Camden County Democrats Reach for and Find a New Low!

There is dirty politics, and then there is the Camden County Democrat party. They have single handedly given new meaning to the word sleazy. In what appears to be a well orchestrated and somewhat comically orchestrated “plot” to save the Pelosi loving, and very liberal Adler’s seat in the 3^rd congressional district the Camden County Democrat party “bosses” run by George Norcross have seemingly found an innovative way to bring national attention to a seat they “weren’t all that worried about.”

The details of this disgusting attempt to manipulate the electorate can be found here: http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=201010080330.

To summarize, the Camden County Democrats collected the signatures for a so called “tea party” candidate to run as an independent in the hopes of siphoning enough votes from Runyan to allow Adler to go back to congress, support Pelosi, and continue to vote to take our freedoms and liberties, as well as the fruits of our labor with confiscatory tax policies.

Having met Jon Runyan on several occasions over the past few years, always in social situations, I will say that most of any conversation we have had revolved around the Philadelphia Eagles and football. I will also say that on more than one occasion there was political talk. Jon has always struck me as a fiscal conservative, committed to smaller government.

While it came as a surprise when he announced he was running for congress, it also intrigued me. He always espoused a smaller government philosophy and seemed to embrace individual responsibility. I have never had a conversation with him about social issues, I can not say where he stands on them, I simply do not know. I do know that I can support and will support a candidate that believes in smaller government and lower taxes. Jon Runyan does that.

Having said all that, it brings me to what the Camden County Democrat party did in collecting the signatures to put an unqualified and mischaracterized (Tea partier) person on the ballot for the sole purpose of siphoning votes away from Jon Runyan. Adler is unable to stand on his record, unable to defend his support of Pelosi, unable to articulate what President Obama has done positively for our country, and unable to endorse the policies of his party that have lead us to the economic morass that we are in.

The Camden County Democrat Party is a disgrace to all registered voters!

Where is the outrage from the New Jersey Republican State Committee?

What does the New Jersey Democrat State Committee have to say about the Camden County organization?

Where is the outrage from the Governor?

Christie Capitulates!

What is it about President Obama that Governor Christie finds so appealing? Is it his quest for absolute power? Is it his dictatorial style of governance? Perhaps it is the “my way or the highway” mindset they both seem to share.

Governor Christie refuses to challenge the unconstitutional Obamacare legislation in court with other states, thus ceding our freedoms and liberties to the omnipotent one. Governor Christie refuses take a stand, any stand, on illegal immigration and stopping it. Governor Christie will not challenge, and in fact embraces cap and trade legislation that will further cripple our economy.

On the heels of these actions and failures, the great Obama sent his Transportation secretary to Trenton on friday to meet with the Governor about the great boondoggle known as ARC.

There is little doubt that this project would benefit commuters living in NJ and travelling to NY for work. There is also little doubt that NY would be the primary beneficiary of this project.  

During the preceding decades that this project has been discussed there is no doubt that NY wanted NJ to pay for it, at least a majority of it. At 8.7 billion dollars, this project was much more than a mere earmark for liberals in congress representing both NJ and NY, it was the largest single public works project in our country.

NY was never going to pay for it. Governor Corslime (Corzine) was willing to open NJ’s checkbook and write blank check after blank check in order to complete this boondoggle. His plan hit a snag last November when he was unceremoniously, and rightly, fired. 

Governor Christie on Thursday made a very good and prudent decision to halt this decade long, taxpayer crippling, mistake. NJ taxpayers would have been on the hook for billions in cost overruns. Yes, billions! With no way to pay for it, the Governor made the correct decision.

Then word came on Friday that the omnipotent one, Obama, dispatched his Secretary of Transportation to Trenton for the sole purpose of changing the Governor’s mind. Senator Lautenberg (Lousenberg) appears to be particularly perturbed that the Governor made the decision he did.

Suddenly, a mere 24 hours after a good decision was made, the Governor is “reconsidering the options” on this project.  Just makes you wonder what Governor Christie and President Obama have in common?

The Governor’s refusal to challenge Obamacare, his tacit approval of illegal immigrants, and his support of cap and trade, now topped off with his “reconsideration” of the ARC project makes me ask the question of why does the Governor capitulate to Obama?

Governor Christie Repudiates Conservative Republican Principles!

While the mainstream media and the NJ Republican State Committee fawns over Governor Christie for “standing up” for his conservative principles and lauds him for bringing “conservatism” to New Jersey, his actions and inactions, tell a very different story.

