Was Lonegan’s defeat an inside job?

Well, at least Jay Webber won… and Seth Grossman.

Bob Hugin won’t totally have his way in wrapping the State’s Republican brand in a plain brown paper.  He’s going to have a Reagan conservative and an eccentric libertarian to provide some color to the package – not to mention the incumbents, starting with the staunchly Pro-Life Chris Smith. 

What Hugin won’t have is a genuine Trump-style populist bouncing around in the orchestra, stealing the stage of an election that he plainly believes he is paying for.  Like Grossman, Steve Lonegan is decidedly his own article, but enough in the Trump mold to easily wear the costume.

McCann you say?  The most baldly dishonest campaign in memory will now be set aside, and with it, all the Trumpian rhetoric.  No, John McCann was not endorsed by President Trump, even though his campaign communications led you to believe he was.  More on this later.

It is enough for now to compare the post-truth campaigning style of a certain southern political consultant to the rather insufficient counter-measures of the Lonegan team, whose messaging was done by a consultant shared with the Hugin team.  Although completely false, McCann’s consultant had the discipline to dominate his candidate, confine him to those tasks of which he was capable, and to run the kind of sharp, focused, MESSAGE-driven campaign that we don’t often see here in New Jersey. 

If McCann’s consultant survives the recent raid on his office by the FBI, the inquires by the United States Justice Department and such, he could become a formidable presence on the field in New Jersey.  It takes a certain toughness to come up with a message so at variance with a candidate, to bully the candidate into silence, and then to brazenly run with it to victory.

Unfortunately, now the candidate will think the victory his… he will start to talk again.  Like he did last week when, in an unguarded moment, he let slip his true feelings about abortion (he won’t vote for ANY Pro-Life legislation if elected to Congress) and guns (he opposes the NRA and supports universal background checks).  Did the New Jersey Family Policy Council know this when its (c)4 lobbying arm was induced into doing an openly political mailer that buttered the Pro-Choice candidate but trashed the Pro-Lifer?  Or did they know and did they not care?  More on this later.

Not to worry though.  John McCann has served his purpose.  The candidate with the money lost (and now that candidate is a wounded, angry animal, sitting on a million dollar war chest).  But John McCann is broke.  He has eaten his seed corn.  Don’t look for him to trouble Josh Gottheimer.  And there might even be a reward in it for him.  Another lucrative patronage job perhaps?  He might end up a judge.

So the money that would have been spent in the 5th fighting off the visceral attacks of a Lonegan candidacy will now be heading… where?  Which Democrat will be the beneficiary of yesterday… perhaps they will all share in a piece of it?

Among the other lessons learned…

The party potentates who opened the bottle  of a Tony Ghee candidacy did so before its time.  They gave the newcomer no time to breathe.  It’s a solid vintage that will hopefully be available again.

And speaking of which.  We learn from the former Wally Edge that Peter Murphy is about to assume the throne of the GOP in Passaic County – the place he occupied before a certain United States Attorney, named Chris Christie, sent him away.  It’s a bad business – especially for Bob Hugin, who has made political corruption his ONLY issue.  Lonegan’s polling showed Murphy’s support to be the strongest negative against McCann.  More than 80 percent of Republicans were less likely to vote for a candidate who had his support… that’s REPUBLICANS.  You would have hardly guessed it from Lonegan’s campaign communications, but there you have it.

Surprisingly enough, Lonegan did have coattails of a sort.  In Sussex County, Lonegan-backed challengers to two incumbent Freeholders annihilated the incumbents.  It is the first time in living memory that a ticket with two incumbents was defeated in Sussex County.

Dawn Fantasia is the principal at a charter school.  Josh Hertzberg is an administrator with the ILA union.  These are what Republican candidates look like in our populist era.  Fantasia supported Senator Steve Oroho’s negotiations over the refinancing of the Transportation Trust Fund.  She learned about it and patiently explained the details to others – and ended up cutting a radio spot to that end. People warned that it would hurt her politically, because the final deal raised the gas tax, while cutting or eliminating a host of taxes (including the estate tax) and providing property tax relief.  Another lesson learned?

John McCann injected himself into the Freeholder race, on behalf of the incumbents, who supported him.  He ran a radio spot that attacked Senator Oroho by name on the gas tax.  Former Congressman Scott Garrett came out in support of the incumbents and ran a robo-call on their behalf.  More lessons?

