Who paid for Roseff's signs?

The signs are an outright lie.  They read:  "Stop the gas tax hike.  Vote No on Question 2." 

The truth, acknowledged by everyone, is that the a No vote on Question 2 would not undo the gas tax increase that went into effect on November 1st.  The signs were part of a classic Big Lie campaign. 

That campaign failed.  On Tuesday, November 8th, in addition to electing Donald Trump as President of the United States, voters in Sussex County voted YES on Question Two by a margin of twenty percentage points.  Statewide, the YES campaign won by nine points.

On Saturday, November 12th, Harvey Roseff showed up at Newton Green to stage a one-person demonstration at the location where two rallies had been previously called and cancelled.  Like the anti-Trump demonstrations held around the country, Roseff appeared to be attempting to ignore the election just decided, planting about a dozen of the above signs around Newton Green.

A closer examination of these signs revealed that something was missing:  The disclaimer.  Election paraphernalia advocating for or against a Ballot Question is covered under laws administered by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJELEC).  A disclaimer is mandatory.

Thousands of signs like the dozen or so Harvey Roseff was posting on Newton Green appeared across the state in the run-up to the November 8th election.  What organization, politician, political committee, media corporation, or individual paid for them to be printed, distributed, and posted?

 

Tuesday a bad day for folks who prefer b.s. to truth

Lots of Big Lies fell on Tuesday:  "Hillary is inevitable," "Trump can't win," and so on.  Among those Big Lies was the one fabricated by Bill Spadea about Ballot Question 2. 

Over the past year, Bill Spadea has used the corporate resources of Townsquare Media and Oaktree Capital Management in an effort to make Spadea a major player in New Jersey politics.  Those corporate resources are worth tens of millions of dollars and the airtime alone expended by Spadea and his agents would have cost the average political campaign millions to buy.  All it took was a complacent board of directors and a greedy local management for Spadea to accomplish this enormous appropriation of resources and capital.

Spadea accomplished what some would have considered impossible.  He took hold of wallflower Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and tore her away from the Governor who had mentored and promoted her.  Spadea smirked as the Lt. Governor performed stunts for him, like opposing Governor Christie on Ballot Question 2.  The Lt. Governor's Super PAC spent money to defeat Ballot Question 2 as she campaigned across the state on a platform that included advocating for a NO vote on both Question 2 and Donald Trump.

Guadagno was joined by the usual Christie-haters and by two Sussex County Assembly members who had temporarily (one hopes) lost their good sense. Spadea, who is a kind of patron saint for failed candidates for political office, attracted such ran-and-lost types as Mark Quick (lost for Congress and Assembly), Peter Vallorosi (lost for Congress), Michael Cino (lost for Congress twice), and Harvey Roseff (lost for township council and Freeholder).

None of these people did dick for Donald Trump or Congressman Scott Garrett.  Vallorosi and Cino actually softened up Congressman Garrett in the primary -- something that enormously benefitted the eventual left liberal, Clintonista Democrat winner -- Josh Gottheimer.  Mark Quick had ran an earlier campaign against Garrett , which also added to Garret's troubles.  This trio and their friends claim to be "conservative" but what kind of conservatives pick a fight with someone they agree with 95% of the time, in order to elect a left liberal who they will almost never agree with? 

Vallorosi, Cino, and Quick are idiots.  Those who have anything to do with them are idiots.  These three and those who give them material and emotional support now have what they wanted -- conservative Republican Scott Garrett has been defeated and left liberal, Clintonista Democrat Josh Gottheimer is now the member of Congress for Sussex County.  Good job asswipes!   

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno is an idiot too.  She followed the fluttering eyelashes of Billy "the hand" Spadea.  Like those above, she bought the Big Lie and spent money pushing a NO vote on Ballot Question 2.  For good measure, Guadagno chose to give Donald Trump a barbed wire enema -- telling the media that she wasn't going to vote for him (which was supporting Hillary Clinton by default).  Lining up with Guadagno were Sussex County's two Assembly members, who inexplicably lent their names to this pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ, anti-Trump liberal's campaign to defeat Ballot Question 2.  What happened to common sense?

