In 2002 the citizens of New Jersey were preparing to choose a US Senator for a six year term in the November election. The candidates were selected, via the primary system, to be Democrat incumbent Robert Torricelli and Republican Douglas Forrester. As the election wound toward November the Democrats found that they had several ethics issues with Mr. Torricelli and his reelection was far from assured. Mr. Torricelli, following President Truman’s dictum “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”, proceeded to, on September 30 withdraw his candidacy. The Republicans began their victory dance as Mr. Forrester was now unopposed and the Democrats would be prevented from replacing Mr. Torricelli because of the time constraints of the New Jersey Constitution.
The State of New Jersey is doing its utmost to fight off
the ravages of Covid-19. Most of the efforts are being done voluntarily (social
distancing) but other efforts are being done at the direction of the governor.
Governor Philip Murphy, by edict, has closed most of the smaller retail
establishments in the state. It’s obvious that with fixed costs and no revenue
many of these establishments will not reopen. Murphy’s edicts “that you will
close” do not seem to have any weight in law. The proprietors close because of
fear of the local police or county sheriff paying them a visit. Using the
threat of arrest, prosecution, and possibly, incarceration Murphy was wildly
successful in getting the “little people” to toe his line.
Did President Donald Trump inadvertently give the New Jersey Republicans a gift horse? It is no secret that the cap of $10,000 on the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) will hit many Garden State residents hard. Many residents of the Hudson County Gold Coast are paying $20,000 to $30,000 in property taxes plus New Jersey income and sales taxes, and New York City and state income taxes. These residents are used to taking the full SALT deduction from their federal taxes and often receive a tax refund from the Treasury. Now there is a high probability that these people will be sending a check to the Treasury instead of receiving one. Some will blame the president for the additional tax liability, but the national tax laws have to be applied equally. Where the changes hurt New Jersey they actually help Texas since Texas has much lower property taxes and no state income tax. So why is this a gift horse?
On this our Independence Day I think that it is time for the Republican geldings to stop their whining over the Roberts Supreme Court decision and to think about what can be done with the decision. He reigned in the Medicaid expansion. That ruling stopped the Federal government from extorting the states. This portion of the ruling could have implications that we have not yet discovered.
The Obama Administration has granted ObamaCare waivers to 1,200 organizations. These were “thank you” to their supporters. They were granted under the false notion that ObamaCare was constitutional under article 8, the “commerce clause”. Apparently the regulation of commerce was construed to mean giving out goodies to your friends. However since ObamaCare was found to be constitutional under article 7, the taxing power, are the exemptions still valid? Under the tax laws enforced by the IRS we are all treated equally. If I get a deduction for dependent children, so do all citizens who meet the dependent child test. The IRS cannot arbitrarily decide who will get the child exemption based upon political favoritism. The question now becomes are all of the 1,200 exemptions null and void. If they are null and void I’m sure that Obama’s supporters that received them are going to be very unhappy and some of this unhappiness could exhibit itself on Election Day
Just as a note, Fox News played the tape of the Solicitor General making the case for article 7. Apparently this was plan B if the commerce clause was going to fall apart, which it did.
Politickernj cites a source saying that the investigation is into campaign contributions, including the Middlesex County PACS first exposed by Harold Kane writing for MMM in September of 2011. Politickernj is erroneously claiming credit for first exposing the activities of the Middlesex County PACs and their donors.
Birdsall Services is cooperating with the investigation, according to The Asbury Park Press account.
Politickernj writers Darryl Isherwood and Max Pizarro posted an in depth piece yesterday afternoon that exposes an incestuous web of influence driving planning, zoning and development approvals before the Middlesex County Freeholder Board and several municipal planning boards in the county.
State Senator Bob Smith of Piscataway is the leader of the PACs that fund the campaigns of the Freeholders and municipal officials who approve the applications. The applicants are donors to the PACs. Smith is the applicants’ attorney.
It’s all legal. And no one would know about it if not for Harold Kane of Monroe Township painstakingly examining thousands of pages of ELEC reports to find out where all the Middlesex Democratic money was coming from and the good journalists at Politickernj and The Star Ledger following the money.
Smith, the Senator working the system, and Peter Barnes, the Assemblyman and Middlesex County Democratic Chairman who’s candidates benefit from the system, know the solution to this “craziness.” Barnes said that “any impetus to close the hole lies with the legislature.” Smith said, “There is a solution to the craziness we have now and that is publicly financed elections – or complete transparency. “In New Jersey, we have nothing but chaos. The state needs one set standard across the state.”
Where is their legislation? Smith and Barnes are both powerful members of the legislature. They obviously know how the work the system. They know how to fix it.
Here’s a campaign finance system that would be transparent:
1) Remove all limits on campaign contributions.
