Cory Booker – The Man With The Shovel

By Grace Cangemi

Newark must be booming.  After all, Mayor Cory Booker has enough time on his hands to get involved down here in Monmouth County.  Why else would the Mayor of the largest city in the state get involved in legislative races outside his district? 

Newark is once again mire in scandal.  As Booker’s former Deputy Mayor faces corruption charges for allegedly fixing government contracts in return for political contributions, democrat legislative candidates in Monmouth County are bringing Booker to town.  Let’s hope it’s to raise money and not to offer suggestions on responsible leadership and fiscal policy. 

Today, in the midst of a financial environment that has everyone else in the state tightening their belts, Booker scored an additional $32 million in emergency aid to Newark.  Add that to the more than $91 million Newark has already received.  Monmouth County’s aid was less than $79 million total this year.   In other words, Newark will receive about $44 million more than all of Monmouth County combined.  Instead of throwing fundraisers for Monmouth County legislative candidates, Booker should be sending thank you notes to every taxpayer in the state.

In the past, Booker has been pounded for spending alarming amounts of money on both federal and state lobbyists.  Newark is still in fiscal turmoil.  An ethics scandal that alleges that political contributions and cronyism influenced contracts in the city won’t go away.  Newark alone gets more money than every municipality in Monmouth County combined.   I guess that makes Cory Booker a hell of a fundraiser.  But there have to be better leaders that Monmouth County dems can look to.  There must be men and women in the democrat party who offer a better example than Booker.

Oh yeah, he shoveled snow after the blizzard.  Booker hasn’t been able to dig Newark out of corruption and debt, but he sure can shovel.   Maybe that’s why Monmouth County dems are bringing him down – to help with the shoveling.

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Change is inevitable for the post office…..and newspapers

The Neptune Nudniks got one right today. 

In their editorial, Change inevitable for post office, The Asbury Park Press editorial board accurately spells out how the Internet and digital technology has changed the economics of information delivery, making the United States Postal Service obsolete and insolvent.  

The post office is undergoing a major downsizing. Appropriately so because people are just not using it they way we used to.  Electronic exchange of documents and information is just far more efficient than physically moving paper across town or across the country.

The Press concludes that, “we cannot subsidize what should be a self-sustaining entity any more than we could subsidize the buggy whip industry at the turn of the last century.”

That unassailable reasoning should also be applied to the subsidies the newspaper industry receives in the form of state mandated legal and public notices advertising.

Classified advertisings in newspapers has gone the way of the buggy whip industry. It has been replaced by craigslist, ebay, autotrader.com, realtor.com, realtytrac.com, and countless other websites.  The once thick classified sections of newspapers are now four or five pages daily, half of which is government compelled legal and public notices.

Bi-partisan legislation, The Electronic Publication Of Legal Notices Act, passed the State Senate in July of 2010 and the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee in February of this year.  Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver has blocked the bill from being voted on by the full Assembly.

With millions of dollars in government mandated subsidies at stake, the newspaper industry came out in force to lobby against the bill arguing that legal notices on government websites instead of in newspapers really wouldn’t save the government money, that poor people without computers would not have access to the vital information( do poor people attend foreclosure auctions and zoning board hearings?) and that elected officials could use the power to withhold legal notice advertisements to punish newspapers for unfavorable news coverage.  The newspaper publishers said that their role as unbiased watchdogs would be compromised.

The assertion that newspapers fill the role of unbiased watchdogs is laughable.   Yesterday’s Star Ledger editorial laying out a strategy for Democrats to counter Governor Christie’s effective Town Hall meetings, along with the paper’s slanted “news” coverage of Christie’s meetings eariler in the week is just one recent example of how “newspapers” are just as biased as this or any other blog.

But the publishers’ argument that allowing newspaper advertising and/or Internet advertising on governement websites of Legal Notices gives government officials the power to punish newspapers whose coverage they don’t approve of (or to reward newspapers for coverage they do approve of) has merit.

