Shouldn’t FIGHTING FIRES FOR FREE give you the right to express yourself at your own event?

Volunteer firefighters put their necks on the line every time they get a call to come out for a fire or some other emergency. Because they do it for FREE, as an act of kindness to their neighbors and community, they save taxpayers millions each year in Sussex County (billions nationally).

Now Democrats and their far-Left allies are trying to destroy the fire protection services in one Sussex County town. Initially, they called town halls to request that volunteer firefighters be “fired” or “removed” because the Democrats were “offended” when the volunteers displayed a Trump banner at THEIR parade.

The Democrats have gone to the IRS with the claim that by displaying the flag, the volunteers “endorsed” a candidate. The Democrats are pushing to have the fire department investigated by the IRS and “eliminated”.

One snowflake actually wrote about how he feared that volunteer firefighters would not show up to rescue someone of a different political point of view. To make matters worse, the Editor of the New Jersey Herald – a newspaper that has a number of good writers – came out in support of the IRS complaint against the volunteers and repeated this same nonsense.

Well here is a newsflash for that snowflake… and for the Editor of the New Jersey Herald: The membership organizations of paid firefighters endorse candidates for public office ALL THE TIME – every year, every election, every office. So does the PBA and the FOP for the police. They take sides… and send money. Is anyone concerned that these formal endorsements will affect the services they provide? Has the Editor of the New Jersey Herald ever expressed concern about this?

And how often does Governor Phil Murphy use law enforcement as props at political announcements? He orders them to stand behind him when he comes out with nonsense like the Sanctuary State directive which law enforcement plainly believes is dangerous. The Governor is not a police officer or a firefighter but he uses them for politics, pure and simple.

How many political organizations have a non-profit side to go with their political action committees and lobbying organizations? There are literally hundreds that operate in New Jersey. People like George Soros and the Koch Brothers have created political empires while hiding vast fortunes in so-called “non-profits” that are little more than a means for them to shape policy and get their way (and make more money). But there are lots of smaller lobby/political operations disguised as “non-profits” too. They keep just this side of the letter of the law, mostly, while grossly violating the spirit of the law. Where is the outrage?

The group Action Together New Jersey claims that it is a non-profit. Most of the leadership of the Sussex County Democrats belong to it. It is a shadowy, far-Left group, but you won’t read about what it gets up to in the New Jersey Herald.

On February 10, 2018, Action Together New Jersey accepted an award from Linda Sarsour. Among those accepting the award was Action Together New Jersey’s Sussex County Co-Chair. Linda Sarsour was recently kicked out of the Women’s March for her anti-Semitism.

Sarsour is a controversial Democrat activist who has praised the notoriously anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan, cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, and the anti-Semitic BDS movement. In 2017, Sarsour famously called for “Jihad” against the elected government of the United States of America…

The award that the Sussex County Co-Chair picked-up was in recognition of the political campaigning done by Action Together New Jersey in coordination with a group called CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Presenting the award was CAIR National Chairwoman, Roula Allouch, and CAIR-NJ Founder, Ahmed Al Shehab.

Due to its apparent ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, one of America’s most important Islamic allies – the United Arab Emirates – has designated CAIR a terrorist organization.

The New Jersey Herald actually covered an event organized by Action Together and CAIR – a pro-Sanctuary State rally on Newton Green – but nobody mentioned that the group was officially designated a “terrorist” organization. And it is an Islamic nation that gave CAIR the designation. An Islamic nation in which American military personnel are currently serving in peril to their lives – our neighbors, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. We think that’s important. We think you should be aware of that. There are those in the media who would sooner suppress that information.

Action Together New Jersey is in the forefront of the drive to push the Democrat Party in New Jersey to the far-Left. They even bash other Democrats who get in the way of their agenda. For instance, they have joined CAIR in opposing the bi-partisan efforts of New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-5) to push back on members of the so-called “Jihad Squad” (far-Left Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib) in their attempt to promote the anti-Semitic BDS movement. It’s a fact. There was a vote taken. You might not read about it. But there it is.

If the Democrats and their allies succeed in breaking the backs of the volunteer firefighters in one community in Sussex County, what will happen? Will the current trained firefighters be “removed” as the Democrats have asked? And who will they be replaced by, the next time a fire happens, or some other emergency? A paid department that will require a large property tax hike?

And curiously enough, that new paid department will have a membership organization that will most certainly ENDORSE POLITICAL CANDIDATES and write checks to political campaigns. Then you will have both higher property taxes and real political activity to contend with, not the one-off expression of a group of un-paid volunteers having some fun at THEIR event that they earned by risking their lives again and again and again.

The far-Left is on the march, taking over or destroying every community organization and service in its path, pushing out common sense and fiscal responsibility. The Action Together New Jersey crew represents the very radical far-Left of the Democrat Party – and it has taken over the Sussex County Democrat Committee.

A.O.C. and Cory Booker would get A+’s from AFP

Did you catch AFP’s latest score card?  The one where every far-left Democrat in the state got rewarded with an “A” or “A+” because they supported AFP’s crazy ideas about going soft on crime in America? 

It’s official.  Americans for Prosperity has left the building.  AFP has walked away from American conservatism and has become a hodgepodge of fashion statements pumped out of the bunghole of Koch Petroleum. 

Relentlessly anti-working man/woman and anti-Trump, AFP now seeks to join the most far-left Democrat Socialists to reward criminal behavior, empower convicts at the ballot box, and roll back the clock on the Reagan-era tough-on-crime prescriptions that have driven down the crime rate across America.  AFP wants to ignore the facts, when the facts are clear:

AFP wants to screw up what’s worked and turn that ship around.  In a few years or so, we can all look forward to a return to the crime rates of the past that AFP now appears to forget.  Once upon a time, before Rudy Giuliani, when they made movies like “Death Wish” to dramatize the terror that stalked American streets. 

Strap yourself in boys and girls… for the Great Re-Learning!

The people who run Koch Petroleum operate AFP as a lobbying unit of their globalist business empire.  Once-upon-a-time the Koch operation included the Libertarian Party.  One of the Koch brothers even ran for Vice President – against the ticket of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush – on a platform that included the legalization of all forms of drug use and prostitution, as well as removing the legal protections for children, making them no different from consenting adults. 

