Friday, November 07, 2008

BEST OF LUCK, SENATOR

Barry Goldwater, of The Voice of Reason, joins Monmouth Bull Moose's Teddy Roosevelt in retiring from the Monmouth GOP Blogosphere.
Sen. Goldwater appeared on the scene about a year and a half ago, and has run a very effective blog, credited with exposing Sen. Ellen Kärcher as just another political hack. That's former Sen. Ellen Kärcher. Sen. Goldwater had a lot to do with sending Kärcher back to the Christmas tree farm.
Barry's most recent target was the Democratic administration in Matawan, who made a mess of that town's finances and will now be going home.
Sen. Goldwater has indicated that he will still be lurking. We hope he remains an active participant.
Best of luck in whatever you do, Senator Goldwater.

Monday, November 03, 2008

IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER


Most of us Republicans don't have much time for blogging right now. We're busy walking, or calling, hoping to get in that one more block or one more call before it gets too late and people start getting pissed off.
The major GOP blogs here in Monmouth County have all run posts promoting our great candidates and exposing the Democratic Party and its candidates' unsavory connections. We're partisan blogs, after all; it's what we do. We have attempted to cover the pertinent issues of the campaign.
We now find ourselves on the eve of the quadrennial Presidential election. Sadly, here in New Jersey it seems that a Republican carrying our state is a distant memory. (More on that in a subsequent post.) Still, John McCain and Sarah Palin should carry Monmouth County. With the exception of Chris Smith's Fourth Congressional District, the congressional districts are gerrymandered to the point of extreme difficulty for Republicans.
But still we work.
Make no mistake. On the County level, our party faces an existential challenge. The Democrats may be running a pair of stiffs for county commissioner, but that makes them all the more dangerous if they are elected, as they will be mere handmaidens of the big, urban Democrat bosses like George Norcross. Scumbags.
So, we must neither grow discouraged nor too comfortable. We must work till the polls close to ensure that every Republican has gotten out to vote. Friendly D's and I's, too. The Democrats may be playing games in certain towns, we must overwhelm that with our numbers.
This isn't over till the polls close. It's up to all of us to make sure that tomorrow night's party at Southgate Manor isn't a wake.
Now, let's all get back to work.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

HAMMERHEAD and VERY SILENT GLENN



Is Camden County Amy Mallet's idea of "where Democrats are doing a better job governing than Republicans?" Gloucester? Middlesex?


Last month Barry Goldwater wrote about county commissioner candidate Amy "Hammerhead" Mallet and her campaign finances. The good senator raised some issues that should be of concern to all Republicans of good will.




So we directed the Honest Abe Research Foundation to look into this matter in Hammerhead's ELEC reports. It's scary enough to think it's still Halloween.


Amy is like a shark and a shark is fishy and so is Amy.


Going back to the 2003 primary campaign, when Mallet was running with Senate candidate Gordon Gemma, we find a number of out-of-county contributions, and not just any out-of-county contributions. Amongst the usual pack of labor unions and trial lawyers are several wheeled* contributions from other county Democratic organizations.


Here they are:



Burlington County Democratic Committee: A $7,200.00 contribution dated June 2, 2003.



Camden County Democratic Committee: This is The Big One, the home base of George Norcross himself. If Norcross is Brezhnev, Camden is Moscow. A $14,400.00 contribution, also dated June 2, 2003.



The Leaders Fund: A Democratic PAC based in Cherry Hill Township and led by former Camden County Democratic Chairman David A. Luthman. Luthman is an attorney with the Parker McCay Law Firm, which ios headed by Philip Norcross, a brother of George Norcross.. Cherry Hill Township is in Camden County. A $14,400.00 contribution, again dated June 2, 2003. Among contributors to The Leaders Fund are developer Jack Morris with a February 24, 2003 contribution of $6,000.00 and his business partner Steve Goldin, who contributed $1,000.00 on the same day.



