March organization, is an inverted revolution -- a revolt of the One-Percent against what they see as a threat to the imposition of their world view on the rest of us.  Make no mistake.  Their economic well-being is not threatened.  They will continue to privately smile when they cash checks from their unearned income, while demonstrating to the world that they are outraged at their "privilege". 

Once upon a time, the behavior of the One-Percent was constrained by a moral code that was broadly democratic -- in that it applied to everyone.  Even the very rich were advised "not to frighten the horses."  That however is no longer the case, and it will be some future historian who will draw the exact line when we, as a culture, slipped from being a vaguely Christian one to something decidedly Post-Christian, even Anti-Christian.  Like when the Emperor Constantine decidedly to make his subjects put aside their old gods for the new, we are... quite suddenly... somewhere else.

This dislocation has affected people -- ordinary people -- as much as has the imposition of a global economy on what had, until recently, been a Main Street one.  We are not a nation of immigrants, so much as refugees.  We are lost, cut-off from our past, unable to return to it or even, to find it.  A character in a novel by Evelyn Waugh once mused on the nature of memory... "These memories, which are my life -- for we possess nothing certainly except the past."

Enter Senator Mike Doherty, an honest man living in dishonest times.  The Senator expresses himself... honestly.  We say we value honesty when we do not.  What we value is the show of "virtue" above all else.  Like Pharisees, we wear our virtue so that the world can know our goodness and can reflect back that goodness .  Of course, we are not good.  We are simply blind to ourselves.  We fear speaking honestly, exchange honesty for a script of virtuous catch-phrases, homilies, and sentiments.  We say we hate "hate" while engaging in an endless pursuit of hate objects.  We exchange new hates for old hates -- and call it virtue.

Mike Doherty is a convenient hate object.  He expresses the dislocation that so many feel.  He does so in an honest, almost bewildered fashion.  He is concerned for his working class neighbors, concerned for the guy who maybe lacked the money or luck to get into college -- and who must now live by his muscle and grit.  Or the lady who ended up a victim of the sexual revolution, whose husband ran off with a younger gal at work, and who must now make ends meet and chart a way for her children.

The One-Percent don't care about them.  They call Doherty a "nativist" and a "racist" because he worries about how that man will compete in a market glutted with "illegal" labor.  Cheap labor.  The One-Percent love it.  There's nothing like having servants to puff up the ego.  Cheap labor was behind the murder of Julius Caesar.  With slaves pouring into the Republic, he wanted a law that ensured the future employment of Roman Citizens -- but the Patricians weren't having it, so out came the knives.  Oh, and the greedy pricks tried to justify it by saying they were striking down a tyrant.  Same as today.

When you look at who owns newspapers like the Star-Ledger, with their record of anti-worker, anti-union, greedy behavior -- you can trace back every one of their editorial page screeds to corporate self-interest.  George Carlin was right... "They want more for themselves and less for everyone else... rich c*cksuckers who don't give a f*ck about you."

Ever wonder why the only people that these pricks pay well are the columnists?  All the hard news reporters have been reduced to the level of piece-work stringers, but the owners maintain a stable of well-fed, well cared-for columnists who can largely be relied upon to advance their agenda.  They don't pay for facts.  For hard news.  They pay for hit jobs.  For opinion pieces to push their self-interest. 

Hell, the Gannett organization was sued by its own employees for maintaining a regime of systemic corporate racism... and then they have the balls to employ opinion writers to call other people "racist"?  Look at me, don't look over there, look at the pretty opinion writer balloon, don't focus on the bucket load of shit that we're standing in.

Enter Lisa Mandelblatt, Democrat candidate for Congress.  Such a pretty lady with a winning personality... it almost hurts to have to criticize her.  And she sure looks cute, marching against The Donald in that pink pussy cat hat with all those other rich suburban ladies.  But really?  She is going to make pronouncements about the working class... from Westfield???

Westfield is bubbleland!  It is practically the center of the bubble universe.  They have neighborhoods with names like Country Club Estates, The Gardens, Manor Park, Indian Forest, and Stonehenge... WTF!  They say they love people here illegally who can't speak English when what they really love are people here illegally who will work for nothing and who can't backtalk them. 

And working class people?  They have a name for them too.  If you said it about anyone else they would call it "hate speech" but hell, blue collar folk are this season's fashionable hate object.  They call them "trailer park trash."

So perky Ms. Mandelblatt took a shot at Senator Doherty today, calling him out for what she alleged are his "anti-immigrant and nativist statements."  Come again?  This guy was in the Army... who do you think he lived with, worked with, and would have died to protect?  His three sons all signed up.  Who do they live with?

And there sits Ms. Mandelblatt, sitting pretty in Westfield.  You could have chosen to live anywhere... why Westfield?  Isn't that kind of anti-immigrant and nativist of you? 

"Moocher" label: Democrat Gottheimer's coded racism?

Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) has been throwing the "M-word" around again.  The Bergen County Democrat has taken to social media to decry what he calls "moocher states" -- which Gottheimer defines as those who get more back than they pay in. 

According to Gottheimer, the country's top "moocher" is Mississippi, the state with the highest percentage of African-American residents -- 37 percent and growing.  In contrast, New Jersey's percentage -- 13 percent -- is about a third of Mississippi's.  So what is Congressman Gottheimer trying to say and who is he calling "moochers"?