The Kochs tried to take over the Republican Party… to remake it in their own image.  Failing that, they opposed the candidacy of President Donald Trump and continue to do so.  Now they are doing what so many “woke” corporations have done, adopting a fashion-statement issue in order to curry favor with the liberal establishment, to shield their corporate excesses from scrutiny.  They are hoping that people see the “good” they are doing in promoting a pro-criminal agenda and lay-off them when their petroleum centered business gets itself in trouble again.

So now you know why so many far-left Democrat Socialists have picked-up scores of “A” and “A+” from Americans for Prosperity’s latest score card.

Leaked email: AFP plans to push DACA and screw Trump

Breitbart’s John Binder reports…

“The pro-mass immigration Koch brothers’ network of billionaire, donor class organizations will push an expansive amnesty for illegal aliens this year while vowing not to financially support President Trump’s 2020 re-election bid.

In a leaked email obtained by Time Magazine, the Koch brothers’ network of organizations — which includes Americans for Prosperity, the LIBRE Initiative, and Freedom Partners — have their sights set on an amnesty for the at least 3.5 million illegal aliens who are enrolled and eligible for President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The Koch brothers’ organizations claim Americans have a ‘commitment’ to providing amnesty to DACA illegal aliens, though doing so would strain the country’s social safety net intended for U.S. citizens…”

“’We are making significant investments to unite the country and address critical issues that will help people improve their lives,’ Koch spokesman James Davis told TIME. ‘This starts with a major new initiative to fight poverty in America, and following on the success of the First Step Act in December continuing to build broad-based policy coalitions on issues from education reform to immigration.

These will include a significant investment to support policy champions in Senate, House and state races. This is where we can make the biggest difference for millions of Americans.’ [Emphasis added]

Most recently, the Koch network lobbied the Trump administration not to enforce an existing law whereby foreign nationals seeking to permanently resettle in the U.S. would need to prove that they will not become drains on the American taxpayer.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/02/billionaire-kochs-plot-daca-amnesty-vow-not-to-support-trump-in-2020/

Is AFP even a conservative organization anymore?

Can we get serious?

In America, there is a consensus, a generally accepted agreement as to what the word “conservative” means.  Take a poll.  Ask the average voter what the word means.  The four pillars of modern American conservatism are pretty easy to remember:

(1) The Right to Life.  Conservatives, real conservatives, Reagan conservatives, we oppose abortion.  Full stop.  

(2) The Second Amendment.  Hey, how many court rulings do you need before you finally get that the government has no duty to protect you?  In a Republic, that is on you.  Conservatives oppose the anarchy of crime.  We support gun rights, local police, and laws that are tough on crime – especially violent crime.

(3) Less Government/ Lower Taxes.  Conservatives know that smaller government and less government regulation leads to less spending and debt, which enables governments to cut taxes.  Conservatives also know that crony capitalism is a form of political corruption and as such is itself a tax on the goods and services used by ordinary citizens.

(4) Illegal Immigration.  Conservatives like America and American culture.  We welcome anyone from anywhere who wants to come here and join us and become an American.  We don’t want to be colonized by foreign cultures with authoritarian or anti-democratic traditions.  We don’t want to be told that we need to change to accommodate those who gate-crash the laws of our country. 

In order to call yourself a conservative in America, you pretty much need to be all four of the above.  Maybe you can get away with being a little mushy on one and still be considered a “soft” conservative.  But if you are bad on more than one, you need to think about why you are a Republican.  (Hey, haven’t these people ever read the PLATFORM of the party they claim membership of?)

That’s not to say that anybody is a “bad” person.  It’s just saying that you’re not a conservative.  See, the word “conservative” actually does mean something.  It’s not just a term of praise used in the proper setting to describe people we happen to like… or want to suck-up to. 

“Conservative” doesn’t mean “libertarian”.  It is per se a traditionalist point-of-view.  Conservatives want to C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E the traditions and values of our American Republic.  Unlike our libertarian brethren, we don’t want to replace Mom and Apple Pie with the Orgasmatron and the Orb.

That’s not to say that conservatives and libertarians (or anyone else for that matter) can’t agree on certain issues and work together.  But having a conservative point of view on this or that issue doesn’t make one a conservative.  Heck, Bill Clinton called himself a “fiscal conservative” – that didn’t make him a conservative.  It made him a liberal who saw the political advantages of conservative policy on issues like welfare reform.  He was still a liberal. 

And so we come to the especially Jersey-style, end of year crap that recently went spewing itself all over the Internet.  For years now, New  Jersey has been working very hard at being the place words go to lose their meaning.  Reading “The Right 40 Women to Watch in 2019” (written by AFP’s head honcho in New Jersey) it’s now clear that this trend has reached new depths of meaninglessness – with many of those mentioned being members of the “Right” only in the way that Hillary Clinton can be considered being to the “Right” of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

AFP – Americans for Prosperity – is the group formed by the super-rich Koch brothers as the political and lobbying arm of their business empire.  Anyone who knows anything about the Koch brothers knows that they come out of the Libertarian Party – in fact, one of the brothers actually ran against Republican Ronald Reagan on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980.  Yes… THAT Ronald Reagan. 

And what a ticket that was… it supported everything from the decriminalization of narcotics and prostitution to America’s standing down as a world power.  If that crew had been elected, we’d still have the Soviet Union (and maybe they would have won).  But happily, Reagan won and the Koch operation was forced to rebrand itself as fake “conservative” – a move that started the process of unwinding the meaning of the word. 

Over the last decade or more, the Koch operation has done much to corrupt the conservative movement in America – in an effort to remake it in their own crony capitalist image.  Now they’ve come full circle and are back to advocating a soft-on-crime approach while pushing to flood the open market with recreational marijuana… this, in the midst of an opioid epidemic that is killing upwards of 50,000 people each year.

