Ciattarelli: Giving the Whitman campaign model one more try?

By Rubashov

Jack Ciattarelli’s handlers have started a new organization. It’s called the Mainstream Majority. That’s “mainstream” as in the Mainstream Media that conservatives, populists, and the Bernie Sanders Left so often complain about.

As a noun, “mainstream” means “the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional; the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts.” As an adjective, “mainstream” means “belonging to or characteristic of the mainstream.”

Wikipedia reports: “The mainstream is the prevalent current thought that is widespread. It includes all popular culture and media culture, typically disseminated by mass media. This word is sometimes used in a pejorative sense by subcultures who view ostensibly mainstream culture as not only exclusive but artistically and aesthetically inferior.”

So, it appears “mainstream” is just another way of saying, “the status quo” or “the establishment” or “middle of the road” or even, “moderate”.

And yet, in common with all Republican political campaigns (and even some Democratic ones) this new group employs the “c” word. The email makes this pitch to us: Yes, we are establishment moderates, but we are also “common-sense conservatives” (as opposed to the other kind?) who focus on “kitchen-table issues”.

Even Bill Clinton used the “c” word. So did Christie Whitman. Who doesn’t?

The email is long on braggadocio, claiming responsibility for every Republican victory in November 2021 – even the defeat of “New Jersey’s powerful Senate President.” Was it Jack Ciattarelli’s “compelling message and strong campaign” that elected Ed Durr? It wasn’t the backlash against incumbent Phil Murphy's extremist policies combined with a textbook low-budget, grassroots guerrilla campaign that did it? Sure about that?

Ciattarelli’s handlers have refused to share the same stage with Steve Kush, the political operative who actually managed Ed Durr’s campaign. Going back to election night, we don’t remember anyone in the NJGOP establishment even expecting Ed Durr to win. If they had, wouldn’t they have thrown some money to the Durr campaign? But nobody bankrolled Durr. Now everyone wants to take credit for the upset.

The email claims that the new group intends to be “pro-taxpayer, pro-law enforcement, pro-parent, and pro-small business, one that makes sure smaller government better serves the people who pay for it.” That’s very aspirational, but we would like to see details, a legislative agenda. We will keep an open mind and wait to see how the “Mainstream Majority” unfolds.

Still, we wonder how Jack’s handlers are going to sell “Mainstream” anything, given the political and cultural baggage the term has…

mainstream sellout

The New Jersey GOP’s angry, bitter congressional primaries

By Rubashov

At the “A Seat At The Table” conference – held on Thursday, April 28th – former 2016 Trump campaign operative and later White House advisor Dr. Sebastian Gorka made the point that last November’s legislative and down-ballot victories by Republicans in New Jersey were won not by the party organization, but by a wave of grassroots activism angry with the policies of Democrat Governor Phil Murphy. Republicans’ most spectacular victory – trucker Ed Durr’s upset win over Senate President Steve Sweeney – seems to bear out Gorka’s assertion.

Run by a grassroots activist instead of an insider consultant, Durr’s campaign was ignored by Trenton and the NJGOP establishment. Durr achieved his victory with practically no money – while his Democrat opponent had a war chest of over $2 million. Durr’s victory upended all the Trenton establishment’s most basic assumptions about how campaigns are won – although the blogs representing the Trenton establishment (InsiderNJ, NJGlobe, and Save Jersey) have since reverted to the conventional obsessions with money and organizational support.

In the months since he won, no real attempt has been made to figure out how Durr did it and – more importantly – on how to replicate a victory on a shoestring budget. That’s obviously not in the interests of insider campaign consultants who make a commission on every mail piece, every cable ad, every paid campaign communication. That’s not their business model. And even though it would be in the party’s best interests – it’s not in their best interest. So they’ve used their influence at the NJGOP to shut down any attempts to replicate the Durr victory.

Durr’s campaign manager has largely been shut out of GOP gatherings and prevented from conveying his proven strategy to a new generation of campaign managers. Durr’s victory has been embarrassingly pushed under the rug as its very existence does so much to undermine the often pronounced certainties of New Jersey’s political class – especially the campaign consultants and the Trenton blogs that rely on their advertising revenue.

