How GOP insiders caused Senator Ed Durr’s primary to happen.

By Rubashov

When Ed Durr beat Steve Sweeney – the longest serving Senate President in New Jersey’s history – it was international news. Newspapers overseas carried photos of the truck-driver who spent a few hundred bucks to beat the powerful Senate President who spent millions. Durr was featured on Fox News and praised by Tucker Carlson.
 
So, how did Senator Ed Durr end up in a primary with an opponent funded by the GOP establishment? An opponent whose campaign is run by establishment consultant Chris Russell, a moderate insider who is 2025 gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli’s top campaign advisor. Russell is the same political consultant brought in by Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho to run the Space-Fantasia-Inganamort team in LD24.
 
Over a year ago, Senator Durr’s LD03 was identified as the number one target the Democrats would be coming for in 2023. The Senate Republican leadership and SRM were told that if Republicans had a chance at gaining a majority, they needed to hold all the 16 seats (at the time) they had. To do this, special provision would need to be made to protect Ed Durr, who was the most vulnerable Republican incumbent.
 
SRM’s top consultant at the time, and a nationally recognized talent in the field of political campaigning, looked at the data and made this clear assessment of Durr’s chances for re-election:
 
Look, Ed Durr didn’t fit the prototype of someone straight out of central casting. But you know what? His message connected with voters…and while he was outspent WILDLY by the Democrats, it turns out he had enough money…and he worked harder than Steve Sweeney. And guess what, he won. 
 
As I am out recruiting candidates for office next year, I am much more focused on candidates that connect with voters, will put in the effort to raise money and will work hard than any particular box of gender, color or the like.  
 
I am about winning, plain and simple…and those three qualities are what makes winning happen.
 
SRM’s generalissimo went on to note: 
 
These historic victories were driven by voters angry at the status quo… In Senator Durr’s district, 17% of the Republican vote came from people who don’t usually show up the polls! 17% of the Republican vote came from newly registered voters…people who were registered but had never showed up before…or people who only vote in presidential elections – these are all voters who never show up…but 17% of the Republican vote in District 3 came from Republicans who usually sit out elections like the one we just had – that’s unheard of!
 
The polling was good, the seat located in a populist region of the state in which the GOP was growing, and Durr was well known and his numbers solid. What he was weak on – owing to the underfunded nature of his upset win – was money. So, the SRM team pushed to have someone assigned to Senator Durr to help him start fundraising early. This is what any political campaign professional would have counseled anywhere in America. It is what you do.
 
But this is New Jersey, where things are generally not what they seem. That idea was repeatedly shot down by Senate leadership – Durr’s Senate colleagues – including Senators Oroho and Bramnick. Senate Minority Leader Oroho sounded bizarrely Darwinian in his insistence that Senator Durr be left to figure it out on his own.
 
Senator Oroho and top aide Jeff Spatola seemed angry that Durr had defeated Sweeney and offered contemptuous assessments of both the Senator and his remarkable victory. Again, and again and again, attempts to prepare Senator Durr for an expected 2023 assault by the Democrats were thwarted. He was the NJ Senate Republicans’ rock star – known nationally in conservative circles – but attempts to take Durr to Washington for a fundraising roundtable were nixed, as was a planned fundraiser hosted by a major conservative legal group.
 
A superPAC, planned to raise money to help incumbents like Durr, was killed in its infancy. Its inaugural event was essentially cancelled by Spatola, after a significant expenditure.
 
While suggestions to hire a fundraiser to work with Senator Durr were repeatedly rejected, as early as May 26th, there were internal memos circulating by Senate Republican leadership that SRM would need to go into triage mode, with the argument that an underfunded Durr would be too much of a strain on SRM’s finances:
 
“…we need to win six seats to get a net 5 because saving this seat [LD03] is way over what we can raise for all seats.”
 
That was on March 26, 2022! They looked to be giving up and seemed to be offering Durr up to the Democrats on a silver platter. So, Senator Durr, lacking the fundraising component the Senate GOP and SRM recognized that he needed, was allowed to roll into an election year in a vulnerable financial position. This all but ensured the Republican civil war that the Democrats were hoping for.
 
In conversation, Senator Oroho nourished the pipe dream that a GOP majority might be gained by the South Jersey Norcross wing of the Democratic Party joining the GOP en masse. Oroho spoke openly of his “lovely relationship” with Democrat Steve Sweeney. Along with his aide, Spatola, they appeared supportive of Sweeney’s gubernatorial ambitions.
 
Now Senator Durr is locked in a battle for re-election run by a consultant who trousers money from SRM and its candidates. The GOP establishment seems determined to prevent the Ed Durr miracle from happening again. If they succeed in destroying Ed Durr, will that 17% of the Republican vote from people who don’t usually show up at the polls that came out in 2021 to vote against the Democrats and all they stand for, come out again? Will they come out in 2025? And why would they? 

A "Lovely Relationship"?

Senate Republicans provide the votes to pass Woke ESG agenda.

By Rubashov
 
S-3605 passed the Senate yesterday, even though the bill has not been certified by OLS for a fiscal note. In other words, we don’t know what it will cost.
 
This bill “requires the Commissioner of Community Affairs to adopt regulations implementing certain reductions in required on- and off-street parking spaces in the Statewide site improvement standards by 20, 30, and 50 percent, depending on a residential development’s proximity to certain public transportation services.”
 
The prime sponsors of the bill are Senators Paul Sarlo and Troy Singleton. As legislation goes, S-3605 has led a charmed life. It was introduced on February 16, 2023; referred to the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, from where it was reported on May 8th. It passed the Senate on Monday, by a vote of 21 yeas, 12 nays, and 7 not voting.
 
Democrats Beach, Cruz-Perez, Gopal, Greenstein, Johnson, Lagana, Madden, Pou, Sarlo, Scutari, Singleton, Smith, Thompson, Vitale, and Zwicker voted “Yes”.
 
Republicans  Bramnick, Connors, Holzapfel, Oroho, Polistina, and Stanfield put them over the top with their “Yes” votes.
 
Republicans Bucco, Corrado, Durr, Pennacchio, Schepisi, Singer, Steinhardt, and Testa voted “No”. Along with Democrats Cryan, Diegnan, Sacco, and Stack.
 
Democrats Burgess, Codey, Cunningham, Gill, Ruiz, and Turner were “Not Voting”; along with Republican O'Scanlon.
 
Legislation like S-3605 is a major goal of groups like the U.S. Green Building Council. They rate buildings that incorporate a “reduced parking footprint”, claiming that they “save money, improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people” and “are critical to addressing the climate crisis, meeting ESG goals, enhancing resilience, and supporting more equitable communities.”
 
ESG points are given “to minimize the environmental harms associated with parking facilities, including automobile dependence, land consumption, and rainwater runoff.”
 
No Parking or Reduce Parking (1 point)
Do not exceed the minimum local code requirements for parking capacity. Provide parking capacity that is a 30% reduction below the base ratios for parking spaces.
 
Carshare (1 point)
Provide dedicated parking for carshare vehicles. Provide carshare vehicle parking space(s) for at least 1% of total parking spaces, rounded up. If the project has fewer than 100 parking spaces, provide one carshare vehicle parking space. Establish an agreement between the project and carshare company guaranteeing that new and existing carshare vehicle space(s) will be dedicated for a minimum of two years from the certificate of building occupancy. Existing carshare vehicles located in nearby on- or off-street parking areas do not contribute to credit achievement.
 
Unbundling Parking (1 point)
Sell parking separately from all property sales or leases. For owner-occupied projects, do not provide free or subsidized parking for employees. Implement a daily parking fee at a cost equal to or greater than the daily roundtrip cost of municipal public transit.
 
Advocates of legislation like S-3605 point to the “Seattle Model” where transportation options are being determined by parking availability instead of personal choice.
 
Most U.S. cities require residential developers to provide one or more parking spaces with each housing unit they build. An oversupply of parking can lead directly to… more vehicle ownership and driving. As such, oversupplying parking harms the environment, reduces housing affordability, and thwarts efforts to improve social equity.

Realizing these downsides, a growing number of cities are reforming their parking policies to let developers provide fewer parking spaces… in Seattle, after the city reduced its off-street parking minimums… developers built less parking… this allowed Seattle to increase its housing production and discourage reliance on automobiles.
 
In addition to pushing the Green agenda, less parking means more profit for developers. Unfortunately for those who must inhabit such places, human activities -- like family gatherings at Thanksgiving or birthday parties -- will need to be curtailed. No parking, you see.
 
The Heritage Foundation has a new video on the threat of ESG:
 

“Voters can’t make informed decisions unless they’re informed.  If you asked any self-respecting constituent of George Santos, they’d tell you they wish they knew then what they know now.”
 
Micah Rasmussen
Director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University
 

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

George Orwell

Is it OK to suggest a candidate did something criminal when they didn’t?

By Rubashov

The Killian documents controversy (aka Memogate or Rathergate) involved six documents containing allegations about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972–73. Dan Rather presented these documents as authentic in a broadcast aired by CBS on September 8, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 presidential election, but it was later found that CBS had failed to authenticate them. The documents were allegedly typed in 1973, but several typewriter and typographical experts soon concluded that they were forgeries.
 
Fast forward to 2023, and the legislative campaign of Parker Space, Dawn Fantasia, and Mike Inganamort has put out a mailer alleging that opponent Josh Aikens was a registered voter in Pennsylvania, while he was registered in New Jersey. To back up that claim, the campaign mailer includes an image of a document that they had shopped around to reporters last month.
 
But the image on the mailer is not the same document given to reporters. The Space-Fantasia-Inganamort campaign appears to have deliberately altered the document, removing a very important part of it (literally chopping it off). That part of the document indicates that the person in question, who shares a name with the opponent, last voted on November 2, 1999.
 