In fact, AFP in New Jersey has become so crony capitalist, so establishment, so anti-conservative values, that it has taken to shilling for far-Left politicians like U.S. Senator Cory Booker.  Just before Christmas, AFP paid for a mailing that lauded Senator Gropicus (a great moniker, courtesy of SaveJersey’s Matt Rooney) for a soft-on-crime package of feel good “reforms” that miss the problem entirely, but make for good media ads for his 2020 run against President Donald Trump.  Why the heck would AFP do something like that?  The Democrats don’t need the resources – they already have George Soros – now they have the Koch operation’s millions too? 

Among those women on “the Right” we were asked to “celebrate” were a half dozen who made the list because of their service on the just completed campaign of Bob Hugin for United States Senate.  Now maybe the writer didn’t get the memo, but Bob Hugin didn’t run from “the Right” and his campaign did all it could to distance itself from said “Right” – starting with millions in advertising assuring the electorate that he was a “different kind of Republican” who explicitly rejected at least one of the four pillars of modern American conservatism.  So WTF?

And since when did the legalization and sale of marijuana become a conservative issue?  Hasn’t anyone read about the vaping problem in our schools?  And this is with nicotine… imagine what it will be with marijuana?  And edibles?  How will policing the use of chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, and cookies work?  Candy for children… So how the heck did the “co-founder and executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Industry Association” make a list of “women on the Right”???

Get out of your offices and talk to average people sometime!  Ask them if they think legalizing and selling an entry level drug in the midst of an opioid epidemic is a conservative political position?  Average voters will think you have lost your mind.  But there she is, on the list for being “at the helm” in her quest to “unleash a new industry within the State.”  What’s next?  Narcotics?  The legalization of human trafficking?  Prostitution?  Body parts?   Wait… it will come.

Rosemary Becchi made the list too.  She’s the president of a “new grassroots advocacy organization” formed in 2018 “to fight Jersey’s high taxes and propose policy solutions to the state’s complex financial problems.”  Except that she hasn’t.  Ms. Becchi is a DC lobbyist who has donated to the Democrats.  Hey, we get that lobbyists do that kind of thing, but let’s not call it conservative. 

Nobody has seen Ms. Becchi testifying in Trenton, or providing information to legislators, or even returning telephone calls from those interested in finding out more about her “organization”.  Cynics would say that it is nothing more than a front – a cover for her personal ambition to run for Congress.  This is something she openly explored against incumbent Congressman Leonard Lance (R-07) a year ago, with her “grassroots” organization forming a kind of parentheses between that and her expected formal announcement for 2020.

But as far as labeling her a “conservative” – we don’t really know where she stands on big government and taxes, leaving aside her unknown positions on abortion, the Second Amendment, and illegal immigration.  So who is trying to fool who here?

Finally, AFP’s list is memorable because of the genuine conservatives – four pillar conservatives – that it leaves out.  Champions like Marie Tasy and Christine Flaherty and Rev. Mandy Leverett… they are fighting to maintain the value of human life, to recognize the threshold of fetal pain, to end the trafficking of human beings and the sexual exploitation of women and children.  Of course, in today’s cash register world of “new industries” like pot and such, none of that matters – except that it does matter to conservatives, and there are a great many of us.

Also dissed were Freeholder Deborah Smith of Morris County – a great advocate for the Second Amendment – and incoming Sussex County Freeholder Dawn Fantasia who took down an incumbent Freeholder by winning 63% of the vote!  Nobody who made AFP’s list ever beat an incumbent.  Why are conservative winners ignored and pot pushers lauded as “conservatives”?   And how about an operative like Kelly Hart, the executive director of the Sussex County Republican Committee.  A four pillar conservative who actually won for Bob Hugin by more than was expected – outperforming everywhere but receiving scant recognition for it.  Obviously, there is a “cool girls” table, just as in high school, and some are not part of it… no matter how much they actually WIN elections. 

So in future, be a bit more judicious in who you label “conservative.”  Be honest with voters.  Stop telling them that you are something you’re not. 

Yes, we expect to hear arguments from pro-abortion, mushy on illegal immigration, soft-on-the-Second Amendment types who claim that they “feel” they are conservative.  But isn’t that just the times we live in?  We’ve all heard of gender-fluidity… well, these people are ideologically fluid.  And just as our chromosomes determine whether we are male or female, how we stand on the four pillars make us conservative – or something else.

Hey, don’t worry.  Not being conservative doesn’t make you a “bad” person.  And it doesn’t mean that you don’t hold conservative points of view on this issue or that.  You can still work with conservatives.  It just means that you recognize that you don’t come from the same ideological place that conservatives do.  And in your heart, you already know that, so let’s cut the bull and get honest with the voters.  Restoring their faith in the labels politicians apply to themselves will perhaps restore some measure of trust… for when the very words people use to describe themselves have no integrity, what confidence can voters have in anything?

Oroho got highest number of GOP votes in state

It was supposed to be the most watched race in the state.  NJ101.5's Bill Spadea and Save Jersey's Matt Rooney had Steve Oroho in their crosshairs.  Liberals like Democrat Senator Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak and Republican Jennifer Beck had lots of bad to say about him. 

The Koch Brothers and the petroleum lobby used their astro-turf group to engineer the now notorious screw card; that child of David "Wally Edge" Wildstein, the ObserverNJ, ran a hit piece by NJELEC's own James Comey, Jeff Brindle; an AFP operative had a state employee try to shake down a candidate; and DOT employees got in on the action, tearing down some political campaign signs while leaving those up of candidates they supported.  But at the polls, the wheels came off -- and they couldn't quite put the clown car back together again. 

On election day, June 6th, Senator Steve Oroho (LD24) got more votes than any Republican Senator or Senate candidate in New Jersey.  Senator Oroho picked-up 10,773 votes in the Republican primary -- the most votes won by any Senate Republican in the 40 legislative districts in New Jersey, according to the elections division of the Secretary of State's office.

The closest to Senator Oroho was Senator Mike Doherty (LD23) who got 10,742 and Senator Joe Pennacchio (LD26) with 10,357.  But unlike Senator Oroho, both had no opposition.

In comparison, Republican luminaries like Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. and NJ101.5's favorite, Senator Jennifer Beck, picked-up 7,678 and 5,081 votes, respectively.