Lonegan won Sussex County, but by a much smaller margin – about 500 votes.  Why the difference?  Well, in Sussex, the Lonegan freeholder ticket had a strong message that they pursued relentlessly – and were quick and sharp with their counterattacks.  The Lonegan campaign itself lacked this, especially the quick counterpunches.  Fantasia and Hertzberg also had the full attentions of Kelly Hart, who had been “let go” by the Lonegan campaign in April.  She had been field director for Sussex County.

Curiously enough though, when the dust settles after the General Election, the only big changes to the line-up of elected officials in CD05 will be the election of Lonegan’s running mates in Sussex County.  Everyone else… McCann and all his running mates in Bergen and Passaic will have lost.

A few years ago, Ralph Nadar wrote a book called “Unstoppable” – in which he predicted the rise of populist movements on both the Left and the Right in response to the disconnect with the mainstream political parties.  He suggested that Left and Right reformers had much in common and therefore, the basis of a genuine “resistance” movement.

How will this translate with Dr. Murray Sabrin on the Libertarian Party ticket for U.S. Senate is anyone’s guess, but there are Libertarian candidates in Districts 5 and 11, and a Constitution party in District 3.  A Center-Left populist, Wendy Goetz, is also running in the 5th.

And finally, election night parties.  The people you meet at such things are not average Republican voters.  Many earn a living from politics – whether as a lobbyist or a vendor, a job holder or a consultant.  They are in the business of politics – even those that just secure from it a certain status, as a member of a local government perhaps, or a school board.

That is not the case with 99 percent of Republican voters.  All they get out of voting is the idea that they are checking the box for someone who thinks like they do.  Most have a general idea of what the Republican Party stands for and that they stand for that too.  That “general idea” is provided to them, largely, by the mainstream media.  And yes, it includes the points that Republicans are Pro-Life and pro-Second Amendment. 

New Jersey’s Republican political class needs to learn to live with this.  Bring to a close their 40 years war with Reagan and their contempt for our base.  Trying to pretend that you are something else or “a different kind of Republican” is not a message, it is a deflection.  For all his money spent on advertising, Bob Hugin was able to convince just 52 percent of Republicans in Sussex County to vote for him.  He will need to do a great deal better.

Let the political class make its money… but leave average GOP voters someone they can vote for.

Sadly, the party took a step back yesterday.  They took away someone who meant something to a great many average Republicans – and they did so by telling voters that McCann was just a newer Lonegan, only more conservative, and that Donald Trump endorsed him.  We all know that isn’t true. 

And on that note, we begin the General Election.

Tony Ghee shows us how a Republican should behave

On the one hand, you have the campaign of John McCann, gleefully sharing every attack made by the Left on conservatives and his conservative opponent, Steve Lonegan.  While on the other, there stands Major Tony Ghee, United States Army.

Tony Ghee knows how to tell his friends from his enemies.  He is new to politics, but not so new that he's going to sit by and watch some scumbag liberals attack his Republican opponent's family.  Tony is a dad himself.

So Tony stepped up and stood with his opponent, conservative Assemblyman Jay Webber, against the attacks of leftist like Democrat State Senator Nellie Pou, who disgraced herself and her party.  Speaking of Pou, a supporter of Democrat congressional candidate Mikie Sherrill, here's what Tony Ghee had to say:

"Has our political discourse gotten so bad, that we need to drag the children of candidates into political statements about the critical issues impacting our community?"

"It’s 2018 and we should all be able to agree on three simple concepts:  political corruption is bad and should be repudiated by everyone, regardless of party; everyone deserves equal pay for equal work and government has a responsibility to ensure that; and the family of a candidate for public office is off limits, especially their children."

“This campaign should not be about scoring cheap political points, rather it should be about putting the people we are seeking to serve above partisan politics.  We need leaders who are dedicated to serving a cause greater than themselves or their party, because the issues at stake in this election are too great to be mired in soundbites and cheap petty politics. Senator Pou owes an immediate and unequivocal apology to the Webber’s for dragging their children into this campaign.”

Bravo, Major Ghee!

Meanwhile, back at the McCann campaign, one of his top supporters -- West Milford Republican Chair Matt Conlon -- actually sided with double-dipping Paterson Democrat Pou's attack on a Republican Assemblyman and his four daughters.  That is a real poor move by Conlon.