Let’s review just a few of the Governor’s actions since taking office. 

He nominated Janet Rosenzweig to his cabinet, to lead the Department of Children and Families no less. She headed a group of very bizarre individuals that advocated for sexual relations between adults and children. Hardly anything a conservative would advocate, I’ve lived almost my entire life in New Jersey and have never met anyone that thought that was a good idea, something we needed, or would much less tolerate. Thanks to several groups, including the NJ Conservative Republican Leadership Committee, NOM, the Eagle Forum, and others, New Jersey does not have a cabinet member leading the department of Children and Families that advocates sexual relations between adults and children, as Ms. Dr. Rosenzweig was forced to withdraw her nomination in shame. Why was she nominated in the first place?

Governor Christie runs up and down our state, and on national TV interviews, claiming to have cut spending. When comparing Governor Corzine’s last budget with Governor Christie’s first budget, there is no 10 billion dollar difference, there is no 11 billion dollar difference, there is no difference at all! Not a single state worker has lost their job, not a single state department or office has been closed. This is hardly the smaller government that you would expect from a conservative.

Speaking of smaller government, Governor Christie wants to create a 567^th municipality in New Jersey by taking over the “good” part of Atlantic City. Like Obama, he thinks that the state government can do a better job of regulating the drug trade, prostitutes, and thievery among other criminal activity that takes place every day in Atlantic City. How long will it be until drugs are legally bought and sold, prostitutes are taxed, and thieves are given a free pass? They already have a “free needle exchange”. The prostitutes are unchecked and tacitly approved of, thieves prey on the unsuspecting every day. Perhaps our Governor just wants to lock up the Tens of Millions of dollars that the casinos pay in taxes, to help fund the free condoms in our inner cities, or the free day care in our inner cities, or the free meals in our inner cities. I don’t know his motivation, I’m just asking the question. What I do know is that this Not a smaller government. Governor Christie is doing to Atlantic City what Obama has done to Detroit, Mi.

Since I mentioned Obama, let’s talk about Obamacare for a moment. Governor Christie appointed Paula Dow as our Attorney General. She is a known liberal. Our Governor, revered by the mainstream media for his work as an Assistant United States Attorney, and the liberal career attorney Paula Dow, are reportedly still studying the socialist Obama healthcare bill. He is equivocating on whether or not to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a law that clearly takes away our freedoms and impugns our liberty. What is he waiting for? Why will he not join this lawsuit challenging the great messiah Obama and his power grab? Why are the citizens of New Jersey not demanding that our Governor and Attorney General stand up and protect us from this unprecedented taking of our freedoms and liberties?

In a truly bizarre repudiation of the party he purportedly represents, Republicans, the New Jersey Republican State Committee actually held a meeting on July 8^th. Their first of four required meetings of the year. According to several committee members, there was bewilderment at the swift calling of a meeting in the middle of a holiday week. There was only 7 days notice, which precluded any business from being discussed, and it was in the middle of a holiday week which resulted in only 23 of the 42 members being able to attend. According to several committee members, and others who were in attendance, the evening was filled with love and platitudes for the RNC as David Norcross had resigned and Bill Palatucci was the only nominee to replace him. Chairman Webber and Bill Palatucci both sang the praises of the RNC and the role they helped play with the resources they dedicated to Governor Christie’s election last November. There is no doubt or argument that the RNC put very significant resources into winning that election. After this love fest with the RNC, Committeeman Robert Eichmann (Gloucester County) stood to have his previously tabled motion to support and adopt the RNC platform voted upon. He eloquently stated how the RNC has supported New Jersey and contributed resources to the Governors’ victory, and that all of these good things being said about the RNC tonight, we in New Jersey should no longer be the only state that does not support the platform. According to multiple sources, Committeeman Jon Bennett, the treasurer of the NJ Republican State Committee rose to table the motion yet again, stating “we should not look backward, or to the past”. The motion was once again tabled. The Governor who calls himself a Conservative Republican will not allow the New Jersey Republican State Committee to vote on whether or not to support the RNC platform. That is a disgrace!

Which of these actions makes our Governor a Conservative? Which of these decisions shows that he has principles that we can get behind? Does our Governor stand for anything that you and I know are important to our future?

NJGOP in Shambles after Budget Fiasco!

