The Nudniks Run Another Article On Scharfenberger’s Job

If anything of consequence happened at the Middletown Township Committee meeting this week, you wouldn’t know it from reading the Asbury Park Press.

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Nudniks and Bullies

By Art Gallagher

I wish it wasn’t necessary to keep bashing the Asbury Park Press.  The Neptune Nudniks are just that bad lately.   I wish Gannett would put some competent people over there. We need a good newspaper in the region.  In the meantime I’ll just take my chances that Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini won’t accuse me of cyberbullying.

I’ll give the nudniks this much.  Today’s paper must have been printed on recycled material.  Recycled birdcage liner to be more precise. The editorial pages are full of bird bleep.

The two items I take issue with are the editorial board’s grossly inaccurate editorial, Constitutional? Not a prayer and Angelini’s OpEd touting her anti-bullying legislation.

The nudniks first.  Apparently they fancy themselves experts on the Constitution and prayer.  In their nudniktorial today the APP editorial board argues that prayer at public meetings violates the U.S and New Jersey Constitutions and that the ACLU should pursue their suit against the Borough of Point Pleasant Beach “vigorously” because the borough’s council has been opening meetings with a prayer with the blessing of the borough attorney.

I know I’m not an expert on the Constitution or on prayer (the APP even has the gall to say what “most religions” consider appropriate prayer). I was taught constitutional law at a Jesuit university.   This much I do know.  If the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the NJ Senate and the NJ Assembly all start their sessions with a prayer, which they all do, then prayer at public meetings is either not unconstitutional or the ACLU lawyers are bullies that don’t have the balls to take on the U.S. Justice Department and/or the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.  They would rather take on tiny Point Pleasant Beach and other small governmental agencies who’s leaders are more likely to cave to the ACLU’s  litigious bullybleep than to inflict the pain of legal fees on their already overburdened property taxpayers.

The arrogance of the editorial board is appalling. Not only do they presume to be more expert on the First Amendment than Point Pleasant Beach’s attorney, they have the audacity to judge the sincerity of the Point officials’ prayers and to use the name of the Lord to condemn the prayer.  I won’t even get into their questioning whether or not the Lord really authored the Lord’s Prayer.  This from the nudniks who know so much about Jesus and prayer that they invoked the Sacred Heart to praise Asbury Park’s Upstage Club, Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny.

As a service to the nudniks, I publish the text of the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution, for what I suspect will be their first reading:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I hope they can find someone other than ACLU bullies to explain it to them.

Regarding the nudniks’ infuriating habit of writing about religion as if they know what they are talking about, the reprobates on the editorial board should leave such writing, if they must write about it at all, to Pastor Michael Riley who is on their staff.  At least Riley has a relationship with the Big Guy.  If they can’t do that, they should start using Islamic rather than Christian references in their editorials.  That could solve the problem permanently.

Now, about Mary Pat Angelini’s Anti-Bullying Bill; Angelini is not a nudnik nor is she a reprobate.  However, her bill, as well intended as it may be, is a bad idea.  Its not that bullying is not a problem, it is. It is a problem that all of us have had to deal with as part of growing up and that all children will have to learn to deal with in the future. Legislation will not change human nature and government can not solve all of our problems. Nor should it.

I’m not an expert on child development.  However the lessons my father taught me about dealing with bullies, both physical and psychological lessons, prepared me for the rough and tumble of the business world and Monmouth County politics.  The lesson I taught to the bully who was picking on my sister endures to this day.  His nose was never the same. Growing up in the 70’s that made me a hero and gave my sister a confident sense of security throughout her adolescent years.   No one ever picked on her again.  Today, it would probably land an older brother a stay in the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center.

Schools administrators and faculty should not tolerate bullying. We need legislation for that?  The red tape and additional personnel Angelini’s bill calls will be a waste and a burden on property taxpayers.  The kids who have been victimized should be trained to be “anti-bully specialists”, like my father trained me.  If parents won’t teach kids how to defend themselves, or brothers how to defend their sisters, the schools can teach the kids the art of a kick in the cogliones and how to break a nose right after the class where they learn to put a condom on a cucumber.

Another problem with the bill…how long will it take for the evil manipulative adolescents to figure out that they can cause a whole lot a grief to both their school administration and to an unfriendly teen rival by falsely claiming they’re being bullied. Ever know or hear of a kid threatening their parents with a call to DYFS?

