Conservatives' testimony shakes up Dems
/At the two hearing yesterday in which the public got to comment on the attempt by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Norcross) to rig the next redistricting to produce a one-party state, one thing became certain -- nobody supports SCR 188 or ACR 4 except the politicians in the Democrat caucus and their masters who run the Democrat machines that select them for approval by the voters.
It actually restored your faith in humanity to have liberals admit that this was Sweeney's version of Old Adolf's Enabling Act. As Garden State Families President Greg Quinlan said in his testimony, "Germany didn't become a dictatorship using guns, it became one using laws."
What was the Enabling Act? First, remember that these things never sound like what they are. Its full title was "A Law to Remedy the Distress of the People" and the proponents (the Sweeneys of their day) had already taken measures to limit the number of opposing legislators casting a vote by banning some members of the legislative body from voting because they were accused of engaging in a form of "hate speech". Other members of the opposition were kept away through the use of threats and bullying. Remember that these guys burned down houses of worship too.
The Enabling Act amended the Weimar Constitution to allow the executive branch to enact legislation without the benefit of it having to go through the legislative process. Sort of like what Old Barack is doing on guns. The idea is the same as the one behind SCR 188 and ACR 4 -- get rid of the opposition so that you can pretty much do whatever you want.
Patrick Murray did a very fine job of explaining -- very scientifically -- that the bills would produce one-party domination. He was supported by additional testimony that added layer upon layer to this narrative. John Tomicki, the dean of social conservative lobbyists in Trenton, told the honorables that they "were better than this" and urged them to do the right thing. Of course, he was speaking to a number of sociopaths, so if it got through is questionable.
The Democrat chairing the Assembly committee hearing on ACR 4, in particular, didn't appear able to fully contain his anger. He also seemed confused as to whether or not the Governor needed to "sign" this legislation to amend the state constitution. It does beg the question: Should a knucklehead like that be chairing a committee? How much staff is required to wipe this guy's butt?
Bill & Barbara Eames, representing the Tea Party movement, testified on the effect gerrymandering has on voter hope and voter turnout. What everyone who cries about low voter turnout doesn't seem to get is that voters CORRECTLY understand that in MOST cases their vote means NOTHING. Why? Well here, we'll let the non-partisan reform group RepresentUS answer that:
The problem with SCR 188 and ACR 4 is that it will INCREASE the number of instances when voting is MEANINGLESS. It is a VOTER SUPPRESSION ACT in addition to being an ENABLING ACT for the corrupt power brokers who run the state's political machines.
The testimony that seemed to shake up Democrats the most came from Jim Simonetti, a police chief who said he got fed up with the political process and decided to run for office this year to do something about it. Simonetti is a candidate for Warren County Sheriff and has already secured the backing of Warren County Freeholder Ed Smith, one of the top conservatives in the state.
Simonetti reminded the Democrats that in suppressing the Republican Party, they were suppressing the "tough on crime party". Here are some excerpts of his testimony:
"I'm just a layman talking, but there is a perception out there that the Republican Party is tougher on crime than the Democrats. Maybe that is the case or maybe it isn't, but the perception comes from things like Megan's Law -- passed when the Republicans ran the Legislature -- and Jessica's Law, whose passage was delayed for years in New Jersey by the Democrat leadership. Our state, which had led with Megan's Law, ended up being almost the last place in America to pass Jessica's Law. It should be an easy issue to understand, protecting children from violent sexual predators.
The death penalty was scrapped under a Democrat administration, by a Democrat legislature. Last year the Democrats in the Assembly passed legislation that, had it not been corrected in the Senate, would have prevented employers from knowing the criminal backgrounds of prospective employees. This is dangerous legislation. Employers have been victims of home invasions because they didn't realize who they were dealing with. People have the right to know."
The Democrats started to turn green thinking about the campaign mail coming out of this. Stay tuned.