The opponent, Josh Aikens, was a 16-year-old in 1999 and a well-known member of the High Point High School soccer team. He was living with his parents in Wantage – not far from Space Farms.
 
Is the document even real? If real, was the document deliberately altered by the campaign? Is Josh Aikens a victim of identity fraud? Or is there some other explanation.
 
Tossing aside such reasonable doubts. The campaign mailer goes on to irrationally suggest that Aikens may have committed the crime of “voter fraud”. The mailer refers to Aikens as “shady” even though the document – both in its unaltered and altered forms – does not indicate that “voter fraud” occurred. Nevertheless, the Space-Fantasia-Inganamort mailer uses the words “voter fraud” and “shady”.
 
The penalty for voter fraud can include a fine, up to two years imprisonment, and disenfranchisement. It is a serious allegation and not something to be lightly tossed around. If it happened, it should be reported to the prosecutor’s office in both states. But, of course, it has not been. Reporting something as a crime, when you know no crime has occurred, can be a crime itself.
 
Along with the word “conservative”, the phrase “voter fraud” is fast being made meaningless by the language pimps who manage some of the state’s political campaigns. Unwittingly, these particular language pimps have opened the door to some embarrassing questions of their own making.
 
For example, will these language pimps suggest to their client – gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli – that he needs to register from his new address?
 
From her public Facebook posts, Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia appears to be residing on a farm in Warren County. How will the language pimps she employs advise her?
 
And what about those various public officials in Sussex County – both elected and appointed – whose residency in Sussex County is required, but who keep most of their lives outside the County? Once the language of impropriety has been tossed about, don’t expect it to end with a campaign.

1999. High Point High School
Sussex County, New Jersey

When faced with an allegation of voter fraud – an allegation of criminal behavior – Assembly candidate Josh Aikens (a family man with a spotless legal record) addressed it publicly. He faced two journalists and told them directly that he had never lived in Pennsylvania.
 
This stands in contrast with Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia, who has consistently refused to address her very real, and very spotty, legal troubles.
 
Last September, the Commissioner was embroiled in a legal battle with Ashley Furniture over a debt of $2,045.06 (Docket SSX-DC-001706-22). And it appears she avoided the court notice (not at that address?). Most recently, there’s docket number SSX-DC-000502-23, filed on March 6, 2023. The plaintiff – a credit card company – is demanding a judgment in the amount of $1,152.00.
 
There are other incidents as well. On March 7, 2017, judgment was entered in the Superior Court, Special Civil Part, in favor of plaintiff CAPITAL ONE BANK and against defendant DAWN CUNNEELY (the Commissioner’s former married name) in the amount of $1,623.85 plus cost of $57.00. A Writ of Execution was issued by the Clerk of the Superior Court, Special Civil Part, with regard to this matter (Docket SSX-DC-000051-17). On November 16, 2017, pursuant to said Execution, Court Officer MICHAEL SCRIVANI levied on all monies on deposit in the Wells Fargo Bank, in the name of DAWN CUNNEELY. Judge David Weaver issued the Writ of Execution for $1,898.44.
 
And then there was judgment SSX-VJ-000722-16 (Docket SSX-DC-000631-16) against defendant DAWN FANTASIA (aka DAWN CUNNEELY). In which an order to garnish wages was executed on June 17, 2016, for the amount of $826.21. The listed employer was ILEARN SCHOOLS in Elmwood Park, NJ 07407.
 
These court actions were taken while Dawn Fantasia held public office. We have avoided those that concerned her as a private citizen, but before she held office, Fantasia was a joint debtor in a bankruptcy, filed by her husband, in 2008.
 
The Space-Fantasia-Inganamort team are sending out mailers and making allegations against a 16-year-old. Does it not follow that their entire histories are relevant?  
 

- - -

 Senate candidate Parker Space has been dodging the question of when and why he got a Confederate flag tattoo. He denied having one and repeatedly lied to the media about it in 2017 -- that much is on the record.

Sources have confirmed that the Assemblyman, accompanied by actress Janeane Garofalo’s brother, got the tattoo in the aftermath of the terrorist mass murder of nine people (including Pastor and State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney). Space was confronted about this at a March 18, 2022, meeting – attended by State Senator Steve Oroho and other Sussex County political leaders. He refused to address it.
 
Will his running mates care to comment on this? Two of those running mates, Commissioner Dawn Fantasia and Surrogate Gary Chiusano, were present at the March 18, 2022, meeting. In fact, Commissioner Fantasia called the meeting.

- - -
Commissioner Dawn Fantasia seems to believe that large parts of her public life – the life she made public – are off limits to discussion. When asked why, she invariably claims a feminist exemption. “I am the only woman running”, and statements like that. But there are statements she made, after beginning her political career in 2014, that need examination.
 
One such statement by Fantasia was made on the front page of the November 10, 2014, edition of the Star-Ledger, the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. In a story concerning her former husband, a schoolteacher who was convicted of a sex crime against one of his students (and “required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law and… undergo parole supervision for life”, ibid April 18, 2008), the Star-Ledger reported:
 
“Like Jim Cunneely, Dawn Cunneely [Fantasia] believes he will never commit a similar crime. She calls him a good father, and she has granted him joint custody of the children.”
 
Studies vary, but the U.S. Justice Department’s National Sexual Violence Resource Center states: “Contrary to conventional wisdom, most re-offenses do not occur within the first several years after release. For example, in one study, subsequent sex offenses occurred as late as 10 years after prison discharge. The study found a 30 percent recidivism rate at year 10 of offender's release from prison. By the year 25, re-offending had increased to 52 percent.”
 
Nobody made this document up. It is on the front page of the state’s largest newspaper. And we’re not discussing events that happened when somebody was 16-years-old – but rather, statements of an adult pursuing a political office.
 
Nevertheless, Commissioner Fantasia believes that she should not have to clarify her statement – even though, as an Assemblywoman – a member of the New Jersey Legislature – she will be voting on bills that affect Megan’s Law and mandatory sentencing, and sex crimes, and child custody.
 
Fantasia’s statement certainly suggests that she might be open to policies that allow registered sex offenders, convicted of sex crimes against children, to be granted custody of minor children. That is why we asked her for a clarification of her statement from 2014. So far, she has refused.
 
Finally, before anyone suggests that we are revisiting some secret, best left in the dark, place – remember that the 2014 front page story was possibly in aid of marketing a book, written by Fantasia’s former husband. Published in 2013, it is called “Folie A Deux” and is 374 pages of self-disclosure. You can buy it on Amazon for $19.95.

“Voters can’t make informed decisions unless they’re informed.  If you asked any self-respecting constituent of George Santos, they’d tell you they wish they knew then what they know now.”
 
Micah Rasmussen
Director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University

Pro-Murphy candidate runs as Republican in Sussex/Warren/Morris

By Sussex Watchdog

Dan Cruz was invited to discuss his views with conservatives in the state – leaders from the Second Amendment Society, the Pro-Life movement, Steve Lonegan, and groups concerned about illegal immigration. Cruz ignored them and instead asked a blog run by Democrats to publish a public relations profile of him. The owner of the blog was outed by no less than Wikileaks for his connections to Hillary Clinton’s fundraising operation in New Jersey.

So, it appears that the Democrats – after having been resoundingly crushed by Sussex County Republicans year after year – have simply given up on finding a candidate to run under their own party label against Sussex County’s top local Republican on the ballot this year. That’s right, the April 5th filing deadline came and went, but no Democrat filed against Sussex County’s Republican Senator, Steve Oroho (LD24) this year.

Instead, the Democrats are lavishing their attention on Dan Cruz – formerly a loyal Democrat primary voter – and are using their social media presence to push him on blogs like the one that did the public relations piece. In that piece, Cruz played loyal wingman to Democrat Governor Phil Murphy, defending his record on COVID just one day after Sussex County residents gathered for a prayer-vigil to remember the victims of Murphy’s Executive Order 103 – which hit Sussex County particularly hard and killed over 8,000 loved ones statewide.

Governor Murphy isn’t stupid. He knows that this election is about him – not Donald Trump. The last time he was on a ballot in Sussex County, in 2017, Phil Murphy received 36 percent of the vote, buoyed by an anti-Trump backlash. Bob Menendez got just 33 percent of the vote in Sussex County in 2018 – in midst of the Trump era. Murphy is also aware of just how low it can go if you can’t make it about Trump. In 2013, Democrat gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono scraped together a mere 25 percent of the vote.

In 2019, at the last legislative election, Republican Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths got 69 percent of the vote. Republican Sheriff Mike Strada received 94 percent – and the Republican Freeholder candidates had the same 94 percent.

Governor Murphy knows Steve Oroho’s record as a candidate and knows that it’s formidable. As an outsider, Oroho defeated an incumbent Freeholder Director and an incumbent Legislator supported by the entire Trenton machine to get where he is. Against Democrats he has won with excess of 70 percent of the vote. At his last primary, in 2017, Oroho won re-election by 49 percentage points – 74 percent to 25 percent.

Before Steve Oroho became Sussex County’s Senator, county Democrats could console themselves with victories on the municipal and county levels. They could elect a Freeholder or a Mayor. But not under Steve Oroho. They haven’t held a single county seat while he’s been Senator – and the only mayors they can win hide their party registration and run as fiscal conservatives in non-partisan elections.

Murphy is concerned about Oroho’s ability to power turnout in Sussex County – hence, no Democrat opponent – but at the same time Murphy needs friendly “Republicans” to speak up for him and help cut the margin. This is where Cruz comes in.

George Will or Pee-wee Herman?

Results??? Cruz is running against the only Republican legislator to make the NJ media’s list of most effective legislators.  Senator Oroho's tax cuts were praised by conservative groups like Americans for Tax Reform and conservative publications like Forbes, which called his tax cuts “one of the 5 best state and local tax policy changes in 2016 nationwide.”  Of course, Cruz is still learning his lines in his new role as "conservative Republican".  We can’t expect him to know all this.   
 