Perhaps the real reason Mississippi receives more in federal money than New Jersey does, is that the folks who live in Mississippi are -- on average -- much poorer than those who reside in New Jersey.  According to the latest data from the United States Census Bureau, Mississippi is the poorest state in America, with a median household income of just $40,593.  In contrast, New Jersey is the fourth richest state in America, with a median household income of $72,222.  Only Maryland, Hawaii, and Alaska had higher median household incomes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

By another measurement -- covering the years 2010-2014 -- New Jersey is the second richest state in America, with a Per Capita Income of $37,288.  By this measurement, Mississippi is again the poorest state in America, with a Per Capita Income of just $21,036.

In applying the "moocher" label to Mississippi, Democrat Gottheimer claims that New Jersey gets back just 33 cents for every dollar it sends to Washington, while Mississippi receives $4.38 for every dollar it sends to Washington.  Despite Gottheimer's claims, the Pew Charitable Trust Reports that New Jersey received far more in actual federal money than did the state he mocks as a "moocher":

But the Democrat has raised an interesting concept in his claim that some places "mooch" off other places when they get back from government more than they pay in.  If there are "moocher states" as Democrat Gottheimer claims, can we apply Gottheimer's measurement to other cases -- such as the relationship between municipalities or school districts within a state.  If, as the Democrat Congressman claims, there are places that "mooch" off the federal government, does it not also follow that there are places that "mooch" off state government?

This was the central idea behind State Senator Mike Doherty's Fair School Funding plan, which he championed back in 2012.  According to Doherty (R-23) and his acolytes, the solemn promise made to the voters when the state income tax was established -- that the proceeds would be used so that property taxes could be reduced -- was broken by the state judiciary (the failsafe of the political establishment) when it absconded with the revenue from the state income tax and directed that it be used for social engineering purposes, in what became known as the Abbott Decision.  Worse still was that the two other branches of the State's government -- the Executive and the Legislature -- allowed the Judiciary to get away with it.

In effect, New Jersey's judiciary set up a "moocher" and "mooched upon" relationship within New Jersey, based on the municipality that you happened to reside in.  This is the world now -- as Democrats like Josh Gottheimer see it:  The "moochers" and those "mooched upon."

So who are the "moochers" in Democrat Gottheimer's brave new world? 

In 2012, Senator Doherty conducted a series of town-hall meetings in which he demonstrated how some municipalities in New Jersey were -- to use Democrat Gottheimer's phrase -- "mooching" off other municipalities.  Using data supplied by the Department of the Treasury, Department of Education, and the Office of Legislative Services, Doherty compared two towns -- one, a so-called "Abbott" District in Monmouth County; the other, a non-Abbott in Sussex County.

Like the federal income tax, New Jersey has a progressive income tax.  Those who earn more, pay more.  According to the figures provided to Senator Doherty, the top 1% of earners pay 38.5 percent of the state income tax, while the bottom 33 percent pay nothing.

Doherty compared Asbury Park, an Abbott District, with Sparta Township, a non-Abbott, and found that the average Sparta resident paid almost 6 times as much income tax as the average resident of Asbury Park:

Doherty also found that the average student in Asbury Park got back 17 times as much in income tax revenue as the average student in Sparta Township:

In what Congressman Gottheimer would call a clear case of mooching, Asbury Park paid in just a sixth -- in income taxes per person -- of what Sparta did, but got back 17 times more!

Senator Doherty made the point that New Jersey got back just 61 cents on every dollar it sent to Washington, DC, but noted that for non-Abbott towns like Sparta, the return was even worse on the state income tax money it sent to Trenton. 

            Sparta Twp - $5,611,989 / $36,267,481 = $0.15

            Asbury Park - $57,632,816 / $3,835,809 = $15.02

That's right.  Towns like Sparta get back 15 cents on every dollar they pay in state income tax to Trenton.

Senator Doherty noted that unlike everywhere else in America, New Jersey's school funding formula -- and its use of the state's revenue from the income tax -- left many of its towns without a basic threshold with which to educate their children.  And because of this, New Jersey needed artificially high property taxes to pay for the children in these revenue-starved towns.

The Trenton Democrats have argued that these so-called Abbott towns need all that revenue because they are economically disadvantaged.  Yes, they once were,  but the Democrats have ignored the economic gentrification going on in places like Hoboken, Jersey City, and Asbury Park -- and the enormous influx of wealthy professionals and rich corporations.  The Democrats' formula for apportioning the state's take from the income tax is locked in a time warp -- based on figures decades old. 

In fact, when the state commissioned a study on how effective its formula was at helping economically disadvantaged children, the state's own figures showed that it missed half the state's poor children -- those who lived outside the so-called Abbott towns.  That was a decade ago, the Abbotts have only grown collectively richer since then.

Today we have a situation where poor families in suburban and rural New Jersey are subsidizing rich people in chic urban hotspots.  Their cut of the revenue from the state income tax allows these hotspots to keep their property taxes comparatively low.  Why should rich Hoboken get its property taxes underwritten by the income tax revenue paid by rural Warren County?

 Warren County has double the population of Hoboken City (107,000 to 52,000) but the population of Hoboken has been growing while Warren is shrinking (5% vs. -1%).

And while Hoboken has just 800 veterans, Warren County has over 7,000.

The per capita income of Hoboken City is over $70,000.  This compares with Warren County, at $33,000.

The median value of an owner-occupied home is $550,700 in Hoboken but only $271,100 in Warren County.

The U.S. Census reported that 5.5% of the people in Hoboken are without health insurance vs. 12.5% of those in Warren County.

73.5% of those 25 or older in Hoboken have graduated from college.  In Warren County that figure is 29.6%.