That potential for abuse could be fixed by amending the Electronic Publication Of Legal Notices Act to require that legal notices be published only on government websites.  Reasonable fees for ads that are now paid to newspapers by planning and zoning applicants, foreclosing lenders and other private interests that are compelled to advertise could be collected by the municipalities to offset the cost of maintaining their websites and as a new source of much needed revenue.

The rest of New Jersey’s traditional media should embrace The Asbury Park Press’s outstanding reasoning, as it applies to the post office, and apply it to themselves in the interests of the public good. They should let Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver off the hook and suggest she post The Electronic Publication Of Legal Notices Act for a vote before the full Assembly where their friends in the chamber should amend the bill to prohibit governments from spending taxpayers dollars on legal notice advertising and eliminate the requirement that private interests pay to advertise anywhere other than on a government website.

Of course, the 1st amendment would allow the newspapers to continue publishing the notices, as a public service, or as a private sector revenue driven profit center.

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Real Jersey Bloggers On The Radio

This week’s Real Jersey Guys On The Radio Show will be different.

My partner former Senator Dick LaRossa has called in sick.

My young friend, Save Jersey founder Matt Rooney, has stepped up from being a guest to being the co-host.

After taking a year off from politics to work in the judicial branch of New Jersey government, Matt is back in the private sector practicing law and political punditry.  I’m glad he’s back.

Blue Jersey blogger Jay Lassiter will be calling in at about 5:15.  This will be a first for the show, being  joined  by a liberal Democrat, but it will be Real Jersey Radio.

You will want to hear it.  You will want to call in. We’ll be taking your calls at 609-447-0236.

The show is broadcast from 5PM-6PM on WIFI AM 1460 and here on the Internet.

The show is sponsored by Repatriot Radio.

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Beck, Angelini, Pledge Gay Marriage Support

Senator Jennifer Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini told representatives of Garden State Equality that they would vote to override a gubernatorial veto of a Same Sex Marriage bill, should such an opportunity come before them in the next legislature.  The incumbent Republican legislators were being interviewed for GSE’s endorsement in the 11th legislative district election yesterday at Monmouth University.

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Beck and Angelini’s running mate, did not attend the interviews due to a family commitment. She spoke with GSE privately today.  Casagrande has not yet taken a position on gay marriage.

Beck, who has previously voted against Marriage Equality in the Senate, was unabashed in her commitment to cast an override vote.  Angelini, who has long supported same sex marriage rights, was reluctant say she would vote to override Governor Christie’s veto, but finally did so, according to sources who were in the room.

Garden State Equality’s President Steven Goldstein would not say if the women’s pledge would result in the organization’s endorsement. “Those commitments are being taken into consideration as we complete our evaluation process,” Goldstein said.  He indicated that the endorsements would be forthcoming later this week.

Beck is competing with Freehold Township attorney Ray Santiago, the Democratic nominee for Senate.  Both support same sex marriage.

Angelini and Casagrande are competing with Democrats Vin Gopal,Red Bank Councilwoman Kathy Horgan and Independent Dan Jacobson, all marriage equality advocates.  Jacobson told GSE that they should endorse Angelini because she is the only Republican in the Assembly who has supported their cause.

Beck told MMM that gay marriage is one of the very few issues with which she differs with the governor, “I support him 99.99999%, but we differ on this issue.”

“We all believed that civil unions would provide equal rights,” said Beck, “but that has turned out not to be the case for many people.  I was very conflicted over my Senate vote against marriage equality because I personally believe in it, yet I voted against the bill because I felt the majority of my district was against it.  I believe the majority of my new district is more open minded and in favor of equal rights.”

Angelini has not responded to MMM’s call for comment.  However, Beck said she understood her running mate’s reticence to pledge to override Christie’s veto.  “It is not an easy decision. We all have great respect and admiration for Governor Christie, personally and politically.  He is a great leader. ”

Beck also noted that the bill recently passed in New York giving same sex couples the right to marriage has stronger protections for religious institutions than the bill that came before the New Jersey legislature during the 2009-2010 lame duck session.  Beck said she would only support a bill that had such protections.