Legislation is never going to control adolescents’ uncontrollable and natural behavior. Making school personnel responsible for managing that behavior is ludicrous. Outlawing teen suicide would be just as effective. Cheaper to enforce too.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that I don’t believe bullying causes teen suicide.  I was bullied and I didn’t kill myself. 

I don’t mean to minimize the problem of teen suicide.  I’m not an expert and I don’t know the answer.  I do know that legislation that is a knee jerk reaction to a tragic and highly publicized suicide is not the answer.  The answer lies in things that can’t be legislated.  In families, churches, with health care professionals and even in schools.  I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but I bet there was less teen suicide when there was prayer in schools.  But that’s not likely to happen because no one has the cogliones to stand up to the ACLU.

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Part 2: The Asbury Park Press is Unfair and Biased, Dishonest and Incompetent

By Art Gallagher

On Wednesday I made the casethat the Neptune Nudniks are unfair, biased, dishonest and incompetent based upon the amount of ink that gave the news of Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger’s job as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy and the fact that he did not want his job to be an issue in his reelection campaign, vis-à-vis other stories of more consequence that they chose to ignore or bury.

Today I make the case that the APP’s coverage of the Scharfenberger story itself is unfair, biased, dishonest and incompetent.

In Kevin Penton’s article, Planners question credentials of Middletown committeeman coordinating N.J. policy,
and in the editorial the same daythe nudniks question Scharfenberger’s qualifications for the Director of the Office of Planning Advocacy job because he is not a certified planner.  Had they done their homework, rather than go out and seek quotes from representatives of special interests, they would know that the job is an executive/administrative job, not a planning job.  ” Says who?,” you might ask.  Governor Jim Florio’s Attorney General’s Office. If I can find that information, why didn’t the Asbury Park Press, you should ask.

Not in the job three months yet, Scharfenberger has already saved the State $386,000, more that his annual salary X 4, according to the APP’s own account.  Why are they questioning Gerry’s qualifications?

In their editorial on the matter, the nudniks argue that Governor Christie is not serious about eliminate double dipping.  They use Scharfenberger’s appointment and Jackson Mayor Mike Reina’s appointment to a job at the Department of Transportation as examples.  To use the APP’s own words, they are being “disingenuous at best and downright dishonest at worst.”  It is also possible that they are just plain incompetent.  I don’t know which is worse, disingenuousness or incompetent…you decide.

Christie’s proposed reforms call for the end of dual office holding, i.e. the same person holding two elected offices AND prohibition of one person earning more than one government salary.  Christie was clear on the campaign trail last year and has been clear in town hall meetings this year that he has no problem with government employees serving their communities in elected office, so long as they do so as volunteers. Scharfenberger was a volunteer as a member of the Middletown Township Committee before he got his new appointment. Reina gave up his salary as Mayor of Jackson after he was appointed to his job at DOT. (Though, to the APP’s credit, Reina did not give up his Jackson salary until after the nudniks brought it up…more on that and the culture of trough swillers in a soon to follow post about “greed and arrogance”).

There is no question that Scharfenberger did not want his new job to be an issue in the Middletown campaign.  The APP say their reporter asked Gerry about his employer and he didn’t mention it.  Scharfenberger denies this and Penton, the APP reporter who wrote two articles about the job since the election has not responded to inquiries from MMM.  I believe Gerry because he was honest with me when I asked him specifically about the job over the summer.  Penton either asked the wrong question or is being disingenuous at best in his reporting.

The APP says Scharfenberger not announcing the job with great fanfare was mendacity.  I say it was clever and good politics. The APP’s coverage of the story and the Middletown Democrats reaction to it, since I broke it, demonstrates that Scharfenberger’s political instincts were spot on.  The Dems, and the APP at their behest, have distorted the issue and misreported the facts.  To his credit, Sean Byrnes, Scharfenberger’s opponent in the election told The Independent that the issue of Gerry’s job would not have changed the outcome of the election, “its not a 2000 vote issue,” Byrnes said. However, as we have seen since I broke the news of the job, the issue would have changed the tenor of the Middletown campaign.  The Dems and the APP would have very likely distorted the issue, like they have since, and made the campaign about Gerry’s job, rather than about the issues pertinent to Middletown.