So why do Trenton Democrats continue to support a system that allows rich people in Hoboken to "mooch" off poor families in Warren County?  Somebody needs to ask Democrats like Phil Murphy and Tim Eustace next time they hold a press conference with Josh Gottheimer to complain about "moocher states."

Steve Lonegan endorsed by every NW NJ Legislator!

With today's announcement that Assemblymen John DiMaio and Erik Peterson, (both R-23) have both announced their support for conservative Republican Steve Lonegan in his campaign for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th District, Lonegan now has the backing of every legislator representing the Sussex and Warren counties portion of the 5th District. 

“Steve Lonegan has been a consistent conservative voice for Northwest Jersey,” said DiMaio, president of a general contracting firm.  “It's especially important to me that Steve understands the needs of small business owners who ultimately create jobs."

“Republicans believe in limited government and in empowering local governments -- which are most in tune with the people -- with the greatest responsibility," Peterson said.  "Steve has been a champion for lowering taxes and curtailing federal overreach."  

Both DiMaio and Peterson agreed that Lonegan's victory over Cory Booker in the Fifth Congressional District in the 2013 U.S. Senate election makes him the strongest candidate to take on and defeat Josh Gottheimer.

Earlier in the week, Assemblyman Parker Space and Assemblyman-elect Hal Wirths (both R-24) gave their support to Lonegan:

 “Steve Lonegan is a principled and unapologetic conservative who knows what the people of Sussex County believe,” Space said.  “No one would represent Northwest New Jersey more faithfully than Steve Lonegan.”

Wirths — a former New Jersey labor commissioner — said Lonegan’s focus on creating more high-paying jobs is especially important.

“Steve knows that America is strongest when Americans have opportunities for high-paying jobs,” Wirths said.  "Steve knows that good jobs provide a personal dignity that government programs never could.”

Lonegan’s campaign is focused on creating jobs, lowering taxes, and enacting term limits.

Space said the Lonegan agenda is just what North West New Jersey wants and what America needs.

“Congressmen Gottheimer is a far left ideologue masquerading as a moderate,” Space said.  “Whether on taxes, the second amendment, or the right to life, Josh is completely out of touch with the Fifth District — especially Sussex County.”

This is a view that has been echoed by Senators Mike Doherty (R-23) and Steve Oroho (R-24) who have both led in supporting Steve Lonegan for Congress.

“Steve Lonegan is the strongest and best candidate we can nominate in 2018 to take back the Fifth Congressional District,” Wirths added.  “He’s a solid, lifelong Republican who has been a tremendous standard bearer for our Party whenever we needed him.”

Lonegan has already been endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bergen County State Senator Gerry Cardinale, Mrs. Ann Kievit, President of the Northwest New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, Rev. Greg Quinlan, President of the Center for Garden State Families, on behalf of New Jersey for a Conservative Majority, Alexander Roubian, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS), United States Senator Ted Cruz, Warren County State Senator Mike Doherty, Sussex County Senator Steve Oroho, Passaic County Senator Joe Pennacchio, Assemblyman Parker Space, former Labor Commissioner (and Assemblyman-elect) Hal Wirths, and Sussex County State Committeewoman Jill Space.

Oroho Endorses Lonegan for Congress: Declares Sussex County Lonegan Country

State Senator Steve Oroho, (R-Sussex), today announced his support for conservative Republican Steve Lonegan in his campaign for congress in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District.

"Steve Lonegan will go to Congress to cut taxes and create jobs," Oroho said.  "We need his determination and focus now, more than ever.  That's why I'm supporting Steve Lonegan for Congress in Congressional District 5, a district Steve has won in the past, albeit for different offices."

Oroho was referring to the 2009 Republican Primary and the 2013 Special Election for U.S. Senate when Lonegan crushed Cory Booker by 20 percent.

"Sussex County has strongly supported Steve Lonegan in the past and will do so again in 2018," Oroho said.  "New Jersey needs Steve's leadership in Washington, DC. and we're going to do our part to help him get there."

"People who know Steve Lonegan know that he's a person of great integrity and determination.  Steve is a gentleman who is always there to help his party, our region, and the country.  Steve knows what it is to overcome obstacles.  He believes that the safety net should be a trampoline, not a hammock,"  Oroho added.  

Lonegan expressed his admiration for Senator Oroho's leadership in the state legislature.

"Senator Oroho has been a strong and courageous leader for Sussex County in the state legislature," Lonegan said.  "He consistently fights for the interests of Sussex County -- smaller government, the right to life and the right to bear arms -- all are important issues in Northwest New Jersey and I share Senator Oroho's commitment to them."

Lonegan has already been endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bergen County State Senator Gerry Cardinale, Mrs. Ann Kievit, President of the Northwest New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, Rev. Greg Quinlan, President of the Center for Garden State Families, on behalf of New Jersey for a Conservative Majority, Alexander Roubian, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS), and United States Senator Ted Cruz, and Warren County State Senator Mike Doherty.

There is no "moral obligation" to root for Phil Murphy

Yes, we know that it sounds "cute" for a Republican to claim that he wishes the new Democrat Governor success and then to lay out a list of Republican options for the Governor to take to "help" him achieve that success.  It sounds cute until you consider how it undermines confidence in the claims politicians and political parties make during the course of their campaigns.

Was it all just bullshit?  Were the claims made and the warnings given regarding the clearly articulated policies of Phil Murphy just so many lies paid for and distributed by the Republican Party and its candidates?  Or do Republicans sincerely believe that those major policy pronouncements that fell from Phil Murphy's lips were all lies to his own constituencies and that he has no intention of pursuing any of them?