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Diversify The Media

UPDATE:

Star Ledger reporter Ginger Gibson, a member of the Statehouse press corps tell me she is Mexican:

 I saw your piece about the diversity of the press corps. I just wanted to let you know, I’m Mexican. So it’s not all white guys in the press corps, there are some minorities. Just wanted to make sure you knew that.

I never would have guessed that, given Gibson’s fair skin and last name.  Another lesson about assumptions.

Yet the point of my piece still stands.  The press corps is far from 40% minority, and the Ledger editorial board is still FOS.

On Saturday The Star Ledger published an editorial calling on Governor Chris Christie to appoint minorities to the State Supreme Court.

The Ledger is lamenting the fact that since Christie took office both minorities who were on the court, Justice John Wallace and Justice Roberto Rivera-Sota,  have left the bench.  For the first time in twenty years there are no minorities on the court. “And yet more than 40 percent of the state’s population is black, Hispanic, or Asian.”

The Ledger took the diversity theme a bit further this morning with an article that sites a Star Ledger analysis which concludes Governor Christie is favoring white middle class senior citizens in selecting communities to host his Town Hall meetings.

This got me thinking about the diversity of the New Jersey Media.  Is the New Jersey press corp comprised of 40% of African Americans, Hispanics and Asians?   Not even close.

From my experience, without doing an extensive MMM analysis like the Ledger did of Christie’s Town Halls, journalism may be the least diverse industry in New Jersey.

The State House press corp?  Overwhelmingly white. 

NJ.com, The Star Ledger’s website?  Only one African American columnist who writes almost exclusively about Newark. 

Giving credit where it is due, Gannett’s papers have a diverse group of reporters, on the local levels.  They have an African American Executive Editor, Hollis Towns, at The Asbury ParkPress.  Their Statehouse Buerau?  Five white guys.  They would be wise to make Jane Roh part of that team.

News12 has a diverse staff. 

So what is with the progressives at The Star Ledger?  Should they be telling the Governor to take the speck out of his eye while they have a log in their own?

Are the folks at The Ledger hypocrites or has Gannett scooped up all the good minority writers?

I don’t know for sure, but I tend to think they’re full of poop.  They’re attempting to set the agenda for Christie’s Supreme Court appointments by using the race card.  As part of the vast progressive conspiracy, the Ledger likes an activist court that requires billions of dollars to be flushed into urban schools that produce morally unacceptable results in educating minority children.   If they can convince the public that race should be a criteria for selecting a Supreme Court Justice, rather than scholarship, judicial temperment and a philosphical committement to interpreting law, rather than writing it from the bench, The Ledger figures they can thrwart Governor Christie from “turning Trenton upside down” anymore than he already has.

The Legislature is very likely to remain in Democratic control after the coming election, which limits severely the reforms Governor Christie can make over the rest of his term.  Given the legislative map, a second Christie term will most likely also have a Democratic legislature.    That he will have the responsiblity to appoint the majority of the court in his first term, to reshape the court as he promised, will result in the real legacy of the Christie administration.

The Star Ledger’s lip service for diversity is nothing more then getting ready for that coming political battle.

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If Christie’s the new darling of the far right, where does that leave Steve Lonegan?

Should we care?

That’s the question that Bergen Record Columnist Charles Stile asks this morning at NorthJersey.com.

Stile is wondering how Lonegan is reacting to American For Prosperity benefactor David Koch’s declaration that Governor Christie is “my kind of guy” at the super secret corporate donors meeting in Colorado last June.  That was the meeting where Christie told the tale of how he saved Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver’s position by lining up Assembly Republicans to vote for her had the Democrats staged a coup to prevent the pension and benefits reform bill from being posted.

Strangely, Lonegan who is never shy with the press, rebuffed Stile’s inquiry four times in two weeks. 

Stile probably hasn’t noticed that Lonegan’s rare pontifications about Christie have been positive since April of this year.  That is when Christie prevailed upon Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips to get Lonegan to tone his rhetoric down, as reported at the time by the now defunct TheStateNJ.com.

Lonegan’s focus has been on co-opting and controlling New Jersey’s Tea Party movement and attempting to destroy Tea Parties he can’t control, if The Bulldog Pundit, Gene Hoyas’ body of work over this summer is accurate.