New Directions Through Responsible Leadership: Former Senate President John Lynch's PAC. A $14,400.00 contribution, dated June 10, 2003. Lynch will become eligible for release from federal prison on November 13, 2009. Contributors to New Directions include Willard of Jenkintown, PA, who apparently goes by only one name and contributed $2,500.00 on March 7, 2003. On that same date New Directions also received $7,200.00 from the Columbia Group, $7,200.00 from Edgewood Properties Inc., and $7,200.00 from Smith Street Properties Inc.



Monmouth Council of Democratic Leaders: A PAC connected to former Red Bank Mayor Edward McKenna and his sycophants, toadies and lackies. A $2,200.00 contribution dated June 15, 2003. Amy Mallet herself personally contributed $250.00 to this PAC on September 16, 2003, as did County Commissioner John "Flippy" D'Amico. That means that they support this PAC and think it's a good idea, campers.


Middlesex County Democratic Organization: These guys provided the Gemma-Mallet team with three in-kind contributions totaling $6,607.00, specifically they footed the bill for $515.00 in bus transportation, $342.00 for lunches (Lynch Lunch?☺), and $5,750.00 for GOTV walkers.



Gloucester County Democratic Executive Committee: If Camden is Moscow, Gloucester is St. Petersburg. Gloucester is the home base of State Senator Freeholder Director Steve Sweeney, a cog in the Norcross Machine. A $14,400.00 contribution, dated October 24, 2003.



Red Bank Democratic Municipal Committee: Surprisingly, this is actually within Monmouth County, but the Red Bank Dems are a vehicle for wheeling. The people that John Curley has been fighting. Three contributions totaling $59,900.00, including $19,400.00 on June 15, 2003, $26,100.00 undated and $14,400.00 on November 23, 2003. Imagine if your local GOP organization had that kind of bucks!



One would ask why would Hammerhead and Very Silent Glenn would run such a lightweight campaign. Where are their stands on the issues? I mean, it would appear that their platform is to ban the Colts Neck Historic House Tour, rename the Board of Chosen Freeholders and enact reforms already enacted by the Republican majority.



Looking at Amy Mallet's campaign finances, it's obvious. When politicians are light on ideas and heavy on dirty contributors, it's plain what they would do if elected: Exactly what they're told. Amy Mallet was financed in 2003 by urban political bosses who's political agendas are diametrically opposite to the interests of the good people of Monmouth County. They invested megamegamegabucks into her campaign, and only a primary at that. They would not do that if they didn't believe she was a dutiful soldier. And Very Silent Glenn? Well, he's just been, well, very silent.



Something else to think about. There are people out there who would vote for fire ants if they were running on the Democratic ticket. Fortunately not a lot here in Monmouth County, but this year there are ACORN - type groups (if not ACORN itself) working in several Monmouth County communities to register as many voters like that as possible. Possibly more than once, and possibly illegal aliens. With a Democrat in the Commissioner of Registration's office, we cannot count on these dubious registrations being culled. All these voters need to know is that a candidate is a Democrat.



It is important, then, to get out our vote to prevent a Democratic takeover of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Tell your friends. Bring a friend or more than one friend to the polls with you on Tuesday.






*Of course, with the Democrats, like in a Lewis Carroll story, down is up and up is down and wheeling isn't wheeling, so I guess the money isn't really wheeled. Also like Lewis Carroll, when John Kennedy's presidential campaign was in 1960, Middletown Democratic Boss Joseph "King" Caliendo campaigned in the 1961 Kennedy campaign.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FIASCO V

"I don't know how you can put a price tag on the lives on Monmouth County residents."
...Sheriff Kim Guadagno