Cruz’ connections to the Paterson Democrat machine and its allies is reinforced by yesterday’s public relations piece.  He is trying to present himself in ways that he imagines a conservative Republican would, but it comes off as a cross between George Will and Pee-wee Herman.  In preparation for his post-primary role as Murphy apologist, Cruz is adopting the kind of cringeworthy, defensive phrases that corporate Democrats find so acceptable in “Republicans” – like they did “The Lincoln Project”.
 
For example, the Democrats’ public relations piece about Cruz, notes that he wants “to ‘break the stigma’ associated with the Republican party before they lost their grasp.  He acknowledged that some of that came from President Donald Trump’s term in the White House… ‘We cannot just serve one side, we have to serve everyone and bring everyone together to make decisions on a collaborative effort.  Many people disliked the party because of President Trump’s message and what he stood for, but that doesn’t mean all of us are like that.’”
 
And this: “As far as Cruz is concerned, Republicans can do better by reaching out to areas that they traditionally have not campaigned in.  Republicans’ failure to try to appreciably make the big tent bigger is detrimental to their long term success.  Regarding the gubernatorial election, he said, ‘My impression is this.  Murphy has the leg.  Right now, he is ahead in the most populous cities—Paterson, Newark, Trenton—he is ahead there.  You don’t have a Republican who can go into these cities and say ‘Vote for me.’  They aren’t going into the inner cities, speaking to the people.’” 
 
“When asked what he thought of Governor Phil Murphy’s performance handling the pandemic, Cruz was candid.  ‘Regarding Governor Murphy there are some things that he could’ve done better, and there are obviously some things he has done that you can say he did OK.  I think with the COVID plan, he did what he thought was the best possible solution in his eyes and administration,’ a seemingly rare instance in the current climate where an opposition party acknowledges the perceived sincerity of another.”
 
Cruz completely avoided mentioned Executive Order 103 or the 8,000 people who died or the fact that the worst hit nursing homes were in the county and district he says he wants to represent.  And the vigil to remember those who died had just been held in the town in which he lives!  Now, that is shilling. 
 
Cruz went on to compare Murphy to Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida.  Cruz said Murphy had done better… “Balancing governmental direction with laissez faire has been a perilous tightrope act for Governor Murphy since the start of the pandemic.  ‘When you read the news and listen to people,’ Cruz said, ‘I believe that New Jerseyans have been extremely responsible during this time.’”
 
But Dan Cruz’ utility for Murphy doesn’t end with protecting his flank with Republicans.  Cruz’ background as a teacher and education activist provides a perspective to launch attacks on attempts by more fiscally responsible Democrats to rein in some of Murphy’s more bewildering excesses.  And so, Cruz has bitterly attacked Senate President Steve Sweeney and the Path to Progress, which is the work of a bi-partisan coalition of Democrat and Republican legislators.
 
Cruz opposes the reduction in education administrators that the consolidation advocated in the Path to Progress would produce.  Fewer individual units delivering education equals a smaller education bureaucracy and fewer administrators.  By coincidence, it just so happens that Cruz’ wife is an education administrator making six-figures and all the benefits.  She works for the New York City school system at a high school with problems not unlike those in New Jersey that the Path to Progress is looking to address: Only 2 percent of students have taken an Advanced Placement Test, just 37 percent are proficient at mathematics, only 32 percent are proficient at reading, and the graduation rate is 29 percent. 
 
Is Steve Sweeney and the Path to Progress right?  Will consolidating bureaucracy help?  While admitting that it would save taxpayers’ money, Cruz doesn’t think so. He’s concerned that local school superintendents and the boards they control would lose too much power – and if that were to happen, what might become of taxpayer-funded positions like he enjoys, and all those perks and benefits that mere legislators can only dream of?
 
Maybe he’d have to fall back on his business – a sideline to top off two taxpayer-funded incomes (with perks and benefits) – called Opulent Creations Events, L.L.C.  The upside is that Cruz would have more time to attend to it and not have the problems he had with the NJ Department of Revenue which, according to them, suspended Cruz’ business (he is listed as COO) from January 16, 2016 to May 15, 2017.  A silver lining?  
 
 

“Nobody goes faster than the legs they have.”

Alberto Caeiro (Fernando Pessoa)

Sussex County Awarded Federal Grant of $500K to Replace Skylands Ride Minibuses, Other Projects Underway

Jennifer Jean Miller
862-273-5379
jenniferjeanmiller@gmail.com

(Newton, NJ) The County of Sussex recently received federal grant monies to upgrade its commuter minibuses, with other projects coming to life thanks to federal funding, including revival of the Lackawanna Cut-Off Passenger Rail Project, as well as county road improvements, through the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority.

Tom Drabic, the principal transportation planner through the Sussex County Department of Engineering and Planning, credited Sussex County Freeholder Joshua Hertzberg, for his involvement and assistance in seeing these projects come to fruition. “He’s been very involved in the NJTPA,” Drabic said. He also mentioned the advocacy of State Sen. Steve Oroho, R-24th Dist. for his support of large-scale projects, with tax dollars from the State Transportation Trust Fund aiding in financing projects. “I just hope everyone understands the amount of advocating it takes to get this much work done for Sussex County,” said Hertzberg.

“I have been lucky enough to work with and learn from Tom Drabic at the county. He has been an amazing advocate of our county and continues to do a great job on all of our behalf. I’m very proud of the work we have done together, and am thankful that our District 24 Legislators, Steve Oroho, Hal Wirths and Parker Space, make sure that Sussex County isn’t left out in Trenton.”

Drabic said Sussex County’s minibus project, which was proposed and applied for by the Sussex County Department of Health and Human Services/Skylands Ride, was one of three chosen by the NJTPA for $500,000 grant funding, as part of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program for Local Mobility Initiatives.

Through that program, four of the Skylands Ride minibuses used for the Skylands Connect Route, which operates Monday through Friday to Newton, Sparta, Ogdensburg, Franklin, Hamburg and Sussex Borough, will likely be replaced, Drabic said. “This Route serves a number of employment locations within the county and is used by many people going to work,” Drabic said. The federal grant, Drabic said, should cover nearly the entire project, with little to no county funds required. The new minibuses, he said, will be handicap accessible with wheelchair lifts. They will also feature upgraded COVID protections, including plexiglass enclosures for bus drivers.

One of the other longtime projects that had been previously shelved, the Roseville Tunnel design and build project on the Lackawanna Cut-off, should be reality in the next few years, Drabic said. NJ Transit advertised for Request for Qualifications of firms capable of executing the design and construction phases of this complex project.

The historic and rocky Roseville Tunnel that served the Lackawanna Cut-Off from 1911 through 1979, will require excavation, waterproof lining, a pedestrian path within the tunnel, radio systems, cameras and other upgrades, to return it to current standards for passenger rail service, Drabic said. Firms that submit a RFQ will be short-listed, Drabic added, with those groups invited to submit a full proposal, chosen at NJ Transit’s board meeting in June.

In September, Drabic said the selected firm will be given the green light to move ahead with the project. Similar processes and schedules will follow for the Hudson Farm Culvert Replacement. Highway and bridge projects are additionally slated for Sussex County, Drabic said. One is the $12.8 million, federally funded Hardyston Route 23 Safety Improvement Project, with safety, drainage and operational improvements at the northern Laceytown Road, East Shore Road and Holland Mountain Road sections. Route 15 will also be upgraded, Drabic said, with replacement of the bridge in Lafayette over the Paulins Kill River, constructed in 1915.

This project, planned for completion by 2022 with $8.2 million in federal funds, will encompass sidewalk upgrades for pedestrian safety. A resurfacing project will be underway on Route 15 in Lafayette and Frankford, from Route 94 to Ross’ Corner by Route 206 and County Route 565, as part of the NJTPA Transportation Improvement Program for 2021. This project, expected to extend the life of the highway, will also be sourced from $7.3 million in federal funds. Drabic said Sussex County residents are welcome to offer their input for the NJTPA long range transportation plan, outlining goals through Plan 2050, by completing the survey at www.NJTPA.org.

Second conference on Religious Liberty to be held in Ocean County

Following up on June’s successful conference on religious Liberty held in Newton, Sussex County, a second conference is scheduled for Ocean County on August 27th in Toms River.

At the first conference, attendees heard from Senator Steve Oroho on the status of various legislative initiatives – including the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act and the 20/20 bill, which recognizes that a fetus experiences pain at 20 weeks (all but 7 nations on earth recognize this FACT).

Rev. Mandy Leverett gave a talk about the threat of human trafficking in New Jersey and detailed a number of horrific cases.  There was a discussion about how a porous border and the Murphy administration’s Sanctuary State directive empowers human traffickers in the sexual exploitation of women and children. 

Christine Flaherty explained the importance of the 20/20 bill, also known as the "Babies in the Womb Feel Pain".  This legislation recognizes the scientific fact that a fetus or unborn baby is pain-sensitive at 20 weeks.  Every other country on earth recognizes this fact except North Korea, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands.  Similar legislation has been passed in nearly half the states and is moving forward in others in an attempt bring our laws into line with the rest of the civilized world. 

An ecumenical movement has formed called the 20/20 Project.  Its members represent many religious denominations.  It is actively supported by a number of organizations including the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of Metuchen, the Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of Newark, Project LEARN, the New Jersey Family Policy Council, New Jersey Right to Life, the Center for Garden State Families, Corazon Puro, LifeNet, the League of American Families, among others. 

Of course, the 20/20 bill has been attacked by the death-cult wing of the New Jersey Democrat Party (there are still a great many religious Democrats who value life and recognize that their communities are being slaughtered for profit by Planned Parenthood).  As one activist said:  “They celebrate taking life and would do anything to maintain the barbaric practices that are illegal in most of the civilized world."

