LD-39: Democrat PAC boss sued for sexual harassment

Joe Waks is a good artist and we admire his work. 

But there is another side to him.  It happens.  The poet W. H. Auden wrote about it in his "The Prolific and the Devourer."  Art is at war with politics and it cannot help but be.  Art can never be the servant, for when it is it is no longer art but propaganda disguised as art.

Joe Waks is also a lawyer, a political operative, and a career patronage employee with the Hudson County Democrat machine.  He's held every kind of patronage job from Chief of Staff to Mayor Doria to Appointments Counsel to Director of Municipal Services to his current gig in the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs.  His political gods are Joe Doria and Vinnie Prieto. 

Yes, Joe Waks is a man at odds with himself.  The good artist and the machine politician inhabit uneasily the same skin.  And the demands of politics are many.

When the bosses tell you to crush a woman whistleblower... you crush her.

And when they tell you to start a SuperPAC as a means of flushing $550,000 in unspecified contributions into attack ads on a woman legislator... you do it.  Because, they own you. 

It is a crime that an artist as talented as Joe must rely on base politicians for his bread and cheese.  But needs must.  It happens.  A thousand little compromises go by and you wake one day and realize that you have been totally compromised.

From all accounts, the Deputy Registrar of Bayonne, a union organizer in Hudson County, is a woman who resists being compromised.  She is a woman of strong personal conviction -- with a solid sense of right and wrong.  It was she who blew the whistle on two employees who she claimed had misused federal money that had been meant for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. 

The bosses didn't like it and they didn't like her, so they went to her supervisors and... well, she filed a lawsuit in federal court over what she claimed they did to her.  The case number is 14-cv-03695 and was filed in the U.S. District Court in Newark on June 9, 2014.  It is an active case and is still before the Court.  Most of the documents associated with the case are available to the public.  Here are some excerpts from those documents filed in federal court:

The latest filing from that case was on October 25, 2017.  The defendants -- including the political machine that runs the City of Bayonne -- are doing their best to slow the process, drag it out, knowing that they have an endless pot of money called property taxpayers, while the lady union leader does not.

And it was about this time that a new SuperPAC suddenly appeared, called the Progressive Values Committee.  Funny name, isn't it? 

The SuperPAC's front was Joe Waks.  The PAC lists Joe Waks' home in Bayonne as its headquarters.  The political consultants running the PAC are a couple of media buyers who work for gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy and the Democrat legislative campaign committees.  In the case of the Progressive Values Committee, they operate from a shell company within their principal company. 

Somehow, a couple of major donors to Democrat Assembly Speaker Vinnie Prieto got the word to send $550,000 through the mail slot in Joe Waks' living room in Bayonne, New Jersey.  Now imagine that.

Yep, they want us to believe that this artist has SuperPACs on his mind.  They want us to believe that one day he had the notion to be creative and, instead of painting, he said to himself, "I'll create a SuperPAC."  But it gets better, because then they want us to believe that two major donors to Speaker Vinnie somehow figured out that there was this artist with his SuperPAC in Bayonne and if they sent him over a half million bucks he would somehow, on his own, figure out exactly how Speaker Vinnie wanted it used. 

That's right.  $550,000 magically appeared through his mail slot and this artist in Hudson County figured out that he needed to send it to exactly where Speaker Vinnie needed it sent -- to Bergen, Passaic, and Morris Counties.  And what's more is that Joe Waks doesn't get to keep any of it.  It just comes through his letter slot, plops onto his living room floor, then the professionals come by to collect it, take it to the cable television stations and buy the time. 

When contacted by Matt Friedman of Politico, the NJEA's spokesperson said that their "quarter million dollar contribution was aimed at supporting candidates it has endorsed, not in propping up Prieto."  Okay, then why not use your own SuperPAC?  Why the subterfuge?  Why move $250,000 from your perfectly good SuperPAC into a SuperPAC operated out of someone's living room? 

We get it.  You were told what to do.  That's how machines operate.  You're told to sexually harass a woman employee... you do it.  You're told to send a quarter million dollars from your SuperPAC to one directly controlled by the machine bosses... you do it.  Told to use that money to trash a woman legislator... you do it.  Heck, when Joe Doria needed a face for his lobbying business, Joe Waks dutifully complied.  It's not called a "machine" for nothing.

It is a real shame that Joe Waks didn't have the courage to say NO to Vinnie Prieto.  He should have told Prieto to shove his SuperPAC scheme. 

Joe's father would have.  Judge David Waks was a man of great integrity.  He was not only an honest man, David Waks was a compassionate and decent man.  The story goes that David Waks once gave his shoes to a man who had just lost his home to a fire.  He didn't have shoes and so the Judge gave the man his... and then walked home in his stocking feet.  A man like that would not have done the bidding of Vinnie Prieto.

