Reason magazine demolishes “Russian troll hysteria”

The conventional story is that Russian trolls infiltrated the 2016 election with fake social media ads. But according to details from a February 2018 indictment of those trolls, it's unclear how much of an effect they actually had.

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against 13 Russians who allegedly sought to "sow discord in the U.S. political system" through social media posts, ads, and videos falsely presented as the work of Americans. After the indictment was unveiled in February, The New York Times reported that Donald Trump's "admirers and detractors" both agree with him that "the Russians intended to sow chaos" and "have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams." But Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum says a close look at the indictment tells a different story.

Here are "5 Reasons Not to Feed the Russian Troll Hysteria:"

1) Russian trolling was a drop in the bucket. According to the indictment, Russian trolls associated with the so-called Internet Research Agency (IRA) in Saint Petersburg spent "thousands of U.S. dollars every month" on social media ads, which is a minuscule fraction of online ad revenue. Facebook alone reported advertising revenue of $9.16 billion in the second quarter of 2017. The Russians are said to be responsible for producing 43 hours of YouTube videos, but that doesn't seem like very much when you consider that 400 hours of content are uploaded to the site every minute.

2) Russian trolls were not very sophisticated. Russian trolls supposedly had the Machiavellian know-how to infiltrate the American political system, but their social media posts don't look very sophisticated. The posts often featured broken English and puzzling topic choices. A post promoting a "buff" Bernie Sanders coloring book, for instance, noted that "the coloring is something that suits for all people." Another post showed Jesus and Satan in an arm wrestling match under this caption: "SATAN: IF I WIN CLINTON WINS! JESUS: NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!" The post generated very few clicks and shares.

3) Russian troll rallies apparently did not attract many participants. The indictment makes much of pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rallies instigated by Russian trolls, but it does not say how many people participated. The New York Times reported that a Russian-organized rally in Texas opposing Shariah law attracted a dozen people. An anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho drew four people. Attendance at other rallies was similarly sparse.

4) Russian trolling probably didn't change anyone's mind. Broken English aside, the social media posts were not qualitatively different from content created by American activists, and they seemed to be aimed mainly at reinforcing pre-existing beliefs and divisions. The Russians might have gotten a few Trump supporters to show up at anti-Clinton rallies, but that does not mean they had an impact on the election.

5) Russian troll hysteria depicts free speech as a kind of violence. The Justice Department describes the messages posted by Russians pretending to be Americans as "information warfare." But while the posts may have been sophomoric, inaccurate, and illogical, that does not distinguish them from most of what passes for online political discussion among actual Americans. The integrity of civic discourse does not depend on verifying the citizenship of people who participate in it. It depends on the ability to weigh what they say, checking it against our own values and information from other sources. If voters cannot do that, maybe democracy is doomed. But if so, it's not the Russians' fault.

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Democrats silent on locking child in cage with sex-offenders

Trenton Democrats have been curiously silent on liberal activist and Democrat campaign contributor Peter Fonda’s call to have the President’s child put “in a cage with pedophiles”.  Especially given their over-the-top behavior when it comes to band banners or photos of men in high heels or Facebook posts comparing Democrats to Fascists or mere humor of any kind (except Trump jokes, those – like the Bush jokes of yore – are permitted).

Where is Lorretta Weinberg (does grandma approve of Fonda’s plan?) or Tom Moran (would he want to climb into that cage too?) or Britnee Timberlake or Ben Silva or NJTV’s Michael Hill or Jersey City’s Michael Maddalena or Michael Billy or Green Party moe Kenneth Collins… Where is the outrage?  Where are the demands that he be fired or that his business enterprise be boycotted?

Can we assume that “silence equals consent”?  Isn’t that what the idiots above claim?  Silence = Consent… correct?  So YOUR silence means… what?

A couple Wednesdays ago, local Democrat Party officials, the National Organization for Women, and some LGBT activists – led by Democrat-turned Green Party-turned Republican-turned Green Party activist Kenneth Collins – showed up at a meeting of the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders to demand that Freeholder Carl Lazzaro, an ordained Christian clergyman, apologize and resign for expressing the following opinion:

Yes, they wanted the man’s head for writing that.  Yep, that’s it.