And speaking of attacks…  Since the first conference in Sussex County, one of the speakers has been attacked for his Biblical-based beliefs.   

Pastor Phil Rizzo, who spoke to the conference on the importance of religious freedom, was stalked and targeted by Sussex County Democrats for agreeing to help sort out a recent Twitter controversy involving the GOP county chairman.  State Democrats reached out to a political blog to arrange a “hit” on Pastor Rizzo, the gist of which was that he didn’t embrace Islam and wasn’t pro-LGBTQ+. 

The fact that those two world-views differ dramatically apparently didn’t dawn on the author of that hit piece, but the incident did offer up an important lesson:  There are Establishment forces who want to drive traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs out of the public square and to make it punishable (and eventually illegal) to express them. 

Despite the presence of good believers in the Democrat Party, the leadership of that party is in thrall to these forces – as is corporate media.  As evidence of this was the statement by the Sussex County Democrat Chairwoman that compared Pastor Rizzo to “Hitler” because he held traditional Biblical beliefs and the attack by an LGBTQ+ activist employed by the Star-Ledger. 

The battle lines are drawn and they are coming for your Bible.  They want to make reading it (or repeating what you have read) a “hate crime”.  And they will target and stalk anyone who stands for religious freedom.  Faith will either win this one or be driven into the wilderness. 

If you are interested in attending the Second Conference on Religious Liberty, please contact the Center for Garden State Families at

info@gardenstatefamilies.org

If you have a conflict, please contact the center and ask when the next one will be (at least four more are planned throughout the state).  Let’s get active!

And be of good cheer.  Faith can move mountains, while government and politicians and corporations and media and academics are all… “a small dust in the balance.”

Wirths and Space block Chinese Communists from gaining foothold in Princeton

America won!  Thanks to Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space, the Chinese Communists will not be buying a college in Princeton.

Alerted by businessman-philanthropist Mike Hennessy, the Assemblymen got to work generating grassroots opposition to the all but done sale of Westminster Choir College to a Chinese company controlled by the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and the Communist Party of China (CPC).  Westminster is a division of the Westminster College of the Arts, and is part of Rider University.

Last June, Rider University had signed a purchase and sale agreement with a newly created entity called Kaiwen Education, which is controlled by the Chinese navy and its Communist Party masters.  Assemblymen Wirths and Space were concerned that the sale could give the Chinese government a foothold on the Princeton campus, with all its sensitive research and technology facilities.

Rider had provoked the ire of Hennessy and others, when it banned Chick-Fil-A from opening on campus, despite a majority vote by students asking for a Chick-Fil-A restaurant on campus.  It seems Rider’s administration thought that Chick-Fil-A’s ownership was too Christian and therefore “controversial”.  Apparently Kaiwen, the PLA Navy, and the CPC were just the right amount of communist.

Along with other Rider benefactors, Hennessy organized a grassroots effort to stop the sale, while there were protests by students and faculty, as well as legal challenges. Federal authorities were contacted and had become interested in the matter.  Under this pressure and the pressure from legislators like Wirths and Space, the state attorney general's office delayed the pending sale in March, asking Rider for more information about the deal.

Westminster Choir College is the world’s foremost college of religious music.  A residential college located on a 23-acre campus in the heart of Princeton, it is a four-year music college and graduate school that “prepares men and women for careers as performers and as music leaders in schools, universities, churches and professional and community organizations.”

Rider University announced on Monday that the two sides had mutually agreed to not extend the agreement.  This essentially cancelled the sale, although the money-hungry Rider administration still publicly held out hope for an “alternative relationship” with the Chinese Communists.

Assemblymen Wirths and Space, who introduced a resolution (ACR-222) in opposition to the sale, called the announcement a big win.

"It took many vocal opponents, but our efforts paid off.  Rider University made the right decision to stop the sale," Wirths said. "From the very beginning, the company's interest in the music college for the purpose of academia seemed suspicious."

Kaiwen Education has no experience in higher education.  It was a made-up subsidiary of a government-owned Chinese defense contractor.

"Today's announcement is a big win against the authoritarian Chinese government who we feared might be using the guise of academia to access Princeton's world-class scientists, researchers and institutions for nefarious purposes," Space said.

State Senator Steve Oroho introduced the Senate version of the resolution, SCR-160.  Surprisingly, no Democrats and few Republicans saw it as a battle worth fighting, let alone one that they could win.

“Standing up to one of the world’s most repressive regimes – on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square – wasn’t considered important enough to most of the Legislature,” one grassroots campaigner said.  “While millions of people in Hong Kong are protesting this oppressive regime, the Democrats who run the Legislature were more than happy to turn a campus in Princeton over to them.”   

Another noted:  “Guess it lacked a connection to LGBTQ… that’s all that matters these days.”   

This could have been a real moment of unity in Trenton for Republicans and all but the most craven Democrats.  Instead, the Democrats tried to block legislative action in opposition to the sale, while most Republicans didn’t have the good sense to take a stand.  Thankfully, guys like Hal Wirths and Parker Space did, but where the hell is everybody else’s political radar these days???

No wonder so many members of the Republican base share sentiments like these…

Parker Space backs Sheriff Strada, rips Murphy on “Sanctuary State b.s.”

Assemblyman Parker Space wanted there to be no doubt as to how he and his legislative colleagues feel about Governor Phil Murphy’s attempt to strip Sussex County citizens of the right to vote on the important issue of Sanctuary State status for Sussex County. “It is left-wing b.s. pure and simple.”

“Sheriff Mike Strada is right to stand up to Governor Murphy and the leftists who run his administration.  We support him 100%.”

A plain-spoken farmer and family businessman, Assemblyman Space said to forget what the all the smooth-talking lawyers have to say about this.  “It is a matter of American principles,” Space said.  “The property taxpayers of Sussex County pay for the operations of the Sheriff’s office… they pay for the Sheriff and all his officers… they have the absolute right to instruct him on how they want him to deal with Murphy’s Sanctuary State b.s.”

“The county’s taxpayers have the right to tell the county Sheriff to follow federal law because they pay the county Sheriff.  If Governor Murphy wants to dictate to the Sheriff then let’s send him the bill for the Sheriff and we’ll all enjoy a property tax cut.”

Assemblyman Space noted some important facts about the debate over illegal immigration:

(1) In its most recent report on illegal immigration, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that illegal immigration costs New Jersey taxpayers over $3 billion every year, which is close to 10% of our state’s entire budget.

(2) The State budget which was recently enacted spends $2.1 million for an “Office of Immigrant Protection.”  Assemblyman Space and his colleagues opposed the budget and introduced legislation prohibiting public funding for it (A4033). 

(3) Going even further, Governor Murphy and State Democrat leadership also passed legislation, which we opposed, to give illegals financial aid for college (S699).  And most recently, the Murphy Administration announced that they were looking into providing driver’s licenses to illegal residents.

Assemblyman Space noted that he and his colleagues have introduced the following legislation:

S-305/A-949   Bars companies which hire illegal aliens from public contracts, grants, loans, or tax incentives for seven years.   

S-528/A-172   "New Jersey Jobs Protection Act;" requires E-verification of employment.

S-168/A-497   Requires proof of lawful presence in the United States to obtain certain benefits.

S-2506/A-233    Requires certain contractors to verify work authorization of newly hired employees.   

S-541/A-2640    Prohibits municipal ordinance to create sanctuary city; Establishes State and local employee ethics violation upon noncompliance with federal immigration enforcement request.  

“Clearly, if we are ever to get things back on the right track, we must pass these types of reform measures. It’s important that local, state, and federal law enforcement work together to strictly enforce the immigration laws that are already in place.  If we do not address the problem of illegal immigration, New Jersey will never succeed in getting government spending under control.”

“Finally, we oppose all forms of amnesty for illegal immigrants as well as supporting measures to prevent our state from becoming a destination for terrorists posing as refugees looking to harm our families and neighbors. This is a critical issue and we will not waiver in our beliefs.”

Assemblyman Space shares an office with District 24 colleagues Assemblyman Hal Wirths and Senator Steve Oroho. Space is the Republican State Committeeman for Sussex County.  His wife, Jill Space, was a Delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention supporting Donald Trump.

Regina Egea: Connecticut’s housing crash a warning for NJ

The Garden State Initiative’s Regina Egea has once again brought home some hard truths that New Jersey’s political class had better embrace.  Egea is one of the smartest thinkers on public policy in New Jersey.  An M.B.A., former AT&T executive, state Treasury Department official, and Governor’s Chief of Staff – Egea also served in local government as a Deputy Mayor and School Board Member.  As President of the Garden State Initiative, she’s been collecting data, studying issues, and coming up with solutions to New Jersey’s most pressing fiscal concerns.

On May 9th you too can be part of the solution.  The Garden State Initiative will be holding its 2nd Annual Economic Policy Forum.  Join policy leaders like Senator Steve Oroho, Senator Declan O’Scanlon, and Senate President Steve Sweeney in a discussion about the future of New Jersey.  The details are below:

Garden State Initiative's 2nd Annual
Economic Policy Forum  
Thursday, May 9th, 4 to 6 pm
Hyatt Regency - New Brunswick

Egea recently wrote:  “The Garden State Initiative's first research report in 2017, “Connecticut’s Fiscal Crisis Is a Cautionary Tale for New Jersey”, detailed how our neighbor up I-95, with its struggling economy, saddled with massive public debt and high taxes, served as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for New Jersey unless we take the necessary measures to get our own fiscal house in order.”

Below are excerpts from Regina Egea’s op-ed published today in the Bergen Record and NorthJersey.com:

A recent Wall Street Journal report, “Wealthy Greenwich Home Sellers Give in to Market Reality,” on Connecticut’s real estate market should concern all New Jersey residents.

The report documents a severe price decline among high-end real estate in the Nutmeg State’s most exclusive areas, notably Greenwich, long a symbol of modern American affluence. Despite America’s booming economy, the report cited numerous reports of owners selling homes for far below what they paid a decade or more ago. 