Dr. Gorka compared the grassroots wave of 2021 with the wave in 2016 that had upset expectations and placed someone who had never held public office in the White House. He reminded those present of just how out-of-touch the Washington, DC, GOP Establishment was in the run-up to 2016 – its political operatives, donors, and consultants. Remember all those polls and pundits who insisted that GOP voters wanted amnesty for illegals? Only the Trump campaign was uncompromised by interest groups and their hirings to allow themselves to genuinely understand what voters wanted. He swept the primaries.

The “A Seat At The Table” conference was put together by three very accomplished women, all grassroots activists with large followings. The audience was full of recently elected school board members – all elected on a shoestring, the Ed Durr model. In contrast to the recent NJGOP “leadership summit” in Atlantic City, the “A Seat At The Table” conference was bubbling with policy ideas, and was impressive for the sheer number of thinkers, writers, and authors present. That’s not to say they were light on practical politics. The state’s top talk show host MCed the event. The head of the nation’s top conservative PAC – the guy who puts on CPAC each year – was the keynote speaker. An alternative lineup of pollsters and political consultants was present – as well as a few dozen folks that we know of who think nothing of writing maxed-out checks.

Most impressively, the conference was filled with thoughtful average citizens who are energized and want to help. That was a big difference from the summit, most of whose attendees were in the business of politics: paid party operatives, political consultants, lobbyists, vendors, patronage job holders, appointees, county and municipal professionals, elected officials, and the like. Where the summit was more about networking and fattening the bottom line, the conference focused on getting excited about policy and then going out and doing something about it.

Some view the “A Seat At The Table” conference as a threat to the hegemony of the present state GOP establishment. We don’t feel that way at all. To us, they appear to be about policy, about winning policy battles, and about finding candidates who understand the policy concerns of the grassroots and who will fight for them.

This does pose a challenge to some in the state party who do not share those policy concerns – or who actively oppose them. But it poses the greatest challenge to the professional political consultants who most candidates turn to develop the messages they run on. The fashion today can be summed up as policy minimalist. There is an epidemic out there of candidates who refuse to answer questions, fill out questionnaires, or allow themselves to be pinned down on any issue. But they’ve been advised to take this opaque, bait and switch approach by the consultants they pay to run their campaigns.

Political scientists noticed this trend over the last couple decades. The late Sheldon Wolin, Professor of Politics at Princeton University, wrote about the personal narrative of the candidates becoming more important than the policies they stand for. Benjamin DeMott called it “junk politics” – while others have labeled it “stupid politics” or “post-literate politics” or “political theater”.

Well, it is now standard operating procedure for insider Republican campaign consultants in New Jersey. They demand it of their candidates – a strict discipline of no issues pages, no questionnaires, and only the most generalized positions on policy. This fashion of “policy-free” campaigning is running head-on into the new grassroots activism evidenced at the conference. Average voters realize it for the hollow rip-off that it is: In return for your vote, my candidate offers nothing beyond his pretty smile and some highlights on his resume. In other words, the voter gets nothing.

Of course, the dumbed-down media long ago swapped policy discussions for competing political personalities – as if it were an episode of “American Ninja Warrior” instead of a campaign for public office. And the worst of the lot are Trenton-centric so-called “insider” blogs that focus on “process” stories and gossip. And so you get full coverage on a congressional candidate standing on one foot for a minute or so but nothing on why these candidates are failing to tell people where they stand on important issues in the news… like Roe v. Wade. “Junk politics” – “stupid politics” – “post-literate politics” – “political theater” or stupid celebrity wannabees, take your pick.

But recent developments have made things even worse and threaten to turn state GOP politics into a cesspit of vitriol. In the aftermath of a series of election cycles that saw the state GOP lose all its Republican congressmen save one – along with such formerly powerhouse Republican counties as Bergen, Somerset, and Burlington – some in the party have questioned the habit of giving all the campaign work to a few insider political consultants. They wanted to expand the party’s management stable to include people like the guy who ran Ed Durr’s winning campaign on a shoestring. This pissed off the insiders to no end – and it’s been reflected in the tone of their campaigns.