This is really unfortunate behavior for a local Republican leader.  Conlon is a bad role model.

We need more Republicans like Tony Ghee!

Boss Murphy. Mercury. Where's the outrage?

Yesterday, Max and company over at InsiderNJ put out the soft soap in their perennial sucking up to the New Jersey political establishment.  Actually this should come as no surprise, especially as Insider is now truly "insider" and a tentacle of Boss Adubato's political/media machine.  But a few mentions yesterday are noteworthy.

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Okay, we get Al Barlas.  He is a bit more than an operative, he's a party leader, and a very knowledgeable one -- but Peter Murphy???

Peter Murphy is not an operative, he is an old-fashioned corrupt party boss who has actually been to prison because of it.  We guess that pleading guilty and going to jail doesn't merit a mention these days. But the same media "personalities" will lose their ass if somebody happens to say "bitch" or attends a concert whose band banner incorporates a rebel flag. 

You can be a convicted criminal -- convicted of public corruption -- and that gets a pass from these so-called "journalists."  But make the wrong fashion statement or use a word that each and every one of them has used and better pass around the smelling salts because someone is going to throw a hissy fit and pass out.

Let's not forget what then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had to say about the Boss Peter Murphy:  "We are pleased with the end result here – that Mr. Murphy served a considerable amount of time in prison for crimes which he has finally acknowledged committing as Republican party chairman in Passaic County... For those crimes, Mr. Murphy has lost his prestige and power, nearly a year of freedom and now is a convicted felon."

That's it?  Well here they go again, glossing over what being a "principal" at "Mercury" means.  Are these so-called "journalists" stone-cold stupid?  Can't they use a public search engine?

Last year, Mercury Public Affairs was the subject of a subpoena in the on-going investigation into Russia's meddling in the United States presidential election in 2016.  According to the Washington Post, former FBI Director and Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller obtained the subpoena seeking information about work Mercury had done for a pro-Putin political party in the Ukraine:

"The investigators asked Mercury for information about their public relations work at Manafort’s behest for a Brussels-based organization called the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, which pushed for improved relations between Ukraine and European countries. The Brussels group primarily advanced the interests of a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party that had been a client of Manafort’s before he joined the Trump campaign.

Mercury, which has prominent Republicans among its senior partners, had worked on the Ukraine lobbying project with the Podesta group, led by Anthony Podesta, brother of John Podesta, who led Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign."

The full article can be accessed below:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-lobbying-firms-receive-subpoenas-as-part-of-russia-probe/2017/08/25/55e547de-89c2-11e7-a50f-e0d4e6ec070a_story.html?utm_term=.f43579514869

Mercury Public Affairs began in 1999 as a decidedly Republican shop with connections to the RNC and politicians like John McCain and Mitt Romney, around 2013 it embarked on a mission to "diversify" -- meaning making the firm "more bipartisan and full-service."  Mike DuHaime joined the firm in 2009, first as a "managing director" but swiftly rising to partner.  Michael Soliman joined Mercury in 2013 and became a partner in 2016.  Mo Butler joined as a "managing director" in 2016.  Mercury Public Affairs has 10 partners and 160 employees. 

Mercury Public Affairs is  itself a subsidiary of an even larger international firm that handles the image-making  for Russian President Vladimir Putin, receiving credit for, among other accomplishments, getting Putin's face on the cover of Time magazine -- as the "Person of the Year" for 2007.  Omnicom purchased Mercury in 2003.

Mercury Public Affairs has 18 offices worldwide -- including London; Mexico City; Washington, DC; New York; and Westfield, New Jersey.  The New Jersey offices (a satellite operates out of Trenton) of Mercury are the haunt of Messrs. DuHaime, Soliman, Butler, and other connected operatives like newspaperman Darryl Isherwood (former top political reporter for the Star-Ledger and editor of PolitickerNJ), and "Christie campaign vet" Mark Mowers. 

In January 2015, Michael Soliman registered with the United States Justice Department, pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as a person representing the Embassy of the State of Qatar.  You must have read about Qatar in the news...Amnesty International has accused Qatar of being complicit in human trafficking and modern-day slavery.  Yes, slavery.  In fact, the United Nations gave Qatar one year "to end migrant worker slavery" or face an international investigation. 