LD01  6,269

LD02  5,879

LD03  4,133

LD04  3,697

LD05  2,524

LD06  3,985

LD07  5,794

LD08  6,541

LD09  9,221

LD10  8,856

LD11  5,081

LD12  4,263 (faced opposition)

LD13  5,939

LD14  3,475 (faced opposition)

LD15  2,228

LD16  8,364

LD17  2,060

LD18  2,560

LD19  1,834

LD20  678

LD21  7,678

LD22  2,306

LD23  10,742

LD24  10,773 (faced opposition)

LD25  8,740

LD26  10,357

LD27  4,609

LD28  (no GOP candidate)

LD29  498

LD30  8,434

LD31  663

LD32  913

LD33  907

LD34  1,029

LD35  978

LD36  1,861

LD37  1,052 (faced opposition)

LD38  4,094

LD39  6,132

LD40  7,698 (faced opposition)

Among Republican Assembly members, Parker Space got the most in the state, with 11,097 votes.  Space was bracketed with Hal Wirths, who picked-up 9,797 votes -- the fourth highest in the state.  Oroho, Space, and Wirths ran as a team.

AFP and the Koch Bros go after Trump and Ryan

The social liberals at the Koch network have promised to "spend millions of dollars" to defeat the Republican health care plan to replace ObamaCare. 

The network's leading organizations, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and Freedom Partners, announced on Wednesday the creation of a special fund to support House members who vote against the health care bill.

"Some of those who decry 'special interests' and how money runs politics are happy to follow the billionaire Koch Brothers and the organizations they bankroll, like Americans for Prosperity (AFP)," said one New Jersey conservative.

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips confirmed that the group planned to spend "seven figures" to oppose President Donald Trump and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.  The money will go towards "political ads, direct mail, and other grassroots activity."

Curiously, much of northwest New Jersey is unlikely to see any of this activity because it is particularly targeted against Republicans, so those living in newly elected liberal Democrat Josh Gottheimer's district will get a pass.  It will be a very different story for other New Jersey Republicans.

Writing on the  conservative news website, NewsMax, one conservative activist said:  "The Koch Brothers are fierce enemies of the American people and need to be boycotted by every American," adding that the Koch Brothers are "sick billionaires" and "globalists" whose game is to "fail President Trump and the American people while they claim to be seeking a perfect 100% great bill that does not exist".

NJ GOP legislators who screwed Trump this week

Should legislators be required to disclose tax returns?

A lot of Democrat legislators appear to think so. . . then again, maybe not.  They believe that Presidential candidates should or at least a certain Presidential candidate who is now the incumbent President.  Fair enough.  This is the New Jersey Democrats' version of what some southern Republicans got up to after Barack Obama was elected President.  Their tool was to mandate production of birth certificates.  The Jersey Democrats want tax returns.

It seems America now does that third world country thing of de-legitimizing the winner of every national election.  We now place faction or party ahead of country.  Hopefully we don't go the whole hog and start the violent coup thing any time soon, but there are an awful lot of idiots out there on both sides.

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick raised the question of having legislators and gubernatorial candidates disclose their tax returns at Thursday's Assembly session.  It is good to see some Republicans calling the Democrats out.  Unfortunately, there are others who would rather back the Democrats up .

Yes, it is time for the first installment of Jersey Conservative's weekly corrective to the ridiculous "screw card" scores shat out by the crew over at AFP (Anarchists for Petroleum. . . subsidized petroleum, that is).  We didn't want to go down this road, but the sheer ignorance and blissful trashing of the state's most consistently pro-business/ pro-tax cut legislators left us no choice.  We have been forced to apply balance.

On Monday, the Senate voted for S-3048, which is legislation designed to screw over and embarrass Republican President Donald Trump.  The bill "requires candidates for President and Vice-President of United States to disclose federal income tax returns" in order to be allowed to appear on a ballot in New Jersey, and it "prohibits (the) Electoral College electors from voting for candidates who fail to file income tax returns." 

Yep, that is a middle finger to President Donald Trump.  Look, we all get why the Democrats are doing this -- they are in deep denial and are allowing tribe to come before country (they wouldn't be in this mess if they had let Bernie win, but that is a story for another time) -- but why would a Republican join in? 

Here's what you need to know about the anti-Trump Koch organization that runs AFP.  One of their heroes is Republican Senator Jennifer Beck.  She got a good mark on the "screw card," and she also voted to screw President Donald Trump on S-3048.  Two other AFP "heroes" who also happen to be GOP Senators joined in on the screwing too.

Shouldn't Senator Beck and her colleagues be required to release their tax returns too?  This is all they have to release at present:

In their effort to embarrass and demean President Trump, AFP "hero" Beck also took a shitty vote that instructs state officials not to cooperate with federal officials on matters of national security and terrorism.  S-3011, "directs State and local governments to refrain from disclosing to the federal government personally identifiable information, regarding the religious beliefs, practices, or affiliation, or national origin or ethnicity, of any individual, which the federal government requests for compiling a list, registry, or database of individuals based on religious affiliation, national origin, or ethnicity... The bill further prohibits the use of money, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel by State and local law enforcement authorities to investigate or enforce any criminal, civil, or administrative violation, or warrant for a violation, of a requirement that individuals register with the federal government or any federal agency based on religion, national origin, or ethnicity."

Apparently the Senator and her colleagues who voted for this (thankfully, she was joined by just one other Republican, also an AFP "hero") have never heard of a religious group called the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ.  It was founded in 1955 by the Reverend Jim Jones.  According to Wikipedia, the group preached a religious message that mixed "Christianity with socialist politics, with an emphasis on racial equality." For a time, it was headquartered in San Francisco and boasted more than 20,000 communicants.  Later, the group moved to Guyana to establish a commune.  In 1978, the group murdered five people -- including a United States congressman and three journalists -- and forced or induced 918 people to consume poison or otherwise take their own lives.  276 children were murdered as a direct result of the "practices and beliefs" of this religious affiliation.  It was "the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act" until September 11, 2001.