The nudniks conclude their editorial with a call for Scharfenberger to resign one of his positions or for Christie to either insist upon a resignation or explain why he has changed his thinking on public servants holding more than one job.  That was never Christie’s thinking, and the nudniks call for Gerry’s resignation from one of the jobs is thoughtless and irresponsible given his record in Middletown and his performance in the new job so far.

Scharfenberger won re-election by a large plurality in a year with strong anti-incumbent sentiment and the local Democrats conducting a yearlong smear campaign that included stealing, smashing and defacing his campaign signs.  The reason he won so big?  He is clearly one of the best, most effective elected officials in the state.   The residents admire his down to earth, no nonsense style and his reputation for personally contacting people who call or write to his office.  Under his leadership, Middletown has one of the lowest municipal tax rates in the region, one of the smallest work forces per capita and most importantly, one of the lowest spending per capita in the state.  Middletown has also been named one of the top 100 places to live in the country by Money Magazine for three years in a row of eligibility.  His innovative ideas include devising one of the first municipal Green Initiatives in the state and the first municipal Veterans Affairs Committee in the state.  He was also the first mayor in the state to sign his town up for the Adopt-A-Unit program, which collected tons of supplies and well wishes to our troops overseas.   He has also been a tireless advocate on behalf of Middletown in fighting COAH, unfunded mandates, and excessive union contracts, among other harmful policies.

Scharfenberger is also a career volunteer who currently serves on the Middletown Landmarks Commission, the Open Space Committee, the Middletown Drug and Alcohol Alliance, and the Monmouth County Greenhouse Gas Reduction Committee.  He even serves on the Township Committee as a volunteer, foregoing his salary out of respect for the taxpayers.  He was recognized for his service by the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce with the Public Servant of the Year award in 2009, an honor given to Governor Christie in 2008 and Lt. Governor Guadagno in 2010.

His appointment to the position of Director of the Office For Planning Advocacy (OPA) was a brilliant move on the part of the Christie Administration.  Scharfenberger brings a unique combination of municipal and professional experience to the position.  Prior to serving on the Township Committee, he served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and has served as a Landmarks Commissioner for over 14 years.  As mayor, he has been involved in several major redevelopment, brownfields mitigation and development projects.  He was also integral in the aquaculture study to revitalize the Bayshore and the NPP grant to revitalize North Middletown.  Professionally, he is a Ph.D. with numerous professional publications who has worked on hundreds of land use projects in every county in the state for such diverse entities as the NJDOT, NPS, NJDEP, SCC, NJ Transit and dozens of private organizations.  Of the past 10 directors of the OPA, Scharfenberger’s overall credentials put him at or near the top.  Even with his state position, he has shown his consideration for the taxpayers of New Jersey by waiving taxpayer funded health benefits and retaining his own at a cost of $6,000 per year.  He has also enrolled in the deferred compensation program, the state’s 401K which he contributes to himself.

This is who the APP wants to drive out of public service.

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The Asbury Park Press Is Unfair and Biased, Dishonest and Incompetent

By Art Gallagher

The Neptune Nudniks’ coverage of Middletown Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger’s job as Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy, and the fact that he did not announce the job with great fanfare during the Middletown campaign for Township Committee demonstrates just how unfair and biased the Asbury Park Press is when you compare their coverage, or lack there of, to other stories of far more consequence.

All media outlets are biased. It is impossible not to be. We’re all human and have our point of view.  MMM proudly declares that we are fair and biased in our logo welcoming readers to the site.  Newspapers like the Asbury Park Press are disingenuous when they claim to be unbiased. The APP even claimed that they and other “real journalists” work hard to be unbiased in a editorial bashing the owners of FoxNews for donating $1 million dollars to conservative causes last summer.  I say FoxNews is more trustworthy.  At least they disclosed their owner’s bias.  The APP, and many many others persist with their facade that they are unbiased when their behavior clearly demonstrates otherwise.

With their article and editorial today, combined with Friday’s article and Bob Ingle’s blog post on Sunday, APP.com has  published 2547 words in four pieces on three separate days to the story of a volunteer Mayor who was appointed to a State job over the summer and did not make it an issue in his reelection campaign.

Contrast this to the news that Congressman Frank Pallone and three of his colleagues used their political influence to get the FDA to approve an unsafe medical device in exchange for campaign contributions.  The FDA reversed itself after an internal investigation.  The issue was national news for a few days.  But not for the Asbury Park Press and their sister papers that cover the 6th congressional district.  Three days after the Kansas City Star published the story of Pallone and his crooked cronies putting Americans’ health at risk in exchange for campaign cash, the APP published one article of 619 words with a pro-Pallone spin. Ingle added 194 words with the appropriate slant two days later.

