(TRENTON) — Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the Democratic Co-Chair of the Legislative Apportionment Commission, issued the following statement on the Tea Party’s court challenge to the recently approved redistricting map:
“We are extremely confident in the constitutionality of the recently adopted map, which underwent a through review by not only our attorneys, but former Attorney General John Farmer, who served as counsel to the 11th member of the commission.
“This is a map that not only met traditional redistricting criteria but improved upon compactness, competitiveness and one-person, one-vote standards and will ultimately be found constitutional,” said Wisniewski (D-Middlesex).
Lawsuit challenges the validity of the New Jersey Legislative District Map
Red Bank, NJ – The Bayshore Tea Party group along with 38 Plaintiffs, representing all 21 counties in New Jersey, filed a civil action today against the Democrat members of the New Jersey Apportionment Commission, the 11th Member, Alan Rosenthal, Kim Guadagno, in her official capacity as Secretary of State of New Jersey, Paula Dow, Attorney General and Robert F. Giles, Director of the Division of Elections of the State of New Jersey, in Superior Court, Chancery Division, Ocean County.
The action claims the Legislative district map approved by the commission on April 3, 2011, is in violation of the Federal and New Jersey Constitutions. It is further stated that other federal and state laws were violated against the interests of the registered voters of New Jersey.
According to the preliminary statement filed today in court, the Commission Map in its current construction dilutes or nullifies the voice of the voters in the southern half of the state and in the state’s two largest municipalities, Newark and Jersey City. The lawsuit claims the Commission Map over-packed the southern half of the state causing an unconstitutional 18% deviation, which is 8% higher than the 10% deviation permitted by US Supreme Court precedent. Also, alleged in this suit are illegal splits of Newark and Jersey City from three districts each to two. These splits dilute the representation of these urban municipalities by reducing the number of elected legislators from 9 representatives to 6 in violation of New Jersey Supreme Court precedent.
Barbara Gonzalez, founder of Bayshore Tea Party Group and a Plaintiff in the suit said “After reviewing the commission map, I noticed several violations affecting the voter’s integrity. This lawsuit is crucial to protect the longstanding ‘one person, one vote’ principle. I hope our diligence will raise voter awareness of the voters of New Jersey to recognize the value of their vote.”
The 42 page complaint can be viewed and downloaded here.
A Community Outreach Benefiting the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit
Middletown, NJ – The Bayshore Tea Party Group is sponsoring “Two Tons for our Troops,” a supply drive for the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, “America’s 911 Force” now in international deployment.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit has about 2,200 personnel and consists of command, infantry, aviation and combat logistics. The 13th MEU is based out of Camp Pendleton, CA.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group has set a deadline of May 15 to collect two tons of supplies. Communities, individuals and other organizations are encouraged to help reach that ambitious goal. The collection point is 275 Route 35 North, Red Bank NJ 07701 (just north of the Pine Street jug handle.) The following items would be gratefully accepted and appreciated:
Please visit our website at www.bayshoreteaparty.org for information on how you can become involved with the effort to restore American exceptionalism and fix our broken state and federal governments.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group Headquarters is located at 275 Rt. 35N in Fairview, NJ. Please contact [email protected] or call 732-842-6652 for more information.
While politicians draw lines to save their jobs the People’s Map creates genuine competition
Middletown, NJ –Several articles have come out recently displaying the hysterics surrounding the possibility of a handful of legislators who may lose their jobs as a result of the Apportionment Commission’s final map. Meanwhile, an analysis of “The People’s Map” illustrates nicely how genuine competition between and among parties and incumbents can be easily achieved by simply drawing district lines according to the Constitution.
Below are some of the intra-party battles created as a result of the non-gerrymandered map produced by the Bayshore Tea Party Group:
·District 4: Sen. Steve Sweeney (D) v. Sen. Fred Madden (D)
·District 13: Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R) v. Sen. Jenifer Beck (R)
·District 21: Sen. Barbara Buono (D) v. Sen. Bob Smith (D)
·District 27: Sen. Anthony R. Bucco (R) v. Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R)
·District 31: Sen. Brian Stack (D) v. Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D)
·District 9: Asm. Ronald Dancer v. Asw. Diane Gove v. Asm. Brian Rumpf
There are 11 additional districts in which incumbents of the same party would be pitted against one another. This is what representative democracy should look like.