Recent Polling: Support for Gun Rights Surges

For better or worse, the New Jersey system of having three legislators from two different chambers is what we have to work with.  And because resources are scarce, legislators tend to run as teams each election cycle.  That can complicate candidates' chances especially when they don't match up with their team mates.

A case in point is Legislative District 16, where conservative Assemblywoman Donna Simon was defeated for re-election by 70 votes -- simply because Republican turnout was anemic. District 16 would be a dream district for Republicans in most states, where the GOP has captured and held solidly Democrat, union-dominated, and gritty urban districts by generating a high turnout among Pro-Second Amendment, Pro-Life, and Traditional Values conservatives.  A solo Donna Simon would have crushed a far-left candidate like Andrew Zwicker, who would be an anomaly in most of America.

This will be a problem again in 2017, when consultants and strategists get down to fashioning a campaign plan into which 3 different candidates can fit.  They often have to knock all the hard edges off some candidates to make them match the smoothest of their running mates -- but what they are often left with fails to motivate Republican issue voters.

That's a pity, because support for core Republican issues is hardening.  Take the gun issue as an example.  Fresh data from the Rasmussen Polling organization finds that 75% of likely voters in America now say the right to bear arms is important, with 54% who say it is "Very important."  That up from 68% who said it was important three years ago, including 49% who said it was "Very important."

And for those NJ GOP aficionados who still believe that they can get through a contested primary being on the wrong side of this issue, check this out:  76% of Republicans believe the "Right to Bear Arms" is "Very important" -- with another 18% thinking it "Somewhat important."  Independents break 63% (Very Important) to 19% (Somewhat important).  Even a majority of Democrats believe that the "Right to Bear Arms" is important -- 26% (Very important) and 25% (Somewhat important).

68% of voters say they would feel safer living in a neighborhood where they can own a gun rather than one where no one could have a gun for their own protection.  This breaks out for Republicans as 81% (own guns) to 16% (no guns), Independents 71% (own guns) to 14% (no guns), and Democrats 53% (own guns) to 37% (no guns).

A New York Daily News/Rasmussen poll released yesterday finds that 61% of American Adults agree with the statement, "The NRA supports gun policies that make all Americans safer." This includes 35% who Strongly Agree.  In  the same poll, by 51% to 38% Americans say that "more gun control is more likely to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to purchase a gun rather than keep guns out of the hands of criminals, people with mental illness and suspected terrorists."

And despite the efforts of Democrat critters like Vinnie Prieto and Steve Sweeney, 69% of likely voters believe the shooting incident in California last week is a terrorism issue, vs. 20% who think it a gun issue.  GOP PRIMARY WARNING:  Among GOP voters those numbers are 86% to 7%.

Political Correctness goes down big too.  83% of Americans say it is more important for the United States to guarantee freedom of speech than it is to make sure nothing is done to offend other nations and cultures.  Similarly, 82% think it is more important to give people the right to free speech than it is to make sure no one is offended by what others say.  71% of Americans see political correctness as "a problem" -- for Republicans that rises to 85%, Independents are a strong 74%, and even Democrats post a healthy 58% who believe that P.C. is a problem.

Use the data and begin now to fashion bold campaigns for 2017. 

Prieto puts P.C. before the lives of Americans

The Democrats' Speaker Prieto would rather add more photos to these victims of terror, than not be politically correct.

The boss of New Jersey's Assembly Democrats, Vincent "Limp Vinnie" Prieto, issued a public statement today (drafted by sometime journalist, sometime political hack, Tom "whatever pays" Hester) that was monstrous in its conceit.  It let the world know that Limp Vinnie Prieto is willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent Americans on the altar of political correctness.

In it, Speaker Prieto accused Governor Chris Christie of "xenophobia" for suggesting that America properly police its borders and hold off taking in new immigrants from Syria in light of the ongoing investigations into Syrian involvement in the terrorist killings of more than 120 people in France last Friday night.  Looks like another case of P.C. uber alles.

Ever notice that when they can't think of anything original to say, idiots like Prieto will use the term "phobia" to excuse themselves from having to make a rational argument?  Today it is "xenophobia" -- the fear of discussing our government's failure to secure its borders against narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, illegal firearms, and terrorism.  Tomorrow it will be "Mistressphobia" -- the fear of discussing how many jobs are held by people who have seen various Democrat legislators naked.  Whenever you don't want to discuss something, call it a "phobia", pull your shorts down around your ankles, and then hop away.

Speaker Prieto is the very worst kind of hypocrite -- supporting restrictions on Cuba that led to thousands trying to reach America by raft -- while weeping crocodile tears over those trying to reach Europe by raft.  Prieto tries to blame Governor Chris Christie for the drowning deaths in the attempt by Syrians to reach Europe, while he ignores the drowning deaths of Cubans trying to reach the United States. 