Another bad, bad vote this week by AFP "hero" Senator Beck was intended as a slap in the face to efforts by President Trump to make good on his campaign promises regarding illegal immigration.  You won't believe the language in SCR-134:  "As amended, this concurrent resolution expresses the Legislature’s intent that school districts and public institutions of higher education continue to serve as safe zones and resource centers for students and families threatened by immigration or discrimination; and that school districts and public institutions of higher education continue to protect the data and identities of undocumented students, family members, and school employees who may be adversely affected by future federal policies or executive action that results in the collection of personally identifiable information.  Since the conclusion of the 2016 presidential election, school districts, public institutions of higher education, and the students and families they serve have raised increased concerns about the possibility of impending action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that may impact undocumented students and their families.  As a result of this heightened concern, school districts and institutions of higher education across the country have adopted resolutions and policies reaffirming their intent to continue to act as safe zones and resource centers for students and families threatened by immigration or discrimination and to protect the identities of and data related to undocumented students and their families."

AFP "hero" Senator Jennifer Beck, was the only Republican to vote for this howler.  There are many important votes.  Illegal immigration matters.  Terrorism matters.  Defending America matters.  Don't let the Trump-haters at the Kock organization tell you that only the gas tax matters

Senator Beck and her collaborator at AFP push their pro-illegals, anti-Trump, social liberal agenda.

This ends the first installment of Jersey Conservative's corrective to the AFP "screw card."  Stay tuned. . . 

The Screw card: Who engineered those AFP ratings?

A whistleblower copied us on a letter sent to the Internal Revenue Service, among other organizations.  The letter outlines the on-going collusion between the New Jersey affiliate of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a tax-exempt organization, and legislative staff and political campaign operatives in the creation of the group's so-called "scorecard." 

AFP's scorecard is a rating system that internal memos show has been engineered to benefit individual legislators for various purposes.  For instance, one legislator, Gail Phoebus, recently hired an AFP donor's child to her legislative staff.  For doing so, she received an "A+".  That's taxpayers' money that paid for that grade.

There was corruption evident in each of AFP's scorecards in the past, but this most recent edition -- the release of which was timed to coincide with a major AFP fundraiser hosted by Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean Jr. -- is so corrupt, so convoluted, that it begs description.  Instead of counting actual votes, the "engineers" behind the screw card fashioned a subjective mix of assigned "points" for the effort of proposing legislation -- even if that legislation was never posted for a vote.  That said, in order to injure some legislators and enhance others, co-sponsorship of legislation wasn't given credit  or, on bad bills, deductions.  And even though the rules on the number of sponsors vary in each Chamber, this wasn't taken into account.

Some of the more glaring incidents of corruption:

- Legislation to get rid of the Estate Tax in five years that went nowhere, is marked as a positive.  The legislation that actually did get rid of the Estate Tax in less than two years, is a negative.  Curiously, AFP actually touted the success of the legislation they marked as "negative" in a press release detailing their "legislative successes" for 2016.  In fact, most of the "successes" they used to raise money from their donors came from legislation they marked as "negative."   

- Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) gets credit for sponsoring legislation (A-1059), while running-mate Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce gets no credit for co-sponsoring the same legislation.

- A bill (ACR-213) proposed by far-left Democrat John Wisniewski (D-19) which would allow voters to over-turn all of Governor Chris Christie's vetoes of anti-Second Amendment legislation passed by the Legislature was rated as a POSITIVE by AFP.  Does that make AFP anti-gun?  It certainly seems so.  On top of this, they assigned credit or blame incorrectly.  For instance, AFP credited Senator Michael Doherty even though he hadn't sponsored a Senate version (none exists).

- Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the Senate received an "A+" for his vote on the so-called "gas tax" (actually, the Tax Reform package that included 5 tax cuts as well as the gas tax increase), while Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) got an "F" for taking the exact same vote on the "gas tax."

- There was no mention of legislation to spend millions on Planned Parenthood.  Whether this was because of AFP State Chair Frayda Levy's personal position on abortion or the time AFP Executive Director Erica Jedynak (nee Klemens) spent with W.A.N.D. (Women's Action for New Directions) we cannot tell.  Apparently, legislators get no credit for being Pro-Life from AFP.  Neither do they get it for preventing taxpayers' millions from being spent on abortion facilities.

- AFP is apparently hostile to legislation proposed by Senator Steve Oroho, called the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act.  It appears to fly in the face of what AFP national chair David Koch calls "free trade."

- A great deal of important legislation, like Senate legislation on paid sick leave, was treated as if it didn't exist.  The scores of some legislators, such as Senator Tom Kean Jr., improved dramatically.  Kean, who just a session ago was in the high 50 percentile range, suddenly got an "A"!

-  Of all the hundreds of votes taken in the Legislature, AFP "counted" just nine Assembly votes and six in the Senate -- and one of those they got wrong because they cherry-picked it from a previous session.  In other words, either the ass-monkey can't read a date correctly or somebody really wanted to screw someone.

(Jersey Conservative has some of best legislative watchers in the state and we will be putting together a comprehensive scorecard of the top 100 votes in the Legislature for 2016 in plenty of time for the June primary.  Instead of the subjective contortions used by the Kock organization's screw card, Jersey Conservative will use as our guide, the RNC platform that Chairman Webber so studiously avoided adopting.)

Who was behind the convoluted calculations that appear to damage some for a primary, while creating an advantage for others?  Whose thumb was on the scale?

We have asked this question before, of a different group that issues ratings -- the American Conservative Union (ACU).  When we spoke with their national office last year, they were most cooperative and forthcoming.  They readily informed us that the office of the Senate Republican Leader had assisted them in picking and choosing which votes to highlight. 

Perhaps that was the reason the ACU left out important votes like providing drug-dealers with taxpayer-funded welfare benefits.  Whatever, because it was child's play compared to what just happened over at AFP.

We can't imagine why a Republican Leader or his staff would have anything to do with an organization that went out of its way to crank it up the ass of five of his own incumbent Republican caucus members.  Are they trying to weed out anyone with a spine or just those who have never thought about visiting the Bohemian Grove?  Is this laying the groundwork for a Republican-NJEA alliance for November with the hope that conservatives will keep focused on "the gas tax" long enough to have their guns confiscated and the institution of co-ed high school showers.  Time will tell.