If you want to give people a reason to give up voting -- if you want to suppress turnout into an even deeper gutter than it already is -- then pursue the line that it is all an illusion that doesn't matter in the end.  You'll do it.  You'll get them to give up on voting altogether. 

Look, either the two parties mean what they say at election time, or it is all just a pantomime put together for the entertainment of the media and the manipulation of the electorate.  Is it all one big corrupt filthy gang at the end -- are all those Trump voters right? 

Certainly, both parties are broadly the same when it comes to their embrace of globalism and crony capitalism.  Both will not hesitate to employ government to pick economic winners and losers.  Both work against the interests of the working class -- in support of products made with modern day slavery, suppressing American job creation or exporting American jobs, and growing the gray economy through an immigration system that makes it difficult to come here legally but easy to do so illegally.  Looking at the chumminess of the parties when it comes to fashioning lobbying firms, or law firms, or consulting businesses -- they certainly do appear to be in each other's pocket.  So are they really less competitors than cooperators in the goal of picking the taxpayers' pockets?

One needs only to gaze upon a creature like John McCann -- the very embodiment of this corrupt culture -- who the Bergen Record newspaper reported was "the right hand man" of the Democrat county sheriff as he was launching his supposedly "Republican" campaign for Congress.  The MC McCann chose for his kick-off was the liberal daughter of a former Democrat Assemblyman -- part of a bi-partisan "show-us-the-money" political family that lives up the bunghole of Democrat Loretta Weinberg and company. 

And yet, the differences between the political parties are real enough for many.  Guys like Steve Lonegan know that what the Republican Party stands for is supposed to be in marked contrast to the policies pushed by Democrats like Phil Murphy.  So do legislators like Mike Doherty and Steve Oroho.  Where Mike Doherty is a big picture conservative -- coming up with big plays like the Fair School Funding Act -- Steve Oroho is a transactional conservative who moves the ball forward, negotiating a phase out of the Estate Tax, turning a property tax hike into property tax relief, shaving 43% off a user tax increase while winning a series of tax cuts in exchange for supporting the remaining 57%. 

These Republicans understand that Democrat Phil Murphy means to turn all New Jersey into a sanctuary state.  They know he means to and are resolved to oppose him in that.  They know that Murphy meant it when he said he wanted to raise taxes by $1.3 billion.  They have done the math and know that his promises add up to $8.5 billion in new spending.  They know that Murphy's policies will grow the burden of government, suppress the economy, kill jobs, drive away capital, undermine the social safety net, and make us less safe.  They know and they will oppose him every step of the way -- watchful for the moment when they can force a compromise, negotiate something to the advantage of taxpayers and job creators. 

Despite its outward coarseness, the Christie era was marked by an aggressive bi-partisanship achieved by party bosses who control political "families."  This era is ending as it began, with a rich globalist Wall Streeter holding the ultimate power. 

That Chris Christie was as conservative a governor as he was had more to do with his first primary and his subsequent quest for the White House, than with any personal philosophical leanings.  Now the dam will break and the ruinous legislation -- ruinous for anyone who is working (or trying to) and trying to keep out of foreclosure -- will flow forward.  Now is the time for opposition.

The inequitable way in which the state's political establishment (through its failsafe, the unelected judiciary) misuses the revenue from the income tax, should unite both Right and Left in opposition to seeing the working poor being made to subsidize rich corporations and wealthy professionals in cities like Hoboken and Jersey City.  The corrupt political establishment that has relegated New Jersey into the last place to start a business now has a "face" in the venial, corrupt form of corporate globalist Phil Murphy.  Murphy's cash-for-favors background and his history as a Wall Street and foreign banker make him a perfect foil.

An intelligent, well-read opposition will know what to do with Phil Murphy.  There is a real opportunity to put together a non-traditional coalition to meet Murphy's loose and weakly calculated policies with policies that work.  But it will need to employ the language of opposition. 

No less than Ralph Nader has pointed the way forward, in his 2014 book, "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State." Dismantle... not partner with.  We need to employ the language of opposition to block corporate globalist Murphy and to put forward popular policies that he will be forced to accept.

AFP admits its score card was a screw job

Instead of transparency, the New Jersey affiliate of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has tried to cover-up their "process" by shoveling more shit over it. 

Instead of telling us who came up with the scheme to do away with the rating process AFP used when Steve Lonegan was in charge and which Trenton staffers AFP conspired with, they have tried to defend what is simply indefensible and inexcusable corruption.  This will be made abundantly clear to them when they have to explain themselves to the Internal Revenue Service.  After all, AFP is a tax exempt organization and their scorecard is meant to be educational -- not a thumb on the scale created for the purposes of party political communications in the form of direct mail, broadcast and cable advertisements, and Internet ads. 

Something is clearly wrong with an organization that puts out a press release taking credit for a vote that -- in AFP's own words -- "saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which saved taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies" -- and then uses that same vote to give every Republican Senator who voted for it an "F" grade.

AFP is either psychotic or sadomasochistic.

AFP actually bragged that the passage of A-12 last October was one of its biggest "accomplishments of 2016" -- before turning around and screwing everyone who voted for AFP's biggest accomplishment of 2016!

Here is the actual email AFP sent around in advance of its 2016 "screwcard":

Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey had some big accomplishments in 2016, and it's all thanks to you and activists like you who dedicated your time to fight for freedom in the Garden State.

As we ramp up our efforts for this year's battles, I wanted to highlight last year's victories to remind you how much we can accomplish.'