With our unemployment rate among the highest in the nation, and not getting any better; with our state unable to continue down the road of spending (taxing) us into oblivion; with families in every corner of New Jersey having trouble putting food on their tables or making payrolls; the legislature tonight in one of many votes they took, thought that it was prudent to vote on vanity license plates for sports teams that are loathe to recognize they are in NJ. And the real kicker, the teams will get half of the revenue from these license plates!

 But I digress. Our “conservative” governor who vowed not to raise taxes in his budget has done exactly that! He did it with RINO’S and he did it with liberal democrats. He has hoodwinked New Jersey citizens into thinking that  his budget did not raise taxes, it did! Increased tax: S2096 Increased tax: S2143 Increased tax: S2112 This last one may have been modified in the middle of this night, we aren’t sure yet. In addition to these tax increases you, as taxpayers are paying for babysitters forinner city children to the tune of more than 600 Million dollars! That’s right, more than $600,000,000.00 dollars of your taxes are going to babysit the children of inner city parents! This is fiscal insanity! This is Moral insanity!

 Senator Doherty and Assemblywoman McHose will not be castigated in this blog tonight, they are conservatives and have a record of fighting for their principles. They have both repeatedly gone up against the establishment, and have won. They have successfully taken on RINO’S and won. They can defend their votes tonight, even as we may not be happy with them. The fact is they saved us from further carnage from the liberal democrats.

 With that being said, if the RINO’S were taken to task by the principled conservatives there is no telling what may have been. Unfortunately it appears that the RINO’S in New Jersey won’t be content until they completely and totally decimate the NJ GOP. It is particularly troubling that Jay Webber has been completely absent in both his roles; as a self described conservative and as the chairman of the NJ GOP. Why is that? Why is it that the chairman of the NJ GOP wasn’t heard from during any of the budget debacle? Could it be because he does not support any principles of the Republican party and is only looking out for his very limited political future? He is supposedly the Chairman of the NJ GOP. He is no where to be found during this budget fiasco where members of his own caucus are saying NO! Where does Jay Webber stand on this budget fiasco? He can no longer say he is conservative, republican, or fiscally responsible. He appears to be absent and certainly provides NO leadership to the NJ GOP!

As conservatives, we are expected to embrace what happened tonight. I cannot. Taxes are raised, republican leadership is non existent, and spending continues to spiral out of control.  

 As conservatives we have been asked to lay down in bed with leadership that refuses to lead. We have been asked to partake in an unconsummated incestual relationship. We will not do that! While the governor wants to portray himself as a “conservative” we know better. Tonight’s budget votes show us all we need to know. Tonight’s budget votes show us that Tom Kean, Jr. and Alex DeCroce are nothing more than minions in a bloating Christie administration.

 The governor had an opportunity to lead, he chose not to, and he chose to play political games. The so called leadership of the NJ GOP, chose to go along with him.

 The only answer is to vote all of them out, as soon as possible, and to be clear why they are voted out of office! Jay Webber, Tom Kean, and Alex DeCroce you are all incompetent and out of touch. 

 You are Fired!

NJ Government Workers and Their Rally for Socialism!

Late last month when thousands of NJ State workers and teachers decided to get together and hang out in Trenton on a Saturday, I expected more of the same Christie bashing rhetoric that the union leadership has been spewing for months. What caught me by surprise was the mindset and the thinking that permeates the membership of the CWA, NJEA, etc. It is appalling to hear these people reciting what they are “entitled” to.

That they do it with a straight face speaks volumes about how far left their thinking is, and how miserably our education system failed them. They were rallying in our State Capitol for Socialism! 

Think about that for a moment, in a city where the battle that turned our Revolutionary War around was fought, our taxpayer supported workers were rallying for Socialism! Simply incredible.

Please click the link below to see this spectacle for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGU_MGrWKnk

NJ Title XIX Election Law

As friends and sources e-mail me various correspondence, and I peruse daily New Jersey news papers and blogs, it seems to me that there are two very important sections of Title XIX, which exhaustively defines our election law, that are routinely violated in the time period leading up to our primary elections.

The two sections written into Title XIX deal with municipal, county, and state party committees; and what they are and are not allowed to do in regard to candidates, indorsements, and financial help leading up to a primary.

The law, as written, is very clear: Party bosses and machines can not “push” or “help” one candidate or slate of candidates, over another, in a primary election. The nominating decision for a party is left entirely up to the voters of a municipality, county or the state.