Hey, it’s bad enough it’s a policy-free zone but now the arguments are over infantile nonsense – like a congressional candidate complaining because his opponent’s campaign manager (so he claims) treated him like he was “a ghost” and compared it to “an episode of Mean Girls.” No shit, a candidate actually said that. A former Marine, no less. And it took up a big piece of a debate – hosted by two Trenton insider bloggers. They actually focused on shit like this. Not on policy differences, mind you, but on shit like this.

These congressional campaigns are becoming petty schoolyard hatefests because some consultants are afraid they’re going to have to share the vittles. And it pisses them off. They want it all – all of it. No sharing!

And where once they advertised their win-loss records, now they make up narratives about how losing last year’s gubernatorial race was the best thing that happened to Republicans in 30 years. Really??? And they brag about the awards given them by other insider establishment political consultants. Hey, every marginal “profession” has similar awards – trash haulers, used car salesmen, insurance agents – but maybe not so many as political consultants, who have so many awards no one need go home without one. Dave Chappelle did a fine spoof on this that captures nicely the attitudes and inner thoughts of any gathering of political consultants.

Dave Chappelle's interpretation of the (Lou) Reed Awards.

Come and get your trophies. A winner every time!

Time to end the GOP campaign against Ed Durr’s consultant.

By Rubashov

Last November, Republican Senate candidate Ed Durr defeated incumbent Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-LD03). A short distance away, Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield was defeating incumbent Senator Dawn Marie Addiego (D-LD08).

First elected Burlington County Sheriff in 2001, Stanfield was re-elected five times as Sheriff before being elected to the Assembly in 2019. And in what should have been the big upset of election night 2021, Jean Stanfield defeated the Democrat incumbent by a margin of 1,721 votes.

But it wasn’t the BIG upset that night. That’s because Gloucester County truck driver Ed Durr was defeating an even more formidable opponent – the Senate President – by 2,199 votes. And Durr’s victory was a surprise nobody saw coming. It propelled him into instant national attention. He was all over the national news, being interviewed by FOX, and feted by national Republicans who hailed him as a harbinger of the future.

Both candidates overcame huge spending disadvantages. Jean Stanfield’s final campaign contributions & expenditures report (filed on November 19, 2021) shows she spent $330,813.81 on her campaign. Democrat Addiego’s report (filed on November 22, 2021) shows she spent $879,553.82. And this doesn’t account for all the outside expenditures spent for and against each of these candidates.

Ed Durr’s final report (filed on November 22, 2021) shows him having spent just $15,601.60. This he split with his two Assembly running mates (they filed jointly), both of whom won. Senate President Sweeney’s report (filed on November 20, 2021), which he also filed with his two Assembly running mates, shows expenditures of $1,686,648.20. A separate, Sweeney-only campaign account, reported spending an additional $866,861.26 (report filed on November 20,2021). Of course, as Senate President, Sweeney spread his money around quite liberally, assisting other Democrats. Still, it wouldn’t have been difficult to outspend Durr.

Durr’s defeat of Sweeney represents a turnabout. It was a rare instance when a grassroots Republican guerilla campaign defeated a powerful Democrat. Usually, it is the Democrats who do grassroots guerilla campaigns so well. Look at their 2018 rout of New Jersey’s Republican congressional delegation. The Democrats fielded the most unlikely candidates – courtesy of their grassroots – while guerilla operatives like Saily Avelenda and Winn Khuong helped soften up Republican incumbents so they were ready to fall before the campaign even began. In the case of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, they literally drove him from office.

Most Republican political consultants don’t do guerilla because they are not set up to make money that way. Guerilla is too time intensive and doesn’t lend itself to profitable product/ service standardization.

Consultant Steve Kush ran Ed Durr’s campaign. Kush is a longtime practitioner of guerilla campaigning, relying on his opponent’s high name ID to drive up his negatives – using what should be a positive, against him. Kush is quick to spot an opportunity and exploit a weakness. He uses tactics that mirror those prescribed by Colonel John Boyd, the American military strategist whose methods informed the victory in Operation Desert Storm (1990-91).

The big thing about Kush is he can make a campaign operational on a shoestring and has proven he can win when massively outspent. No other political consultant currently working in New Jersey can match what he has accomplished and, given that many (if not most) of the GOP’s legislative candidates in 2025 will be facing a funding disadvantage, you would think New Jersey Republicans might recognize that Steve Kush has something to offer.

