Did BCRO violate FEC rules?

By Rubashov


The Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) has sent out a number of potentially problematic election communications recently.  Several mass emails blasted out on behalf of the BCRO by members of its leadership failed to note who paid for them, in apparent violation of Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules.
 
The BCRO also sent out an expensive mass direct mail piece that appeared to suggest that the candidates on the BCRO “line” were part of a ticket sanctioned by President Donald Trump.  An operative with the President’s campaign denied this, stating that being on a local party ticket that is endorsing the President does not mean that the President is endorsing the other candidates on that ticket.  The endorsement goes up, not down, the ticket.
 
FEC rules on communications like this are very restrictive.  From the FEC website:
 
“A state or local party committee may prepare and distribute a slate card, sample ballot, palm card or other printed list naming candidates for any public office. The payments are not considered contributions or expenditures on behalf of any federal candidate listed, as long as the following conditions are met:
 
The list names at least three candidates running for election to any public office in the state in which the committee is organized.
 
The list is not distributed through broadcast stations, newspapers, magazines and similar types of public political advertising (for example billboards). Direct mail, however, is an acceptable method of distributing a slate card or sample ballot.
 
The content is limited to the identification of each candidate (pictures may be used), the office or position currently held, the office sought and party affiliation. Additional descriptions, designs, images and photographs must not provide supplemental biographical information, descriptions of candidates’ positions on the issues or statements of party philosophy. Certain voting information, however, may be given, such as time, place and instructions on voting a straight party ticket.”
 
Curiously, some of the BCRO email blasts contain appeals to Ronald Reagan’s so-called “11th Commandment” (“Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican”) and accusations that the candidates opposing the BCRO-endorsed John McCann for Congress were running “negative” campaigns.  Hypocritically, the authors of these emails failed to mention the BCRO’s own negative campaign on behalf of John McCann in 2018.
 
That was the year that Steve Lonegan, the father of the conservative movement in New Jersey, was on the receiving end of a campaign unprecedented in its level of sustained hatefulness.    That campaign caused many conservative donors to simply give up on New Jersey Republicans, to this day sending their money to candidates elsewhere.  This drain of conservative money to campaigns outside New Jersey affects the ability of state Republicans to secure and hold elected offices.  Bergen County has particularly suffered.
 
The political consultant brought in to run the campaign against Lonegan was a brilliant tactician named Kelley Rogers.  He came up with a series of fiercely negative campaign advertisements.  It is worth noting that John McCann’s consultant was not around to direct his 2020 primary campaign.  Last year, Kelley Rogers pleaded guilty in federal court.  Politico covered the story (09/18/19):
 
In one of the first Justice Department cases of its kind, Maryland political consultant Kelley Rogers pled guilty to wire fraud on Tuesday for operating multiple fraudulent political action committees that raised money from donors for conservative causes but kept much of the funds for Rogers and his associates.

Rogers’ arrest and indictment took place shortly after Politico and ProPublica investigated one of Rogers’ PACs, Conservative Majority Fund, which since 2012 has raised close to $10 million — mostly from small-dollar donors, many of them elderly -- while giving out just $48,400 to politicians.
 
The BCRO appears to have a love affair with John McCann, despite his history of campaign losses – including the biggest defeat in the history of CD05.  For his part, McCann exudes a quirky charm and a combativeness that often gets him into trouble…
 

THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS, ONLY STUPID POLITICIANS- Congressional candidate John McCann to a woman asking a question- that's a stupid question.

Nevertheless, the BCRO leadership’s faith in John McCann appears unshakeable.  Despite his historic loss in 2018, BCRO boss Jack Zisa awarded McCann the party “line” without a vote of his membership.  That is, of course, an entirely different discussion for another day.
 

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.”
(Karl Marx, author and philosopher)

Will Carlos Rendo call on Trump to resign over remarks?

After losing the coveted "Column One" position in Bergen County and filing a campaign receipts and expenditures report with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in April that showed his campaign was deep in debt and not raising enough money to sustain itself, candidate John McCann apparently sent out an SOS to his friends and colleagues.  They responded in a big way.

A former Democrat candidate for Mayor of Bogota (Bergen County) stepped forward to accuse McCann's opponent of saying some pithy things about him a decade or so ago.  McCann's campaign neglected to fully vet this Democrat (who they, oddly enough, describe as a "Christian conservative").  He recently attacked the policies of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. 

Now Carlos Rendo, a once and perhaps future statewide candidate in New Jersey, has stepped forward to call McCann's opponent a "homophobe".

Really?  Because that is a curious jibe to throw at someone.  Does Mr. Rendo even know what it means?  Is all homophobia "irrational"?  If someone was molested by an authority figure, as a child or adolescent, and the resulting trauma produced a certain "guarded" nature, would Mr. Rendo taunt that person with the word "homophobe"?