This was typically preceded by these homeowners' establishing residences in more fiscally attractive states like Florida. (Sound familiar, New Jersey?)

The evidence is staggering. The median home price in Greenwich dropped by 16.7% last year to $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a report by brokerage Douglas Elliman, with early reports showing a 25% decrease in early 2019. In a jarring anecdote, the Journal cited “a stately Colonial-style home on Greenwich, Conn.’s tony Round Hill Road is being sold in a way that was once unthinkable in one of the country’s most affluent communities: It is getting auctioned off. Once asking $3.795 million, the four-bedroom property will be sold … for a reserve price of just $1.8 million.”

…The storm that is currently hitting Connecticut’s real estate market has clouds gathering in New Jersey.

When the wealthy flee a state, sustaining massive losses on their homes in the process, it is unfortunate for the individual but likely devastating for those remaining, particularly if this occurs in New Jersey due to our extraordinary reliance on property tax revenues to sustain local governments and schools. 

The research firm Wealth X reported that New Jersey lost 5,700 people with liquid assets from $1 million to $30 million in 2018 — and that’s before the implications of the state and local tax (SALT) cap on federal taxes were truly felt. Recent reports indicate that New Jersey’s income tax receipts are falling well below projections.

Discussions around yet another tax increase on the wealthy, to fund the nearly $40 billion state budget, will only exacerbate the exodus of wealth. As reference, Connecticut has a top marginal tax rate of 6.99%; last year’s budget agreement increased New Jersey’s to 10.75%. The top 2% of all New Jersey income tax filers (those making $500,000 per year) account for over 40% of all income tax revenue to the state. Since close to 40% of state revenues are from personal income taxes, increasing dependence on this group exacerbates our vulnerability at both the state and local levels. An individual loss in this income category reverberates throughout the state.

The risk now is not just those wealthy fleeing our state. As high-end real estate values deflate, as in Greenwich, the taxes to support our local governments and schools will be redistributed to moderate- and lower-value property owners.

A recent Monmouth University poll illustrates that New Jersey residents’ views of the quality of life in our state are tumbling to an all-time low. The latest poll shows that only 50% of residents are positive, down from the prior result of 54%, and in no surprise, 45% of residents named property taxes as the state’s most pressing issue.

To read the entire article, visit NorthJersey.com…

https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/2019/04/29/connecticut-housing-crash-predictive-nj/ 

For more information on The Garden State Initiative, visit…

https://www.gardenstateinitiative.org

John McCann’s FAKE endorsements (starting with Trump)!

Over the weekend, many of you received a mailer from the campaign of congressional candidate John McCann.  The mailer was professionally designed and carried out by a well-known, national Democrat campaign consultant.

Democrats have been a feature of the McCann campaign.  John McCann was recruited from a Democrat office to run in the Republican primary for Congress.  McCann was a $151,000 a year (plus benefits) Bergen County patronage employee – working for a Democrat office holder in a Democrat-controlled county – when he was plucked from obscurity to challenge long time conservative Steve Lonegan. 

McCann, an attorney, had a deal with his Democrat employers that was so good that they allowed him to collect $498,000 in “fees” in one year – that’s in addition to his full-time salary (with benefits).  That’s right, he owes the Democrats a lot.

John McCann is the hand-picked candidate of a party boss who was convicted on public corruption charges and sent to prison.  McCann’s campaign chair is a liberal pro-abortion campaigner.  McCann’s campaign manager holds contracts from Democrat politicians. 

Photoshopped image of Trump?

The mailer used a controversial image of President Donald Trump.  The image is controversial, because it has been obviously photoshopped to suit the needs of the campaign. 

(SOURCE:  McCann for Congress website)

(SOURCE: McCann for Congress Facebook page)

Unwinding a Scam

This brings us back to the mailer the McCann campaign sent out over the weekend.  The mailer used the words, “Guess Who Is Endorsing John McCann?”

And then it used the same suspect photograph that had been clearly photoshopped above.  But this is a clear lie.  Donald Trump has not made an endorsement.

To make matters worse, on the reverse of the mailer, the McCann campaign listed several endorsements that also turned out to be lies.

Sussex County Freeholder Herb Yardley was listed and he felt so strongly about it that he paid for a call to Sussex County residents and a radio ad that set the record straight:

“This is Freeholder Herb Yardley.  Some of you may have received a mailer from candidate John McCann claiming that I endorsed him.  That is not true, I endorsed Steve Lonegan for Congress.

Now McCann is running a radio ad that lies about our Senator, Steve Oroho.  In fact Steve Oroho and Mike Doherty are the two most conservative Senators in New Jersey, according to the American Conservative Union.

On June 5th, say NO to John McCann’s lies.”

Former Congressman Scott Garrett also issued a statement claiming that Sussex County Freeholder Carl Lazzaro had also not endorsed John McCann, despite being listed as an endorsee on the McCann mailer.

See, this is how Democrats do it.  They lie.  With so many Democrats around him, McCann can’t help it.  He lies too.

UPDATE

We learned that Sussex County Freeholder Jonathan Rose did endorse John McCann for Congress, although he is not listed on the mailer.  The reason for that is probably a reluctance by McCann to list a public official who supports Governor Phil Murphy’s position on the legalization of marijuana.

That’s right, Jonathan Rose backs legalizing pot!  He says so here…

Hey, McCann is a liberal, but he’s not that liberal.  In supporting McCann, Freeholder Rose apparently takes a liberal stand on abortion and gun control.

Last Friday, candidate John McCann outed himself in an interview with the Bergen Record.  Here, read it for yourself…

Lonegan is staunchly pro-life, and recently told an audience at the Knights of Columbus in Fair Lawn that he'd support every anti-abortion bill that came before him. He's tried to tag McCann as being pro-choice, but McCann says the label doesn't fit.  

"I believe that life begins at conception," McCann said.

But when asked whether he would support any future bill to further limit abortion, McCann indicated he would not.

"The law is what is," he said. 

Hey, that’s NOT Pro-Life.  That is pro-status quo, which equals, pro-abortion.

Now on guns:

Both candidates wrap themselves in the Second Amendment right to bear arms. McCann favors requiring universal background checks perspective gun buyers but Lonegan opposes them they would  just "add another layer of bureaucracy."

Ditto on the Second Amendment.

Here read the whole article for yourselves:

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/01/nj-election-2018-john-mccann-steve-lonegan-congress-candidates-play-trump-card-primary/659599002/

How Steve Oroho finished what Jay Webber started

In the Legislature, you can be a conservative in one of two ways... broadly speaking.  One way is to be a conscience, sit above it all, and vote accordingly.  You could not find a more perfect example of this than Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, who negotiates the prickly halls of Trenton with a Zen assuredness.  He always knows the right thing to do... and he always does it.  Instead of the wilting figure of John McCann, the YR's and CR's could do no better than to adopt Assemblyman Carroll as their Sensei.

The other way is to wade into the muck in an attempt to climb aboard the ship of state and steer it in a more desirable direction.  Sometimes the engine isn't even working and you might need to get down into the boiler room -- knee deep in waste -- and grapple with the machinery of government, just to get it sputtering in some direction.

Assemblyman Jay Webber takes this course... to a point.  He seems well enough suited to steer, but when it comes to the engine room, he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.  That's where he differs from Senator Steve Oroho.  Oroho accepts that he will have to endure the heat and muck in order to get the machine running -- and he doesn't mind busting a knuckle or two while grabbling with a boiler wrench.

A prime example are their differing approaches to preventing the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) from going bankrupt and ending the Estate Tax.  Two very conservative causes.  The TTF, funded by a gas tax, was right out of the Reagan mantra of using user taxes to fund public infrastructure.  Those who use the roads should pay for them, said Reagan, no free rides!  While the death tax -- which is what an Estate Tax is -- has been identified by conservatives for years as the destroyer of small businesses and the ruination of family farms.

Jay Webber waded into the issue assuredly enough.  On October 14, 2014, the Star-Ledger published a column by the Assemblyman.  It's title was "Fixing transportation and taxes together."  Webber was writing about how to raise the gas tax to re-fund the nearly bankrupt TTF, while offsetting that tax increase with cuts to other taxes.  He zeroed in on the Estate Tax:

"NEW JERSEY leaders are grappling with three major problems: First, New Jersey has the worst tax burden in the nation. Two, New Jersey's economy suffers from sluggish growth. And third, our state's Transportation Trust Fund is out of money. There is a potential principled compromise that can help solve all of them.

Of the three problems, the Transportation Trust Fund has been getting the most attention lately, and for good reason: It's broke. There is just no money in it to maintain and improve our vital infrastructure. Without finding a solution, we risk watching our roads and bridges grow unsafe and unusable and hinder movement of people and goods throughout the state. That, of course, will exacerbate our state's slow economic growth.

...we should insist that if any tax is raised to restore the TTF, it be coupled with the elimination of a tax that is one of our state's biggest obstacles to economic growth: the death tax. By any measure, New Jersey is the most extreme outlier on the death tax, with worst-in-the-nation status...

New Jersey's death tax is not a concern for the wealthy alone, as many misperceive. We are one of only two states with both an estate and inheritance tax. New Jersey's estate-tax threshold of $675,000, combined with a tax rate as high as 16 percent, means that middle-class families with average-sized homes and small retirement savings are hit hard by the tax.

It also means the tax affects small businesses or family farms of virtually any size, discouraging investment and growth among our private-sector job creators. Compounding the inequity is that government already has taxed the assets subject to the death tax when the money was earned. Because of our onerous estate and inheritance taxes, Forbes magazine lists New Jersey as a place "Not to Die" in 2014.