2) Require that all candidates and campaigns disclose all contributions of any amount on a dedicated website within 24 hours of receipt.
3) Competing campaigns, good citizens like Kane, and good journalist will examine the donations and expose influence. Voters will decide if the influence is acceptable of not.
Correction: Peter Barnes, Jr, the Middlesex Democratic Chairman is no longer in the legislature. His son, Peter III is an Assemblyman.
Now there are two Barnes and a Smith who can advocate for legislation that creates complete transparency.
The legal money laundering of Assemblyman John Wisniewski in Middlesex County has been in the news this month as Politickernj and The Star Ledger brought to light the how Middlesex Democrats are circumventing state and local pay to pay laws by having government vendors, primarily the Middlesex based CME engineering firm, fund campaigns through PACs when the campaign finance laws prohibited contributions directly to the campaigns in jurisdictions where they were earning large fees.
Wisniewski, of Sayreville, is the Chairman of the State Democratic Party and the Assembly Transportation Committee.
Despite the fact that the PACs are run by his former staff members and fund campaigns in his district and county, Wisniewski says he has nothing to do with them. If that is true, the State Democratic Committee needs a new chairman. If it’s not true, the Democrats still should get a new chairman and the people of the 19th legislative district should elect a new Assemblyman.
Also in the news this month are the guilty pleas of insurance broker Frank Gartland of Federal Hill Risk Management. Gartland plead guilty to giving $2 million in bribes to Toms River School Superintendent Michael Ritacco, and to theft by deception and money laundering for bilking the Perth Amboy Board of Education, an Abbott district, out of more than $2 million.
Gartland also admitted to making illegal contributions to the campaigns of former Assemblyman and former Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas through “straw” contributors. Vas is now serving a 6 ½ year sentence for funneling illegal money from a real estate scheme into his unsuccessful 2006 congressional campaign. Vas was Wisniewski’s running mate and they represented the 19th district together in the Assembly from 2004-2009.
While all of this bribery, stealing and money laundering was going on, Gartland and his associates were also donating heavily to the Middlesex County PACS that Wisniewski says he has nothing to do with.
All information from NJ ELEC
Democracy in Motion PAC
12 Deerfield Road
Sayreville, NJ 08872
democrat org
Christina Montorio – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
1/16/2009
$3,200.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
10/16/2008
$4,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
10/24/2008
$3,200.00
New Expectations PAC
2 Lincoln Highway, ste 511
Edison, NJ 08820
other ongoing cmte
Denise Anstett – Treasurer
AST Development – Robert D’Anton
1/7/2009
$5,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
1/7/2009
$4,666.00
Cmte for Efficiency in Government PAC
11 Barton Road
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
other ongoing
Michael Revolinsky – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Victor Bramble
10/20/2008
$1,300.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
10/20/2008
$2,400.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – John Hope
10/20/2008
$2,400.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Victor Bramble
8/15/2007
$2,000.00
Dynamic Claims Mngt
8/15/2007
$1,000.00
E-Administrative Systems
8/15/2007
$1,000.00
Dynamic Claims Mngt
10/17/2007
$2,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
10/17/2007
$2,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Derek Johnson
10/17/2007
$3,000.00
Women for Good Government PAC
PO Box 11434
New Brunswick, NJ 08906
idealogical pac
Deborah Celey – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
10/22/2008
$2,600.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
2/9/2009
$4,666.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Robert D’Anton
2/9/2009
$5,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
10/30/2008
$4,666.00
AST Development – Robert D’Anton
10/30/2008
$5,000.00
Raritan Bay Leadership Fund
251 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
idealogical pac
David Lonski – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt
1/19/2006
$2,000.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
1/28/2009
$4,666.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
1/17/2008
$2,600.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Diana Gartland
10/30/2008
$4,666.00
Committee for Civic Responsibility
PO Box 184
Kendall Park, NJ 08824
68 Old Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
civic association
Bharat Patel – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Derek Johnson
6/9/2009
$2,500.00
19th District Democratic Leadership Fund
13 Zaleski Drive
Sayreville, NJ 08872
Michael D’Addio – Treasurer
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
1/16/2009
$3,200.00
Federal Hill Risk Mngt – Frank Gartland
10/16/2008
$4,000.00
$82,730.00
Wisniewski and Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, a former Republican State Senator, got into it this week over the PACS and Wisniewski using his authority as chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee to issue subpoenas requiring that Port Authority executives appear before his committee. Baroni accused Wisniewski of a “shakedown” because CME did not receive preferential treatment while pitching their engineering services to Port Authority.
In response, Wisniewski said “the truth is an expendable commodity” for the “Christie character assassination team”
Let’s see some truth from Wisniewski regarding these PACS, including what quid pro quo Gartland received for his “contributions.”
