Freeholder Rose is supporting anti-gun candidate John McCann. What's up with that?

Maybe the Tea Party is going soft?  

At Freeholder Jonathan Rose's fundraiser last month, the young libertarian got up and formally threw his support to John McCann, formerly of the Democrat Bergen County Sheriff's office, and now a GOP candidate for Congress.  Among those present at Freeholder Rose's announcement was former Franklin Councilman Dave Fanale, a controversial figure who resigned from the Council after leading a particularly disturbing anti-police campaign. 

Rose's support for McCann, a decidedly liberal Republican on issues like abortion and the Second Amendment, came at the explicit direction of Freeholder Boss George Graham, who also instructed his gal Maria Alampi to put together an NRA-type event for McCann, in order to create the impression among pro-gun Republicans in Sussex County that McCann shares their views.  This follows what Graham did for Dan Perez last year.  Perez, a liberal Democrat running for Sussex County Freeholder against Republican Herb Yardley, enjoyed the support of Graham, Alampi, and the Freeholders Graham controls -- Jonathan Rose and Carl Lazzaro. 

Strangely enough, at last night's meeting of the Skylands Tea Party, none of those questioned why Freeholder Rose is endorsing John McCann for Congress over conservative Steve Lonegan, a Tea Party favorite.  Members of Skylands Tea Party have first-hand knowledge of McCann's refusal to fill out the NRA questionnaire to reveal to the pro-Second Amendment community where he stands on the issues. 

McCann also refused to fill out the New Jersey Right-to-Life questionnaire, leaving his exact position on that issue in doubt, although McCann has described himself variously as "personally Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice" on abortion.  What is McCann concerned the voters will find out? 

Why Jonathan Rose -- who claims to favor transparency -- should support such a murky character is open to interpretation.

As for Rose's running-mate and fellow Freeholder Carl Lazzaro, he has yet to express a preference for either McCann or Lonegan.  Lazzaro spoke at last evening's Tea Party meeting but saved his attacks for Sheriff Mike Strada, who is suing the Freeholder Board and those three named Freeholders -- Graham, Rose, and Lazzaro -- for wasting taxpayers' money and interfering in the operations of his department for political ends.

What all this amounts to is a pay-day for Freeholder Boss George Graham, who maintains a political consulting business as a principal source of income.  Graham appears to have delivered the Tea Party to McCann -- along with Freeholder Rose and the Alampi wing of the NRA... and this is the amazing thing... despite McCann's refusal to tell the NRA where he stands on gun rights.  A remarkable feat indeed.