But from their SILENCE can we gather that they approve of this…

Where is the outrage?  Where are the demands that something be done?

Do they approve?  Or are they just engaging in a sneaky bit of schadenfreude?

Where is the National Organization for Women on this???  Why isn’t the Green Party’s Kenneth Collins organizing a rally on Newton Green?

MEMO to Loretta, Tom, Britnee, et al… Don’t ever bring up “hate” again until you face this head on, openly discuss it, and state your opinions publicly.

The return of Dave Fanale and the anti-police wing of the GOP

We all remember the sorry episode of Dave Fanale.  He was an up-and-coming Sussex County politician in the orbit of Freeholder boss George Graham.  He was elected to the GOP county committee and to the Franklin Borough Council.  Some had him marked for bigger and better things.

And then it all started to come unraveled.  It turned out that Fanale didn't like law enforcement very much.  He had a problem with cops and started posting weird stuff on Facebook in this regard...

Yep, GOP Councilman Fanale posted a cartoon of a kid pissing on the thin blue line (representing the police) while giving them the finger.  The cartoon above was just one shot in a series of verbal and written attacks on the police.  Councilman Fanale's anti-police campaign got particularly disturbing, as it stretched on for months.

There was a huge backlash amongst the conservative, pro-police residents of Franklin... and Dave Fanale quit the Council.  For a time, Fanale moved in with Freeholder Jonathan Rose, another member of Freeholder boss George Graham's entourage. 

And now he's back. 

Among those present at Freeholder Jonathan Rose's fundraiser last month, was former Franklin Councilman Dave Fanale... the same controversial figure who resigned from the Council after leading his anti-police campaign.  Freeholder Rose shares a somewhat libertarian political philosophy with Fanale and the former Franklin Councilman is pushing for his re-election. 

At the same fundraising event for Freeholder Rose, attended by former Councilman Fanale, Rose formally threw his support to John McCann, formerly of the Democrat Bergen County Sheriff's office, and now a GOP candidate for Congress. 

Yes, that's Sheriff Michael Saudino -- the Bergen County Sheriff who was elected as a Republican, then switched to Democrat in order to destroy the Republican Party in that county, and then who ran for re-election on a ticket with Hillary Clinton and Josh Gottheimer. 

The Bergen Record has identified McCann as the "right hand man" to Democrat Sheriff Michael Saudino.  It was Saudino's feud with the Republican County Executive that undermined and ultimately lost Republicans control of Bergen County.  The coup de grace came when Saudino, a one-time Republican, joined Hillary Clinton and Josh Gottheimer on a ticket that crushed Republicans in Bergen County. 

John McCann remained Sheriff Saudino's consigliore through it all and ran for Congress (as a Republican) with Saudino's blessing and while still on the Democrat's payroll.  Sheriff Saudino has formally endorsed fellow Democrat Josh Gottheimer for re-election this year. 

The media has recently reported on 22 Bergen County police officers who claimed they were wrongly terminated or mistreated.  In a class action suit, the officers accuse Sheriff Saudino of demoting or firing qualified officers out of spite or for political retaliation.  Saudino, who supported Gottheimer for his stance on LGBT issues, is accused of allowing the "despicable and dehumanizing treatment" of a gay police officer.

A federal lawsuit filed last year contains the personal testimony of dozens of veteran law enforcement officers who fell victim to a power play by the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County.  Here are a few of their stories:

"In 2014 my wife and I decided to have our 2nd child even though there were talks of merging The Bergen County Police with the Sheriff's Department.  we both agreed that we could afford to make this life changing decision based on the fact that the merger specifically stated there would be no layoffs, and no decrease in pay.

We had purchased a smaller home, which needed improvements... We are not going to be able to make these improvements or expand our home due to the impending layoff or pay decrease.  In fact we may lose our home if these changes take place.

