Will Steinhardt now disclose his clients who invest in Communist China?

By Rubashov

Did you hear… Jack Ciattarelli is a Commie!
 
Yep, the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Doug Steinhardt has followed up the announcement that “I’m not a politician, at all”, with a bigger, stupider lie. 
 
Yesterday, the Steinhardt campaign sent around an email that accused Ciattarelli of investing in “the Chinese Communist Party.”  The email went on to explain:
 
“As recently as 2017, Ciattarelli had ownership in several Chinese business investments all tied to the Communist Party of China (CPC).  It’s outrageous, but true - Ciattarelli actually owned financial interests in China Eastern Airlines, China Lodging Group and China Mobile Ltd.” 
 
The email included an image of Ciattarelli’s 2016 Personal Financial Disclosure Statement, filed with the New Jersey Legislature on May 2, 2017).  Steinhardt’s missive continued:
 
“At least two of his investments have direct connections to the CPC. According to Centre for Aviation, Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines is one of China's 'big three' state-owned airlines. Moreover, China Mobile is reportedly controlled directly by the Communist Party of China. According to a report from Forbes, the Federal Communications Commission sought to reject China Mobile’s application to provide telecommunications in the United States because of its CPC influences.”
 
While it is true that candidates for public office are responsible for where they place their money and with whom they invest, it is also true that investments are often made without very much detailed geo-political information on the company invested in or the fund doing the investing.  Perhaps there should be federal labeling laws? 
 

True to its tribute band aspirations, the Steinhardt campaign goes on to level this attack against Ciattarelli:

“While Ciattarelli has been profiting from his investments in Communist China, President Trump and Doug Steinhardt have been promoting strategies that put America first, protect our Nation’s interests, promote election integrity, and hold China accountable for the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”

They even have a quote from Steinhardt – one in which he does the full Elvis impersonation…

“New Jersey needs a leader who will stand with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies and against the Communist Party of China, not invest American dollars in the CPC. It’s time New Jersey leaders start protecting our financial interests instead of only worrying about their own. While conservative leaders who understand the threat the CPC poses seek to distance themselves from Communist China, Jack Ciattarelli has a long history of making money by investing in CPC linked companies. Voters must know that Jack is morally compromised on this important, national issue.”

Morally compromised? Didn’t the Philadelphia Inquirer report that Doug Steinhardt’s law firm wanted to buy a marijuana farm? Isn’t Steinhardt’s partner, the ever-so-conservative Jim Florio, the state’s biggest promoter of edible marijuana? You know, they put the stuff in chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and gummy bears… and then the kids get hold of it and nobody is the wiser. A teacher or a parent or a cop can see when a kid is smoking a joint – but how do you effectively monitor candy? Guess “morality” must come in assorted flavors too.

But let’s place Doug Steinhardt’s questioning of Jack Ciattarelli's morality to one side for the moment.

We have to ask… Why doesn’t the Steinhardt campaign know that Donald Trump is heavily invested in China and that he does so much business with China, he maintains a bank account there? Given who is running the Steinhardt campaign… WTF!

If anyone missed it, the New York Times did a pretty big story on it at the end of October. Oh, and catch these dates…

“Trump Records Shed New Light on Chinese Business Pursuits... As he raises questions about his opponent’s standing with China, President Trump’s taxes reveal details about his own activities there, including a previously unknown bank account... President Trump at a 2017 meeting with the leader of China, Xi Jinping. Mr. Trump has a long history of chasing licensing deals in the country.”

One story from October 20, 2020, was particularly in-depth:

“Mr. Trump’s own business history is filled with overseas financial deals, and some have involved the Chinese state. He spent a decade unsuccessfully pursuing projects in China, operating an office there during his first run for president and forging a partnership with a major government-controlled company.

And it turns out that China is one of only three foreign nations — the others are Britain and Ireland — where Mr. Trump maintains a bank account, according to an analysis of the president’s tax records, which were obtained by The New York Times.”

The story notes that Trump paid China $188,561 in taxes – which is, by some accounts, more than he paid in the United States. Trump’s attorney would not identify the bank in China where the account is held, but the Times noted that China’s biggest state-controlled bank rented three floors in Trump Tower as late as 2019.

The Times continues:

“Mr. Trump has long sought a licensing deal in China. His efforts go at least as far back as 2006, when he filed trademark applications in Hong Kong and the mainland. Many Chinese government approvals came after he became president. (The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump also won Chinese trademark approvals for her personal business after she joined the White House staff.)”