Hoyas has been white knighting for the Bay Shore Tea Party Group which has suffered ad hominem attacks from conservative websites that Hoyas says are Lonegan mouthpieces.  Hoyas’ smoking gun that Lonegan, and Senator Mike Doherty, are behind the attacks is that they haven’t publically called for the conservatives sites to stop picking on the BTPG.

All of this nonsense, from Stile’s piece this morning, to Hoyas and other purists fighting all summer, to Lonegan trying to control Tea Parties, if he is, are gifts to the Democrats who are on track to keep control of the legislature in Trenton.

Stile could have written about the current and ongoing rifts within the Democratic party, rather than suggesting to his readers that Christie is more “far right” than Lonegan.  Instead he attempted to tweak Lonegan into reigniting a battle that he surrendered months ago.  We should expect that from Stiles as a center-left opinion leader.

But Hoyas and other conservatives fighting with each other, as well as the ongoing ideological Inquisition of RINO hunters is nothing more than a circular firing squad.  

Now that they have wasted the summer, it is time for all the ideological purists to stop fighting over which angel does a better dance on the head of a pin and get to work electing candidates who are right and center-right.

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Democrat For A Day

Amy Quinn

Today is Monmouth County Democratic Chairwoman Amy Quinn’s birthday.

As a birthday gift, Amy asked that I become a Democratic blogger for the day.

In preparation, I checked out Middletown Mike’s blog.  Mike has the President’s weekly Youtube address and a Saturday morning cartoon posted.

Over at BlueJersey, they have a video of Chris Matthews interviewing Carl Lewis on MSNBC’s Hardball.  Matthews mentioned his friendship with the late Republican Jack Kemp and neither man talk about sensations in their legs.

Following suit, and as a gift to Amy on her birthday, I bring you Wolf Blitzer and James Carville.

Happy Birthday Amy!

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Christie Town Hall Meeting in Sayreville

Governor Chris Christie will be holding a Town Hall Meeting in Sayreville on Wednesday, September 21, at 11:30 AM.  The doors will open at 10:30 AM.

The forum will take place at the Sayreville Senior Center, 423 Main Street.

Seating is on a first come, first served basis and is open to the public.  The Governor’s office requests that those planning to attend RSVP here.

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The Situation May Not Be As Bad As It Seems

Are taxpayers subsidizing MTV’s Jersey Shore?

That’s what some of my friends are saying. 

I usually agree with InTheLobby and Declan O’Scanlon, but in the case of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority granting a $420,000 tax credit to MTV for the 2009 production of Jersey Shore, I’m not so sure.

I’m not fan of the show.  I never watched it.  The promotions and buzz about it are enough for me to know that I’d rather see a Law and Order re-run.   Yet, there is no denying that the show has generated quite a bit of economic activity.  That’s what tax credits are supposed to do.

Tax credits are not subsidies in the sense that the government is writing a check.  They are promised tax reductions given to induce investment that will, hopefully, generate economic activity and more overall tax revenue than the amount of the credit.   Since Governor Christie has taken office, New Jersey has granted much larger tax credits to spur investment in Atlantic City and the Meadowlands.

Is the Jersey Shore tax credit a good deal for New Jersey?  I don’t know.  The Treasury Department would have to calculate the increased tax revenue that resulted from the show.   It would take $6,000,000 in increased sales of hair gel, contraceptives and alcohol to generate $420,000 in sales tax to “break even” on the tax credit.  I don’t buy hair gel or contraceptives.  I don’t watch the show, so it hasn’t driven me to drink more.  We’d have to rely on Treasury data to judge if increase sales taxes paid for the tax credit.

But we’d also have to include increased income taxes in the analysis.  How much do Snooki, the Situation and the rest of the cast pay to New Jersey in income taxes? What about the rest of the crew?  What about the increased income, and taxes for Seaside Heights businesses and their employees?

Is MTV paying any taxes to New Jersey as a result of the show at all?  If they hadn’t produced the show, they certainly would not have paid any taxes.  If the tax credit induced them to produce the show, that is what it was designed to do.