Illegal aliens are not in the shadows, they're in our face.
Nowhere in Monmouth County was that more evident than in front of the Sheriff's office yesterday, where illegals and their enablers held a protest march opposing Sheriff Kim Guadagno's application to participate in the federal 287 (g) program. Sometimes you know you are doing the right thing by virtue of the critics you attract, and Guadagno has flushed out such enabling groups as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and Casa Freehold.
The Sheriff promised to participate in this program during her campaign last year; it would essentially deputize several of her officers to investigate the immigration status of prisoners at the County Jail, and provide training to perform these duties. Inmates found to be here illegally would then be subject to a federal detainer at the completion of their County time.
Illegal immigration advocates stridently oppose such a program. If an inmate's immigration status slips through the cracks, they can be released at the end of their term, or bail out if awating trial. Then they're in the wind.
The Sheriff's Department already investigates inmates' criminal status. There is no point in releasing an offender if they are wanted by other jurisdictions. Even visitors to the institution are checked for active warrants.
Too, there are already inmates with immigration holds. Just check out http://www.datauniverse.com/ for more information. So this program would just close a loophole in the system. Guadagno has stated that this program would only be in place in the jail, so only those incarcerated would be investigated. The County Jail should not become a "Sanctuary City", even if some municipalities do.
Many of those attending yesterday's protest were members of the Latino community. Many feel that Latinos would be targeted by this program. While many currently in jail on immigration violations are Latino, many are not. A sampling of those non-Latino inmates includes Abass AbuBakar, Malek Afzal Adal, Deborah Allen, Kuan Chun Han, Gazi Hossain, Mohammed Hossain, Sergei Konduktorov, Mohammed Qureshi. So it's not just a case of going after the "lawnmower man".
Sheriff Guadagno deserves our support in her endeavor.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

JOE THE PLUMBER IN '10?



Click here!

WHEELING IN MIDDLETOWN

Art Gallagher posts a press release by Middletown Township Committee candidate Tony Fiore exposing wheeling* by Middlesex County based engineering firm CME Associates through a bogus Ocean County PAC (OC-PAC) into the Middletown Democratic Executive Committee, led by party boss Joseph "King" Caliendo.
So, I guess we know now that CME will be township engineer if the Dems take control in Middletown. I wonder if all the papers will pick this up?
Other recipients of OC-PAC's generosity include the Democratic sheriff of Mercer County and the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, California.

*Of course, with the Democrats, down is up and up is down and wheeling isn't wheeling, so I guess the money isn't really wheeled. Or something.

Friday, October 24, 2008

ANOTHER UNION COUNTY CONNECTION

Is Union County the Democrats' idea of "where Democrats are doing a better job governing than Republicans?"
Apparently the Matawan Democrats believe so.
Recently the Voice of Reason has run a series on the fiasco that the Democratic council majority has transformed that borough into. Read it here, here and here. The behavior of their governing body seemed odd, even for Democrats, so we directed the Honest Abe Research Foundation to look into this.
Wow.
The Matawan Democrats' ELEC Report shows the usual contributions from the seemingly bottomless pit of money that the unions have. The very generous Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 9 from Manalapan is there with $4,500.00; indeed labor unions make up a clear majority of the funds reported. We still don't get what these unions' interest in these campaigns is.
But what really stuck out was a $1,000.00 contribution from the Election Fund of J. Christian Bollwage, dated September 17th. Abe, you ask, who is J. Christian Bollwage? He is the Democratic Mayor of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is in Union County.
And the wheel goes round.
Union County democrats have stuck their nose into Monmouth County campaigns before. They are just one of County Democratic Boss Victor Scudiery's many sources statewide. But what is their interest in a diminutive borough like Matawan?
Is it because they are extraordinarily civic-minded Americans who have a deep, abiding interest in local pols doing their jobs of serving their constituency? Might it be that they just love participating in the political process?
Is Union County the Democrats' idea of "where Democrats are doing a better job governing than Republicans?"
Well?

THOSE PRESS ENDORSEMENTS II

"We believe voters would be better served by retaining the 3-2 Republican majority..."
...Asbury Park Press Editorial


We knew they could do it. Today, the Asbury Park Press endorsed Director Lillian Burry and John Curley for freeholders over Democrats Amy Mallet (Who is like a shark) and Very Silent Glenn Mason for county commissioners. This marks the first time in many years that they have endorsed Republicans for the Board.

In the opening paragraph, the Press finally admits that the corruption of the Bid Rig era is a thing of the past, but they seem to believe that having two Democrats on the Board is the reason for the reforms of the past three years. We beg to differ on that. Between the 2004 and 2006 election cycle there was a 100% turnover of Board members. While Republicans largely replaced Republicans during that time, we saw a much more reform-minded calibre of freeholder take office.