Unfortunately, Kush has faced the same sort of organizational prejudice and jealousy that Colonel Boyd faced from the Pentagon. Establishment consultants have a network of allies within the state party organization that both protect them when they underperform and undermine any threat to their profitable hegemony. That’s why Kush found himself cut out of last weekend’s 2022 NJGOP Leadership Summit. At a time when New Jersey Republicans need his skill set, the establishment silenced him.

Well, not entirely. The Republican Leaders of both the Senate and Assembly paid public compliments to Steve Kush at the panel they hosted on Friday – as did Senator Ed Durr himself. They get it and intend to utilize this valued asset.

This has only heightened the jealousy and threat some insider consultants see in Steve Kush. They and their networks have begun a very personal campaign against Kush. For example, Save Jersey editor Matt Rooney posted an unusually personal attack on Kush yesterday. It was most unlike Rooney, who tends towards behaving like a gentleman. He is certainly more so than this humble scribe, who, if one looks honestly in the mirror, must admit to seeing a thoroughgoing bastard staring back.

Matt Rooney has been covering the foibles of one Ian Smith, the owner of a gym who gained fame for the stand he took against Governor Phil Murphy’s COVID restrictions and now a Republican candidate for Congress in CD03. Fifteen years ago, Smith was involved in a drunk driving incident that resulted in someone’s death. According to Rooney, he’s now been arrested again for a DWI.

Rooney is something of an expert on the subject. According to his law firm, Matt Rooney represents people like Ian Smith – professionally. In August 2019, Rooney “was voted a top DWI attorney practicing in South Jersey by his peers,” according to the firm’s website. Perhaps Smith will retain him?

Of course, Matt Rooney is a favorite of the GOP establishment in New Jersey. He has been given access to broadcast directly from the last several NJGOP Summits and was a featured panelist and speaker at last weekend’s summit – which places him in a club that has barred its doors to Steve Kush. Political egos being what they are (and male egos at that), Rooney must be aware of the jealousy and spite Kush’s win last November has stirred up in some insider circles. Nothing so motivates a politico quite like jealousy turned to hate. And hate is the energy drink of politics.

There are those who hope that Steve Kush’s pugnacious quote in defense of his candidate (“I would trust Ian Smith to drive my mother to her next doctor’s appointment.”) will somehow erase his role in the great upset victory by Ed Durr over Steve Sweeney. Of course, it won’t, but fools can hope.

For our part, we don’t think we would trust either Ian Smith or his punk rocker opponent, Bob Healey, to drive anyone anywhere. In all honesty, the least worrisome driver in that race would have to be the Democrat incumbent, Andy Kim, who appears to have developed a degree of mature, sober judgment early in life.

According to David Wildstein of NJ Globe, “Healey spent eight years as the lead singer for The Ghouls, a streetpunk rock band well-known in the Philadelphia area, and as the CEO of Punk Rock promotional company.” We wonder if this is his band, featured here, in a documentary from 2007. If so, we know its body of work.

The Ghouls - "Kill Doll"

CD: Stand Alone (2007)

Born of a wolf and a mortal bitch in heat

I'm not a man but I'm more than you can be

I hunt at night and humans are my prey

You silly humans, my little kill dolls!

I am a savage and I'm here to make you bleed

I prey on fear and violence is my feed

Bloodlust rules my every action now

Through my violence, you are a kill doll!

Man by day!

Don't push too far, the beast is in my eyes

Beast by night!

You'll push too far and no one will survive

You can't resist me, don't try to take a stand

Cause by day I go from lycanthrope to man

I'll rend you all like the cattle that you are

You don't know it, your all just kill dolls!

I have my instinct that were bred into my blood

It's like I told you I am no man's son

A flash of silver is the only chance you've got

Kill or be killed, you'll be a kill doll!

Man by day!

Beast by night!

You call society a civilized place

But every human hides fear behind their face

Fear of violence or fear of the unknown

Fear to make each man a kill doll!

I may be savage and embittered by rage

But still I'm better than any human raised

At least with me what you see is what you get

I hide nothing, you're all my kill dolls!

Man by day!

Beast by night!

Man by day!

Beast by night!

Man by day!

Beast by night!