Specifically, the two sections of Title XIX that clearly deal with these issues are as follows:

Having received correspondence or read press releases, from both candidates and committees in Gloucester, Ocean, Hunterdon, Bergen, and Sussex counties, just to name a few, it seems that one if not both provisions cited above are routinely violated.

The law clearly gives no advantage to any candidate in a primary election. Yet a quick perusal of news articles, coupled with correspondence I have seen, would seem to indicate that neither of these two provisions of Title XIX are followed in the time period leading up to primary elections.

Will our Attorney General look into any of this?

Will our Governor, a former Federal Prosecutor, demand an investigation?

Will the candidates themselves file complaints with ELEC, the Attorney General, or the Department of Justice?

Will voters finally recognize that they are being lead astray?

Will voters, in this year of discontent, demand that our law be followed and punish those that have willfully broken the law that is the foundation of our government?

Will the United States Department of Justice show an interest in violations of state law that threaten to shake the very foundations of our government?

Are certain municipal and county chairmen violating the Voting Rights Act?

Logic would seem to say that it is at least worth looking into. It is each citizens right to vote in a primary election without having the deck stacked against, or for, any one candidate. 

It is each candidates’ right to collect their signatures to get on a ballot, make their case to the voters, and participate in an election that they win or lose based on what they say or do, not what some anonymous machine controlled oligarchy essentially controls and pre-determines as a result of violating Title XIX, New Jersey’s Election Laws.

State Senate President, Local Police, call in SWAT on Constituents lined up to tell Sweeney to “Hold a Vote”!

Yesterday, the leading conservative grass roots organization in New Jersey, Americans for Prosperity, organized and held a rally outside of Senate President Sweeney’s office in West Deptford.

Upon arriving to set up for the event, West Deptford police told the group the landlord would not permit them to hold a rally in the parking lot of the office building. The group then organized on a median halfway across the street from the Senator’s office. 

As this was happening, a West Deptford police officer told the group that no one would be permitted on the property where the Senator’s office is located. When the police were informed that citizens would want to go and speak to the Senator’s staff after the rally, they were told again, “you are not permitted on the property.”

With a sea of umbrellas shielding them from a driving rain, a tremendous crowd of between 500 and 600 conservative New Jersey activists came out to tell the State Senate President that the Governor nominates Supreme Court Judges, and the Senate votes yes or no on the nomination. It was a straightforward message, and the group wanted to deliver it en masse, and in person, as is our right under both the Federal and State constitution.

After the rally, which was entirely peaceful and contained no threats of violence, those attending were pointed to the front of Sweeney’s office and asked if they would like to go and tell his staff to “Hold a vote!” As the group started to walk across the street and through the parking lot a police loudspeaker squeaked to life and exclaimed “you are trespassing!”  

As conservatives, the group knows full well that we have the right to go and speak to our elected officials in their office, that is paid for by taxpayers no less. The West Deptford police tried to tell the group that the landlord didn’t want them there, that they didn’t have “permission to be on the property.”

Does any citizen anywhere in the United States need the permission of a landlord to go into an elected officials’ office that is furnished by taxpayers?

County property tax records indicate that the property is owned by Timaco Development, LLC. Who runs this outfit? Who do they think they are that they can order people out of, or away from, the office of an elected official?

As the group of constituents lined up from the office door, snaking their way through the parking lot, everyone was still orderly and patiently waiting for the police who had taken up positions in front of the door and barred entry, to let people into the office to deliver their message.

What happened next is straight out of Russia or communist China. The Gloucester County ESU Team (SWAT) fully dressed for combat, heavily armed, and accompanied by their dogs suddenly flooded the parking lot!

They were able to quickly surround the parking lot, as shocked citizens were horrified. Senior citizens were visibly shaken, one woman with a walker was so startled she fell to the wet pavement. As the line of constituents looked on in stunned disbelief the ESU team began to look embarrassed. Heart beats soon returned to normal and the line proceeded to enter into the office, one person at a time.

As of this afternoon it is still not clear why the Gloucester County ESU team was called in. Was it the West Deptford police who just didn’t want the group there and thought they could bully and intimidate them into leaving? 

Was it Senator Sweeney, who is also the Gloucester County Freeholder Director, trying to bully and intimidate constituents who were standing up to him and his attempt to bully Governor Christie?

Either way, it was an outrageous and disgraceful response to a peaceful group of New Jersey citizens who were exercising their rights. The West Deptford police department, Senator Sweeney, and Timaco Development, LLC should all be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves!

