Will Weinberg dare mention colleagues’ predatory sexual behavior???

By Rubashov
 
Led by Governor Phil Murphy, Trenton Democrats are feigning “shock” over an NJ.com report detailing the predatory sexual behavior of many who run New Jersey’s government, political, and lobbying institutions.  What shameless hypocrisy!  Their disbelief and shock are reminiscent of that famous scene from the movie Casablanca…

Save Jersey’s Matt Rooney was quick to note: “It’s especially curious given Murphy’s well-known practice of employing non-disclosure agreements to muzzle women who work for him.”
 
Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) expressed the disbelief shared by many, when he wrote:  “The fact that the Governor can utter these quotes with no sense of shame or irony, while his campaign attorneys continue to threaten female campaign consultants WITH RETALIATION (emphasis not enough) if they speak out about the atmosphere/incidents on his campaign, is astounding.”
 
Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) has proposed setting up an “ad-hoc committee” to address “misogyny and sexual harassment” among New Jersey’s political and lobbying class.  According to press reports, Senator Weinberg has invited veteran lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, political operative Julie Roginsky and Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Senate Majority Counsel Alison Accettola and Senate Minority Executive Director Christine Shipley to serve on the panel. 
 
Outside of Ms. Teffenhart, this appears to be an insiders’ panel and we seriously doubt that someone like Ms. Accettola will actually call out her bosses or a lobbyist like Ms. LaRue will be in an economic position to be an independent whistleblower.  It simply isn’t credible.
 
Senator Weinberg knows this – and her efforts appear more and more to be along the lines of an attempt to seize control of a potential scandal, control it before it gets out of hand, and then brush it under the rug.  Like they did the rape case, still unresolved, of Katie Brennan. Nobody was charged.  Blame was sufficiently obfuscated and dispersed.  The Trenton way.    
 
“Entering a sexual relationship with a subordinate, even when the contact is initiated by the latter, is considered unethical by some because of the subordinate's vulnerability to the superior and the inequality of power that characterizes the relationship.” (Wikipedia… on Sexual Misconduct)
 
Weinberg and her committee must be committed to taking on the problem at its source.  That means identifying those in the governmental/ political/ lobbyist power structure who sleep with staff members they have the power to fire at will.  Those who have sexual dependents on their payrolls. 
 
This is where the rot begins.  The military doesn’t allow such fraternization.  Neither do enlightened corporations.  What message does it send?  What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace?  Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said. 
 
Writing about the Weinstein rape case, Alexia Fernandez Campbell, of the Aspen Institute, notes: “Sexual misconduct is pretty broad — it can cover everything from asking a work subordinate out on a date to pressuring them for sex in exchange for career advancement.”
 
Are the reports detailed by NJ.com evidence of a social pathology at the heart of the Trenton Establishment?  Here is therapist Steve Becker’s take on sociopaths.  Does it sound like some of the folks rolling around Trenton? 
 
Pathologically self-centered individuals, such as sociopaths or narcissists, often project a level of self-confidence that is pathologically tremendous. This can be a problem for others who, unlike the sociopath, will be prone to empathy and self-reflection, along with which come self-doubt and hence fluctuating, less dependable levels of confidence.
 
But the pathologically self-centered individual is often seemingly immune to self-doubt and can thus seem implacably, impressively confident. Why?
 
The answer is surprisingly simple: When your interest in others is principally, if not entirely, about what you can get, or take, from them; when you lack the capacity for, and/or inclination to, genuine, thoughtful self-reflection; and when the meaning, or purpose, of life is fundamentally reduced to the expectation, and pursuit, of continual gratification, you have a prescription not only for pathological self-centeredness, but its frequent concomitant—pathological self-confidence.
 
Think about it: for such an individual, it is mostly, and sometimes only, about what he wants. And if he knows what he wants, such an individual will feel entitled to it. And his sense of entitlement becomes self-validating—self-validating, that is, of whatever argument, rationalization, or manipulation brings him closer to his demand.
 