Qatar is just one of freedom's garden spots represented by Mercury Public Affairs.  Remember the controversy in Uganda, when the President of that country decided that homosexuality was a crime that should be punishable by death?  Well, the law he wanted passed was "moderated" in December 2013, substituting life imprisonment for the death penalty.   In 2015, Mercury was brought on to provide public relations, lobbying, and media monitoring services with regards to the Office of the President and the Ugandan government in general on subjects beginning with "human rights" and ending with "good governance."  For which the contract calls for Mercury to be compensated at the rate of $50,000 per month, with $150,000 up front.

Mercury also represents individuals.  Folks like Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who in 2003 led an anti-American demonstration in which he personally burned an American flag.  For its work, Mercury pocketed a $30,000 monthly retainer, plus expenses.

In January 2016, Mercury Public Affairs partner Morris Reid negotiated a contract with Amsterdam & Partners, an international law firm with offices in London and Washington, DC.  The document is marked "confidential and privileged" but is public information under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  In August of 2015, Amsterdam & Partners signed a contract with the Turkish Ambassador to the United States to provide legal services related to a "matter of importance" to the embassy.  The government of Turkey paid Amsterdam a retainer of $50,000 a month.

While the contract stipulates that the greatest security and confidentiality be observed, under the terms of the contract between Amsterdam and Turkey, third parties may be hired "as the Firm and the Client agree in writing are necessary to further the Engagement."  And so, in March of 2016, Amsterdam hired Mercury to perform work on behalf of the Turkish government for $20,000 a month -- above and beyond what was being paid to Amsterdam by Turkey.  It is in the contract between Amsterdam & Partners and Mercury Public Affairs that we learn what all this cloak and dagger is in aid of.  The Amsterdam-Mercury contract references an "investigation into Fethullah Gulen and his organization in the United States."  So who is Fethullah Gulen?

Gulen has been in the news since the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016.  Gulen is a religious leader from Turkey, and a one-time political ally of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Erdogan is the increasingly authoritarian and Islamist President of Turkey.  He has been repeatedly in the news for purging the judiciary, jailing journalists who write unflattering reports, and successfully intimidating the opposition.  Erdogan had a law passed to allow the government to ban websites and he has promised to "rip out the roots" of Twitter.  He has even attempted to censor speech in other nations, in 2015 Turkey demanding that Germany prosecute a poet who had written some verse critical of Erdogan.

Erdogan and Gulen had a falling out over allegations of political corruption by Erdogan in 2013.  Gulen's books were banned.  First, he was indicted on charges that a Turkish judge threw out, but then was indicted a few months later for treasonable offenses that carried the death penalty.  Gulen fled Turkey, came to the United States, and was convicted in absentia. 

The government of Turkish President Erdogan has attempted to extradite Gulen back to Turkey to face punishment, but the government of the United States hasn't cooperated.  In the hours after the coup attempt, Erdogan was quick to blame Gulen, while Gulen put forward the theory that Erdogan had staged the coup himself in order to consolidate power.

Why does Mercury Public Affairs want to be a part of extraditing a moderate cleric to satisfy the rage of an Islamist dictator? 

This is exactly the kind of scumbaggery that Presidential candidate Ross Perot warned about in 1992.  He said our politics was headed here and here we are...  New Jersey's "top political operatives" (in the words of InsiderNJ) are now foreign agents (as far as the U.S. Justice Department is concerned). 

This crap makes Peter Murphy look like a choirboy.

McCann candidacy "illegitimate" without convention

The corrupt GOP party bosses in Passaic and Bergen Counties are trying to rig the Republican nominations in the 5th and 11th congressional districts.  In Passaic County, a hand-picked group of 23 under-bosses followed boss Peter Murphy's lead and endorsed John McCann in the 5th district and Tony Ghee in the 11th district. 

Who is Peter Murphy?

Peter Murphy is the GOP party boss of Passaic County.  Murphy was convicted and served time in prison for public corruption.  Here is what then U.S. Attorney Chris Christie had to say about Peter Murphy:  "We are pleased with the end result here – that Mr. Murphy served a considerable amount of time in prison for crimes which he has finally acknowledged committing as Republican party chairman in Passaic County... For those crimes, Mr. Murphy has lost his prestige and power, nearly a year of freedom and now is a convicted felon."

In Bergen County, the party boss there -- Paulie DiGaetano -- simply hand-picked candidate John McCann and has rejected pleas for an open vote.