What AFP-New Jersey Accomplished in 2016

• Winter : Saved state taxpayers $60 million by fighting against corporate welfare and film production incentives.

• Spring : Saved Morris County taxpayers $1.5 million by fighting against a union mandate initiative for big public works projects.

• Summer : Saved state taxpayers $4-5 billion by fighting against a constitutional amendment that would have frozen current pension benefits as-is and prevented meaningful reforms to the system.

• Fall : Saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which save taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies.

• Playing defense: Blocked numerous legislative efforts to increase red tape in New Jersey, and defeated every attempt at increasing occupational licensing requirements that AFP-NJ engaged on.

You can see that AFP-NJ had a great 2016. It took a lot of hard work and dedication from all of our volunteers, and I sincerely thank you for your efforts to hold our government accountable and protect taxpayers.

There's no time to rest on our laurels-we must continue the fight to bring true affordability and good government back to New Jersey. Be sure to  Like us on Facebook and  follow on Twitter . AFP-NJ posts daily updates about developments in Trenton, Washington, D.C., and your local government.

I look forward to working with you this year to add even more to our list of accomplishments.

In Liberty,

Erica L. Jedynak
New Jersey State Director
Americans for Prosperity

This email was sent to: 
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Here are just ten of the nearly 100 detailed questions regarding their screwcard that we have for the psychos/ sadomasochists at AFP:

(1) If the "Gas Tax" was the point of the exercise -- as has been suggested by bloggers, media types, Senate staffers, and AFP insiders -- then how did Republican Senator Sam Thompson get a "B" for proposing that the "gas tax" be increased without any tax cuts or tax reform at all?

(2) While handing Thompson a "B" for his gas tax increase only legislation, AFP cranked it up the buttholes of five Republican Senators who voted for that big "AFP accomplishment" of $1.4 billion in tax cuts (including the elimination of the Estate Tax) because the legislation also contained a gas tax increase.  Why did Thompson get a "B" and those five GOP Senators get an "F"? 

(Of course, we know why.  AFP was asked to help out with Thompson's primary by members of the GOP Senate staff and AFP complied.  Politics as usual.)

(3) AFP actively campaigned for the passage of Public Question 2 at the November 8th General Election last year.  The debate over Question 2 was directly related to the gas tax/tax reform discussion.  Somehow AFP forgot this or didn't think it important enough to include.  Most probably because it would have helped the scores of those it was meant to screw.  

(4) Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the Senate received an "A+" for his vote on the so-called "gas tax" (actually, the Tax Reform package that included 5 tax cuts as well as the gas tax increase), while Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) got an "F" for taking the exact same vote on the "gas tax."

(5) Legislation to get rid of the Estate Tax in five years that went nowhere, is marked as a positive.  The legislation that actually did get rid of the Estate Tax in less than two years, is marked as a negative. 

(6) Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) gets credit for sponsoring legislation (A-1059), while running-mate Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce gets no credit for co-sponsoring the same legislation.

(7) A bill (ACR-213) proposed by far-left Democrat John Wisniewski (D-19) which would allow voters to over-turn all of Governor Chris Christie's vetoes of anti-Second Amendment legislation passed by the Legislature was rated as a POSITIVE by AFP.  Does that make AFP anti-gun?  It certainly seems so.  On top of this, they assigned credit or blame incorrectly.  For instance, AFP credited Senator Michael Doherty even though he hadn't sponsored a Senate version (none exists).

(8) Legislation to spend millions to fund Planned Parenthood, legislation to oppose ObamaCare, legislation regarding Paid Sick Leave, and legislation to provide Welfare to Drug Dealers -- none of this was important enough to include in AFP's screwcard.  On the other hand, legislation regarding interior designers, hair-braiding, music therapy, and drama therapy all were more important, according to AFP.  Really?  Did someone take a dump in their brain and forget to flush it?

(9) AFP is apparently hostile to legislation proposed by Senator Steve Oroho, called the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  It appears to fly in the face of what AFP national chair David Koch calls "free trade." However, the scores of some legislators, such as Senator Tom Kean Jr., improved dramatically.  Kean, who just a session ago was in the high 50 percentile range, suddenly got an "A"!

(10) Of all the hundreds of votes taken in the Legislature, AFP "counted" just nine Assembly votes and six in the Senate -- and one of those they got wrong because they cherry-picked it from a previous session.  In other words, either the ass-monkey can't read a date correctly or somebody really wanted to screw someone.

Now we come to Jersey Conservative's weekly corrective to the AFP screwcard.  Yes, AFP sucks large and somebody has to step in and make it right.  We didn't look for this duty, but as Ronald Reagan once said:  "If not us, who?  If not now, when?"

One of the good things that came out of the Tax Reform package was the increase in TTF money going to fund local road and bridge maintenance.  That's real property tax relief at a time when many local governments are setting their budgets and property tax rates.

A bill (S-3076) to send $400 million to county and municipal governments was passed in the Senate on March 13th.  Only one Senator voted against it -- Democrat Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak (lifetime ACU rating ZERO).  Thirty-six other Senators, from Mike Doherty to Jennifer Beck, from Steve Sweeney to Dick Codey, all voted "Yes". 

Yesterday, it was voted on in the Assembly.  Three voted against it.  Democrat John Wisniewski (lifetime ACU rating ZERO), Erik Peterson (R-23), and Jay Webber (R-26) voted "No", while 67 voted "Yes". 

We found it strange... and worth mentioning.

Stay tuned...