We are broke and can not under any circumstance continue to support benefits at their current level

Today Bret Schundler, the NJ Education Commissioner for Governor Christie, began to unveil the framework of the legislative packages that will be introduced in the legislature. Essentially, the goal appears to be twofold: Relieve some of the burden that taxpayers have in paying 100% of the healthcare costs for teachers and their families for their entire lives, and having those same teachers that should be educating our children on taking and having personal responsibility for themselves; take some, albeit a very small quantity, of personal responsibility themselves.

It is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone still fortunate enough to be working in the private sector, to grasp why a teacher, making well above the average wage in NJ while working far fewer hours, should have their healthcare paid entirely by others, meaning the taxpayers. It is that thinking, and that blatant disregard for personal responsibility that has helped contribute to the current fiscal disaster that NJ has.

As conservatives, we don’t want to go back and get a refund on what we have handed out to you up until now, we only want to bring you into the economic realities of 2010 and have you burdened with some of the same decisions the rest of us have to make as we sit around our kitchen tables with our families.

I have yet to hear any discussion on why the taxpayers of a state that is broke, should continue to pinch pennies at home, deny their children and themselves the life they want, the goods and services they work for, just so teachers don’t have to contribute to their own healthcare.

The closest I have heard is the ridiculous argument that if they have to pay 1.5% of their healthcare they won’t be able to continue in their lifestyle. This is insane!

Who among us that gets up and goes to work every day, and pays, on average 50% of our healthcare, plus co-pays and deductibles, has had to adjust our spending habits by less than 1.5% over the past several years? As teachers, do you want to take any personal responsibility for your healthcare?

While Commissioner Schundler and Governor Christie’s proposal is a great start, there are many of us that would credibly argue it is a small first step, and much more “personal responsibility” must be taken by the teachers in NJ. 

We Have a King Of Ocean County?

On the heels of a very distorted gubernatorial election win, the NJ GOP seems intent on ignoring every lesson they could have possibly learned. Let us start with the lesson of how the citizens of New Jersey will not be told who to vote for, will no longer sit idly by while back room deals of party elite or party bosses foist candidates upon us. If last weeks election results tell us anything it is that the citizens are mad as hell! If the tea party movement tells us anything it is that the citizens are mad as hell!

Our Republic is set up so that anyone that wants to run for office has that opportunity. You need to collect the requisite number of signatures and then you are on a ballot. We have primary elections for Democrats and Republicans. Anyone that believes they can represent their community in the office they seek has the ability to collect signatures and appear on the ballot. They then campaign in the community for the office they seek. The election is held, and there is a winner and loser(s). The point is the citizens choose the individuals that will represent them.

Admittedly, while overly simplistic, the above paragraph is how we elect our government officials.

The equation does not include paying homage to a party boss, the party elite, or the party powerful. It does include telling the people you want to represent what you stand for, what you hope to accomplish, and the principles that will guide you.

With all of that being said, it is despicable that Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore appears less than enthusiastic about what appears to be the impending candidacy of Jon Runyan for the 3^rd Congressional District seat currently held by John Adler.

Gilmore appears upset that Runyan has not discussed (read: asked permission) a potential candidacy with him. Is he serious? Who the hell does he think he is, King George?

Who anointed him to tell the citizens of the 3^rd Congressional District who they should vote for? For that matter, who the hell anointed him to say who can be on the ballot? Who the hell anointed him to say who can run, who can compete for the votes in the 3^rd Congressional District?

I have met Jon Runyan over the past several years. I like him. I have never had a political discussion with him. The times I have been in his company I can say I believe he is fiscally conservative. That being said, it is not relevant to what King George Gilmore is trying to do. He appears to think that it is up to him who will represent you, the citizens of the 3^rd Congressional District, regardless of what your thoughts on the matter are.

Are you, in the 3^rd Congressional District, and specifically in Ocean County, going to allow this type of abhorrent behavior? Is this the type of leadership you want for your Republican Party in Ocean County.

Well, according to Max Friedman and PolitickerNJ.com (http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/34939/gilmore-says-he-hasnt-heard-runyan) King George appears to feel slighted. It appears that he thinks he controls a fiefdom as a result of a 70,000 vote Christie victory in Ocean County last week.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the county chairman’s job to do every thing he can to turn out the vote for his party’s nominee, regardless of the office? Since when did doing a good job at turning out the vote make you the King that will dictate by fiat who runs to represent the 3^rd Congressional District?