As for AFP, anyone who dips their snout in the toilet bowl with it can be labeled as working with the petroleum lobby, the illegal immigration lobby, the open borders for terrorists lobby, and also with that peculiar brand of Koch libertarianism that sincerely believes children have the rights to recreational narcotics and to sell their bodies for sex.  We suspect that candidates will be hearing a lot more on this as their campaigns progress through the primary and general election processes. The digging will get deep and the shit will be random. 

Let us leave you with this quote from the Liberty & Prosperity blog run by Seth Grossman.  Grossman was a founding member of New Jersey's AFP affiliate, so he knows of whom he speaks:

"Frayda Levy of Bergen County also supports amnesty for all illegals without taking any measures to stop, arrest, or deport future illegals.   Frayda is one of the super-rich donors who donated more than a million dollars to Americans for Prosperity created by Charles and David Koch."

People like the ones running AFP like illegal labor because it drives down wages and makes average Americans take-it-or-leave-it wage slaves.  Next time some surrogate for these modern day slavers complains about a working man in Morris County supporting a candidate who helps him keep his family fed, clothed, and a roof over their head, we will detail how much dough the folks on the other side are swimming in and the causes they use it on.  Special interests?  What in the hell are the Koch Brothers! 

AFP opposes President Trump on illegal immigration

Last month Time magazine reported that the "powerful policy and politics network organized by the billionaire Koch brothers made official what many had expected: an opposition to President Trump’s ban on visitors from seven countries with Muslim majorities.  In a statement provided to reporters covering the Kochs’ twice-a-year retreat, top official Brian Hooks said Sunday that the groups under his umbrella would not support Trump’s move."

On February 21, 2017, the Washington Times reported on the attack by Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) on President Trump's attempt to build a wall between Mexico and the United States.  AFP calledTrump's efforts a "tax increase" on business . 

State AFP affiliates have threatened to give pro-Trump Republican members of Congress an "F" rating if they support construction of a border wall.

The Koch Political Network is a special interest lobby group funded by the brothers' extensive holdings in the petroleum industry.  According to figures provided by Koch Industries, they spend between $300 million and $400 million on political activity every election cycle.

The Koch network, officially known as Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, operates groups such as the grassroots focused Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the data-centered i360 and Latino-eyeing Libre Initiative.  Together, they spent roughly $250 million on last year’s elections—while sitting out the White House race.  Over the next two years, they plan to spend as much as $400 million.  

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is run by David H. Koch, a New York City billionaire ($43.3 billion and counting) who is an owner at Koch Industries and whose core business is the refining and distribution of petroleum. 

The Chairman of AFP -- yes, the same David H. Koch -- is a social liberal.  But don't take our word for it.  Here is what Wikipedia had to say about him:

(David) Koch considers himself a social liberal,[22] supporting women's right to choose,[23] gay rights, same-sex marriage and stem-cell research.[3][24] He opposes the war on drugs.

Ronald Reagan was a social as well as an economic conservative.  He believed in an America built on Judeo-Christian values and the Western tradition of free speech and free markets.  David Koch is no Reaganite.  In fact, he opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980 -- as the Libertarian Party's candidate for Vice President -- running on a platform  that included the following planks:

"We therefore call for the elimination of all restriction on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for those people who have entered the country illegally."

" We support an end to all subsidies for child-bearing built into our present laws, including all welfare plans and the provision of tax-supported services for children. We further support the repeal of all laws restricting voluntary birth control or the right of the woman to make a personal moral choice regarding the termination of pregnancy."

"We defend the rights of individuals to engage in (or abstain from) any religious activities which do not violate the rights of others. In order to defend religious freedom, we advocate a strict separation of church and state."

"The repeal of all laws regarding consensual sexual relations, including prostitution and solicitation, and the cessation of state oppression and harassment of homosexual men and women, that they, at least, be accorded their full rights as individuals".

"We believe that 'children' are human beings and, as such, have the same rights as any other human beings. Any reference in the Platform to the rights of human beings includes children."

"The repeal of all laws prohibiting the production, sale, possession, or use of drugs, and of all medical prescription requirements for the purchase of vitamins, drugs and similar substances".

"The repeal of all laws interfering with the right to commit suicide as infringements of the ultimate right of an individual to his or her own life".

"We support recognition of the right to political secession. Exercise of this right, like the exercise of all other rights, does not remove legal and moral obligations not to violate the rights of others."

"We call for the withdrawal of all American troops from bases abroad. In particular, we call for the removal of the U.S. Air Force as well as ground troupes from the Korean peninsula."

"We favor immediate independence for all colonial dependencies, such as Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico".

"Government interference in transportation is characterized by monopolistic restriction, corruption, and gross inefficiency. We therefore call for the dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation, including the Department of Transportation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, Conrail and Amtrak. We demand the return of America's railroad system to private ownership. We call for the privatization of the public roads and national highway system."

And that, as they say, is how David H. Koch rolls...

Addiego fights for Vets, Cardinale's croc tears

Burlington County's Senator Dawn Marie Addiego made sure that the TTF agreement included more than a handshake for veterans.  She resisted the demands to screw veterans, by NJ101.5's Bill Spadea and the Koch Petroleum lobby group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP). 

Instead, Addiego fought for veterans.  She made sure that the compromise contained a $23 million income tax cut for veterans who were honorably discharged from active duty military service or from the National Guard/ Reserve.  

Some of the bigger hand-jobs out there suggest that a conservative Republican should never vote for a tax cut because, so the argument goes, some future legislature (Democrat or liberal Republican) could undo those tax cuts.  This argument is sheer assbanditry.  One might as well argue against life itself because  eventually, we all die anyway.

Let them try to take this away from veterans.  A tax cut passed is better than one just talked about.  We fight the battles as they come.  We always have. Some of us always will.  One step at a time.  Let others give up.

We also heard from Senator Gerald Cardinale today.  His detachment from conservatives continues.  It began with his votes on behalf of illegal immigrants, to extend taxpayer-funded benefits to those in the United States illegally.  The Senator defended his vote to continue to attract illegal labor to compete with American workers by telling the Star-Ledger (11/24/13): "I’ve always sort of had this penchant for bringing people into the mainstream of the economy, and I think this fits that category.  Let more folks get into the mainstream of the economy and they’ll be doing better."