While politicians holed up in lavish accommodations at one of New Brunswick’s finest hotels wheel and deal for their own personal benefit, voters are left with the scraps from a rancid political meal. “The People’s Map” changes that dynamic and forces long-term incumbents, many of whom have benefited for a decade from our previously Gerrymandered districts, to defend their records with their constituents and actually campaign for reelection.
It is a uniquely American ideal that no man should be entitled to the benefit of another’s labor. This ideal is no more applicable than in the world of electoral politics.
Upon discovering the information, primary map-maker and Bayshore Tea Party Group Redistricting Committee Chairman Sean Spinello stated:
“One thing that struck me with all the attempts at manipulating the matchups and wanting easy victories was that it sounded like old time boxing promoters…except with less integrity.”
The Bayshore Tea Party Group was heartened recently by NJ Apportionment Commission Co-Chairman and Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s statement citing the importance of adhering to the NJ Constitution with regard to the legislative map drawing, as reported in The Star-Ledger on March 28.
As per Chairman Wisniewski’s admonition, we expect that the Commission will issue a map fully compliant with law and the New Jersey Constitution, such as “The People’s Map.”
Please visit our website at www.bayshoreteaparty.org for information on how you can become involved with the effort to restore American Exceptionalism and fix our broken government. [email protected] or call 732-842-6652 for more information.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group Headquarters is located at 275 Rt. 35N in Middleotwn,NJ. Please contact
The following is the methodology I employed to construct the Bayshore Tea Party Group’s “People’s Map.” Thank you to More Monmouth Musings for allowing me to address some of the confusion and misinformation that has been spread elsewhere.
1. The People’s Map was drawn solely based on federal legal requirements and New Jersey Constitutional requirements. No voter registration data or incumbent residency information whatsoever was known specifically so they could not cause intentional or even subconscious bias in the map drawing
2. The map was drawn using only US census data, a map of New Jersey, pencils, paper, calculators and a copy of the New Jersey Constitution. These items do not cost much. No computers or mapping programs were utilized. No “funding” or “support” was provided for the mapping “project”, which consisted of unpaid concerned citizens working for long hours to draw a map that meets federal legal and New Jersey Constitutional requirements.
3. “The People” for whom the map was drawn are all the people, regardless of party affiliation, who want the law followed and do not want the law disregarded in favor of ad hoc self-interested decision making by politicians. Admittedly, if someone wants a gerrymandered map that violates law and results in voter nullification and non-competitive elections, “The People’s Map” is not for you.
4. Some critics of our map are reading the wrong part of the State Constitution as the basis of their complaints, citing Article XI, rather than Article IV. It is no wonder that “no matter how many times I read this provision”(i.e., Article XI), the author did not find the New Jersey Constitutional districting requirements. Specifically, Article IV, Section II, Paragraph 3 of the New Jersey Constitution provides in relevant part:
“The Assembly districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, as nearly compact and equal in the number of their inhabitants as possible, and in no event shall each such district contain less than eighty per cent nor more than one hundred twenty per cent of one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State as reported in the last preceding decennial census of the United States. Unless necessary to meet the foregoing requirements, no county or municipality shall be divided among Assembly districts unless it shall contain more than one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State, and no county or municipality shall be divided among a number of Assembly districts larger than one plus the whole number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants in the county or municipality by one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State.” (Emphasis Added).
5. Partisan gerrymandering is not one of the “foregoing requirements” that permits municipalities/counties to be split among more districts than prescribed by the New Jersey Constitution. The Commission does NOT have the discretion to gerrymander by manipulating districts as it chooses for partisan advantage at the expense of the REQUIRED New Jersey Constitutional criteria such as population equality and limitation on municipal/county splits among districts. Only when discretionary factors such as the odious practice of partisan gerrymandering do NOT cause non-compliance with required Constitutional and legal criteria may such discretionary factors be considered.Additionally, once we actually adopt a Constitutional map, there will be less dramatic district changes in the future.What the partisan interests seek to do presently is to perpetuate an unconstitutional map by arguing it is in the interest of The People, rather than themselves, to look backward and protect incumbents.
6. While we have not yet seen the final map, based on the press reports of horse-trading districts and attempts to fix match-ups like old time boxing promoters, it is hard to imagine a resulting map that will comply with the New Jersey Constitution’s limitations on splitting municipalities and counties. By way of comparison, the current legislative districting map has 26 additional municipal/county “over-splits”; while “The People’s Map” has 3 since only 3 were necessary to meet the district legal requirements of population equality, contiguousness and compactness. Three was the best I could do. If possible, a different map with either 2, 1, or 0 extra splits would be even better, and I would encourage anyone who may make such a map to offer it publicly prior to Sunday’s vote irrespective of impact on incumbent protection.If rather than the Constitutional limitation on municipal/county splitting, will the map be considered Constitutional if it violates the population requirements – NO.