In other words, the pathologically self-centered individual has something very powerful in his favor—conviction. His is the conviction of his entitlement, of his right to have what he wants—whether it’s agreement, an apology, special attention, cooperation, sex, a favor, forgiveness, you name it.
 
And he wields his sense of conviction powerfully and persuasively—all the more so if he’s also articulate and glib.
 
This explains how a sociopath can look you in the eye and blame you for something—even his victimization of you—and yet you struggle to fully disbelieve him. As I just noted, if he is intelligent and glib, he is in an even better position to erode your sense of reality. He can construct positions, however absurd and even confirming of his sociopathic orientation, that nevertheless have just enough superficial plausibility to arrest your attention.
 
Once you’ve been disarmed, even slightly, his impregnably confident assertions, stemming from his pathological self-centeredness, can have a brainwashing influence.
 
You wonder if you’re not crazy? The “gaslighting effect” is in full throttle. It is disorienting, literally, to have someone present even a ridiculous proposition, demand, or accusation with unwavering confidence and certitude.
 
And the disorienting effect is magnified exponentially when the assertion is simultaneously packaged in superficially intelligent, coherent, “rational”-sounding language. Confidence in one’s sense of reality can wane, and fail, under this combination assault.
 
This can explain why sometimes extremely intelligent, thoughtful and self-respecting individuals can actually be at greater risk of accepting and tolerating abuse. It can be a case of the exploiter’s pathologically inflated confidence overwhelming the more self-questioning, self-doubting individual’s reality.
 
Here’s an idea…
 
Why not ditch all those Trenton insiders and put together a committee made-up of average, common-sense taxpayers and mental health professionals?  Maybe the latter will confirm what the former has long suspected:  Trenton is nuts.

LUPE should lead investigation on Trenton sex scandal

By Rubashov
 
Yesterday, Latinas United for Political Empowerment (LUPE) PAC sent Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) the names of four Latina women who they asked to be added to the “ad-hoc committee” that Weinberg is proposing address “misogyny and sexual harassment” in Trenton.  LUPE president Laura Matos put out this statement (in part):

“While the ongoing coverage of the #MeToo movement has touched upon the topic of the diversity of the women victimized by sexual harassment and assault, women of color are still underrepresented in this coverage.  It has been shown over the past three decades that women of color have vastly different experiences in terms of sexual harassment and assault.”

Let’s leave aside the false construct of “women of color” for the moment and concentrate on things that matter like economic class and the barriers that language may impose on people.  We recall a case in Hudson County in which a judge (yes, a judge) was specifically targeting and sexually preying upon economically disadvantaged working class women, many of whom were not proficient in the English language. 

Cases like this are obviously different from what is suffered by more powerful, economically secure women, so Ms. Matos’ point should be seriously addressed.

On the other hand, if Ms. Matos is arguing that those in power perceive Latina women as especially vulnerable to coercion, that is a different matter.  Is there data on this?  If so, Ms. Matos' group might be in a good position to collect testimony.  We should note that this was a factor in a recent report we received about a senior member of the Speaker’s office who appeared to be targeting a junior staffer.
   
According to press reports, Senator Weinberg has invited veteran lobbyist Jeannine LaRue, political operative Julie Roginsky and Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Senate Majority Counsel Alison Accettola and Senate Minority Executive Director Christine Shipley to serve on the panel, whose membership will be finalized later this week.  Outside of Ms. Teffenhart, this appears to be an insiders’ panel and we seriously doubt that someone like Ms. Accettola will actually call out her bosses or a lobbyist like Ms. LaRue will be in an economic position to serve as an independent whistleblower.  It simply isn’t credible.

Senator Weinberg knows this – and her efforts appear more and more to be along the lines of an attempt to seize a potential scandal, control it before it gets out of hand, and then brush it under the rug.  Like they did the rape case, still unresolved, of Katie Brennan. Nobody was charged.  Blame was sufficiently obfuscated and dispersed.  The Trenton way.     
 
In her statement on Monday, we found it particularly hypocritical of Senator Weinberg to condemn the New Jersey State League of Municipalities and the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce for what she called their “see no evil responses.”  In fact, the same can be said of Senator Weinberg – and not just concerning what goes on at some annual event – but about what happens every day, day in, day out, in Trenton.
 