Senator Cardinale has been a legislator in New Jersey since 1974.  He predates the creation of the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).  The gas tax has not been increased since 1988.  There have been no adjustments for inflation.  The last time the gas tax took in enough money to fund New Jersey's transportation needs was in 1990.  After that, the Legislature put it all on the taxpayers' credit card and piled on the debt year after year.  For eight of those years -- 1994 through 2001 -- the Republicans held WIDE MAJORITIES in BOTH chambers of the Legislature AND the GOVERNOR.  Did they notice the TTF debt?  Did they do anything about it?  Nope.  Jack Dick!

During that long stretch, the federal benchmark for inflation, the COLA (cost of living adjustment) went up many times:  4.0% in 1988, 4.7% in 1989, 5.4% in 1990, 3.7% in 1991, 3% in 1992, 2.6% in 1993, 2.8% in 1994, 2.6% in 1995, 2.9% in 1996, 2.1% in 1997, 1.3% in 1998, 2.5% in 1999, 3.5% in 2000, 2.6% in 2001, 1.4% in 2002, 2.1% in 2003, 2.7% in 2004, 4.1% in 2005, 3.3% in 2006, 2.3% in 2007, 5.8% in 2008, zero in 2009, zero in 2010, 3.6% in 2011, 1.7% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, 1.7% in 2014, and zero in 2015.  But the price we paid to maintain our roads and bridges remained the same.  Didn't legislators like Cardinale ever wonder how?

Does Senator Cardinale even care?  We have remarked before on the practice, by so many legislators, of leaving New Jersey with their pension and moving to low tax states after they retire.  Lots of New Jersey legislators own homes outside New Jersey.  Senator Cardinale owns a luxurious resort on the Caribbean Island of St. Martins.  A pool, private beach, horseback riding, water sports, and nearby French gourmet restaurants and Parisian style shopping.  That's not our description of the place, it's the Senator's. 

Part of the TTF compromise is the elimination of taxes on retirement income for those residents of New Jersey.  Senator Cardinale could vote to give retirees in New Jersey an average $1,200 tax cut.

He said he won't.  But there is still time.

AFP/Koch screwing NJ taxpayers on jobs

AFP is at it again.  They are putting the corporate priorities of the Koch brothers over the economic well-being of the taxpayers of New Jersey.

The reason that BOTH wings of the corporate establishment party -- the Hillary Clinton Democrats and the Mitch McConnell Republicans -- have done nothing to secure our borders or to attempt to monitor those who come into this country legally and then overstay their visas, is because their corporate masters depend on illegal labor to suppress American wages.  For the past forty years, the American worker has lost ground and passing minimum wage laws mean nothing when there are millions of wage slaves in the gray economy to exploit.

The Koch brothers know this and that is why they have done their best to undercut the presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

The Kochs' lobbying wing, the so-called Americans for Prosperity (AFP), likes to portray itself as a "membership" organization, but unlike other membership organizations here in America, AFP's members don't get to vote on who leads its national and state organizations.  Those decisions are made for them by individuals closely connected with the owners of Koch Industries.   That means that AFP is essentially a lobby group, so we understand why it would disadvantage New Jersey taxpayers to advance the agenda of Koch Industries.

Earlier today, the New Jersey outpost of AFP issued yet another attack on legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173/Assembly Bill 2863.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union.

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173/A 2863 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now, why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservative and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, Pro-Second Amendment, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey. 

AFP goes LEFT again: Supports reverse discrimination

In a bizarre missive sent out today by AFP's New Jersey leadership, the group put forward the arguments of a left-wing artist and an organization that supports mandatory, government-enforced quotas for businesses based not on the quality of work they do, but on subjective and arbitrary factors such as the gender of the owner.  This kind of reverse discrimination is abhorrent to most clear-thinking Americans and abusive of taxpayers. 

AFP NJ is part of the Koch Brothers' national lobbying group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP).  Yesterday, AFP NJ issued a different attack on the same legislation targeted by today's missive: Legislation designed to protect skilled American workers from illegals looking to take their jobs. 

The bill under attack is Senate Bill 2173.  This is EXACTLY how the bill description reads:

This bill requires every contract subject to State prevailing wage requirements to require each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship, unless the contractor or subcontractor certifies that the worker is paid not less than the journeyworker wage rate.

Under the bill, a “registered apprenticeship program” is an apprenticeship program which is registered with and approved by the United States Department of Labor and which provides each trainee with combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade and meets the program performance standards of enrollment and graduation under 29 C.F.R. Part 29, section 29.6.

This is the LIE being promoted by AFP:

At the heart of the legislation is a requirement that " each worker employed under the contract to be enrolled in, or have completed, a registered apprenticeship" program. Since apprenticeship programs are offered primarily by labor unions, this bill would all but shut out competition from non-union shops and drive up project costs at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers.

The truth is this:  There are 676 active apprentice programs in New Jersey, only 15 of which are affiliated with a construction union. 

Illegals cannot gain access to apprenticeship programs because they are in the United States illegally.  As it is now, unethical contractors hire a qualified worker (per the law) and then place a dozen or dozens of unqualified illegals under him (or her), pay them less, and increase profits.  Why should taxpayers pay for unqualified illegal labor?

SB 2173 makes sure that the workers hired are qualified workers or worker trainees in an approved apprenticeship program, who have a legal right to be in the United States. 

And contrary to what AFP is telling you, if there is no apprenticeship program covering a particular job-description, a worker may be hired provided that the contractor sign a statement that he is legally permitted to work in America.  Now why would ANY group calling itself CONSERVATIVE oppose that!

What's up with AFP NJ?

Back when Steve Lonegan ran AFP in New Jersey, there was a level of competence that seems lacking now.  Lonegan communicated with other conservatives and used AFP to support the conservative movement as a whole -- even when it went against the corporate interests of the Koch brothers. 

In contrast to the Koch brothers and the current regime running AFP NJ, Lonegan was solidly Pro-Life, he opposed same-sex marriage, opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, and supported American cultural values.  The current leadership are culture warriors for the Left.  No less than conservative Senator Mike Doherty was stiffed by them when he asked the financial backers of AFP NJ for help. 