Oroho: Protect 20-week olds from pain

The 20/20 Project was started by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese but is an ecumenical movement embracing members representing many religious denominations.  The goal of the 20/20 Project is to pass legislation to address the scientific fact that unborn babies are pain-sensitive at 20 weeks.  Every other country on earth recognizes this fact except North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands. 

Senator Steve Oroho (R-Sussex, Warren, Morris) is the prime sponsor of the legislation (S-2026).  Similar legislation has been passed in 14 states and 2017 has been designated as the year of the big push to bring our laws into line with the rest of the civilized world.

On Monday, December 5th, Pro-Life legislative leaders held a press conference in Trenton to push for more legislative co-sponsors.  In addition to Senator Oroho, they included Senator Mike Doherty, Senator Joe Pennacchio, Senator Tony Bucco, Assemblyman Bob Auth, NJ Right-to-Life leader Marie Tasy, and 20/20 coordinator Christine Flaherty.

At the press conference, Senator Oroho pointed out that the State of New Jersey currently issues birth certificates for stillborn children after 20 weeks gestation.  We issue birth certificates because we recognize them as human beings.  The law should also recognize that they feel pain. 

AFP/Koch screwing NJ taxpayers on jobs

AFP is at it again.  They are putting the corporate priorities of the Koch brothers over the economic well-being of the taxpayers of New Jersey.

The reason that BOTH wings of the corporate establishment party -- the Hillary Clinton Democrats and the Mitch McConnell Republicans -- have done nothing to secure our borders or to attempt to monitor those who come into this country legally and then overstay their visas, is because their corporate masters depend on illegal labor to suppress American wages.  For the past forty years, the American worker has lost ground and passing minimum wage laws mean nothing when there are millions of wage slaves in the gray economy to exploit.

The Koch brothers know this and that is why they have done their best to undercut the presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

The Kochs' lobbying wing, the so-called Americans for Prosperity (AFP), likes to portray itself as a "membership" organization, but unlike other membership organizations here in America, AFP's members don't get to vote on who leads its national and state organizations.  Those decisions are made for them by individuals closely connected with the owners of Koch Industries.   That means that AFP is essentially a lobby group, so we understand why it would disadvantage New Jersey taxpayers to advance the agenda of Koch Industries.

Earlier today, the New Jersey outpost of AFP issued yet another attack on legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173/Assembly Bill 2863.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union.

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173/A 2863 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now, why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservative and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey. 

AFP goes LEFT again: Supports reverse discrimination

In a bizarre missive sent out today by AFP's New Jersey leadership, the group put forward the arguments of a left-wing artist and an organization that supports mandatory, government-enforced quotas for businesses based not on the quality of work they do, but on subjective and arbitrary factors such as the gender of the owner.  This kind of reverse discrimination is abhorrent to most clear-thinking Americans and abusive of taxpayers. 

AFP NJ is part of the Koch Brothers' national lobbying group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP).  Yesterday, AFP NJ issued a different attack on the same legislation targeted by today's missive: Legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union. 

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservatives and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey.  Next time, pick up a telephone and talk to a fellow conservative before going off half-Koched.

AFP support illegals taking Americans' jobs

The reason that BOTH wings of the corporate establishment party -- the Hillary Clinton Democrats and the Mitch McConnell Republicans -- have done nothing to secure our borders or to attempt to monitor those who come into this country legally and then overstay their visas, is because their corporate masters depend on illegal labor to suppress American wages.  For the past forty years, the American worker has lost ground and passing minimum wage laws mean nothing when there are millions of wage slaves in the gray economy to exploit.

The Koch brothers know this and that is why they have done their best to undercut the presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump.  The Kochs hate Trump the way the Roman Senate hated Caesar.  Trump threatens to take away the illegal gray-economy labor force, the way Caesar threatened to take away slave labor in favor of citizen wage-earners.  The Kochs want more for them at the expense of everyone else.

The Kochs' lobbying wing, the so-called Americans for Prosperity (AFP), dutifully follow their masters' lead.  Earlier today, the New Jersey outpost of AFP issued an attack on legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union.

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservative and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey.  Next time, pick up a telephone and talk to a fellow conservative before going off half-Koched.

DONALD TRUMP WON’T BE GETTING KOCH BROTHERS MONEY

BY REUTERS ON 8/2/16 AT 1:35 PM

Sen. Beck votes for Planned Parenthood

At the State House on Thursday, liberal Republican State Senator Jennifer Beck voted for every piece of legislation she could to help assist Planned Parenthood, the number one provider of abortions in America.  In its 2014 Annual Report, Planned Parenthood bragged that it had performed 324,000 abortions that year.  It's annual revenue is $1.3 billion -- with at least $530 million of that coming from government funding.

S-1017 expands Planned Parenthood's government subsidized services to a greater portion of the population -- in this case "individuals with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level." 

Led by Senator Steve Oroho (R-Sussex, Warren, Morris), most Republicans opposed the bill.  Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) was the only Republican to support the bill.

S-2277 spends more of your tax dollars on a "FY 2016 supplemental appropriation to the Department of Health for $7,453,000 for family planning services."  That's $7.4 Million in extra spending. 

Again, led by Senator Oroho, every Republican opposed the bill -- except for Senator Jennifer Beck.  She voted for it.

One of those looking on while Senator Beck did this was Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Communications Director Mike Proto.  Mike himself is Pro-Life and must have been embarrassed by AFP's support of Senator Beck.

NJ 101.5 impresario Bill Spadea ran for Congress as a Pro-Life candidate.  We wonder if he will ask Senator Beck about her votes when he next has her on his talk radio show.