Time for NJGOP to Lead!

With last weeks gubernatorial election quickly giving way to the realities of what lies ahead for our incoming Governor, it is imperative that the NJGOP, under the leadership of Chairman Jay Webber starts now to ensure that the lame duck session of the legislature does no harm to our state.

The most logical place to start is in leading a fight to prevent the legislature from ever holding a vote on changing the definition of marriage. Alex DeCroce, Tom Kean, Jr. and Jay Webber need to be in the forefront in demanding that any change in the definition of what marriage has been, and how it has been defined for the past 2,000+ years, should be left to the people of our state, not our elected representatives. Especially in a lame duck session. That is simply an act of cowardice by our legislators!

The people should have a vote, and if the citizens of NJ want to change the definition of marriage so be it. If they do not, then that needs to be respected by our elected representatives as well.

With the presumptive new Speaker of the Assembly earlier today saying she would like to see a vote on this during a lame duck session, it is imperative that the NJGOP stand up and lead!

Buoyed by the excitement of last weeks electoral victory, it is time for the leadership of the NJGOP to act like winners and stand up to demand that the citizens should decide this issue!

The Future of The Republican Party in New Jersey

The day of reckoning for the future of New Jersey has arrived. Tomorrow we vote and elect our next Governor. As Conservatives, with principles and beliefs about how our government should be run, we have abhorrent choices to make.

Jon Corzine simply has no redeeming qualities in which to vote for him. He has destroyed our state in ways to numerous to mention here.

Chris Daggett has ideas on which to return New Jersey to economic prosperity. Being a conservative, I reject his ideas in total, they are nothing less than more government, more spending, and more taxes. In the end, his plans will do nothing to help our state.

Chris Christie and our Republican party have spent months, no actually years, telling conservatives that we don’t matter, that we should sit down, shut up and do what we are told come election day. Chris Christie has put forth no plan to restore our state to prosperity. Chris Christie has put forth no plan on ANYTHING! His entire campaign has been based on “Vote for me, I’m not Corzine”. 

For most of the last week it has become apparent that the Republican party elite realize that while their chosen candidate is close to winning tomorrow, it also became apparent that their chosen candidate is very close to losing an election that a conservative would be winning by 20 points, even in New Jersey.

Over the past several days the RINO’s and Republican party elite’s have come knocking on Conservatives’ doors all over the state. They have trotted out Steve Lonegan, Mike Doherty, Michael Illions, etc. etc. etc. While there are many more, there is an even larger number of Conservatives in this state who are angered, dismayed, and beside themselves at respected conservatives doing the same thing they have done in past years – namely doing what they are told come election day.

While some will argue that our election tomorrow has national implications, I simply reject that! Our election tomorrow is about taking the Republican party in the right direction. Do you believe Chris Christie will do that? Do you believe Chris Christie is capable of that? Our election tomorrow is about principles and beliefs. Does Chris Christie have any? Our election tomorrow is about telling the RINO’s that we, as conservatives, will no longer sit back and let you dictate to us that we will vote for unprincipled candidates. Our election tomorrow is about those of us with principles telling you that we will have a seat at the table, that we will have our voices heard!

There has been a lot of talk about writing in Steve Lonegan. If you choose to do that, you will have voted, and your vote will show up in the “other” column on Wednesday morning.

There has been a lot of talk about voting for Jason Cullen, as that vote will clearly be a conservative vote and we will see the raw numbers on Wednesday morning. While they are sure to be far less than what Steve Lonegan pulled in June, it is a way to measure the conservative vote.

Those are our choices. It is vitally important that we vote tomorrow, it is not vitally important that we allow ourselves to be ignored.

We aren’t going to see an appreciable difference in the way any one of the three leading candidates will govern over the next four years. Our state is broke, our citizens are taxed too much, and our businesses operate in a climate of onerous regulation. Do you think Chris Christie will change any of that? Even Jon Corzine will have trouble raising taxes even higher during the next four years.

If There Was Ever Any Doubt?

In this year of voter angst, with our President and congress working to strip us of our freedoms and liberty, the purported Republican candidate for governor of our great state has released a 1:33 web ad that features Barack Obama and his platitudes. The ad intimates that Chris Christie agrees with all that Obama is saying as he blames all of our woes on the evil capitalists.

As usual, there is nothing in the ad that sheds any light on where Chris Christie stands on anything. He does make it quite clear that he stands with our President on what has become of our once great country.