“In 2008, Mr. Trump pursued an office tower project in Guangzhou that never got off the ground. But his efforts accelerated in 2012 with the opening of a Shanghai office… Mr. Trump found a partner in the State Grid Corporation, one of the nation’s largest government-controlled enterprises. Agence France-Presse reported in 2016 that the partnership would have involved licensing and managing a development in Beijing. Mr. Trump was reportedly still pursuing the deal months into his first presidential campaign, but it was abandoned after State Grid became ensnared in a corruption investigation by Chinese authorities.”

Doug Steinhardt should take a moment and read this and accompanying articles on Donald Trump’s business connections with China. We’re surprised nobody on his staff took the time to do so before issuing an attack that questioned Jack Ciattarelli’s morals – and by implication, those of President Donald Trump as well.

We would like to ask Doug, because he allowed his handlers to place a direct quote from him in their attack, do you now believe that Donald Trump is a Communist too? Does this mean that Jack Ciattarelli is more like Trump than Doug Steinhardt? That’s never good for a cover band, Doug.

But this get’s worse.

Doug Steinhardt allowed his team to put out this quote from him: “While President Trump and I were fighting to hold the CPC accountable, swampy politicians like Jack Ciattarelli were taking financial advice from the likes of Hunter Biden and making a personal profit off of questionable investments. I call on Jack Ciattarelli to immediately disclose all of his Chinese business holdings."

Hunter Biden? Where the hell did that come from?

See Doug, this is why you hire competent people. Sane people. People who don’t throw some name into the mix, simply because they heard it somewhere, regardless of whether it has anything remotely to do with what you are on about.

Can we flesh out this Hunter Biden thing? Does your campaign have any evidence at all that Ciattarelli took “financial advice” from Hunter Biden or, is the former top Republican in New Jersey (now a gubernatorial candidate) simply smearing the entire financial services industry? Shame on you for letting them put your name on that. It wasn’t smart.

Even less smart was them getting you to issue a call for Jack Ciattarelli to “disclose all of his Chinese business holdings.” You know you probably have all that information already. But now you’ve opened the door for him to ask you to disclose the Pandora’s Box of your clients – and all their dealings. And how many of them look at the geo-politics of a stock instead of its bottom line? Donald Trump doesn’t, for one. How about the Mayor of Jersey City? Isn’t he a client? Somebody pissed down their own leg.

See Doug, this is why you hire competent people.

“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.”

George Orwells

N.B. We welcome a conversation on this and all topics raised on this website. Jersey Conservative is entirely open to your ideas and opinions. To submit a column for publication, please contact Marianna at marianna@JerseyConservative.org.

Bramnick vs. Sweeney: The politics of competing plans

Good for Jim Florio… at least he remembers who he is.

When asked whether or not he would endorse law partner Doug Steinhardt for Governor, the former Governor put it very simply:  “He’s not the right party as far as I’m concerned.  I would not vote for him.  I’m a Democratic voter.”

Doug is the Chairman of the Republican State Committee.  The two are partners at Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Cappelli.  This insight came courtesy of that doyen of bloggers… David Wildstein. 

But hey, Florio gets it.  Party means something.

It is the job of the leader of every legislative party caucus – the Speaker, the Senate President, and the minority leaders – to defend and expand their caucus at the expense of the other side.  Those are the rules.  It is first and foremost.  We all understand this.

Last week, Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick rolled out his plan for addressing New Jersey’s fiscal crisis.  It was a direct appeal to elect more Republicans to the Assembly and centered on what they would do if elected.

Bramnick did exactly what he needed to do.  After pointing out the fiscal evils perpetrated by legislative Democrats, Bramnick lays out three solid policy positions that points New Jersey Republicans in the direction of what we should be for…

(1) Cap State Spending at 2% (just like local government spending is capped).

(2) Cut the State Income Tax by 10% (make NJ more competitive w. other states).

(3) Full Deduction of Property Taxes on the State Income Tax (a move that takes the property tax issue away from Democrats like Andy Kim, Mikie Sherrill, and Josh Gottheimer).

In a political sense, the Assembly Republican Leader’s plan does not demonize any organized, well-funded interest groups – it simply starves government for the benefit of taxpayers.  Bramnick makes war on spending, not people.  And that is good politics.    