7. A principle of conservatism is to want the law to be followed and if the law is not suitable, to follow the legal process to change the law. It is not conservative in any way to only want the law followed when it suits one’s personal interests, and to disregard the law when it does not. It is conservative to want our nation to be a nation of laws, not of men engaging in ad hoc lawless decision making while providing aristocratic handouts, such as tenured lifetime appointments as “elected” officials resulting from gerrymandered districts, “cleared primaries,” and no limitation on terms in office. It certainly is not conservative of any elected official to participate in or support lawless district mapping for their self-interest.
8. A government that is not accountable to the people at the ballot box will not be accountable to the people.
9. I will support any map that all meets legal and Constitutional requirements and continue to oppose any map that does not.
10. The Bayshore Tea Party Group fully supported drawing a map based solely on legal requirements (what else should be considered, really?) regardless of the outcome with respect to “incumbent protection” in either party. We have been accused through shameless innuendo, and without any basis whatsoever, of choosing a side in the mapping to further some partisan interest. Whose side are we on? – The side of the law. And we would hope that all Commission members, as well as every one of our current legislators – also known as “lawmakers” who have sworn to uphold the law – would be on the side of the law rather than on the side of legal disregard for self-interest. The partisan interests at stake are not Democrat and Republican; they are The People and the respective party establishments. The bi-partisanship we need now is not an 11th hour power sharing agreement between partisan Commission members, it is the establishment “crossing the aisle” to join The People. If Commission members truly represent the interests of The People, why wouldn’t they support the same map as a Commission member as they would if an independent voting member of the public? Over half of New Jersey voters are independent and neither Democrat nor Republican.
11. While others in the Bayshore Tea Party Group provided significant and time consuming help with the mapping effort, I drew the map’s districting, and re-drew it, and re-drew it until it was of unimpeachable Constitutionality. Others in the Bayshore Tea Party Group learned of the specific districting when the map was completed. I do not know Governor Christie nor any of his staff. No elected official, staff member, or other person related to any political party or agenda was consulted in any way or involved in any aspect of the mapping whatsoever. It is truly a map of People, not party.
12. Although I am concerned by the lack of elected officials and potential candidates seriously addressing the current problems of our great nation, I am not and will not be a candidate for any elected office. It is very clear the impact that a private citizen with a pencil, pad, calculator and desire to follow the law can have on the public arena. I will continue my efforts as a private citizen to advocate for lawful, principled government and leaders of uncompromising integrity. I, and the Bayshore Tea Party Group, encourage all citizens – whether Democrat, Republican, third-party or independent, to do the same to protect The People’s liberty and make a positive impact on our communities, states, and America, the greatest nation on God’s earth.
Most respectfully submitted to my fellow citizens,
Bayshore Tea Party Group to Lead Demonstration to End Partisan Gerrymandering
Together with groups and voters from around the State, BTPG will gather in New Brunswick
Middletown, NJ – As reports leak out about the usual “Soprano State” dealings in New Brunswick- incumbents attempting to persuade the Apportionment Commission to protect their jobs and “their” districts-the Bayshore Tea Party Group together with other concerned groups and voters from around the State will gather at Monument Park in New Brunswick to demand an end to partisan Gerrymandering in New Jersey
Where: Monument Square
317 George St.
New Brunswick, NJ
When: 7 PM, Wednesday March 30, 2011
Since having released a map of unimpeachable Constitutionality on March 25, 2011-one wholly devoid of illicit considerations such as the protection of incumbent legislators-“The People’s Map” has received widespread and bipartisan praise from scholars such as Monmouth University’s Patrick Murray as well as from individual Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters. The support from such disparate political viewpoints represents a statewide disgust with the practice of politicians selecting their voters rather than voters electing their representatives.
That practice is Gerrymandering and it must stop.
Members of the Bayshore Tea Party Group and other concerned citizens will hold a constant demonstration from tonight at 7PM until the Commission votes on the map that will bind New Jersey for the next 10 years.
All groups and individuals concerned with the odious process of Gerrymandering and with the intentional dilution of their vote on the altar of protecting incumbent politicians are invited and encouraged to attend.