Speaker Prieto even attacked President Obama when he lifted restrictions on Cuba in 2014, telling the Hudson Reporter (December 21, 2014) that he "does not want the restrictions lifted."  So while he pretends concern for Syrian children, Speaker Prieto didn't give a damn about the children of Cuba who, according to United Nations reports, were harmed by the restrictions he supports. 

Under the restrictions that Prieto supports, Cuban children and their parents were denied access to technology, medicine, affordable food, and other goods.  According to a report commissioned by the American Association for World Health, under those restrictions, doctors in Cuba had access to less than 50 percent of the drugs on the world market.  The same report stated that food shortages led to a 33 percent decline in caloric intake between 1989 and 1993.  The report went on: "It is our expert medical opinion that the U.S. embargo has caused a significant rise in suffering-and even deaths-in Cuba." 

In 2011, Amnesty International reported: "Treatments for children and young people with bone cancer... [and] antiretroviral drugs used to treat children with HIV/AIDS" were not readily available with the restrictions in place because "they were commercialized under US patents."  And yet the same politician who supported these restrictions -- leader of the Assembly Democrats, Speaker Vincent "Limp Vinnie" Prieto, has the monstrous hypocrisy to call out Governor Christie for his prudent calls to restrict the flow of Syrian immigrants into the United States in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris that left hundreds of innocents killed and wounded. 

As Francois Hollande, the President of France said to his people:  "The Paris attacks were decided and planned in Syria, organized in Belgium and carried out in France." 

Only an uncaring fool would place the lives of Americans at risk in order to make a P.C. fashion statement.  Only an uncaring fool like Limp Vinnie Prieto.

NJ Dems set to assist would be terrorists

If you thought the Democrat Regime of Steve Sweeney and Vinnie Prieto was going address property taxes or jobs or foreclosure or the record child poverty in New Jersey, you were wrong.  Instead, they are celebrating the Democrat Regime's historic victory two weeks ago by bringing up an issue nobody talked about during the 2015 legislative campaign -- making sure a valid driver's license can be issued to anyone who sneaks into the United States illegally, evades capture by law enforcement, and defeats the protective measures of the Department of Homeland Security. 

With said license, a valid form of identification throughout the United States, an individual within the borders of the United States illegally, can travel anywhere, buy just about anything, and access other means by which he or she can carry on all sorts of illegal enterprises.  Later today -- at 1pm on Monday, November 16th -- the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee will be holding a hearing in Committee Room 11, on the 4th floor of the State House Annex in Trenton.

The sole legislation on the Committee's agenda is Assembly bill A-4425.  This bill "establishes driver's license for residents who cannot prove lawful presence in the U.S."

One of the bill's sponsors in Democrat Assemblyman Raj "I know Wally Edge" Mukherji, who got into hot water with the feds over homeland security issues a few years back.  Another is Assemblyman Reed "The Crybaby" Gusciora -- a knucklehead who long ago traded in thinking for emoting.  And last but not least in this trio of sponsors is Assemblywoman and Municipal Prosecutor Annette "Get out of jail free" Quijano, Speaker Vinnie Prieto's hand-picked point person for this kind of nonsense.  A Senate version of the bill (S-2925) has been proposed by Senator Joseph "I managed to make it through the 12th grade" Vitale.

These critters are all Democrats.  That is a good thing.  It would be an even better thing if every Democrat joined them in flushing their hopes for 2017 down the toilet.

The Democrats are set on pushing this legislation through committee a little more than 72 hours after Paris was hit by a coordinated series of terrorist attacks that left hundreds killed and wounded.  According to the French news agency AFP, Greek police linked at least one man to the Paris attacks who was registered as a recent refugee from Syria.  At a time like this, the Democrats seem hell-bent on rewarding illegal behavior by issuing valid identification to people who they really know very little about. 

But why not?  Wasn't Democrat Senate President Steve Sweeney the deciding vote to do away with the death penalty for crimes like those we saw in the French capital on Friday night?  If you slaughter people in New Jersey, Democrats like Steve Sweeney have made sure that you get a pass.  Assembly Democrats even went so far as to argue that criminals shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes and that employers shouldn't have the RIGHT TO KNOW who they are hiring.  Things like these empower would be terrorists.  It provides them with useful tools and lets them know that New Jersey isn't serious about protecting its citizens.

So go ahead... pass it out of committee.  Vote for it.  Every Democrat should play follow your corrupt leaders and vote for it.  And let's make sure that no Republican -- starting with the leadership -- is so stupid as to provide cover for the Democrats.  Remember, if they vote for it, they won't have the Rutgers SuperPAC dropping $250,000 cable buys on their heads... but you will.  So get smart, stay sane, don't share with them the title of "the stupid party."