My wife and I were discussing the possibility of having a third child as recently as February of this year.  However this will not happen now because of these layoffs."

***

"In 2015, I got engaged.  In 2016, I got married and purchased a home.  In 2017, I welcomed another child into my family... I have a wife and two children, ages 6 and 3 months.  Now with the threat of a potential layoff, not only will my life be affected, but my family will be negatively affected as well."

***

"I have been employed by Bergen County as a Police Officer since July, 2004.  I have recently re-financed my 30 year mortgage to a 15 year mortgage due to the promise that the Sheriff, County Executive, and Freeholder Board made that my job was safe when they merged us.  I am also the caregiver to my elderly parents... If I am demoted, I will not be able to afford the extra payments that a 15 year mortgage brings as well as care for my parents in a way that they deserve."

***

"I can personally say the moral and pride I had as a County Police Officer has been stripped away and this entire process has affected me personally.  I never knew what it was like to go to work and be unhappy.  I've always loved my career and the organization I worked for.  There are often times I get sick to my stomach thinking of how the politicians have destroyed this place and everything it represented.  My mind is consumed with thoughts of whether or not I will be able to retire..."

***

"I am a single father of two children.  I have full custody of my children... I had financial plans in place to send my oldest daughter who is currently in high school to attend specific colleges she had picked out.  With this demotion I will no longer be able to pay for my daughter's college education..."

***

"In August of 1996 I joined what I believed was a dedicated profession and well known department... I joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1982... I was activated in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm... I retired with 20 years of service in 2003.

...I have made many life choices on the promises and assurance my family and I would be able to live without the threat of losing our home or not being able to afford the basic simple lifestyle we have had in our lives.  Upon the assurance of the County of Bergen, the politicians and the Bergen County Sheriff my family committed to providing an education for my son that now involves the payment of an incredible amount of education loans."

***

"I am currently a Police Officer with the Bergen County Sheriff's Department... I am also a United States Disabled Combat Veteran.  I served four and a half years with the 82nd Airborne Division, with a fifteen-month deployment to Iraq as an Infantryman... With the promise of job security, I continued my life as any other reasonable person would have.  I recently purchased a home and have plans to marry my longtime girlfriend, whom this layoff also affects tremendously..."

***

Rose-Fanale-McCann... It's amazing how these people found each other.  That you have, in the same room and supporting the same candidate, an avowed cop-hater and the guy who destroyed Bergen County's police department.  Small world.

Memo to Andy Kim: Americans celebrate Labor Day, not May Day

Hey, we all get that Democrat Andy Kim is from Washington, DC, where he owns a million dollar condo in a really cool part of the city -- but that is no reason for him to go all bubble-world elitist on us and start celebrating May Day.

American workers celebrate Labor Day, in September, and we celebrate it the good old fashioned way -- no we don't have some stupid political protest -- we have a beer, maybe go to the shore, or throw a few burgers on the grill.  We spend it with our families and friends and NO, we don't talk progressive politics at all.

Yesterday, the man who would be King issued a statement worthy of what the Queen does on some high and mighty event.  Andy wrote:  "The heart of America and the strength of the American economy lies with the American worker and middle class. I will always stand up for them..."  Funny how he doesn't include himself.  It's them, as in, "Hell no, I'm not a worker!"

Andy Kim ends his comment with #MayDay.  You can almost see the little right-on hand-popping.  Well Andy, in honor of you and your May Day holiday (the rest of us worked), this one goes out to you...

Now to an even more important topic.

Transparency.

Andy Kim has said he believes in transparency.  He says he will let the people know everything he is doing.  But back on April 18th, Andy Kim held a fundraiser at a big-deal law firm in Cherry Hill. 

We've been looking for it on his campaign's Facebook page, but it's not there.  No pictures, no report on who the host committee was or what fat cats showed up with their checkbooks.  Here's the invitation below.  Note who it is paid by...

Andy Kim likes to claim that he's not taking "corporate money" -- but that's not really true, is it Andy?  Many law firms are corporations of a kind and your fundraiser was held at a law office.  These lawyers all represent big corporations and they contribute big money to trial lawyers' associations. 