Whether due to incompetence or by design, AFP NJ has once again exhibited that they don't understand the legislation they are opposing.  Conveniently ignoring the purpose of the legislation to push the Koch agenda isn't helping the conservative movement in New Jersey.  Next time, pick up a telephone and talk to a fellow conservative before going off half-Koched.

With no facts, AFP is left with parables

On the TTF crisis they have now helped to create, AFP assures us that it is holding something  firm or firmly holding or something like that.  Look, we all get it that Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is owned by the Koch Brothers -- those Trump hating, Hillary embracing petroleum industry (as in G-A-S-O-L-I-N-E) billionaires.  

AFP was on record its whole existence as opposing the job-killing, business destroying Estate Tax -- until the price of ending it was raising the tax on the Koch Brothers' favorite product.  Then it was all hands firmly opposed to raising the gas tax.  And to this end they have thrown a lot of shit against the wall hoping that some of it stuck.  The latest is a parable from New Jersey's answer to Ayn Rand herself.

Look, we don't need silly parables with clunky characters like "Uncle Sam State."  What is that about?  With a polity that worships political beings as if they were gods on earth, "Uncle Hand State" would be far more appropriate.

Once upon a time, New Jersey's answer to Ayn Rand sold books wholesale to public and private entities.  Nothing wrong in that.  We love books.  But selling a product over time presumably introduces you to the concept of inflation.

The gas tax hasn't kept up with inflation.  Since 1988, New Jersey has charged drivers just 14 1/2 cents a gallon of gas to maintain and repair our roads and bridges.  The price hasn't gone up in 28 years.  

What business doesn't raise its prices in 28 years and survives?

Other states have raised their prices in line with inflation.  New York charges over 40 cents a gallon and Pennsylvania over 50 cents.  If New Jersey had raised its price little by little, in line with inflation, that 14 1/2 cents would be 29 cents today.  

What happened instead was that TTF spending was uncapped in the 1990's and successive administrations extended the life of the debt so they could borrow and spend more.  They spent and spent but didn't raise the tax to pay for it.   Today it will take all of that 14 1/2 cents and the first 10 1/2 cents of any gas tax increase just to pay the interest on that debt.

That's why the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) is broke and road and bridge maintenance and repair has stopped.  There is simply no money to pay for it.  And now, because of the mistakes made in the past, the gas tax or some other tax will have to be raised or roads and bridges will have to close.

The gas tax is a users' tax.  President Ronald Reagan believed it was the fairest way of paying for road and bridge maintenance, repair, and construction -- charge the drivers who use it.

The gas tax is also fairer to the taxpayers of New Jersey.  

New Jersey is a pass-through state on the busiest travelled corridor in the East Coast.  I-95 is the nation's busiest road.  35 percent of those who use New Jersey's roads and bridges are from out-of-state.  Instead of raising the gas tax, for years New Jersey has borrowed more and paid more and more interest on that debt.  In-effect, New Jersey taxpayers are paying interest on debt in order to subsidize out-of-state drivers who continue to use our roads and bridges at the 1988 price per gallon.

The ONLY way to get out-of-state drivers to pay their fair share is through a users' tax on gasoline.  Without an increase in this users' tax -- the gas tax -- local road and bridge maintenance and repair will have to be paid for in higher property taxes.  Now who wants that?

Sen. Beck: Tax policy is black or white/ gender is not

Jennifer Beck is a moralizer.  If you disagree with her on something as banal as tax policy, it makes you a bad person -- and that extends to your family too -- you are all somehow less than human. 

But on issues such as whether a woman or her daughter can object to an anatomical male showering with them, or sharing their changing or toilet facilities, Beck insists on acceptance.  You see, for Beck, gender is loosey goosey.

But not tax policy -- something on which normal, rational people can have different positions and take different approaches.  On tax policy, Jennifer Beck becomes emotional. You are either with her -- or you are pond scum.  She'll get a colleague to accuse you of criminal activity if you disagree with her, or a group like AFP to run a campaign attacking your child, or a talk radio host like NJ 101.5's Bill Spadea to spread false information against you.

And what that means, if you are on the wrong side of Senator Beck, what that means is that you'll get compared to a dead bloody pig or that your legislative staff will get phone calls telling them to "burn to death in a car crash."  Irrational emotion can have its consequences, just ask former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Ah, the joys of talk radio.  We're not so sure that Jennifer Beck's district is the talk radio crowd, not so sure they're down with the Koch Brothers' AFP.  She'll have to shed these friends before changing into a costume more suitable for home.  But talk radio... if it was in 1968 what it is today, we would probably have seen the election of George Corley Wallace as President of the United States.

Here is a question for Senator Jennifer Beck and her allies to answer -- in between their ranting and raging on talk radio:  If New Jersey has the most expensive roads, then why have we paid the least for them -- for decades?

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in America.  Nowhere else are so many people so packed together.  More people = more wear on the roads = more maintenance and repair.

On top of that, we're sandwiched in between New York City and Washington, DC, with Philadelphia and Baltimore thrown in for good measure.  All that traffic back and forth on the northeast corridor. 

And yet, for decades, we have been getting by on 14.5 cents a gallon, while states like Pennsylvania need to charge drivers a tax of more than 50 cents a gallon on gasoline (over 65 cents a gallon on diesel). 

New Jersey has a population density of 1,196 people per square mile.  Why does Pennsylvania, with a population density of just 284 people per square mile, need to charge over three times what we do to fund their roads?  And Pennsylvania has 4 million more people than we do.  That translates into a lot more in-state drivers to tax. 

So how come we pay so little to fund the roads... despite those lurid claims on talk radio that we pay the most?

The answer is simple.  Debt is Trenton's crack cocaine.

Our politicians are credit card junkies.  Trenton has been able to get by on charging drivers just 14.5 cents a gallon tax because Trenton has been borrowing the rest in return for votes.

Cheap gas for cheap votes... don't worry, somebody else will pay... like your kids, or maybe, your grandkids.

In Pennsylvania, they pay their way.

In New Jersey, they put their children into debt.