That's a problem, and it's one our sister states are trying hard not to duplicate. A recent study by Connecticut determined that states with no estate tax created twice as many jobs and saw their economies grow 50 percent more than states with estate taxes. That research prompted Connecticut and many states to reform their death taxes. New York just lowered its death tax, and several other states have eliminated theirs.

The good news is that New Jersey's leaders finally are realizing that our confiscatory death tax is a big deal. A bipartisan coalition of legislators has shown its support for reforming New Jersey's death tax..."

Taking Webber's lead, Senator Steve Oroho got to work and began the painstakingly long process of negotiation with the majority Democrats.  Oroho was animated by the basic unfairness that New Jersey taxpayers were under-writing out-of-state drivers to the tune of a half-billion dollars a year.  He understood that if the TTF went bankrupt, the cost would flip to county and local governments... resulting in an average $500 property tax increase.  Oroho went to battle to prevent this disaster and even had to stand up to Governor Chris Christie, who wanted to end negotiations too soon and accept a weaker deal from the Democrats.

Unfortunately, Assemblyman Webber didn't stick with it.  When the time came for Jay Webber to be counted as part of that bipartisan coalition, he couldn't be counted on.  Jay got scared off by the lobbyist arm of the petroleum industry and what's worse is that he started attacking those who did what he advocated doing only a short time before. 

Remember that it was Webber who wrote these words in that column more than three years ago:  "Any gas-tax increase should be accompanied by measures that will help alleviate, or at least not increase, the overall tax burden on New Jerseyans." Jay Webber wrote those words, setting the direction.  Steve Oroho was left on his own to get the job done -- to do the negotiating.  The helmsman had abandoned the engineer. 

Webber said at the time that he believed the bipartisan tax restructuring package worked out by the legislative leaders (minus Senator Tom Kean Jr.) and the Governor would result in a net tax increase.  Oroho and others disagreed with him.  Webber is by all accounts a good lawyer, but Oroho is the 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.  It was this knowledge that enabled him to fashion the compromise that he did -- one that turned out to be the largest tax cut in New Jersey's history.

In the end, the Democrats' 40-cent increase on the gas tax was paired down to 23-cents.  The gas tax, the proceeds from which funds the TTF, had not been adjusted for inflation in 28 years, had not provided enough funding to cover annual operations in 25 years, and wasn't even bringing in enough money to pay the interest on the borrowing that was done to keep operations going (in 2015, the state collected just $750 million from the gas tax while incurring an annual debt cost of $1.1 billion).  Even so, Senator Oroho knew exactly where to draw the line... at the minimalist 23 cents and not the 40 cents the Democrats plausibly argued for.

In the end, the engineer got the job done.  Senator Steve Oroho emerged from the boiler room triumphant.  He ended the Estate Tax and secured tax cuts for retirees, veterans, small businesses, farmers, consumers, and low-income workers.  He secured property tax relief by doubling the TTF's local financial aid to towns and counties -- and prevented a $500 per household property tax hike.  He made out-of-state drivers pay for using New Jersey's roads -- and ensured that New Jerseyans will continue to have safe roads and bridges to drive on.

Oroho's tax cuts were praised by conservative groups like Americans for Tax Reform and conservative publications like Forbes, which called his tax cuts "one of the 5 best state and local tax policy changes in 2016 nationwide." 

That's getting something done.   

McCann lies again. No he's not pro-second amendment

John McCann tried sweet-talking a speaking spot out of the organizers of yesterday's Pro-Second Amendment rally in Trenton.  The rally, which was hosted by the NRA and its state affiliates, was well-attended and featured a number of prominent speakers with solid Pro-Second Amendment records, including Senator Steve Oroho, NRA National Board member Scott Bach, Assemblyman Parker Space, Assemblyman Hal Wirths, former Mayor Steve Lonegan, and former Assemblywoman Donna Simon.

John McCann did not end up speaking.  According to several sources familiar with the event, McCann was asked to fill out an NRA questionnaire to determine where he stood on the issues and McCann refused to do so.  Like another candidate associated with Passaic County machine boss Peter Murphy, he won't say.

But McCann is a resilient bullshit artist.  His campaign rolled out an often-repeated story claiming that his father had been the victim of a terrorist attack by the Weatherman organization, a radical group of 1960's leftists.  But McCann's story keeps on changing with regards to this incident.  And the official records of law enforcement and the judiciary do not match McCann's claims.  More on this later.

In any case, McCann uses this exaggerated tale to claim that he is Pro-Second Amendment when his actions indicate that he is simply spinning us.  Any man, worthy of the name, should have the balls to tell us where he stands on the issues. 

We suggest that candidate John McCann grow a pair and fill out the questionnaire.  The voters deserve to know who and what they are voting for.

The Democrats' moocher towns strike again

Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) claims that some places "mooch" off other places when they get back from government more than they pay in.  According to Gottheimer, the country's top "moocher" is Mississippi, the state with the highest percentage of African-American residents -- 37 percent and growing -- because the state gets more back than they pay in. 

Is Gottheimer a racist?  Last Friday, Gottheimer was joined at a press conference by Democrats Phil Murphy and Tim Eustace to discuss ways to redress this "moocher" situation.  Are they coddling Gottheimer's racism?  If so, has anyone told the incoming First Lady?  New Jersey's answer to Madame Mao will not be amused.

If there are "moocher states" as Democrat Gottheimer claims, can we apply Gottheimer's measurement to other cases -- such as the relationship between municipalities or school districts within a state?  If, as the Democrat Congressman claims, there are places that "mooch" off the federal government, does it not also follow that there are places that "mooch" off state government?

We've already learned that towns like Sparta get back just 15 cents on every dollar they pay in state income tax to Trenton.  That's right, in what Congressman Gottheimer would call a clear case of mooching, Asbury Park paid in just a sixth -- in income taxes per person -- of what Sparta did, but got back 17 times more!

            Sparta Twp  $5,611,989 (received) / $36,267,481 (paid) = $0.15

            Asbury Park $57,632,816 (received) / $3,835,809 (paid) = $15.02

We've also learned how poor families in suburban and rural New Jersey are subsidizing rich people in chic urban hotspots.  Their cut of the revenue from the state income tax allows these hotspots to keep their property taxes comparatively low.  For example, despite being clearly being economically better-off, Hoboken gets its property taxes underwritten by the income tax revenue paid by rural Warren County:

 Warren County has double the population of Hoboken City (107,000 to 52,000) but the population of Hoboken has been growing while Warren is shrinking (5% vs. -1%).  And while Hoboken has just 800 veterans, Warren County has over 7,000.  The per capita income of Hoboken City is over $70,000.  This compares with Warren County, at $33,000.  The median value of an owner-occupied home is $550,700 in Hoboken but only $271,100 in Warren County.  The U.S. Census reported that 5.5% of the people in Hoboken are without health insurance vs. 12.5% of those in Warren County.  73.5% of those 25 or older in Hoboken have graduated from college.  In Warren County that figure is 29.6%.

Enter the State Highlands Act... Passed by a Democrat-controlled Legislature and signed into law by Democrat Governor Jim McGreevey, the Highlands Act undertakes the worthy cause of preserving the aquifer that supplies the drinking water for a large urban population in Northern New Jersey.  Unfortunately, it does so at the expense of rural and suburban property owners -- who saw their land rights seized and the use of their land forcibly regulated -- without compensation. 

The Highlands Region encompasses nearly 859,267 acres across seven counties -- including Sussex and Warren Counties.  In the phrase coined by Democrat Gottheimer -- upscale urban areas are "mooching" off economically disadvantaged rural areas and the state is refusing to provide compensation to those being "mooched" upon.

On Monday, in one of the last legislative acts of the year, Congressman Gottheimer's fellow Democrats made it a point to further piss on the hopes and property rights of the economically disadvantaged communities under the boot of the Highlands Act, by undoing a Christie administration rule that allowed a small measure of development in those areas affected.  With incoming Governor Phil Murphy urging them on from the sidelines, the Democrat-controlled Legislature rescinded the Christie rule and, in so doing, made the property in question next to worthless. 

As Josh Gottheimer would say, the Democrats once again gave more to the "moochers" and took away more from those being "mooched" upon.

Republicans like Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Parker Space gave it their best, but with Phil Murphy's full support for the "moochers" and a Democrat-controlled Legislature, the resolution overturning the Christie rule barely passed the state Senate with the minimum 21 votes needed and the Assembly with 42 votes.  One of those votes to help the "moochers" at the expense of those "mooched" upon was cast by Assemblyman Tim Eustace -- who was at last Friday's press conference with Phil Murphy and Josh Gottheimer -- to complain about the "moochers"!  How is that for hypocrisy!

Why do Trenton Democrats continue to support allowing rich people in towns like Hoboken to "mooch" off poor families in places like Warren County?  Somebody needs to ask Democrats like Phil Murphy and Tim Eustace next time they hold a press conference with Josh Gottheimer to complain about "moocher states."

Steve Lonegan endorsed by every NW NJ Legislator!

With today's announcement that Assemblymen John DiMaio and Erik Peterson, (both R-23) have both announced their support for conservative Republican Steve Lonegan in his campaign for Congress in New Jersey’s 5th District, Lonegan now has the backing of every legislator representing the Sussex and Warren counties portion of the 5th District. 

“Steve Lonegan has been a consistent conservative voice for Northwest Jersey,” said DiMaio, president of a general contracting firm.  “It's especially important to me that Steve understands the needs of small business owners who ultimately create jobs."

“Republicans believe in limited government and in empowering local governments -- which are most in tune with the people -- with the greatest responsibility," Peterson said.  "Steve has been a champion for lowering taxes and curtailing federal overreach."  

Both DiMaio and Peterson agreed that Lonegan's victory over Cory Booker in the Fifth Congressional District in the 2013 U.S. Senate election makes him the strongest candidate to take on and defeat Josh Gottheimer.