We believe Andy Kim throws out the word "corporate" as a distraction -- to make you believe he is better than he is.  How are lawyers better than manufacturers?  Most people probably think they are far worse.

Boasting about giving up one kind of sugar while devouring bowls of honey isn't really a way forward.  You are still going to get fat.  And that's what is happening with Andy.  We goes to Weight Watchers and brags to everyone that he's off carbs, but then when it's time for the weigh-in, it emerges that he's fatter than ever.

Don't go on fooling the public and, just as important, don't fool yourself.  It turns out you are no better than all the others.

The mad, mad world of Dem expat John McCann

Last week, Jersey Conservative criticized candidate John McCann for not having a Facebook page.  So he got one in a hurry.  "In a hurry" being the operative phrase.

The problem when you react is that you often get things wrong.  Like this screw up:  "About:  John J. McCann is the only candidate with a proven track record of lowering taxes for New Jersey's 5th congressional district."

Now that's a lie.  McCann has never held office in New Jersey's 5th congressional district.  He was never in a position to have a track record of anything. 

Then there is McCann's crazy biography.

McCann begins by bragging about being from Massachusetts but claims to have moved to New Jersey because he likes it here -- except that he still has a place in New England.  We're told he's a Patriots fan. 

Then he writes that his mentor is disgraced Senator Arlen Specter -- a Democrat, who turned Republican, then turned back to Democrat after cutting a deal with President Obama, who was then dumped out of office in a Democrat primary.  Oh yea, he's also the moron who came up with the science-defying "magic bullet" theory in the investigation of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. 

McCann's big claim to fame was -- so he writes -- making up the chart that Democrat-turned Republican-turned Democrat Specter used to explain Hillary Care.  Specter would later side with Bill Clinton when he got caught having that canoodle with a young intern.  And this is the guy McCann tells us he's taking after?

In his biography that he wrote and posted on his Facebook page, John McCann explains to us that he worked for the Democrat Sheriff of Bergen County for six years.  How's that?  Yep, McCann held a patronage job courtesy of a Democrat Party elected official.  No wonder many observers believe he was recruited by the Democrats to screw the GOP's chances of re-taking the 5th congressional district.

He also writes that he currently works for the bi-partisan Sheriffs Association in New Jersey.  Yep, the same crew that has been criticized for their double-dipping and pension schemes.  Award-winning reporter Mark Lagerkvist has written extensively about how property taxpayers are being ripped-off.  In a recent NJ Spotlight report, Lagerkvist noted: " All told, the sheriffs on this list pull down about $3.3 million a year in public pay — $2.1 million in county salaries plus $1.2 million from state pensions." 

And get a load of this -- the top two rip-offs are elected Democrats from the 5th congressional district:

 1. Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino (D)

$267,987 – $138,000 salary + $129,987 pension as an Emerson Borough police retiree

2. Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik (D)

$253,957 – $151,887 salary + $102,070 pension as a Clifton police retiree

What is John McCann doing shilling for these guys?  And how can he claim to be a tax saver when he represents tax rip-offs?

This is all self-inflicted.  He wrote this b.s. himself so he owns it.

Dirtbag behavior: Sad to report, it's not only the Left

Last week, we all witnessed some of the more ridiculous antics of the Left, and there has been a lot of commentary about how certain people allowed their emotions to get the better of them.  Madonna made her threats, while others went in for displays of very bad taste.

Jersey Conservative reported on this, and we were quickly reminded that such poor behavior doesn't begin or end with the ideological Left.  Those reminding us were none other than those denizens of the new ideological "Right" -- the Tea Party.  Not everyone in the Tea Party behaves like a 15-year-old who got into his parents' liquor cabinet, but enough do to give the movement a bad name. 

Last week, an innocent family had an aerial view of their family home placed on a public Facebook page with the words "target acquired" posted underneath and the statement, "got to love drones LOL," posted under that.