Many reforms were spearheaded by Freeholder Anna Little, a conservative Republican. Indeed, a case could be made that it was a return to basic Republican principles that brought the Board of Chosen Freeholders back on track.

Simply having Democrats on the Board is not in itself a recipe for reform. The Press mentions curmudgeonly County Counsel Malcolm Carton as a vestige of the "good ol' boys network" that formerly dominated the Board. We will remind the reader that it was County Commissioner John "Flippy" D'Amico who sponsored the resolution appointing Carton back in 1988. It was D'Amico's hedging on the issue of reappointing Carton during the 2007 campaign that earned him the sobriquet "Flippy". And McMorrow's claim to fame seems to have been to follow Little's lead.

We are very pleased that the Press has finally seen fit to endorse Republicans for the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Indeed, to have endorsed the Democrats would have been to play right into the hands of the Norcross political family they spoke of in their endorsement of Mayor Myers for Congress over Sen. Adler.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

THOSE PRESS ENDORSEMENTS

OK, campers, once again the Asbury Park Press has begun its series of candidate endorsement editorials, and so far it's a mixed bag.
They began on Sunday the 19th with an endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. and his faithful sidekick Robinette, which was basically just a rehash of Democratic talking points. Nothing else to say here. I mean, Purcell actually did better than the APP on that regard.
Then on Monday, the APP began delving into the various races for the House of Representatives in the area with a hearty and resounding endorsement of Congressman Frank Pallone over Judge Bob McLeod for an eleventh term. A sign of character in an elected official is the breaking with his party from time to time on certain important issues, and in Congress Pallone has failed miserably there. While in the State Senate, Pallone earned a reputation as a conservative Democrat on certain issues, such as abortion. Within six months of his election to Congress, he took a hard left turn and hasn't looked back since. When then-State Senator Pallone first ran for Congress back in 1988 a slogan used by his opponent's (Assemblyman Joe Azzolina) campaign was Frank Pallone: 5 years of press; the ocean's still a mess. That still holds true today, only now it's 25 years of press. I encourage my readers to peruse the comments posted after the Press editorial.
On Tuesday, the Press printed an endorsement of incumbent Congressman Rush Holt for reelection over Holmdel Township Committeeman Alan Bateman. Holt is basically a carbon copy of Pallone, a strong follower of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic House Leadership. He doesn't really offer much to Monmouth County. Again, be sure to read the comments.
Yesterday (Wednesday) it began to get interesting. The Asbury Park Press endorsed a Republican! Medford Mayor Chris Myers actually got the endorsement over state Sen. John Adler, D-Camden, a cog in the Norcross machine, to succeed retiring Congressman Jim Saxton. Although this district doesn't cover Monmouth County, I'm referencing this endorsement because of what the Press had to say:
"Adler, whose political career has been scripted by Camden County political boss George Norcross, is part of a long-entrenched system that has allowed corruption to run rampant in New Jersey. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which conducts confirmation hearings on key gubernatorial appointees and state judges, he has signed off on or run interference for a "who's who" of unqualified party hacks. Among those vetted under his watch: former Attorneys General Peter C. Harvey and Zulima Farber and Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto."
The Norcross reference is interseting. The Press has repeatedly endorsed Democrats for freeholder whose campaigns have been heavily funded by Norcross' lieutenants like Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts. In view of that sordid history, it will be very interesting indeed to see if they follow the same pattern and endorse the Democratic candidates for freeholder this year.
Today they endorsed another Republican, veteran Congressman Chris Smith, the dean of the New Jersey House delegation. In spite of the Press' assertions otherwise, Smith is a conservative, and has proven that you need not be a liberal in the mold of Christie Whitman to succeed as a Republican in New Jersey. He will diverge from his party's line on issues of importance to his constituency in the 4th District. That's called representation. Something that both Pallone and Holt could do more of.
It will be interesting to see who will be endorsed in the race for U. S. Senate. Will the APP endorse Democrat Frank Lautenberg (Who is reminiscent of some of the former Soviet dictators like Yuri V. Andropov or Konstantin U. Chernenko!) or Republican Dick Zimmer?
And, in light of their rightful criticism of Adler's connections to the Norcross political family, will the Press endorse Freeholder Director Lillian Burry and John Curley, or Democrats Amy Mallet (Who is like a shark) and Very Silent Glenn Mason?