Earlier in the week, Assemblyman Parker Space and Assemblyman-elect Hal Wirths (both R-24) gave their support to Lonegan:

 “Steve Lonegan is a principled and unapologetic conservative who knows what the people of Sussex County believe,” Space said.  “No one would represent Northwest New Jersey more faithfully than Steve Lonegan.”

Wirths — a former New Jersey labor commissioner — said Lonegan’s focus on creating more high-paying jobs is especially important.

“Steve knows that America is strongest when Americans have opportunities for high-paying jobs,” Wirths said.  "Steve knows that good jobs provide a personal dignity that government programs never could.”

Lonegan’s campaign is focused on creating jobs, lowering taxes, and enacting term limits.

Space said the Lonegan agenda is just what North West New Jersey wants and what America needs.

“Congressmen Gottheimer is a far left ideologue masquerading as a moderate,” Space said.  “Whether on taxes, the second amendment, or the right to life, Josh is completely out of touch with the Fifth District — especially Sussex County.”

This is a view that has been echoed by Senators Mike Doherty (R-23) and Steve Oroho (R-24) who have both led in supporting Steve Lonegan for Congress.

“Steve Lonegan is the strongest and best candidate we can nominate in 2018 to take back the Fifth Congressional District,” Wirths added.  “He’s a solid, lifelong Republican who has been a tremendous standard bearer for our Party whenever we needed him.”

Lonegan has already been endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bergen County State Senator Gerry Cardinale, Mrs. Ann Kievit, President of the Northwest New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, Rev. Greg Quinlan, President of the Center for Garden State Families, on behalf of New Jersey for a Conservative Majority, Alexander Roubian, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS), United States Senator Ted Cruz, Warren County State Senator Mike Doherty, Sussex County Senator Steve Oroho, Passaic County Senator Joe Pennacchio, Assemblyman Parker Space, former Labor Commissioner (and Assemblyman-elect) Hal Wirths, and Sussex County State Committeewoman Jill Space.

Oroho Endorses Lonegan for Congress: Declares Sussex County Lonegan Country

State Senator Steve Oroho, (R-Sussex), today announced his support for conservative Republican Steve Lonegan in his campaign for congress in New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District.

"Steve Lonegan will go to Congress to cut taxes and create jobs," Oroho said.  "We need his determination and focus now, more than ever.  That's why I'm supporting Steve Lonegan for Congress in Congressional District 5, a district Steve has won in the past, albeit for different offices."

Oroho was referring to the 2009 Republican Primary and the 2013 Special Election for U.S. Senate when Lonegan crushed Cory Booker by 20 percent.

"Sussex County has strongly supported Steve Lonegan in the past and will do so again in 2018," Oroho said.  "New Jersey needs Steve's leadership in Washington, DC. and we're going to do our part to help him get there."

"People who know Steve Lonegan know that he's a person of great integrity and determination.  Steve is a gentleman who is always there to help his party, our region, and the country.  Steve knows what it is to overcome obstacles.  He believes that the safety net should be a trampoline, not a hammock,"  Oroho added.  

Lonegan expressed his admiration for Senator Oroho's leadership in the state legislature.

"Senator Oroho has been a strong and courageous leader for Sussex County in the state legislature," Lonegan said.  "He consistently fights for the interests of Sussex County -- smaller government, the right to life and the right to bear arms -- all are important issues in Northwest New Jersey and I share Senator Oroho's commitment to them."

Lonegan has already been endorsed by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), Bergen County State Senator Gerry Cardinale, Mrs. Ann Kievit, President of the Northwest New Jersey Taxpayers' Association, Rev. Greg Quinlan, President of the Center for Garden State Families, on behalf of New Jersey for a Conservative Majority, Alexander Roubian, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society (NJ2AS), and United States Senator Ted Cruz, and Warren County State Senator Mike Doherty.

There is no "moral obligation" to root for Phil Murphy

Yes, we know that it sounds "cute" for a Republican to claim that he wishes the new Democrat Governor success and then to lay out a list of Republican options for the Governor to take to "help" him achieve that success.  It sounds cute until you consider how it undermines confidence in the claims politicians and political parties make during the course of their campaigns.

Was it all just bullshit?  Were the claims made and the warnings given regarding the clearly articulated policies of Phil Murphy just so many lies paid for and distributed by the Republican Party and its candidates?  Or do Republicans sincerely believe that those major policy pronouncements that fell from Phil Murphy's lips were all lies to his own constituencies and that he has no intention of pursuing any of them?

If you want to give people a reason to give up voting -- if you want to suppress turnout into an even deeper gutter than it already is -- then pursue the line that it is all an illusion that doesn't matter in the end.  You'll do it.  You'll get them to give up on voting altogether. 

Look, either the two parties mean what they say at election time, or it is all just a pantomime put together for the entertainment of the media and the manipulation of the electorate.  Is it all one big corrupt filthy gang at the end -- are all those Trump voters right? 

Certainly, both parties are broadly the same when it comes to their embrace of globalism and crony capitalism.  Both will not hesitate to employ government to pick economic winners and losers.  Both work against the interests of the working class -- in support of products made with modern day slavery, suppressing American job creation or exporting American jobs, and growing the gray economy through an immigration system that makes it difficult to come here legally but easy to do so illegally.  Looking at the chumminess of the parties when it comes to fashioning lobbying firms, or law firms, or consulting businesses -- they certainly do appear to be in each other's pocket.  So are they really less competitors than cooperators in the goal of picking the taxpayers' pockets?

One needs only to gaze upon a creature like John McCann -- the very embodiment of this corrupt culture -- who the Bergen Record newspaper reported was "the right hand man" of the Democrat county sheriff as he was launching his supposedly "Republican" campaign for Congress.  The MC McCann chose for his kick-off was the liberal daughter of a former Democrat Assemblyman -- part of a bi-partisan "show-us-the-money" political family that lives up the bunghole of Democrat Loretta Weinberg and company. 

And yet, the differences between the political parties are real enough for many.  Guys like Steve Lonegan know that what the Republican Party stands for is supposed to be in marked contrast to the policies pushed by Democrats like Phil Murphy.  So do legislators like Mike Doherty and Steve Oroho.  Where Mike Doherty is a big picture conservative -- coming up with big plays like the Fair School Funding Act -- Steve Oroho is a transactional conservative who moves the ball forward, negotiating a phase out of the Estate Tax, turning a property tax hike into property tax relief, shaving 43% off a user tax increase while winning a series of tax cuts in exchange for supporting the remaining 57%. 

These Republicans understand that Democrat Phil Murphy means to turn all New Jersey into a sanctuary state.  They know he means to and are resolved to oppose him in that.  They know that Murphy meant it when he said he wanted to raise taxes by $1.3 billion.  They have done the math and know that his promises add up to $8.5 billion in new spending.  They know that Murphy's policies will grow the burden of government, suppress the economy, kill jobs, drive away capital, undermine the social safety net, and make us less safe.  They know and they will oppose him every step of the way -- watchful for the moment when they can force a compromise, negotiate something to the advantage of taxpayers and job creators. 

Despite its outward coarseness, the Christie era was marked by an aggressive bi-partisanship achieved by party bosses who control political "families."  This era is ending as it began, with a rich globalist Wall Streeter holding the ultimate power. 

That Chris Christie was as conservative a governor as he was had more to do with his first primary and his subsequent quest for the White House, than with any personal philosophical leanings.  Now the dam will break and the ruinous legislation -- ruinous for anyone who is working (or trying to) and trying to keep out of foreclosure -- will flow forward.  Now is the time for opposition.

The inequitable way in which the state's political establishment (through its failsafe, the unelected judiciary) misuses the revenue from the income tax, should unite both Right and Left in opposition to seeing the working poor being made to subsidize rich corporations and wealthy professionals in cities like Hoboken and Jersey City.  The corrupt political establishment that has relegated New Jersey into the last place to start a business now has a "face" in the venial, corrupt form of corporate globalist Phil Murphy.  Murphy's cash-for-favors background and his history as a Wall Street and foreign banker make him a perfect foil.

An intelligent, well-read opposition will know what to do with Phil Murphy.  There is a real opportunity to put together a non-traditional coalition to meet Murphy's loose and weakly calculated policies with policies that work.  But it will need to employ the language of opposition. 

No less than Ralph Nader has pointed the way forward, in his 2014 book, "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State." Dismantle... not partner with.  We need to employ the language of opposition to block corporate globalist Murphy and to put forward popular policies that he will be forced to accept.

AC women's event fails to mention Dem accused of stalking

Apparently it is "Democrat comes first" with women like Colleen Mahr, the Democrat Mayor of Fanwood, and Bernadette McPherson, the Democrat LD36 District Chair.  Ms. Mahr comes from Joe Cryan country... ouch!

True to form, while hosting a forum on "the importance of women in politics" at the Irish Pub in Atlantic City, the two never brought up the status of this sitting Assembly Democrat...

Oh, and by coincidence, the alleged stalking happened in Fanwood.

Meanwhile, back in Sussex County, the focus of the Democrats' ire this year -- Assemblyman Parker Space -- is sharing in the enjoyment of a clean sweep by the GOP in that county, after pundits,  prognosticators, and assorted moe-moes had been predicting trouble for Space and the Republicans there.  Last year, Senator Steve Oroho was warned by GOP Senate operatives of his impending demise should he become associated with the tax restructuring deal that refunded the state's Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).  He went ahead and became a central figure in the deal and ended up needing to tear down and rebuild his local party in order to be re-elected.  But he did and was -- easily in both the primary and general elections.  In addition to Space, some county Republicans and a great many out of county "observers" forecast a Democrat pick-up in the county Freeholder contest.  Instead, it was a beat down by the GOP.  Lessons can be learned from these pugnacious mountain men.