Senator Weinberg is part of the power structure in Trenton.  So how many of those in that power structure sleep with staff members who they have the power to fire at will?  How many of her colleagues have sexual dependents on their payrolls?  Would the taxpayers approve of paying for this?
 
The military doesn’t allow such fraternization.  Neither do enlightened corporations.  What message does it send?  What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace? 
 
This is where the rot begins.  Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said.  And Senator Weinberg is somehow surprised when it goes outside the Trenton workplace and occurs at the social gatherings of such people?  Don’t start at the fringes – clean it up at the source!     
 
If Senator Weinberg is serious about what she put out in her press release, she might wish to start with her Democrat colleague in the nearby 32nd District…

This has been out in the public domain since 2011 – nearly a decade – and it happened just down the road from where Senator Weinberg lives!  And she’s putting out press releases in 2019 suggesting that this kind of misogynistic behavior is news to her?  We have to ask… are you for real?
 
And why haven’t the members of Congress who represent Bergen and Hudson Counties spoken up about this State Senator?  Why haven’t we heard from Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Albio Sires (D-8), Bill Pascrell (D-9), or Donald Payne (D-10)?  These men have all been quick to blame political opponents for indiscretions but are mute when it comes to their political allies.  Don’t they understand that nothing will ever change that way?    
 
There are many serious people in politics and public policy.  You have people like Sue Altman on the Left and Regina Egea on the Right.  But there are a lot more jumped-up, wannabe political celebrities.  And like all celebrities, they think they are special.  They think taxpayers’ money is their money.  They think the voters are their subjects – to be bossed, mandated, manipulated, and ordered about.  They think people are put on earth for them to consume.
 
The institutional misogyny that pervades the Trenton Establishment will never be adequately addressed by a pillar of that Establishment.  Senator Weinberg has too many deals in place and, as a member of the legislative  leadership, she’s part of the problem.  One need only be reminded of how she single-handedly prevented the bi-partisan Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act from even getting a hearing in committee – in spite of this legislation having enough co-sponsors of both parties to ensure its passage.
 
Instead of a committee composed of people who knew about this for years but remained silent, how about bringing in some average taxpayers – the people who foot the bill for all this hanky panky – and let them get outraged.  Maybe a few heads would roll? 
 
Not to worry though, this will get reported on and written about… thanks to Senate President Steve Sweeney’s mighty efforts to piss-off as many working women authors as is possible, thanks to his efforts to destroy their careers.  It’s just another facet of Trenton’s non-stop WAR ON WOMEN.  And this time, you won’t get to contain it using an insider committee like you did with the Brennan cover-up.  

Is Sen. Weinberg empowering Trenton’s bad sexual habits towards women?

By Rubashov
 
On Sunday last, the Star-Ledger ran an expose on the bad sexual behaviors of those in Trenton who make and administer our laws.  On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) put out a press release claiming shock, writing that she was “saddened and disheartened” to learn of the cases detailed by the Star-Ledger – concerning twenty women who were “groped, propositioned, harassed and even sexually assaulted.” 
 
As Senator Weinberg has held political office in New Jersey since 1975 – and has been a legislator since 1992 – we find it remarkable, indeed unbelievable, that Sunday is the first she’s heard of behavior that has long been openly practiced in Trenton and in other venues of power around the state.  Anyone who has observed Trenton for any length of time (and there are those of us who have watched at close quarters for some decades) knows about the sexual merry-go-round that operates there.
 
And it’s not just women who have been victimized.  After all, didn’t the revered and feted former Governor Jim McGreevey assign one of his male staffers the task of keeping his First Lady sated?  This is not meant in any way as a negative commentary on the obvious physical attractiveness of the then Mrs. McGreevey, a former reporter for the Record, but such an assignment is somewhat exotic and should constitute a form of harassment. 
 