Like Kane, Politikernj and The Star Ledger framed their articles as if the PACs set up to funnel campaign donations from engineers, lawyers and their firms to political campaigns were doing something scandalous. Each of the articles acknowledges that the contributions are legal, yet they say that the donors “skirt” or “cloud” the law or that the contributors are “buying” the candidates that ultimately benefit from the contributions.
The real scandal is that campaign finance laws at every level of government, federal, state, county and local, that are ostensibly designed to eliminate the influence of money in our political system and to increase transparency actually have the opposite effect, by design.
Money is like air and water. Set up a structure to restrict it and money, like air and water, will find a crack in the structure to get to where it wants to go. With enough pressure the structure breaks. Fix or reform the structure and the cycle repeats itself.
Our campaign finance laws decrease transparency in the process. Kane and the reporters from Politickernj and The Star Ledger spent many unproductive hours combing through ELEC reports of campaigns and PACS to connect the dots. Not many people have the time or resources to make that effort. Kane, Politickernj and The Star Ledger reporters did us all a service by connecting those dots. It is appropriate for the public to know who is financing the campaigns of their candidates for public office.
Restricting the amount of money that a person or entity can contribute to a campaign is inappropriate. Such restrictions are impediments to free speech and push otherwise well meaning people out of the political process or into breaking ill conceived and complex laws. Such restrictions don’t and won’t keep “bad money” out of the process.
The only way to increase transparency in the process is to require immediate disclosure of campaign contributions. Removing the limits that candidates and campaigns can accept would reduce the utility of PAC, Super PACs, etc.
Creating a simple system of full disclosure would increase participation in the political process. It would increase competition among government contractors and professionals. It would make the entire process more democratic, which is probably why we won’t see such a simple system anytime soon, if ever.
There is an old cliché in New Jersey Politics. The cliché states “When it is the Republicans to lose, they will lose.” The district 16 special election this year will be theirs to lose unless they wake up. The electoral composition of the district has radically changed since the 2010 census. In 2007 the Republican Assembly candidates won 58-42. With the elimination of parts of Somerset and Morris counties and the inclusion of South Brunswick and the Princetons the Republicans managed to win the 2011 Assembly race 52-48, a drop of 12 points. The special election will be to replace the deceased Peter Biondi. At first the Republican “leadership” offered William Mennen of Tewksbury, but he didn’t live in the district. Mennen said that he would move, but then changed his mind. They then offered Donna Simon, a councilperson from Readington. Ms. Simon has absolutely no name recognition outside of Readington. The name recognition becomes even more important in the 2012 general election in that the Democrats will have Barack Obama at the top of their ticket. With Obama every Democrat and Democrat leaner in Middlesex and Mercer counties will be coming out of the woodwork to vote. The Republicans have a candidate that can overcome the Democrat advantage in the special Assembly Election. That candidate is Bill Spadea of Princeton. Spadea has run for Congress garnering 40% of the vote which is twice what the “experts” said that he would get. He is a party activist with great name recognition in precisely the portion of district 16 where it is needed most. Spadea has already assembled a campaign team with many years of experience. This is in comparison to Simon. Exactly when was the last time the Somerset/Hunterdon Republican parties had to fight for an Assembly seat? A Democrat victory in the 16th would further impede Governor Christie from achieving his goals.
The Republican chairpersons in Somerset County (Al Gaburo), Hunterdon County (Henry Kuhl), and Mercer County (Dave Fried, Maria Bua) need to put their support behind Spadea at the special convention this month. Spadea can win in November, Simon cannot!
Hunterdon County Freeholder William Mennen wants to run for the NJ State Assembly from the 16th district. However Mr. Mennen has a problem in that he does not live in D16. To rectify this situation he plans to move shortly into the 16th district.
There is one other issue he must face that a moving van cannot resolve. That is the NJ State constitution requirement that the candidate live in the district for one year before Election Day. Since the election is less than one year away, Mennen is not-qualified to run in the 16th district. However, Mennen does not plan to let some minor irritant such as the constitution get in the way of his run for office.
Mennen has used his inherited fortune to hire Alan Zakin to be his spokesperson. According to Zakin, the 14th amendment to the US Constitution is violated when voters cannot vote for who they want. The Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment was written to preclude voter suppression of former slaves. In this case no one in the 16th district is being denied the right to vote. Voting is being encouraged. Zakin’s argument is a perversion of the US Constitution. The state of NJ is well within its rights to set a reasonable time frame for a candidate’s residency. If Mennen had a grasp on reality he would have moved into the 16th district before November 2 since the new districts were determined this past spring. But he didn’t, and now he thinks that he can buy a nomination.
The Republican parties in the 16th district portion of Hunterdon, Somerset, Mercer, and Middlesex counties have the opportunity to nominate a highly qualified candidate for the 16th district Assembly seat and that candidate should be Bill Spadea of Princeton.