The APP never covered Democratic Freeholder John D’Amico’s pay to play plea to Barbara McMorrow.  They had the story at least two days before I did.

The APP is unfair and biased in what they cover and it how they cover it.

The same reporter, Kevin Penton, wrote the Pallone/FDA story and the Scharfenberger stories. 

Referring to the report that exposed the Pallone/FDA scandal, Penton wrote “The report — the result of an investigation requested in May 2009 by three congressmen, including Pallone — does not specify who in Congress made the persistent inquiries.”  There was no further follow up published by Penton or anyone else from the APP.

Yet, Penton spent all day yesterday on the phone and on his computer keeping the Scharfenberger story alive. All those people Penton quoted in his article today…do you think they called him?  Do you think they were even aware that Scharfenberger is the Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy?  Of course not.  Penton made the story.  At least we know he has it in him to do some follow up.  It is too bad that he, and his bosses, are unfair and biased about the stories that they actually decide to put work into, as opposed to what they often do, which is regurgitate what the subjects of their “news” tell them.

Penton’s article and the editorial state that Scharfenberger was asked about his employment in October and did not mention the State job.  Neither Penton nor the editorial name the reporter.  Scharfenberger denies this. He told MMM that he had not spoken to Penton about his job since July, before he was hired by the Christie administration.  Penton has not responded to a phone call and an email from MMM to either verify or dispute Scharfenberger’s account.  Scharfenberger said he was very careful to be truthful during the campaign in how he answered inquiries about his employment with reporters and members of the public in general. 

Scharfenberger knew his state job was common knowledge in certain circles but he did not want it to become a campaign issue.  “What was I going to do, go around town saying ‘vote for me, the Governor thinks I’m so great he hired me’?”  “I did not want to use the job in my favor and I did not want the Democrats to use it against me.  I wanted the campaign to be about Middletown issues, not who I work for.”

Scharfenberger’s account is consistent with my experience.  I knew about Scharfenberger’s job in late August or early September.  I chose not to report it.   I did not find out about the job from Scharfenberger.  He was not happy when I asked him to confirm it.  He assumed I would report on it. 

I’m not a full time journalist.  I haven’t taken a journalism course since I was in high school writing for Bear Facts, the Bergenfield High School newspaper.  Why did I know about Gerry’s job and full time journalists didn’t?  Google has this neat service called “Google Alert.”  Penton and the folks over in Neptune should check it out.   I received anecdotal confirmation of Gerry’s job before I asked him about it. 

I chose not to report about Scharfenberger’s job until after the election because, after observing the Middletown Democrats over the last 13 years I suspected they would distort it and make the campaign about it, rather than the issues facing Middletown.   Feel free to criticise me for not reporting it.  I told you I was fair and biased the moment you got here.  If you’re going to criticise me, please also credit me for my competence. The APP and the Middletown Democrats, and maybe even you, still wouldn’t know about Gerry’s job if I hadn’t reported it.

To prove that I am fair as well as biased, I now disclose that I am aware of two elected officials in Monmouth County, one Democrat and one Republican, who have full time state jobs and are still collecting their stipends from the municipalities that they serve.  The Democrat I found about last week.  The Republican this morning.  I’m not going to tell you who they are, at least not right now.  Now that they know that I know, they have a few days to do the right thing and heed the spirit of Governor Christie’s call for reform and only collect one government salary.   I also want to see if the Neptune Nudniks have what it takes to find out what I already know, or if they care.

There’s a video on YouTube which is a good analogy for how Scharfenberger handled his job during the campaign. You may have seen it already as it has over 6 million views.  Here it is:

In the video, consider Scharfenberger the quarterback and the Middletown Democrats and the Neptune Nudniks the yellow shirted defense.  Did the quarterback do anything illegal?  No.  Did he do anything unethical?  No.  Was he clever?  Yes.  Is clever bad?  If you laughed at the video, you don’t think so.

Had the yellow shirted defense been rigorous and paying attention, the quarterback would have looked like a fool.  As it was, and as it is in the case of Middletown and the APP, the nudniks are  foolish.