In the meantime, it looks like the NJGOP needs a new theme song, so here is our suggestion:

Matteson & Trish ignore modern slavery, human trafficking

In today's New Jersey Herald, Democrat candidates Matteson & Trish made one of their most foolish arguments to date, claiming that the Hank Williams Jr. band logo was the "most symbolic visual of slavery."  Once again, these argumentative and nit-picky schoolmarms demonstrated their complete lack of understanding and common sense.

Are they really so dense that they do not understand that there are more people in slavery today than at any time in human history?  According to the United Nations and other international agencies, there are upwards of 45 million or more people enslaved today across the world and millions within the United States.

Recently, the Democrats attended a campaign rally at which they displayed a banner with a symbol of that enslavement -- the Islamic crescent -- along with the wiccan symbol signifying the triumph of evil.  Islamists continue to believe in the enslavement of non-Muslims and Islamic countries are among the biggest offenders at turning a blind-eye or even officially condoning slavery.

Legislators like Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Parker Space are leading the fight against modern slavery.  They have proposed the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Act (S-2928/ A-4503).  Senator Oroho is considered a national leader -- up there with Ashton Kutcher -- in the fight against modern slavery.

The most "symbolic visual of slavery" today -- in 2017 -- is probably the flip-flops some appear to like so much, made with slave labor and sold with an enormous mark-up to willing American consumers.  There are a host of products and services that Americans use that depend on enslaved victims.  Then there is the sex trade -- including Internet porn -- that some Americans can't seem to live without.  Look there for slavery today.

Again and again, Matteson and Trish have demonstrated their insensitivity to the real problems of today.  They appear to live exclusively in the bubble of the one-percent and that is a big problem for average working people in Sussex, Warren, and Morris counties.

Matteson & Trish get their head stuck up Max's bum

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Steve Oroho issued a statement that politely asked Democrat gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy to let voters know where he stands on the corruption case against United States Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat/NJ).  Senator Oroho made his request after an Observer.com report that Murphy was remaining silent on the corruption trial of Senator Menendez, the Observer's Christian Hetrick quoting Murphy that "he hasn't thought about whether a convicted Senator should leave office."

Max Pizarro, formerly of the Observer group but now quarter-backing his own InsiderNJ blog, proceeded to take that story and insert Assemblyman Parker Space into it.  Even though his name doesn't appear anywhere in Senator Oroho's statement.

But it gets weirder. 

The two ANITFA twins -- "Dishonest Kate" Matteson and Gina "pussycat hat" Trish -- jumped at the chance to (in Pizarro's words) put a hook up someone's ass (like they did at Gettysburg or some shit like that).  While acknowledging that their opponent, Parker Space, has done nothing illegal, they still want him to face the same penalties as if he had committed some heinous crime.  Do the ANTIFA twins constitute their own lynch mob?  Good thing these two aren't using their ad-hoc judicial process to hand out death penalties  "We feel you've done something wrong, therefore you must suffer."

View fullsize

View fullsize

And speaking of suffering, check out the ANTIFA-inspired effort that their campaign is conducting against Space Farms and the Space family.  The Democrats are attempting to destroy a 90-year-old Sussex County institution with bad on-line reviews. harassing telephone calls, threats, liable, slander, and an organized boycott.  As is usual for the Democrats, instead of creating jobs they are trying to destroy them.

Now the kicker is that ANTIFA twin #1 and ANTIFA twin #2 puffed themselves up enough to call on Senator Oroho to "do something about corruption" in New Jersey.  Where have they been, you ask?  Well, you have to take into account that ANTIFA twin #1 only started voting in 2016 and ANTIFA twin #2 ain't much better. 

So we'll excuse them for not knowing that it is their party -- the Democrat Party -- that has held up reform in New Jersey.  That's why their running mate -- Jennifer Hamilton -- doesn't join them when they go ANTIFA.  Hamilton is the thinking Democrat.  The twins... not so much.

Take just this one example.  There are dozens more.  This year, on three separate occasions, the Democrats have blocked efforts by Senator Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) to force a vote on legislation (S-1557) to forfeit the pensions of corrupt public officials.  “Time and again, Senate Democrats have voted to protect the pensions of corrupt public officials,” said Beck. “It’s inexplicable that they would continue to choose convicted officials over the taxpayers they represent.”

An investigation by the Asbury Park Press last year found at least 40 convicted criminals collecting state pension checks of up to $83,000 per year.

“The APP found a million dollars of taxpayer money going to corrupt public employees, including some found guilty on federal corruption charges,” added Beck. “Those are just the people they found, there are probably dozens more. If you violate the public trust, you don’t deserve a cushy retirement at taxpayer expense. Why is that so hard for Democrats to understand?”

Why indeed?

Mandelblatt should take stand against Jihadist and cop-killer

Even the New York Times gets it.

In an August 1st piece titled -- "When Progressives Embrace Hate" -- NY Times Editor Bari Weiss points out that the Women's March is connected to some very unsavory people but that individuals on the Left don't seem to care.  Weiss wrote:

"The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.

Start with Ms. Sarsour, by far the most visible of the quartet of organizers. It turns out that this 'homegirl in a hijab,' as one of many articles about her put it, has a history of disturbing views, as advertised by . . . Linda Sarsour.

There are comments on her Twitter feed of the anti-Zionist sort: 'Nothing is creepier than Zionism,' she wrote in 2012. And, oddly, given her status as a major feminist organizer, there are more than a few that seem to make common cause with anti-feminists, like this from 2015: 'You’ll know when you’re living under Shariah law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest-free. Sound nice, doesn’t it?'  She has dismissed the anti-Islamist feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the most crude and cruel terms, insisting she is 'not a real woman' and confessing that she wishes she could take away Ms. Ali’s vagina — this about a woman who suffered genital mutilation as a girl in Somalia."

Which brings us to Lisa Mandelblatt a suburban lady with a charming smile who suffers from a form of identity dysphoria:  She believes that she is Bella Abzug, the late Congresswoman from New York.  On her Facebook page, Mandelblatt frets:

"Like so many of you, I woke up after the election and I was absolutely terrified. What was going to happen to my friends, family, and neighbors?"

Lucky for Mandelblatt that her last name isn't Oroho.  With a son (U.S. Army Rangers) in Iraq, a daughter-in-law (U.S. Army) in Kuwait, and a brother (U.S. Army Black Hawks) in Afghanistan, Senator Steve Oroho might be expected to have some of the concerns that Mandelblatt claimed to have experienced as the result of... wait for it... an election.

Lisa Mandelblatt is a Democrat candidate for Congress against incumbent Republican Congressman Leonard Lance.  Like fellow Democrat Josh Gottheimer, Mandelblatt has failed to call out Democrat Party leaders for their support of Linda Sarsour, the co-chair of the Women's March, and a self-proclaimed advocate of "jihad" against the democratically elected American government.

Yes, the co-chair of the Women's March actually called for "jihad" against the government of the United States of America.  And Democrats like Gottheimer and Mandelblatt have remained politically-correct silent about it.  Instead, Democrat leaders have praised the Women's March and continue to do so -- lending their support to its leadership while American troops are in the field, engaged in a fight against jihadists.  Why have the Democrats and their candidates refused to comment on these threats of "jihad"?

Last month, Linda Sarsour -- a prominent Democrat Party activist and co-chair of the Women's March -- called for a "jihad" against the American government.  You can catch her act here:

Here's what she said:

"During a speech to the Islamic Society of North America convention in Chicago last weekend, Sarsour, a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention who is an anti-Israel and pro-Sharia activist, made the startling call and also urged against 'assimilation.' 

'I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad,' she said. 'That we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.'

'Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority,' she said.

'Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community. Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah,' she said."

Sarsour started off her call for "jihad" by praising Siraj Wahaj, who she described as her "favorite person in the room."  Wahaj is a controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of American authorities for years.  Federal prosecutors included him on a 3½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged, the Associated Press reported.

Since the election of Donald Trump as President, Democrats like Lisa Mandelblatt appear to have gone completely loopy.  We believe that dissent is an American right, but "dissent" isn't "jihad".  When did the democratic concept of a "loyal opposition" morph into "jihad" -- a "holy war" to be waged by all means necessary?  And why are Democrats and their candidates too afraid to talk about it?

And here is another thing that they are afraid to comment on.   It was reported extensively in the media last month that the Women's March "honored" cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur). 

Referring to the notorious cop-killer, who murdered a New Jersey State Trooper in cold blood, as a "revolutionary" whose words "inspire us to keep resisting", the far-left Women' March organization issued a statement "celebrating" Ms. Chesimard's birthday.

The Star-Ledger reported on this:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/07/womens_march_wishes_nj_cop_killer_a_happy_birthday.html

So did the Save Jersey blog:

Joanne Chesimard, the Black Liberation Army member hiding in Cuba after murdering New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973, has long eluded American justice and vexed New Jersey public officials as well as the public at large.

Donald Trump made headlines in June by spiking the Obama-era Cuba deal and citing the case of Chesimard (a/k/a Assata Shakur) as one of the reasons.

Eyebrows were therefore raised on Sunday when the far-left Women’s March’s social media accounts CELEBRATED the notorious cop-killing fugitive’s birthday:

 “I think you guys accidentally left out the part where she shot a police officer in the face, escaped from prison, then fled to Cuba in this post,” responded one Facebook user.

We know where Republicans like Assemblymen Ron Dancer and Parker Space stand on cop-killer Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur).  They want her extradited back to the United States to face trial for the murder of a police officer.  They backed that up by sponsoring a legislative resolution (AR-111) to urge Congress and the Administration to make that happen.

Why haven't we heard from Lisa Mandelblatt and Josh Gottheimer and other Democrats?  Why have they remained silent?

Why don't some Democrats appear to mind associating with radicals calling for "jihad" and cop-killers?  Do they consider these legitimate forms of "dissent"?  We are very interested in hearing what Lisa Mandelblatt and Josh Gottheimer and other Democrats have to say about a group, that Democrats strongly support, honoring a cop-killer.