Friday, October 17, 2008

ABOUT THE DEMS' CAMPAIGN BUCKS...



Great research has been done by Art Gallagher and Barry Goldwater into the campaign finances of Democratic freeholder (or is that county commissioner?) candidates Amy Mallet and Very Silent Glenn Mason. They aptly point out the money wheeled* from such sources as Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), as well as a passel of out of county labor unions. This mirrors a post I made back in 2006 revealing unions and wheeling back then.
I wonder now as then the reason for all the labor bucks. The bulk of county employees are represented by two unions: Communications Workers of America Local 1034 (Carla Katz) represents the Public Works and Park System workers, and Policemen's Benevolent Association Local 240 represents the Corrections officers. So far, neither public employee union has contributed to the Dems' war chest this year. Most of the unions donating to the Democrats are not public employee unions. Back in 2006 a comment was posted that the unions were merely contributing to "pro-labor" candidates, but that sounds pretty weak. So why all the bucks?
The money from the lawyers is pretty obvious. Look at the names of the contributing lawyers, and look at who gets County Counsel if the Democrats get the majority, and see if you don't find a match.
As to the out of county political contributions like Wisniewski or Speaker Joe Roberts, that's wheeling in its most basic form. It's just what Democrats do.

*Of course, with the Monmouth County Democrats wheeling isn't wheeling, so I guess the money isn't really wheeled. Or something.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

REMEMBER HOWELL?

There was a time that the mere mention of Howell Township on this blog would elicit a "Howellanche" of comments. Indeed, there were those who would even steer a totally unrelated thread to Howell topics. Lately, Howell seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.

Actually, Howell is very much a part of Monmouth County, and with Middletown is key to a victory next month for Lillian Burry and John Curley. As quiet as things have been, there is in fact a local election going on there.

Mayor Joe DiBella has chosen not to run for reelection to another term. As many will remember, he was twice a candidate for freeholder in 2006. That year also saw an unsuccessful effort to recall the mayor. Joe weathered those storms, and we believe he goes out a winner this year.
The local GOP ticket this year is former Planning Board member Russell Bohlin for mayor and Susan O'Brien Wynalek for council. Wynalek replaces Planning Board Chairman Paul "PaulyRXman" Schneider on the ticket, who had withdrawn. They have joined the blogosphere, and can be visited at http://www.russandsueforhowell.blogspot.com/.
The independents are Councilman Robert Walsh for mayor and Susan Schroeder Clark for council.
Once again, there are no Democrats on the ballot for local office. This is the third consecutive local election in which the Howell Dems have not participated.

Monday, October 13, 2008

PURCELL'S BAAAAAAAAAACK...