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Breaking News: Middletown Dems Upset They Didn’t Know About Gerry’s Job

The Neptune Nudniks are upset too

By Art Gallagher

An international crime syndicate raided Middletown’s bank accounts of $379,000.  The Asbury Park Press did not judge that to be newsworthy, even after arrests were made and law enforcement officials were willing to talk about it.

A Freeholder who made ethics and transparency the theme of his tenure in office and the theme of his reelection campaign was exposed asking another Freeholder to make a political appointment in exchange for campaign contributions.  The Asbury Park Press did not find that to be newsworthy.

New Jersey’s two U.S. Senators and two Congressman, one of whom represents the APP’s coverage area, pressured the FDA to approve an unsafe medical device in exchange for campaign contributions.  The FDA reversed itself and issued a mea culpa two years later.  The scandal make national news.  The Neptune Nudniks reluctantly covered the story in obscure locations on their website and in their print editions days after the issue was national news.

Two losing candidates for Middletown Township Committee are upset that they didn’t know that one of their opponents was working for the State.  The Asbury Park Press finds that newsworthy.

Basically what the Middletown Dems are saying is that had they known about Gerry Scharfenberger’s new job as the Director of the Office for Planning Advocacy that they would have made it a campaign issue.  Gerry would have had to respond by making the case that his job is a positive for Middletown.

As it was, the Middletown campaign was about the township’s recent tax increase.  An issue much more relevant to the majority of Middletown residents.  The Democrats charged that the Republicans recklessly raised taxes and manage the township poorly.  The Republicans explained the tax increase and defended their record.  The voters chose the Republicans.   A relevant campaign.  The voters chose.  Case closed.  Now the Democrats protest because they would have made the campaign about something irrelevant to the voters if they had the information.

Why was Gerry’s job irrelevant to the campaign?  Quick, off the top of your head with no research, name Gerry Scharfenberger’s predecessor at the Office of Smart Growth.   That’s why.

What the Democrats’ protest and the APP reporter’s complaint included in the article demonstrates, in addition to their pettiness, is their ineptitude.   The Democrats and the reporter should have known about Gerry’s new job without him telling them about it.  In this information age, there is no justification for politicians not knowing all information on the public record about their opponents and there is no justification for reporters not knowing all public information about the subjects they cover. There is no justification but there are two explanations:  ineptitude and laziness.

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More proof that the lame Asbury Park Press is in the tank for Pallone

The Neptune Nudniks are promoting an anti-Anna Little video in their Sunday edition, with a link on their website, that refers to Little with a sexual slur.  The five minute video has so many copyright violations that YouTube wouldn’t host it.  You would think Hollis Towns, the head nudnik, would know better.  Apparently not.

I’d embed the video if not for the blatant copyright violations.  Like Frank Pallone’s negative ads, I think this video would win Little more votes that it would cost her.

The video was made by Hazlet resident Yetta Weissen who says she’s a film maker.  A real film maker would not steal other artists property with impunity as Weissen does with this vulgar and amateurish production.  She told the Nudniks that she has been too busy with her day job and her film making to be engaged in the NJ-6 campaign.  She made the video, she says, as a reaction to a friend saying, “I don’t know, I’m just going to vote Republican.”

Weissen’s day job was with Focus World International, a Holmdel based marketing research firm in 2008 when she donated $276 to the Obama campaign.

As an proof of how lame and irrelevant the Nudniks have become, as of 1:20 this afternoon only 53 people have viewed the video today, including me.

If you must view the video, I’ve given you enough information to find it yourself.

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Prosperity is dead

We might as well all just quit working, saving, investing and inventing.  Prosperity is dead. 

It must be true.  I read it in the Asbury Park Press.

Governor Christie killed it, according to the Neptune Nudniks in their editorial, A death blow for prosperity, by killing the ill conceived ARC tunnel project that would have boosted New York’s economy while New Jersey tax payers  paid the open ended bill. 

What a bunch of hyperbole.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Monmouth and Ocean counties don’t have a reliable and trustworthy news organization to serve the region, the head Nudnik wants to export his special brand of propaganda throughout the nation.  Hollis Towns, the Executive Editor of the Neptune Nudniks was recently elected president of the Associated Press Managing Editors.

“I’m thrilled to be elected president of an organization with such a rich history and bright future,” said Towns, 46. “I plan to build on the successes of the past year by growing the membership, extending our reach and launching an important national reporting project with The Associated Press.”