It’s time the voters of New Jersey stood up and demanded an end to partisan Gerrymandering. That time is now.
Please visit our website at www.bayshoreteaparty.org for information on how you can become involved with the effort to restore American Exceptionalism and fix our broken government.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group Headquarters is located at 275 Rt. 35N in Middletown, NJ. Please contact [email protected] or call 732-842-6652 for more information.
Revised Map Makes Minor Substantive and Cosmetic Changes
Middletown, NJ – The Bayshore Tea Party Group issued a revised version of “The People’s Map” to the Apportionment Commission. The changes are as follows:
· Moves Egg Harbor Township, Weymouth and Estell Manor from District 2 to District 1;
· Moves Atlantic City, Brigantine and Absecon from District 1 to District 2;
· Makes cosmetic corrections to several inadvertently miscolored municipalities that do not affect the population outcomes of any other District.
In response to inquiries received following the release of “The People’s Map”, the Bayshore Tea Party Group Redistricting Committee would like to clarify some questions the public may have with the creation of our map:
“The People’s Map” was created entirely by hand and without the assistance of any computer program, such as the program in use by the Apportionment Commission and political parties;
“The People’s Map” was drawn using public census data obtained via the internet, pencils and a calculator;
No funding or other outside support from any person or organization was provided for the creation of “The People’s Map”. The aforementioned pencils, paper and calculators were provided by the Bayshore Tea Party Group, which is funded entirely through the generous donations of our members and the public.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group would like to acknowledge and thank Monmouth University’s Patrick Murray for the notes he provided upon his review of our map.
BTPG would also like to publicly acknowledge Jim Meyer of Gateway Press in Atlantic Highlands, NJ for his hard work in preparing “The People’s Map.”
Please visit our website at www.bayshoreteaparty.org for information on how you can become involved with the effort to restore American Exceptionalism and fix our broken government.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group Headquarters is located at 275 Rt. 35N in Fairview, NJ. Please contact [email protected] or call 732-804-3733 for more information.
The Bayshore Tea Party Group Redistricting Committe, Middletown, submitted what they are calling “the only truly Constitutional Map released thus far in New Jersey’s decennial foray into map making” to Dr Alan Rosenthal, PhD, the 11th and tie breaking member of the State Redistricting Commission.
In his cover letter to Rosenthal, BTPG Redistricting Committee Chairman Sean Spinello, Esq., said that the group “set out to produce a non-gerrymandered map that protects the all-inclusive and singular most important community of interest – the franchised voters of the State of New Jersey.”
Without consideration for partisanship, incumbency or socio-economics, the group’s map was constructed based upon the Constitution requirements of population equality, contiguity, compactness, and keeping districts wholly within individual counties where possible and where not possible, splitting districts into as few counties as possible.
In a statement posted on the BTPG website, Patrick Murray of Monmouth University Polling Institute said,
“Except for what appears to be an inadvertent split of Egg Harbor Township between Districts 1 and 2 (which will requiring some re-tooling) the map’s parameters are solid. It also maintains and perhaps enhances minority representation (basically as well as the map proposed by the minority coalition!) and provides for real competition for control of the next legislature. Of course, it is unkind to incumbents, and thus contrary to what Rosenthal has laid out as his priorities. On the whole, a map worth adding to the discussion.
The map is unkind to incumbents. In Monmouth County, Senators Joe Kyrillos (Middletown) and Jennifer Beck (Red Bank) are both in a new 13th district comprised of Bayshore and Two River towns. Old Bridge is moved, along with incumbent Assemblyman Sam Thompson, from the current 13th to an all Middlesex County 19th. Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (Little Silver) would join Assemblywoman Amy Handlin as incumbents in the lower house.
The current 11th district would remain largely intact, adding Manasquan and Oceanport, and be renamed the 12th. Incumbents, Senator Sean Kean and Assembly members Dave Rible and Mary Pat Angelini would be unaffected.
The new 11th district would be comprised on Colts Neck, Farmingdale, Howell and Tinton Falls of Monmouth County and the Ocean County towns of Jackson and Lakewood. Senator Robert Singer (Lakewood) would be the incumbent with Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (Colts Neck). There would be a vacant Assembly seat in this district.
The town by town key of the BTPG “People’s Map” can be found here.
The Redistricting Commission is required to release the new map on April 3.
O’Keefe told MoreMonmouthMusings, “I wish the Tea Party hadn’t told the press that I didn’t want the event videoed,” before saying that he was on another line and promising to call back. He hasn’t called back.