Not too long ago, Courier publisher and Democratic Party operative Jim Purcell stopped blogging at The Inside Clamdigger; he also discontinued his column in his paper. Seemingly as a result of strong criticism by Art Gallagher of More Monmouth Musings. The blogging is now done by "Courier Reporter" and Purcell was replaced by columnist Somdatta Sengupta, a longtime Courier staffer. Until this week.
Purcell's back.
In this week's (Issue of Oct. 9th) column, in a newsworthy bit of new news, Purcell implores us all to vote Democratic.
He opens with a criticism of President George Walker Bush, and says he cannot vote for Sen. John Sidney McCain to replace him. Although Purcell doesn't mention the Illinois Senator by name, I would presume that he wants us all to vote for Barak Hussein Obama. And Boy Wonder Robinette for veep.
Then he goes on to Monmouth County:
"In Monmouth County, it is time for the Monmouth County Republican Organization to not be in control for a while, in my opinion. Corruption is rampant and only thinly concealed from public view. The corruption is institutional and spans the county."
Wanna have that conversation now, Jim? Where is the corruption of which you speak? Don't bother trotting out the Rob Clifton contribution story. That one lost credibility when you gave Bill Barham a pass for accepting the same amount from the same contributor and didn't return it, not to mention that you chose to ignore the Aberdeen Democrats' acceptance of contributions from that town's train station developer, even when the documentation was handed to you.
Westlake? Puh-leeze. At the end of the day, a Democratic tax board appointment by the governor that had to be vetted by the Democratic County Boss. That's Victor Scudiery, Jim. Maybe you've heard of him?
Bid Rig? Jim, a lot of the perpetrators were your friends. John Merla, Ray O'Grady and Harry Larrison, among others. When others expressed revulsion that these individuals could get involved in such corruption, you stood by your men. BTW, your chairman, Scudiery, said in 2005 they were entrapped. But then he also wrote that convicted federal felon Frank Abate was "honorable and dedicated."
Purcell then goes on about Peter Carton. Yaaaaawwwwn. Alright, we know you don't like the guy, already. Get over it, Jim, this is getting to be black helicopter stuff.
Do you really think that the Democrats don't have their own "Pete Carton" waiting in the wings for the Dems to take a majority. Come on. Just take a look at their ELEC reports. It's mostly labor unions and lawyers.
He jumps back to the county:
"The family members and friends, not to mention friends of friends, of Monmouth Republicans are so insinuated within the government's infrastructure that the notion of 'best person for the job' is simply quaint and perhaps nostalgic most times, but certainly not grounded in reality."
All righty then. And just who might these family members and friends be. Names and titles, Jim. It's easy to make the accusation, but to make it stick you need facts, Jim. Remember facts?
Purcell closes with a discussion of Middletown. Naturally, he wants Democrats in office there, too. Nothing really there to see.
Which leads me to ask the great unanswered question of Campaign '08, originally posed by Art Gallagher of More Monmouth Musings, also asked by Barry Goldwater at The Voice of Reason and by yours truly at this blog, and never answered yet: "Can anyone tell me of a county in New Jersey where Democrats are doing a better job governing than Republicans are doing in Monmouth County?"
I think I know the answer, or rather, why no Democrat has answered yet. Or will answer.
With the Democrats it's not about reform or good government, it's about power. We've seen where out of county interests have funded the Monmouth County Democrats, particularly Camden and Union County Democrats like George Norcross and Raymond Lesniak. For a look at how the Democrats have been running things in Union County, check out the blog of the Union County Watchdog Association, http://www.countywatchers.com/. Do we want our great county to be like Union? Is that the Democrats' idea of "where Democrats are doing a better job governing than Republicans?"
Well?

Thursday, October 02, 2008

HOW DID WE ALL MISS THIS ONE???

Please read this Star-Ledger article from back in May about a former Marlboro mayor's guilty plea in Federal Court for income tax evasion. No, it's not Matthew Scannapieco this time, it's a mug named Morton Salkind, who was that township's Democratic mayor some 35 years ago, and is said to have established relationships with developers which set in motion the events that transformed Marlboro from a pastoral farming community into the poster child for suburban sprawl that it is today. Salkind also served a term in the Assembly back in the 70's. He was defeated by Marie Muhler in 1975. Salkind's sentencing is scheduled for January; he could get up to two years in prison. I always knew this guy was dirty.
Chris Christie nails another one.

DEMOCRATIC EVIL WIZARD


Monmouth County's Democratic Party has a number of high-profile power-brokers. Chairman Victor Scudiery and Middletown Party Boss Joseph "King" Caliendo come to mind. But did you know that they have an evil wizard, too? OK, not some guy with a gown and a wand, the wizard monicker came from a Manalapan related comment on More Monmouth Musings by one called Trevanian. I'm talking about a very mysterious, behind-the-scenes Democratic political boss.
Norman Kauff.
Kauff has never held an elected office that I'm aware of. A lawyer, he has held several no-bid professional contracts in a number of towns in Western Monmouth and the Bayshore where he wields a lot of influence. He has been of controversy in several of these towns. Read The Middle Road from back in '03, when Kauff had an apparent no-show appointment in Hazlet, who's Democratic mayor seemed to be clueless as to Kauff's actual function and duties.
A post last year at Da Truth Squad appears to bear out the no-show thing, this time in Manalapan. And Aberdeener, from Kauff's home base of operation, has an entire category dedicated to Norman Kauff.
He receives a public pension, which appears to be the result of a process called multiple job holding, or double dipping.
For some reason, Kauff has evaded coverage in the local media. No Courier exposé here. No write-ups in the Asbury Park Press, The Transcript or the Independent. As low-key as he is, he has been a power, not only in Hazlet, Manalapan or Aberdeen, but in Marlboro, Matawan and Keyport too. On the County level, he is a trusted lieutenant of Boss Scudiery.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

DON'T SAY OBAMA

This is over a year old, but it's funny as hell.