“I can’t believe we are paying for fake tanning for ‘Snooki’ and ‘The Situation’, and I am not even sure $420,000 covers that,” said Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth). “This is a great investment for the taxpayers, as if they can make a show called ‘Jersey Shore’ anywhere else.”

Declan obviously doesn’t watch the show either.  They can make a show called ‘Jersey Shore’ in Italy.

Boardwalk Empire, the HBO hit series about the history of Atlantic City is not shot in New Jersey.  The beach scenes are shot in Coney Island, New York.

The Jersey Shore tax credit made headlines because State Senator Joe Vitale and the Italian American ONE Voice Coalition’s moral sensibilities are offended by how Italian Americans are depicted on the show.  They called for Governor Christie to veto the tax credit.  Christie doesn’t have the authority to veto the tax credit.  Vitale should have known that.  He probably did know that and just wanted to get his name in the papers.  What he did instead was generate more free publicity for the show he says offends him.

Vitale and ONE VOICE might have better luck in the courts. Earlier this week the Appeals Court set public moral sensibilities as a standard for what is legal in New Jersey.  If Vitale can convince a judge that the public’s moral sensibilities are offended by Jersey Shore, maybe he can get the show shut down, or get it moved, along with all the economic activity it is generating, to Italy or New York.

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An endorsement from Jennifer Beck?

By Dan Jacobson, also published in the September 15th edition of the triCityNews

This is a column I’ve been itching to write.

I’m running as an Independent for the state Assembly in the 11^th District. While the odds of winning are tough, it’s not impossible.

And I’m quite serious about holding the office. I’d be great at it. Mostly because I can’t stomach bullshit. Visit my campaign website at danjacobson.net. You’ll see.

But I never take myself too seriously. And since politics these days is pretty much a cheesy joke, I’m also having fun with the campaign.

Like with this column. Oh man, I’d love to be there when Republican State Senator Jennifer Beck sees the headline – she has no idea what to expect! Don’t anyone tell her!

Here’s the deal.  Everyone knows that Jennifer and I have been close friends since this newspaper started almost 13 years ago. As a result of redistricting, she’s now in the new11^th District where I’m running for the Assembly. So will she endorse me?

“Dan Jacobson is a great friend, and I think he’d make a great Assemblyman – if he were running as a Republican,” Beck said. “I wish he’d join our party already. I would do everything I could to get him elected if he ever ran as a Republican – no matter what office he was seeking.”

“The best thing for our state right now is to elect Republicans to the Senate and Assembly, and I am fully supporting my running mates, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini,” she said. “They are both excellent legislators, and I work extremely well with them.”

Of course, Jennifer didn’t say any of that. I just made it up. I’m 100 percent serious! I do that every so often with Jen in the paper, and it’s hilarious. What’s so funny is that it’s always what she would have said! No doubt I nailed it here once again. Guaranteed.

The reason Jen would stress out over the headline? She’d wonder if I was about to cause havoc with her running-mates or with the Republican Party by somehow making it seem like we’re in cahoots in this election, or that she may endorse me. (Beck wouldn’t freak out about the phony quotes. She’s used to those by now. Bet she burst out in laughter when she reads them.)

But here’s the fun part for me. I get to make my point about the absurdity of party politics. Plus, I get to tease my friend Jennifer Beck.

After all, why can’t Beck say that I’d be a great Assemblyman and suggest a vote for me or her two running mates?  I’m an Independent, not a Democrat. Why not just say she supports all three of us, and let the voters pick two? Everyone gets two votes.

Even better, Jennifer and I are almost identical in our views on social and economic issues – even closer than her two running mates! Surely, that should merit some type of endorsement!

(Admittedly, Beck’s running mates – Mary Pat Angelini and Caroline Casagrande – along with Jennifer and I, pretty much agree on economic issues. The difference comes in on social issues: Jen and I are both pro-choice and favor same sex marriage. Mary Pat is with us on same-sex marriage, but is pro-life. Caroline is a true social conservative: both against same-sex marriage and pro-life.)

But my point remains: I’m still closest with Beck on the issues!