Good grief.  Did the APME members read his rag before electing him?  This nudnik is going to launch an important national reporting project with the internationally syndicated Associated Press?

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More Evidence That The Neptune Nudniks Are Irrelevant

Need more evidence that the Asbury Park Press’s election coverage is irrelevant?  Go to CNN’s My elections page enter your your zip code and see which site is most prominently featured in their news feed.

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The Neptune Nudniks Cop Out In CD-3

By Art Gallagher

If there was any doubt left that the Asbury Park Press’s candidate endorsements are irrelevant to the electorate, the Nudniks made the point themselves today when they published an editorial declining to endorse a candidate in the New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district.  The 3rd district includes Toms River and 22 other Ocean County towns that the APP purports to serve.

The Neptune Nudniks don’t like GOP candidate Jon Runyan because he is a former NFL star who, they say was once rated the second dirtiest player in the league.  They don’t say who rated him that way or why it is relevant to his being elected to Congress.  They say Runyan “seems to have stolen the playbook from the conservative elements of the Republican National Committee and adopted it as his own,” as if that was a bad thing.  For voters in the 3rd district, who prior to sweeping John Adler into office on Barack Obama’s coattails in 2008 had not sent a Democrat to Washington in decades, Runyan’s conservatism will probably be enough to elect him.

As with their lazy and thoughtless endorsements of Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, and their grossly slanted “news” coverage of the 6th district race…they did not cover the debate between Anna Little and Frank Pallone, they barely mentioned Pallone’s corrupt interference into the FDA’s medical device approval process on the behalf on campaign contributor today’s non-endorsement, yet they prominently covered Pallone’s fictitious $400 million to revive the New Jersey fishing industry…today’s non-endorsement in the 3rd district race clearly demonstrates that the APP has joined The Huffington Post, The Daily Kos and The New York Times as members of the left stream media.

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Sipprelle responds to the Neptune Nudniks

By Scott Sipprelle (Published in today’s Asbury Park Press)

The Asbury Park Press’ recent editorial endorsement in the 12th Congressional District race correctly described the contest between 12-year incumbent Rep. Rush Holt and me as providing voters a stark choice between two very different candidates with different visions about the future direction of our country.

Beyond that, the editorial read more like one of Rush Holt’s negative campaign attacks against me – nasty in tone and short on facts. I thank the editorial board for allowing me the opportunity to respond and set the record straight.

First, I encourage everyone reading this to visit my website at www.supportscott2010.com and read my comprehensive “Blueprint for Renewal.” I am confident they will find it to be the most detailed and thoughtful series of position papers put forth by any congressional candidate in the country this year.

I set out to run a positive campaign of ideas and I am proud to have done just that.

Now, on to the specific issues:

The editorial board falsely accused me of opposing insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. This is a completely fabricated claim that has been promulgated by Holt. In fact, my website lays out a novel plan for large national insurance pools of “uninsureds,” grouped by medical specialty that would be subsidized by federal dollars.

The editorial board also parroted one of Holt’s misleading attacks against me regarding unemployment benefits, quoting a statement they claim was extracted from my campaign website. My campaign website has never had any reference whatsoever to unemployment benefits, another mistake that indicates a sloppy research effort by the Press or an excessive reliance on talking points distributed by Holt.

The truth is that while congressional Democrats have offered to extend benefits indefinitely and congressional Republicans have called for cutting them off immediately, I have discussed a sensible compromise that is both compassionate and fiscally responsible, while focusing on the critical task of rebuilding America’s economic engine.

The best social welfare net is a job. Holt has no plan to create private sector jobs; he is offering just more of the status quo.

The board’s most ridiculous attack against me was regarding partisan politics. The fact of the matter is Holt votes with his party nearly 99 percent of the time and believes any idea offered by a Democrat is good and any idea offered by Republican is bad. He’s part of the problem in Washington and has contributed mightily to the toxic environment there.

On the other hand, I have supported a reform Democrat for mayor in my hometown of Princeton against an entrenched political machine, and I took considerable flak during the Republican primary for my financial donations to Democrats with whom I agreed on certain issues. There is only one candidate in this race who has demonstrated a willingness to reach across the aisle to solve problems – and it is me.

Less than two weeks from today, voters will go to the polls to make a historic decision. I would like them to believe I am the candidate who can make America work again.

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