MIDDLETOWN: THE NEW HOWELL

Middletown Township is Monmouth County's largest municipality in population; it's also right up there in land area. It stretches from the tip of Sandy Hook all the way to Lincroft, nearly on the doorstep of Western Monmouth.
Politically, it is a must-win in order to carry the county.
But all is not right in the Middletonian behemoth. A long-simmering party split has in recent years reached a slow boil, with the Democrats under local boss Joe "King" Caliendo benefiting in the process, and by currency, the county Dems.
What once was fought out in the primary and forgotten by Labor Day has now become a full-time pursuit. The two factions would get together, with Joe Azzolina hosting Pete Carton's local GOP Headquarters on Joe's property on Route 35. That's all a distant memory now; the HQ building has been bulldozed for lo these several years now.
Caliendo has benefitted big time in the last two years, with two of his Democrats being elected to the Township Committee. One more and all the GOP infighting will be moot.
Last year, things got really bizzare. Joe Azzolina, the longtime Republican legislator and former municipal chair, publicly backed the local Democrats in a mailer. And, from the other faction, Planning Board Chairperson Judith Stanley-Coleman backed a write-in candidate in Highlands, and is said to be supporting the local Democrats there this year. And that's not even in Middletown!
Wow! You just can't make this stuff up, campers!
With all these Republicans backing Democrats, it's no surprise that the Democrats are making gains.
In spite of a political scene that seems like a cross between The Jerry Springer Show and the bar scene from Star Wars, the local GOP seems to have been doing a pretty decent job governing the township, which makes it all the more imperative to maintain the Republican majority there, as well as keeping the vote pluralities high for the freeholders and top of the ticket.
I'll close with Art Gallagher's poignant question, which Democrats hate to be asked and can't answer: "Where in New Jersey are Democrats doing a better job governing than Republicans are doing in Middletown and Monmouth County?"

Thursday, August 28, 2008

PURCELL DISSES MONMOUTH's DIVERSITY

In his column in last week's (August 21st) Courier, publisher Jim Purcell laments Monmouth County's lack of "diversity."
Say what?!
What does he mean by the PC term diversity anyway? Monmouth County has about as much diversity as the next county. Yes, it's a predominantly white county, but not exclusively.
Many different communities make up our county. Holmdel has sizeable East Asian and South Asian communities. Long Branch, Neptune and Asbury Park have large African-American communities, as do Red Bank, Tinton Falls and Freehold Borough; smaller black communities exist in Matawan, Keyport and Aberdeen. Even Middletown has the enclave of Hillside Park. Howell has the Kalmuck Mongol community, one of the largest Buddhist communities in New Jersey.
Freehold and Red Bank, among other towns, have large Latino communities.
Even white communities are not all the same. Marlboro, Manalapan, Aberdeen and Ocean have large Jewish populations, whereas the southern shore towns, centering on Spring Lake, have been dubbed the "Irish Riviera."
I could go on and on. But I think you get the point. We're all Americans here. The things that unite us outnumber those that divide.
Sounding more like The Big Professor, Purcell also sounds a drum beaten by many on the left:
" Indeed, in many ways this 'conversation' about race will end one day. In this country, by 2050, the majority of the population in the United States will no longer be white. The majority of voters will be something other than white, and so the whole issue of race will be a lot plainer for some folks to grasp—because they'll have to."
This sounds like typical liberal "drive-by" media stuff. Promoting "get-even-ism" when whites are a minority, the left fails to take into account the fact that America has absorbed many peoples of all colors and from all continents and made them into... Americans.
And Americans work out our differences.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Biden: My State Was a Slave State

Robinette in his own words:

SPEAKING OF APOLOGIES...