The rambunctious gumshoe didn’t leave Charles Measley and Barbara Gonzalez, the BTPG members who appeared on the APP.com video, much choice. No one knew O’Keefe didn’t wanted the event recorded until he failed to take the podium after an inspirational introduction by BTPG Chairman Bob Gordon and an enthusiastic standing ovation. He was hiding in the mens room and had be coaxed to make his presentation with the press present.
It was only after Measley promised to get the videographer out of the room that O’Keefe emerged from the commode to address the admiring crowd. There were reporters in the room. O’Keefe’s delay required an explanation. The videographer was in the room when O’Keefe started. Measley and Gonzalez handled the situation well. Steve Grossman, the former Hazlet GOP Chairman who is heard off camera arguing with Gonzalez, handled himself just as those of us who know and love him have come to expect.
For someone who has demonstrated that he is quick on his feet, O’Keefe handled this one very poorly. He gave the media, who he is a ferocious critic of, a story to discredit him where there wasn’t one.
O’Keefe knew that reporters and photographers were in the room during his presentation. At one point while showing a video clip of a Star Ledger interview of one of the teachers exposed in his Teacher Gone Wildvideo, O’Keefe asked, “Are there any Star Ledger reporters in the room?” Seeing none, he showed the clip that made the point that the mainstream media is out to protect those he is exposing and to discredit him.
Unfortunately, James gave his detractors in the mainstream media the ammunition to embarrass him this time. There was no upside to banning the videographer. There was plently in the presentation that had already made national news, but nothing that would have made a new national story. Only O’Keefe knows if he altered his presentation because reporters were present. Had he allowed the presentation to be videoed, APP.com might not even have posted the video.
APP reporter Alesha Boyd William’s initial story on O’Keefe’s presentation was excellent. A fair and accurate report on what happened. The story was featured prominently at APP.com on Friday morning and was front page above the fold in the Friday print edition. I’d link you to the story, but it appears to be gone from the APP site, replaced by the far juicer “gotcha” story, that is now national news.
James O’Keefe is doing important work. He is right when he says that the mainstream media no longer does investigative journalism and that their news coverage has devolved to “punditry, stenography and promotion.”
O’Keefe has the potential to become a long term major journalistic figure and make a real difference. However, he needs to step up his game in handling the inevitable blow back from his work. He needs to stop blaming others for his own missteps. Otherwise he’ll be a flash in the pan.
Keyport, March 17 – James O’Keefe, the 26 year old citizen journalist/filmmaker who has exposed taxpayer funded atrocities at ACORN, Planned Parenthood, the NJEA and most recently NPR spoke before approximately 100 members and friends of the Bayshore Tea Party Group this evening at the Ye Cottage Inn in Keyport. Among the guests were State Senator Mike Doherty, R-23, and 13th district Assembly members Amy Handlin and Sam Thompson.
O’Keefe explained that is work is funded by grassroots donations to his Project Veritas, a 501-C3 (pending), whose mission is to investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions in order to achieve a more ethical and transparent society.
O’Keefe said he work is possible and necessary because the mainstream media no longer performs investigative journalism. “Mainstream journalism has devolved into punditry, stenography and promotion,” he said.
O’Keefe summarized his body of work with a video presentation that started with Jon Stewart’s coverage of the ACORN expose’ and concluded with clips of a hilarious video he produced while a student at Rutgers wherein he complained to a Dean that Rutgers serving Lucky Charms in their dining hall was denigrating to Irish Americans.
O’Keefe said that Rutgers banned Lucky Charms from their dining halls as a result of his meeting and later got the joke and started serving the breakfast cereal again.
In between Stewart and Lucky Charms, O’Keefe’s presentation showed his work exposing Planned Parenthood, the NJEA and various media pieces wherein mainstream media outlets ignored his stories and/or attempted to discredit him as he explained to the group the methodology of his stings and the reasoning for the staggered release of his videos.
The first annual Bayshore Tea Party Group St Patrick’s Day Celebration raised funds for the organization’s education and grassroots activism efforts. The event was sponsored by Senator Joe Kyrillos, 11th district legislators Senator Sean Kean and Assembly members Dave Rible and Mary Pat Angelini, Doherty, Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue, Fastrack Oil and Lube, Diane Gooch’s Strong New Jersey, Todd Christie, Ken and Ann Kievit, Anna Little and Sean Spinello.