We can't speak for Mr. Rendo, but there are a great many men out there for whom the idea of having sex with another man is very off-putting, scary even.  Are these men "homophobes"?  There are a great many women of a similar mindset when it comes to other women.  Are they "homophobes" too?

We have news for Mr. Rendo.  Depending on the scale of their fears, and how one defines it, there are a lot of "homophobes" in both political parties (although they may be a bit more closeted if they are active Democrats). 

We were taught to tolerate. And so, with the best "live and let live" intentions, we tolerated.  Then we were told that mere "toleration" was not enough.  We must "celebrate" -- which is more than live and let live, it's kind of joining in.  So we did, but only in a happy clappy sort of way.  Now when people like Mr. Rendo start throwing around words like "homophobe" at what level are they expecting us to participate?  How far are we to go to prove that we are without "sin" or the version of what goes for "sin" today?

Not only that, but Mr. Rendo requires that we reach back in time to atone for the words and attitudes said and unsaid (for if Mr. Rendo believes in a god -- whether of the New Age or Tradition -- that being sees both what is said and unsaid, so both must be addressed).  For if not, Carlos Rendo -- "Judge" Rendo as he sets himself up to be -- will pronounce sentence, and that sentence is a word that he will seek to make you wear.

Being tagged a "racist" or a "homophobe" is nearly as bad as being called a "sexual predator" or "molester"... except that the latter have the benefit of the judicial process, while the former have some moe like Judge Rendo passing sentence on Twitter.  People lose employment and are harmed by such "sentences".  Take care.

Actually, what Mr. Rendo (and Mr. DiGaetano and Mr. Olmo and Mr. Kulmala) are engaging in is something called "virtue signaling" --  they are making a fashion statement.  You see, fashion changes.  A decade or so ago, they might very well have been the ones making the less than kind remarks about men who have sex with other men.  But fashions change, so today they are making less than kind remarks about men who are afraid of men who have sex with other men. 

Wait a decade or so and it will all change again.  Round and round we go... tis a dance to the music of time.

Finally... and this is the most humorous bit of all... these idiots are members of the party of Donald Trump.  Their man, "Stumbling John" McCann, is running on a line that directly references that old "pussy-grabber" himself, the Commander-in-Chief, the 45th President of these United States, Donald Trump.  How can Mr. Rendo reference a remark someone allegedly made a dozen years ago, but then demand that the voters ignore the dozens upon dozens of remarks Donald Trump has made during the same time period? 

Haven't  the Democrats already labeled Trump a "homophobe" and "racist" and "sexual predator"?  And you want to label someone on less? 

Is Mr. Rendo in desperate need of a change of party form?  Because it is plainly evident that he cannot attack McCann's opponent and remain a loyal supporter to his President, Donald Trump.  We fear that Rendo can no longer swim in the party of Trump and that he must take to purer (or more rigorously fashionable) waters.

Yes, a change of party is essential.  Sad to say it, but it looks like Rendo is either going to choose to be a hypocrite or change his party.

The BCRO's strange fundraiser: Any rules broken?

We have written before about the GOP establishment's creep into conservative institutions like GOPAC.  Once this group was a vital source of grassroots activism.  Today, the establishment squats on it like it was a prime piece of property on a monopoly board.

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Recently, GOPAC held an event, but it was it a GOPAC event?

How could Kim Guadagno and Congressman King be the guests at two different events held at the same place at essentially the same time?

Why is there no disclaimer on the BCRO invitation?  And what is the Bergen County Republican Finance Committee?  It isn't filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC)?  It doesn't appear to be associated with a Federal PAC. 

In promoting the event, the BCRO would later adjust the time to more precisely fit the GOPAC speakers event.  How could the speakers be in two events at the same time?

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Both these events were heavily promoted by the BCRO and GOPAC.  So whose event was it really?  Who got the money?  And to what account did the money go... federal or state?  How was the money used?  On behalf of which candidate?

Questions for the FEC or NJELEC?

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Fox/NJ101.5 should require Spadea to quit campaign

Bill Spadea is a Fox News journalist, and an on-air host for New Jersey 101.5, a radio station operating under license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  He is also a candidate for Congress.  Well, yes, officially Spadea still maintains a congressional campaign committee, according to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).  According to the FEC website, Spadea's committee has a debt of $231,236.67 and cash-on-hand of $80,881.18.

Why is someone in the news business maintaining a political campaign committee to which interests can make donations and  from which Spadea can write  checks?

The Society of Professional Journalists suggests the following way to avoid conflicts of interest like the one now faced by Bill Spadea:  " The SPJ Ethics Committee gets a significant number of questions about whether journalists should engage in political activity. The simplest answer is 'No.' Don’t do it. Don’t get involved. Don’t contribute money, don’t work in a campaign, don’t lobby, and especially, don’t run for office yourself."

It is time for Spadea to either close down his political campaign committee or give up journalism.  He can't do both and keep the confidence of the public