“All the more reason to join me in the Republican Party, and run as a Republican,” Beck responded, in another quote that I just made up.

Anyway, isn’t this all so silly? Who gives a shit about parties these days? People are sick of the partisan bullshit. In fact, I’ve never heard so many people say they don’t care about a candidate’s party. They’ve had it.

Meanwhile, with the recent redistricting, Beck just picked up a ton of new territory that she never represented before – which happens to be exactly where the triCityNews circulates!

Yup, once again this newspaper has made her. For almost thirteen years, Beck has been heavily covered in the triCity region of eastern Monmouth County – a big reason she’s going to kick ass in November. Now she represents this region! And this all started because she was a great story way back in 1999, when as an unknown thirty-two year old Republican she beat the Ed McKenna Democratic machine up in Red Bank to win a Council seat.

TriCity went all out for Beck in that election. We thought Red Bank needed to be shaken up. Our push culminated with a huge front page headline the week before the election stating: “We back Beck!”

The triCityNews – still less than a year old – caught a lot of shit for that. Like we cared. We then predicted Beck’s rise – accurately stating she’d make it to the state Assembly and Senate. We also predicted she’d go higher, such as to Congress or Lieutenant Governor. I still say that will happen. 

Although Beck’s coverage in the triCityNews has been overwhelmingly positive, we did have two problems in the past 13 years. Hey, at the triCityNews we always call it like we see it!

The first was about ten years ago when I completely blasted Jennifer for not having the balls – as it were – to challenge Ed McKenna for Mayor of Red Bank. Man, we hammered her. Jen didn’t talk to me for a year. And about three years ago, I again completely blasted her for voting against same-sex marriage. Jen took that one better: she didn’t talk to me for only six months.

(Beck reversed her position on same sex marriage a few months ago – a story first reported in this newspaper. And, yes, the quotes we printed in that article were really from her.)

So, yeah, Jen and I are still great friends. In fact, whenever I speak to her these days, the first thing I ask is what colors she’d prefer for the legislative office I tell her we’ll share when I win.

But all joking aside, let me make something clear: When I declared my candidacy, I told Jennifer that we would have no discussions about campaign activities. She immediately agreed. And that’s what we’ve done. I have no idea what the Republicans are doing, and Beck has no idea of what I’m doing. I insisted on that so Jennifer would have no problems with the Republican Party or her running mates.

And while I’m having a good time here, let me say some kind words about those in the Assembly race from both parties. After all, I like my opponents – it’s the whole Goddamned system that’s pissing me off. That’s what I’m targeting by running.

I voted for Mary Pat Angelini last time for Assembly. I’d vote for her again this year if I wasn’t running. I love Mary Pat. She’s one of the few normal people I know in politics. (This year I’m “bullet voting” for just myself. It’s the best way to send a message.)

And, if I weren’t running, my second vote would likely go to Caroline Casagrande. More than anyone else on the ballot, I sense Caroline shares my gut libertarian instincts on economic issues. And those issue are most important this year.

But that second vote would be a tough choice: The other remaining candidate is Democrat Vin Gopal, with whom I’m in total agreement on social issues. He’s a young guy in his mid-20s who’s also in the publishing business. Vin puts out a community newspaper and magazines in Northern Monmouth. I got to love that! Plus Vin reminds me of a young Dan Jacobson when I served a term in the state Assembly in my 20s. Vin is just a lot nicer. Great guy.

(As of the deadline for this column, Democrat Marilyn Schlossbach, an Asbury Park restaurant owner, had dropped out of the race, and no replacement had been named. If I hadn’t run this year  – and Marilyn had stayed in – she’d have gotten my second vote. We’ve known each other for over 25 years, and I love what Marilyn has done for Asbury Park. She too has received extensive coverage since 1999 in the triCityNews for her various activities.)

So there you go. Jennifer Beck is now breathing a sigh of relief. I’ve caused her no trouble with the Republicans in this column. And I’ve been able to say only the nicest things about my opponents. It’s like the fantasy campaign.

Wouldn’t it be wild if lightning struck and I actually won this election? Who runs a campaign like this?

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