Leading the NJ GOP to Slaughter

With all polls showing a statistical dead heat between Liberal Democrat Jon Corzine and purported Republican Chris Christie; and Independent Chris Daggett pulling in with anywhere from 12% to 20%, it is time to look at how the most winnable statewide race in years has been squandered by the NJ GOP.

Any discussion of what has happened needs to start with the man running the Christie Campaign, one Michael DuHaime.  By way of background let’s look at what he has done in the past 18 months or so.  He was the strategist that devised the plan to have Rudy Giuliani campaign in Florida, win Florida, and then use that win to propel him to the Republican nomination for President.  Rudy Giuliani finished fifth in the Florida primary, and was no longer a candidate within days.  He then went to work on the John McCain Campaign.  He oversaw a brilliant strategy of not allowing Sarah Palin to speak.  He oversaw a strategy that allowed the Democrats to portray her as a bumbling idiot and he did nothing to fight back.  He oversaw a strategy where John McCain essentially ran on one issue, “I was in the military therefore I’ll know what to do with Iraq and Afghanistan.”  There was little or no substantive talk on virtually anything else, and no effort made to portray Obama as an inexperienced, first term senator, with no qualifications at all to operate the largest employer in his state, much less be the leader of the free world.

Despite running against a liberal, inexperienced candidate, and just like in Florida months earlier, Michael DuHaime managed to get trounced last November.  Michael DuHaime is the brilliance behind the Christie campaign.

Don’t talk about issues -  that is the common denominator with all three of these campaigns.  When a politician doesn’t talk about the issues people tend to not vote for them!  When a politician doesn’t stand for anything people tend to not vote for them! 

When Giuliani ran for and won the NYC mayors race in 1993, he ran all over the city talking about the issues, from the violence on the streets, to quality of life issues, to the police department, to city government inefficiency, and on and on and on.  When John McCain ran for his Arizona senate seat, while I don’t know what the issues in Arizona were at the time, I can be sure that he ran around the state talking about them.

Chris Christie is running for governor.  Even after all of these months, there is no plan to fix anything that ails our state.  No plan to address the onerous business regulations, no plan to reduce our debt, no plan to reign in out of control spending, and the big one, no plan to correct our school funding fiasco and provide property tax relief.  It would be easy to continue to list everything plaguing our state right now, the fact is Chris Christie has no plan to deal with any of it.

Is that because he doesn’t stand for anything?

Michael DuHaime and his brilliant strategy is leading the NJ GOP to a slaughter on November 3^rd.  It is hard to watch, and while he certainly isn’t alone on the bridge of this sinking ship, his fingerprints are all over it.

When a politician doesn’t talk about the issues people tend to not vote for them!  When a politician doesn’t stand for anything people tend to not vote for them!

Republican Leadership AWOL at Statehouse Today!

Earlier today 40 candidates for the assembly, almost all Republicans, gathered on the Statehouse steps. Their purpose was to announce “Citizens for Assembly”. Most of the 40 candidates are ordinary and hard working, tax paying, New Jersey citizens. The large majority of them have never run for elected office before.

Many of them are angry. Angry about the lack of accountability in Trenton, angry about the tax and spend mentality that permeates the halls of our state government. They chose to get involved. They chose to take action. They chose to try and do something about the shenanigans of the political elite and the utter destruction of our economy at their hands.

As mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, earlier this year the legislature was very winnable for the Republicans. A wildly unpopular governor, an economy in shambles, unemployment skyrocketing. NJ being the most unfriendly state in the country to businesses and a tax burden on it’s citizens that also ranks as the highest in the nation. All of this accomplished while the Democrats controlled both the legislature and the senate, and had one of their own sitting in the Governor’s chair. 

Yes, the legislature was very winnable this year for the Republicans.

The pompous attitude of the Republican party leadership got in the way. Apparently, they enjoy their status as a minority party just a bit too much. They chose and backed their selected candidates during the primary; before you, the citizens had a chance to tell them, our supposed leaders, who you wanted to represent you in Trenton. That was their first pompous action during this year of the very winnable legislature.

Their second act of “leadership” was to publicly and privately chastise several of the candidates that were successful and won their primary races. Many of their selected candidates lost when you, the citizens of NJ voted in the primary. They made the decision that there were only a couple of seats they could pick up and would support only those candidates. Everyone else be damned. This pompous action was not their last in the year of the very winnable legislature. No, their contempt for you and the height of their own arrogance was yet to come.