The vast editorial staff here at the Monmouth County Republican Blog has been following very intently the controversy a-brewin' over More Monmouth Musings' Art Gallagher's attempt to start a discussion on race relations. Recently, Art ran a post in which he reprinted an article by Jeffery Lord in The American Spectator, Democrats: The Missing Years. That reminded us of a post we did back in February linking to an editorial in The Trentonian.
This week, the Democratic Party is poised to nominate Barack Hussein Obama, the first African American to be nominated by a major party, and Joseph Robinette Biden, who likes Obama because he's a "clean" African American. This would be a great opportunity for them to apologize as a party for slavery, Jim Crow laws, etc.
With the Democratic National Convention in session this week, we were going to repost the link, but found it no longer active, so we are reprinting the editorial here.
*************************************************************************************
Published in The Trentonian, Friday, February 1, 2008


Speaking of apologies...
Exuding righteousness, Democrats who control the N. J. legislature recently led an effort to proffer an official state apology for slavery. the apology presumably included within its sweeping mea-culpa ambit even those many New Jersey citizens whose forbears arrived in this country after slavery had been abolished and thus had nothing remotely to do with it. The New Jersey apology, at least, made no exceptions for this extensive category.
The legislature's heralded and hailed effort leads us to wonder aloud: Would these righteousness-exuding New Jersey Democrats now be willing to position themselves in the forefront of an initiative to apologize for their own national party's long and ignoble history of racism? Not that the Republican Party's own history on matters of race is unexceptionable, mind you. Far, far from it. But the GOP's record on racial issues can't remotely approach the out-and-out odiousness, spanning decades, of the Democratic Party's.
This sorry, shameful record has been disinterred in economist Bruce Bartlett's book, "Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past." So New Jersey's Democratic legislators would be spared the burden of research to support a formal party apology as a plank in the upcoming national convention platform. In an article in The American Spectator recently, Jeffrey Lord, one-time Reagan White House aide, suggested such a platform. Lord is, of course, a conservative polemicist and -- Democrats might understandably object -- a partisan troublemaker. Yet facts are facts, as it's often said, and Lord's summation of the Democratic racial record is not something easily waved aside. Certainly the record is nothing Democratic legislators can shrug off as ancient history or water over the dam -- especially not after having ostentatiously championed the slavery apology.
Here's a brief sampling of the Democratic Party's racial record:

  • Six national party platforms, 1840-1860, spoke out vehemently in support of slavery.
  • The national party platform in 1864 declared the Union's military efforts to quell the slavery-supporting Confederacy a "failure" and demanded negotiations with a view toward at least a partial acceptance of slavery.
  • At the 1900 national convention, the Democratic Party remained silent on the issue of race as de facto and de jure discrimination leached like toxic waste into all corners of America -- especially in the solidly Democratic South. (The GOP platform that year, in contrast, stated that "the plain purpose" of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was to "prevent discrimination on account of race or color in regulating the elective franchise." The Republican platform added: "Devices of state government ... to avoid the purpose of this amendment ... should be condemned.")
  • Four Democratic Party national platforms (1908-1920) were silent on the issues of lynching, segregation and voting-rights suppression of African Americans. (The GOP platforms in those years addressed these issues.)
  • The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held in New York City, defeated a proposed platform plank condemning Ku Klux Klan violence. The party confab was dubbed with fully justifiable derision the Democrats' "Klanbake." (Noteworthy local angle: In celebration of the platform victory, 10,000 pointed-hooded Klansmen rallied across the river in New Jersey, cavorting triumphantly around burning crosses.)

It seems almost like a late hit or piling-on, but we'll risk throwing in a mention that such notable race-baiters as Bull Connors and Orval Faubus and George Wallace and Lester Maddox were all stalwart Democrats. And, oh, yes, Arkansas Sen. J. William Fulbright (the furrowed-brow foreign policy intellectual and Bill Clinton's hero) was unwaveringly segregationist to the very end of his political career and a signer of "The Southern Manifesto."
Do we hear a motion for a Democratic Party apology?
--The Trentonian