The organizer of a draft campaign committee for Gail Phoebus publicly posted those personal details, believing that they belonged to a "political consultant" who works in Sussex County.  But as with so much that comes from these people, the Phoebus campaigner -- who is also a key figure in the Skylands Tea Party of Sussex County -- got it all wrong.

The home "targeted" by the Phoebus campaigner/ Tea Party activist is in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and it belongs to a perfectly innocent family with young children.  It is not the home of the "political consultant" that Mr. Tea Party seemed intent on injuring.

After a Sussex County blog reported this, the Phoebus campaign "administrator" appealed to his fellow Tea Partiers.  They responded with threats of violence and personal harm:

The "political consultant" (who is, in fact, a free lance writer) has already been the"target" of malicious and injurious acts by officials in Andover Township, where Phoebus once served as mayor.   They will have to shoulder some of the responsibility if one of their more emotional "supporters" gets a little too motivated and acts out against the consultant or even an inadvertent "target" of their hate.

If what these people post on their Facebook pages is anything to go by, they are certainly able to back up their anger with something a lot worse than words.

Instead of hate, maybe these folks should try calming down long enough to have a polite, rational, dignified policy discussion.  As the writer Isaac Asimov reminded us, "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

But this keeps going from bad to worse.  Earlier this week another "administrator" of the Phoebus campaign and Tea Partier decided that he wasn't going to be outdone by the Left when it came to posting tasteless images.  He took the image below and explored an even lower range of human discourse.

Yes, this Tea Partier photoshopped the images of several Sussex County Republicans onto vaginas.  The images included a Republican State Senator, a Republican Assemblyman, a Republican candidate for Assembly, a Republican candidate for Freeholder, and a Republican free lance writer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  The photograph of the last, courtesy of Andover Township, New Jersey.

Mind you, the person photo-shopping Republicans onto vaginas isn't a member of some Left-wing organization protesting Donald Trump.   This person claims to be a Right-winger and member of the Tea Party, who had his photo taken earlier this month with Steve Rogers, the GOP candidate for Governor he says he's supporting.  Everyone involved is a Trump supporter.  This is how crazy some people act when they disagree with someone who agrees with them most of the time, imagine how nuts they'll get when it is someone on the other side?

The people trashed by this Tea Partier are among the most conservative in New Jersey, with perfect voting records on the Second Amendment and the Right-to-Life; top ratings from Americans for Prosperity and the American Conservative Union; who have consistently been there for the conservative movement and the Republican Party.  Heck, the free lance writer once worked for the National Rifle Association as a congressional district Election Volunteer Coordinator. 

Now we know people in the same Tea Party group -- the Skylands Tea Party.  They have names like Tom and Doug and Roseann and Sue.  They are grandparents and business owners and professionals.  How would they explain these images to their grandchildren?  Would they teach their grandchildren how to photo-shop the images of people who have helped them and their community onto a vagina?  Would they explain to them that this is the right way to deal with people when they fail to agree with you 100 percent of the time?  It's 100 percent or your face goes on a vagina! 

In closing, let us leave you with this image, posted at Halloween, by one of your members.  Our advice to you is to chill.  Push the restart button and begin to act like responsible adults.  End the rhetoric of hate.

More dirtball Tea Party posts on FaceBook

What is it about some Tea Partiers that they have to immediately go down the dirt path?  Skylands Tea Party member and self-proclaimed candidate for the New Jersey Legislature Kevin Mazzoti was once again writing about his favorite subjects:

"Suck a big fat one"

(November 2, 2016, 9:27PM)

"You are already sucking XXXXX off.  We know you are."

(November 2, 2016, 9:29PM)

"Pussy.  Yes, guess what I just said, pussy."

(November 2, 2016, 9:36PM)

"Tea Party patriots are not violent people.  We just tell it like it is."

(November 2, 2016, 9:38PM)

Now there is a walking, talking argument for therapy.  The strange thing is that people who one would think are relatively sane, people who claim to have religious values even, cheer on this imbecile and his pornographic, juvenile language. 