Barry Funt, a Republican that is running to unseat two incumbent Democrats in the 27^th legislative district reached out to Republican and Independent challenging candidates across the state. They met over several weeks and came up with a “Common Sense Pledge” (printed below) and decided they would focus their campaigns on the 10 points laid out in the pledge.

Of course they met with the “leadership” of the Republican party, and the minority “leadership” in the legislature. In this year of the very winnable legislature, this “leadership” provided a stunning rebuke to the candidates’ efforts. While there are various accounts of what happened, suffice it to say that they were greeted with arrogance and met with political stupidity.

The “leadership” wanted nothing to do with the “Common Sense Pledge” or with most, if not all, of the Republican candidates that drafted it. This, in the year of the very winnable legislature.

It is easy to ask the simple questions of why wouldn’t they support the pledge? Why wouldn’t they support the Republican candidates? Why wouldn’t they want to win as many seats as possible, in this the year of the very winnable legislature?

Why not support the RNC Platform?

Are there any beliefs or principles that the so called “leadership” of the Republican party in NJ believes in?

When “Citizens for Assembly” climbed the stairs of the statehouse today, where was the “leadership” of the Republican party? Where was the “leadership” of the Legislative minority?

NJ Republicans will you ever demand accountability from Chairman Webber and the State Committee? Will you ever demand accountability from your legislative “leaders”?

COMMON SENSE PLEDGE

Fellow citizens of New Jersey, we hear your call and we ask you to join with us. As Republican and Independent citizen candidates seeking to join State Assembly, we are determined to restore the public's trust in their government. Together with our colleagues, we will enact meaningful reforms to reduce the size and power of government in New Jersey to eliminate the culture of corruption and make our state affordable once again.  We are free from conflicts of interest. Together with you, we can change New Jersey's course. When elected to the State Assembly, we pledge to implement the following reforms:

1. True property tax reform: End unfunded state mandates and reform the system that causes excessive reliance on property taxes.
2. Cut taxes and red tape: Promote private sector job growth by changing the climate that has forced citizens and businesses to flee our state.
3. Eliminate undue influence: Expand and enforce pay-to-play rules and conflicts of interest law to include special interest groups that take taxpayer dollars.
4. Zero tolerance for abuse of power:  End the culture of corruption by stiffening penalties for violators of the public trust.
5. Free choice for affordable healthcare:  Reduce state mandates and promote individual choice and competition.
6. Pension reform: New Jersey's public pension system has been abused and is broken. Make the system simple and fair for workers and taxpayers alike.
7. Citizen Checks and Balances: Require voter approval for future state and agency debt issuances.  
8. Election competition:  Restore competitive elections by ending campaign laundering ("wheeling") to encourage regular citizens to run for office.
9. Choice in education: Improve quality and reduce costs by introducing competition.
10. Stop the violence: Government's primary responsibility is to protect the public. We pledge to devote the necessary resources to end violence in our communities.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we pledge a return to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Participating candidates:

Andy Bloschak (District 28)
Anthony Mazzola (District 17)
Aracelis Sanabria-Tejada (District 29)
Barry Bellin (District 37)
Barry Funt (District 27)
Beth Hamburger (District 33)
Bill Harvey (District 14)
Bo Vastine (District 22)
Brian Greenberg (District 6)
Brian Kluchnick (District 5)
Carmen Pio Costa (District 36)
Clenard Childress (District 34)
David Taylor (District 34)
Domenick DiCicco (District 4)
Don Diorio (District 36)
Erik Peterson (District 23)
Eugene Lawrence (District 4)
Fernando Linhares (District 29)
Herb Glenn (District 28)
Irene Kim Asbury (District 31)
Joe Sinagra (District 18)
John McCann (District 1)
Judith Fisher (District 38)
Marie Day (District 31)
Mark Meyerowitz (District 27)
Marty Marks (District 22)
Mike Donahue (District 1)
Nicholas Lonzisero (District 38)
Peter Kothari (District 19)
Richard Piatowski (District 19)
Rob Calabro (District 14)
Robert Jones (District 18)
Robert Schroeder (District 39)
Robert Villare (District 3)
Salim Nathoo (District 17)
Scot DeCristofaro (District 6)
Stepfanie Velez-Gentry (District 5)
Tony Bucco (District 25)
Werner Graf (District 15)
Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz (District 37)