State Senator Mike Doherty is a Beck cheer-leader.  Doherty also claims to be Pro-Life.  Perhaps Doherty can convince Senator Beck to stop spending money to support the nation's number one abortion provider.  That is a cost savings that can definitely be made.

Sen. Doherty is wrong to attack Lonegan

Politics is the realm of any number of social pathologies, but the inability to feel or to express gratitude is one of the least attractive.  We were reminded of this yesterday, when we read Senator Mike Doherty's comments on Steve Lonegan in PolitickerNJ.

Evidently, Senator Doherty now looks upon his old friend with a dismissive arrogance born of pride.  Doherty has been hanging out with establishment liberals like Senator Jennifer Beck.  Nowadays Doherty gets to sit at the cool table.  What use has he now for Lonegan, who Doherty mocked as "the Howard Cosell of politics." 

We recall when Steve Lonegan was New Jersey's Mr. Conservative.  The man who had pushed Bret Schundler off the pedestal to establish himself as the standard-bearer of the movement.  In the spring of 2009, Lonegan was in the fight of his life with Chris Christie.  Both wanted the Republican nomination for Governor to take on Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine. 

Assemblyman Mike Doherty had just been rejected by the members of the Republican county committee to succeed Leonard Lance, elected to Congress the previous November, as the Senator from District 23.  Doherty would now have to face an incumbent in the primary -- Senator Marcia Karrow -- and all Trenton was betting against him.

In stepped Steve Lonegan.  First, Lonegan sent one of his own gubernatorial campaign consultants to Doherty to help him organize his campaign.  Lonegan asked conservative legislators like Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose to back Doherty.  Most importantly, Lonegan raised money for Mike Doherty, practically all of it.

Day after day, when he was finished with the grueling schedule of running for Governor, Steve Lonegan would go into a windowless room at the heart of his campaign headquarters to make money calls for Mike Doherty.  He brushed aside complaints from his own campaign people with the words, "I got to do this for Mike." 

And not only did he raise nearly every dime Doherty spent on that Senate campaign, when Doherty seemed too depressed or unable, Lonegan found him a strong running mate in Hunterdon County Freeholder candidate Jennifer McClurg.

Lonegan placed Doherty, Ed Smith (Assembly), and McClurg on his ticket -- but it was Doherty who benefitted from a Lonegan GOTV operation that pushed just two names in Warren and Hunterdon Counties:  Lonegan for Govenor and Doherty for Senate.   

Lonegan won Legislative District 23 with 11,384 votes and Doherty won with 11,049.  But while Mike Doherty was elected to the Senate, Steve Lonegan lost statewide to Chris Christie.  And so Lonegan began a long slide from the scene in New Jersey, while Doherty, now a Senator, has established himself as a middling sort of legislator, known for his criticisms of government rather than for his constituent service or legislative accomplishments.

Last year, Lonegan re-emerged as a strong figure on the national presidential campaign of the United States Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz.  Doherty, a one-time backer of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, supported billionaire Donald Trump over Congressman Paul's son, the U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.

Now Lonegan has become a leader in a rather broad group of conservatives who are questioning the wisdom of nominating Donald Trump for President, at the Republican National Convention this summer.  Lonegan's effort is quite different from those of more mainstream Republican leaders who seek the same end.

Senator Doherty seems to believe that he can make someone a conservative simply by saying it is so, rather like bestowing it on someone.  Just who he is to believe that he has this power is the question here.  What Doherty suggests is rather like a nun believing that she can "bestow" virginity on a tart, simply by saying it is so.  Next he'll be telling us that Senator Beck is a conservative.

Doherty also mistakes boorish ways for evidence of a conservative intellect.  Loud talk and obnoxious carryings-on, threat-facing and other primate behaviors, do not make a conservative... it makes a baboon.

If Senator Doherty wants to be a good conservative, he should conjure up some gratitude for the conservative leaders who wet-nursed him and gave him the career he has today.  Mike Doherty owes a great deal to Steve Lonegan.  In future, he should show it.

Beck & Doherty join left wingers to oppose tax cut for retirees

At yesterday's back to back press conferences at the State House in Trenton, GOP Senators Jennifer Beck and Mike Doherty joined with Democrat Senator Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak and Democrat Assemblyman John Wisniewski in opposing a plan that would give retirees an average $1,200 tax cut and phase out that destroyer of small businesses and family farms, the estate tax, while preventing an increase in property taxes to pay for local road and bridge repairs and maintenance. 

Beck and Doherty have their own plan, also supported by GOP Senator Gerald Cardinale, that freezes property tax relief to local governments for seven years and borrows heavily to run the state deeper into debt.  The Beck plan makes no tax cuts -- something the state teachers' union agrees with -- and leaves New Jersey's tax structure the worst in the region for retirees and the worst in the nation to grow a business and create jobs.

By refusing to fund roads and bridges through a petroleum-based user tax, the Beck plan gives out-of-state drivers a free ride while pushing the costs of maintenance and repair onto property taxpayers and future generations.  Groups  like AFP, which is funded by the petroleum industry, support Beck and Doherty, as do liberal organizations like the New Jersey Education Association and the Sierra Club.

When it comes to opposing the phase out of the Estate Tax, Liberal Assemblyman Wisniewski and talk show host Bill Spadea are both adamantly opposed.  They part company on a user tax on gasoline, with Wisniewski in support of an increase in the current tax, whereas Spadea would rather see no tax on gasoline at all and instead a substantial property tax increase to pay for roads and bridges.