A leading candidate to replace DiGaetano as Chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO), Fernando Alonso, called on DiGaetano to hold a convention.  This is Alonso's statement from today:

I am calling on the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) and BCRO Chairman Paul DiGaetano to have a convention for the 5th Congressional District nomination immediately.  The decision to not have a convention where the County Committee members have an opportunity to choose the Republican congressional nominee is unfair to everyone involved. It is unfair to Steve Lonegan because it denies him the opportunity to compete for the Republican Line in this important race. It is unfair to John McCann because winning the nomination without a convention taints his candidacy as illegitimate without the consent of the County Committee members. Finally, it is not only unfair to all of the County Committee members, but it further alienates volunteers, activists and loyal BCRO county committee members. The Convention should only involve eligible Bergen County committee members living in the 5th Congressional District.

I am calling on Jack Zisa to show real leadership and do the same in calling for the convention. Otherwise, he is just an extension of Paul DiGaetano of what’s to come should Zisa be Chairman.    

Fernando A. Alonso, Esq. 
Bergen County Republican Chairman Candidate

The Rogers-Murphy alliance. Is Rogers off his rocker?

Maybe he really believes his own bullshit?  Maybe he thinks he really is the Steve Rogers?  The Captain America of the comic books!

Rogers reminds us a lot of Dick LaRossa.  They both ran non-campaign campaigns for statewide office.  LaRossa got 25,608 in the 1996 GOP primary for U.S. Senate and came in last place.  Rogers got 14,187 in last year's GOP primary for Governor and came in last place.

Otherwise, Rogers is a candidate from central casting.  He looks like a Governor.  He's an attractive man.  Something tells us that he knows it. 

But he came in last, and like every attractive person who is rebuffed and who cannot understand why, Steve Rogers now carries around with him the burden of having been offended by the world-at-large.  And so you get pronouncements like the one today:

"During the 2016 presidential election many of us worked very hard to elect Donald Trump to the presidency. Sadly, there were too many Trenton politicians who didn’t stand with us when they could have. I won’t be endorsing any of them,” said Rogers, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2017. “I am, however, willing to endorse candidates who will support President Trump’s efforts to Make America Great Again. To that end, I’m pleased to endorse Tony Ghee, a fellow military officer, an outsider from the swamp, and a man who will energize our party in 2018 and beyond. The GOP must begin to embrace and engage people from all walks of life. In my view, Tony Ghee is the face of a new dynamic GOP that will welcome the Republicans long forgotten by the establishment. I support Tony because I have full faith in him. He will help Make American and New Jersey Great Again."

Come again? 

You are endorsing someone who wouldn't tell a group of Republican Trump supporters who he voted for in the 2016 Presidential election, which means one of three things:  (1) He voted for Hillary Clinton, (2) he voted for Donald Trump but is ashamed of saying so, or (3) he skipped over that office or voted for a third party candidate.  In any case, Rogers should cut the Trump shit.

Hey, we LOVE Tony Ghee and think he will make a great candidate... one day.  But you can't get much "swampier" than being hand-picked by a corrupt convict of a party boss.  That doesn't make you an "outsider" -- it makes you a ward heeler.

Now Tony is young and new and idealistic, and isn't used to traveling in the low-life circles he now inhabits.  He's a good family man and an upstanding member of the community.  How is he to know what lurks behind the grin of that cherubic, whiskey drinking, boss?

Peter Murphy, the GOP party boss of Passaic County and the man who recruited young Tony Ghee, is the kind of guy who will cut the throat of his own candidate if there is a deal to be had.  He's done it before and he'll do it again.  Tony will learn.

As for the rest of Rogers' blather, may we remind him that the NJGOP is still in the process of getting over an eight-year cult of personality.  Let's not make our party about cult personalities or demographic groups.  We are a party of ideas.

Ronald Reagan wasn't a cult figure.  We didn't elect him and then learn what he was about.  Reagan was the culmination of a decades-long process of discussing and testing ideas.  The ideas carried Reagan.

Ideas matter -- and it is on his ideas that we should judge Tony Ghee.  Now he's new, and hasn't had time to consider much of what a candidate needs to consider, but he needs to start.  Because Tony, you are not running to be a celebrity, you are running for Congress -- to go there and vote on ideas that will have a profound impact on our economy and culture.

So don't let a convict do your thinking for you.  No good will come of that.