And it’s not just men who have victimized women.  During the administration of Governor Christine Todd Whitman there were situations, one notable in which a senior female administration figure was accused of sexually harassing and propositioning a young female staffer.  That staffer received no thanks and less support for reporting said allegations, and the matter was quickly extinguished.
 
One could fill a book with the promiscuity and downright bizarre sexual practices displayed by, mainly men, who seem at times to be making up for some drought suffered during high school.  There is the story of the legislator who installed a family member as an intern at the State House, only to have her become the prey of a more senior legislator.  Now this legislator was old school, stormed into his colleague’s office, taking him by the throat, and threatening to – let us say – deball his colleague.  When his more senior colleague reminded him of the State Police officer on duty nearby, the legislator suggested that he call the officer in, and the media, for a press conference about why the senior legislator was being deballed.  There was no police, no press conference, just heartfelt apologies and accommodations.  Pity.  He needed deballing.
 
You want to talk about Weird New Jersey?  This state is home to elected officials who have got up to such things as accessing child porn on a legislative office computer, urinating on a crowd of his own supporters, stalking women while impersonating law enforcement, being drunk at a swingers convention, requiring a state house employee to accompany one to a New York City sex club, placing a daughter’s college roommate on the public payroll in order to make her a paramour, and conspiring to kidnap and eat his female victims.  These are just a handful of the dozens and dozens and dozens of such stories. 
 
We suppose it should come as no shock that now they’re trying to screw working moms out of employment and force children to comply against their will and that of their parents.  These politicians are beyond shame.  They are crazy.  Stone cold nuts.  And if their constituents knew even half of it, they would never stop throwing up.
 
Senator Weinberg has been around long enough to know all of this.  We found it particularly hypocritical of her to condemn the New Jersey State League of Municipalities and the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce for what she called their “see no evil responses.”  In fact, the same can be said of Senator Weinberg – and not just concerning what goes on at some annual event – but about what happens every day, day in, day out, in Trenton.
 
Senator Weinberg is part of the power structure in Trenton.  So how many of those in that power structure sleep with staff members who they have the power to fire at will?  How many of her colleagues have sexual dependents on their payrolls?  Would the taxpayers approve of paying for this?
 
The military doesn’t allow such fraternization.  Neither do enlightened corporations.  What message does it send?  What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace? 
 
This is where the rot begins.  Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said.  And Senator Weinberg is somehow surprised when it goes outside the Trenton workplace and occurs at the social gatherings of such people?  Don’t start at the fringes – clean it up at the source!      
 
If Senator Weinberg is serious about what she put out in her press release, she might wish to start with her Democrat colleague in the nearby 32nd District…
 

This has been out in the public domain since 2011 – nearly a decade – and it happened just down the road from where Senator Weinberg lives!  And she’s putting out press releases in 2019 suggesting that this kind of misogynistic behavior is news to her?  We have to ask… are you for real?
 
And why haven’t the members of Congress who represent Bergen and Hudson Counties spoken up about this State Senator?  Why haven’t we heard from Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Albio Sires (D-8), Bill Pascrell (D-9), or Donald Payne (D-10)?  These men have all been quick to blame political opponents for indiscretions but are mute when it comes to their political allies.  Don’t they understand that nothing will ever change that way?    
 
There are many serious people in politics and public policy.  You have people like Sue Altman on the Left and Regina Egea on the Right.  But there are a lot more jumped-up, wannabe political celebrities.  And like all celebrities, they think they are special.  They think taxpayers’ money is their money.  They think the voters are their subjects – to be bossed, mandated, manipulated, and ordered about.  They think people are put on earth for them to consume.
 
The institutional misogyny that pervades the Trenton Establishment will never be adequately addressed by a pillar of that Establishment.  Senator Weinberg has too many deals in place and, as a member of the legislative  leadership, she’s part of the problem.  One need only be reminded of how she single-handedly prevented the bi-partisan Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act from even getting a hearing in committee – in spite of this legislation having enough co-sponsors of both parties to ensure its passage.
 
It’s time for ordinary voters – women and men – to insist that their elected officials practice some humility and recognize that they are servants of the public, not masters.

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.