All this is bound to have ramifications for the 2017 elections -- with the primaries now less than a year away.   How would retired voters behave if individual legislators voted against their $1,200 tax cut?  What would the effect be if it failed to become law and the state's retirees saw their $1,200 tax cut taken away?

In Jennifer Beck's District 11, 48 percent of all registered Republicans are aged 60 or over.  Just 20 percent are under age 45.  66 percent of Republican super voters (3 of 4 or above) are aged 60 or over.

42 percent of all registered Republicans in Mike Doherty's District 23 are aged 60 or over.  Just 21 percent are under age 45.  58 percent of Republican super voters (3 of 4 or above) are aged 60 or over.

In Senator Cardinale's District 39, 47 percent of all registered Republicans are aged 60 or over.  Just 18 percent are under age 45.  64 percent of Republican super voters (3 of 4 or above) are aged 60 or over.

Can these legislators afford to vote against a tax cut for retirees?

Does the Left really want to negotiate on TTF?

In the run-up to the November election, the Democrat leadership in both chambers remained resolutely silent on raising the gas tax to fund the Transportation Trust Fund.  Good politics on their part -- and it paid off.  Republican leaders, on the other hand, put on their policy caps and openly discussed any and all options for addressing the problem.  They put policy before politics and look what it got them.

Meanwhile, the coalition of Leftists -- underwritten by funding from corporate leaders and working people's union dues -- who it appears are charged with passing the gas tax without compromise, made a lot of noise against any tax cuts to balance a rise in the tax on gasoline.  Saul Alinsky would be proud.  Somebody has read "Rules for Radicals."

So along come two libertarian Republicans -- Senator Mike Doherty and Senator Jennifer Beck -- with an idea about how to address the TTF funding issue without raising the gas tax and they are attacked as if in a political campaign by a "mainstream" TTF group -- again, underwritten by funding from corporate leaders and working people's union dues.  When have Democrat Senators faced such a coarse response?

This should not be tolerated by either Republican caucus.  If these folks (and they are not without sin) want to make this political, then let's make it political.  The Democrats have their nicely expanded majority and they can pass pretty much whatever they want to.  Well then... do it.  You have all the firepower you need.  Throw down boys.  Make it an all-Democrat show and see what happens.

If, on the other hand, the Democrat leadership -- and their house Leftists, front groups, and corporate funders -- want to make this a serious policy discussion, treat your Legislative colleagues in the Republican Caucus with respect and address their ideas from the position of policy... not politics.

Murray: "Exceptionally low Republican turnout"

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute:  "We saw an exceptionally low Republican turnout this year." (NJ Spotlight, November 6, 2015)

"Exceptionally low Republican turnout" shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who watched the messaging in this year's legislative elections.  Many of our challengers did not carry a consistently Republican message on issues like abortion, funding Planned Parenthood, same-sex marriage, and the Second Amendment.  This was either because they did not support the "Republican" position on these issues or because they chose not to address one or more of these issues.

N.B.  The "Republican" position on these issues is not a matter of opinion.  It is a matter of official Republican Party policy as defined in the democratically adopted Platform of the Republican National Committee, ratified in 2012.  That document  can be accessed here:

https://www.gop.com/platform/

So despite receiving extra funding from the state party, Republican challengers like John Traier failed to excite even Republican voters.  Traier failed to carry the swing town of Clifton, falling 800 votes behind the top Democrat, where the GOP candidate for County Clerk had won the town by 500 votes, the year before.

According to the data we've seen, the state's top three issues are property taxes, jobs, and education.  But despite the efforts of Senator Mike Doherty and the writings of Paul Mulshine, the NJGOP had no clear, joined-up program to address issues like property taxes and education funding -- with the result many of our candidates intentionally or by happenstance veered away from these concerns and onto secondary ones like "women's issues."  This proved disastrous for two Republican incumbents in District 11.

Republican candidates would have been far better off to have followed Senator Doherty's advice this year.  Doherty advised making the inequitable school funding system, imposed by the unelected State Supreme Court, the issue.  Not only does the Court make a lie of the purpose for which the income tax was enacted, but it forces economically disadvantaged families living outside the so-called "Abbott Districts" to subsidize the property taxes of the rich corporations and wealthy professionals within those districts -- while it cheats rural and suburban children out of funding to cover the cost of even a third world education.

The brilliance of Senator Doherty's plan lay in who it challenged as much as what it challenged.  Doherty went after an unelected Court in Trenton and corrupt school district administrations in areas that Republicans don't win anyway.  In contrast, the message laid out early in the year by Governor Chris Christie went after powerful networks within every Republican district in the state -- police, firefighters, teachers, etc.

By targeting these groups and their supporters, the Governor's messaging ensured that every Republican legislator and every challenger had determined enemies in every legislative district, every municipality, and every election district in the state.  This messaging practically aborted the candidacy of the challenger in District 2. 

Columnist Paul Mulshine warned about the effects Governor's Christie's messaging would have on the electorate, but he was tragically ignored.  In fact, Mulshine has been so right about so much over the years, that the NJGOP would do well to simply hire him away from the Star-Ledger and make him the party's top thinker.  A few years ago Mulshine's messaging was adopted and used to great effect -- so a demonstration project exists in which Republicans beat historically well-funded Democrats by just by following Paul Mulshine's messaging prescriptions (more on this later).  And Senator Mike Doherty's education funding plan is based on Mulshine's writings as well.

While there still are Republican legislators, Senator Mike Doherty's plan and writer Paul Mulshine's messaging need to be considered and adopted whole or in part by GOP legislative leaders.  Because we could be in for worse in 2017.