Meanwhile, another Tea Partier sent out an email blast opposing Question 2 on the November 8th ballot.  According to this man, Question 2 is really a conspiracy aimed at "people like him" and not -- as those of us on Planet Earth understand it -- simply a means to ensure that all the revenue from the gas tax is used for transportation projects. 

We got to thinking about the phrase, "people like him", so we looked him up and found this newspaper report concerning his wedding, where according to the Star-Ledger, the couple "consecrating the marriage by drinking wine which contained drops of their own blood in it."  Yes, they are into the whole vampire scene.  It just goes to show you that the mainstream media has it wrong when they describe Tea Partiers as "conservative" or "Christian."  All you have to be is angry.  And apparently the vampire community is well represented.

There is a small core of social media warriors who have been working as a team to stalk and harass legislators who supported the tax restructuring plan.  They work in the same manner that similar teams on the Left do.  Are they in the employ of NJ101.5 or its agent?

Finally, we noticed these charming posts by a prominent Tea Party leader, discussing the death, from cancer, of an elected Republican official:

"I'm praying hard you suffer even more than he does. You deserve it."

"Like me, she is eagerly anticipating your painful demise, Die ...and please, oh pretty please...do it painfully." 

"And do keep us apprised of the gory details...we so LOVE those."

So when they try to tell you that it is about principle, don't believe them.  This is raw hate. 

Of course, not every Tea Party group behaves like this.  On the website of a Tea Party organization in a neighboring county, we found this admonishment to members:

Remember the quote attributed to Ronald Reagan “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.” 

If only they all could be so balanced and rational.

Now they're attacking Garrett for the gas tax

The anger-driven, screw-them-all cacophony of the Tea Party is now costing embattled conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett votes.

Facebook post:  "Didn't Garrett support the gas tax?  Really hurts Sussex County residents."

How misinformed!  But these are the kinds of conclusions drawn when you are functioning on high-octane hate.  Facts don't matter.  All that matters is rage and targets for that rage.

Scott Garrett is a Sussex County native who has represented New Jersey’s fifth congressional district since 2003.  This year, he’s locked in the most difficult race he's ever faced.  Garrett is an unabashed social conservative with an almost perfect conservative voting record.

The American Conservative Union rated him 100 percent last year. His lifetime ACU rating is 99.38.  Garrett is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and has the support of the Club for Growth.

Still, many in the Tea Party find him suspect because he didn't rise from their ranks and his politics predates 2009 -- Year Zero for the Tea Party.  Unlike many Tea Party leaders, Congressman Garrett is an old-fashioned conservative gentleman who eschews the kind of foul-language on display from Tea Party Facebook warriors and at Tea Party rallies.  He is definitely out of step with the movement's manner of communicating. 

This has earned Garrett problems from the Tea Party in the past.  He was challenged in a Republican primary by a Tea Party member who will be playing a big part at the October 22nd Rally on Newton Green.  Despite his 99.38 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, that Tea Party leader described Garrett as a far-left liberal.  Violence and threats have been directed at the Congressman's office.

In the past, the Tea Party has often let their emotions get the better of them.  At times, they behave as if they are disconnected from our shared reality, rejecting fact for feeling.  Too often, violence is on their lips.  They fail to forgive long time allies and friends, and instead heap the most vicious invective on them.  Here is a chilling post, by a Tea Party leader from Sussex County, that expresses the kind of desires that can grow when you fail to keep hold of your humanity, humility, and common decency:

"All 545 sitting in DC right now are guilty of treason. And all those living who have sat over the past 2 decades, since the signing of NAFTA are, too. That is our reality, they should all be indicted, dragged out in chains, the evidence a matter of congressional record and unimpeachable. And all should be subject to all the consequences the law provides up to the firing squad."

What this Tea Party leader is describing is a lynching.  Let's hope that's not what happens on the 22nd.  People don't need any more reasons to vote for our mutual opponents.

Bill Spadea... you have a lot to answer for.

AFP rhetoric produces threat against Senator

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe AFP needs a timeout?