Bramnick avoids the mistake made in 2015 by then Governor Chris Christie and his Republican Party.  Christie’s pension/health benefits commission called for many changes but he went further and directly confronted the unions and their members, demonizing them in the process.  Christie inadvertently created well-organized, well-financed cells of opposition in every Republican district in the state. 

Like this year, 2015 was a low-turnout election with the Assembly at the top of the ticket.  Public employee unions targeted Republicans and Democrat super PACs – including those controlled by George Norcross – poured money into the campaigns of Democrat challengers.  Republicans lost four seats – four friends by the names of Donna, Caroline, Mary Pat, and Sam.

Yesterday, Senate President Steve Sweeney announced his “bi-partisan” plan that targets many of the same people that Governor Christie pissed off in 2015.  It should be noted that Sweeney’s plan was formally rolled out after the filing deadline for the Democrat primary.  Unfortunately for Republicans… it is some months until the November election.

This is not about the merits of the “bi-partisan plan” but rather, it is about the politics and timing of the plan.   

Are Republicans in danger of repeating 2015 again? 

Will the super PACS’s controlled by Sweeney allies like George Norcross back up every Republican legislator on the ballot this year?  Or will they stay true to form and support their Democrat challengers?  Will the Republicans on the ballot this year end up getting it from both ends?

This situation might be different if New Jersey Republicans had taken the time to build a base of small dollar donors and activists.  But as fundraiser Ali Steinstra noted at the March NJGOP Leadership Summit, broad-based Republican fundraising can only be accomplished by appeals to the party’s conservative base.   

The GOP establishment in New Jersey is barely on speaking terms with its base, so the ground has not been prepared.  We have no equivalent to what the NJEA and the Norcross super PACs will throw against us, so pissing on a hornet’s nest probably isn’t a good idea.  At this moment in time, it is more likely to motivate the kind of turnout that will cost us another four or more seats in November.

Assembly Leader Bramnick has a sensible, Republican plan that addresses the problem of spending and taxation.  It avoids drawing fire from well-organized, well-funded interest groups.  Those on the ballot this year have a choice to make.

Despite the dangers, many NJ political leaders intend to cash in on Pot.

Former Governor Jim Florio is leading the charge on legalizing the sale of marijuana “edibles” – THC laced chocolate, peanut butter cups, and cookies – that could easily get into the hands of children and are impossible to monitor by police.  He is the lead partner of a politically-connected law firm whose reach extends throughout the state and as deep as local governments.  He also controls a powerful lobbying operation.  But Florio isn’t the only politician preparing to cash in on the next opioid epidemic.  Longtime politicos around the state – both Democrats and Republicans – are making arrangements to become pot barons and to use their political muscle to make it happen.

An enormous, money-infused public relations operation has convinced many average citizens that pot is safe.  But is it?

Before they take their next vote, we urge legislators and average voters alike to read an eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter.  It reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize pot.

Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states.  A majority of Americans believe the drug should be legal for medical use.  Venture capitalist, speculators, entrepreneurs, and investors argue that pot can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers.

But legalization has been built on myths– that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is not just harmless but beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths:

• Almost no one is in prison for marijuana;

• A tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used;

• Marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Since 2008, the US and Canada have seen soaring marijuana use and an opiate epidemic. Britain has falling marijuana use and no epidemic;

• Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. After decades of studies, scientists no longer seriously debate if marijuana causes psychosis.

Psychosis brings violence, and cannabis-linked violence is spreading. In the four states that first legalized (in 2014-15), there have been sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults since legalization.  Combined, the four states saw a 35 percent increase in murders and a 25 percent increase in assaults – far outpacing national statistics when adjusted for changes in population.  In Uruguay, which allowed retail sales in July 2017, murders have soared.

Berenson’s reporting ranges from the London institute that is home to the scientists who helped prove the cannabis-psychosis link to the Colorado prison where a man now serves a thirty-year sentence after eating a THC-laced candy bar and killing his wife. He sticks to the facts, and they are devastating.

With America already gripped by one drug epidemic – the pharmaceutical industry induced opioid epidemic – this book should make legislators and average voters think and perhaps reconsider whether marijuana use is worth the risk.  But  money does talk…

Meanwhile, get a copy of the book.  Read it for yourself and start pushing back on the Madison Avenue deluge of b.s. from the pot barons and their lobbyists…

www.amazon.com/Tell-Your-Children-Marijuana-Violence/dp/1982103663