Spadea has been a political loser his whole life.  He thought he was part of an historic wave when he tried to split the RNC and start a far-right third party in the mid-1990's.  That failed.  Then he ran for Congress and lost.  He started his "Red Shirt" movement, the "Building a New Majority" project, promoted a statewide GOP candidate who would transform the Republican Party to remake it in his vision.  Failed, failed, and failed again.  He even set his sights lower, ran for Assembly, and found himself blocked.  Another failure.  Bitterness followed.

Then he was rescued by FOX. Given a late-night "news of a kind" show.  Then the popular host of NJ101.5 had an accident, and Spadea found himself with a lever of power that he quickly learned and used to pursue his personal ambitions.

But Spadea went too far.  Having lost the gas tax vote he decided on the "Big Lie" approach and made up the myth that Ballot Question 2 was a vote on the gas tax.  People like Kim Guadagno believed him, but groups like American for Prosperity (AFP) and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) saw Spadea's bullshit for what it was.  On Tuesday, voters saw through the b.s., rejected the Big Lie, and Spadea lost once again.

On Q2 who is Spadea, Guadagno, Peterson listening to?

The "no camp" on Ballot Question 2 is a coalition that's more like a collection of misfits from Dr. Moreau's island of the damned.  You have everything from warmed-over Holocaust deniers, to Tea Partiers who claim that the Roman Catholic Pope is the anti-Christ, to Alt-Right "Red Shirts", to eccentric neo-Marxists without a party to call home. 

The latter includes a far-left couple from Essex County who have had a rather problematic relationship with local Democrats there and who now find their views embraced by alt-rightists like "Red Shirt" leader Bill Spadea.

Last week, Bill Spadea had leftwing Democrat Peter Humphreys on his show to explain why he and Spadea are opposing Ballot Question 2.  Spadea described Humphreys, who is a lawyer, as a "financial expert".

Here's the deal.  If you want to know where a person is coming from, follow the money.  Where does Humphreys put his money when he donates to candidates for public office?  Well, the answer is simple:  Left-liberal Democrats.

What kind of Democrats?  Humphreys and his wife have contributed to John Kerry for President, Barack Obama for President, Obama-Biden, Hillary Clinton for President, Robert Menendez for Senate, Frank Lautenberg for Senate, Linda Stender for Congress, Donald Payne for Congress, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee... need we go on?

This is who Bill Spadea gets his "expert" financial advice from  on policy questions, such as Ballot Question 2.  And not only Spadea, but more mainstream characters like Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno and Assemblyman Erik Peterson are ever eager to lap up the swill put out by these career lefties. 

Spadea, Guadagno, and Peterson are ignoring the words of real experts, like the Reason Foundation’s Baruch Feigenbaum, who studies transportation policy for a living.  Speaking of the TTF deal, Professor Feigenbaum said:  “The best change the bill made was introducing an amendment to constitutionally guarantee that all gas tax revenue funds transportation purposes ONLY.  In the past the Christie administration has used gas tax revenue to balance the general budget. This is a violation of the users-pay/users-benefit trust fund that transportation policy is based on and should NEVER occur.  New Jersey residents are strongly encouraged to vote for the amendment (Ballot Question 2).”

Did it never occur to anyone that the reason left-liberals like Humphreys want Ballot Question 2 to fail is so they can use the revenue from the gas tax for the kinds of social programs they think are important -- like more money for Planned Parenthood, COAH housing, gun buy-back programs, needle-exchange programs, and such?  Lt. Governor Guadagno is an openly avowed liberal on social issues, but it's a surprise to find her wanting to turn over the money from the gas tax to the whims of the Democrat legislative majority in Trenton.

While it may be expected for some of the more freakish characters who have emerged from this debate to act out as baboons would -- to see mainstream Republicans, chased in circles by fear, agree to articulate their pursuers' demands, is something new.  Again it's Guadagno, having rejected Trump while embracing the Big Lies of the Alt-Right, who is the most notable headshake here.

The "no camp" on Ballot Question 2 has argued their case with as much energy and common sense as this fellow has:

Come Wednesday, November 9th, if the Democrat majority has the power to spend the gas tax money on left-liberal programs that have nothing to do with transportation, we will have the likes of Guadagno and Peterson to blame.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) says “Yes” on Question 2

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) a group that consistently opposed the gas tax increase, dispels all the nonsense being pushed by liberals like Harvey Roseff and Ray Lesniak, and makes its position clear on Question 2.

Americans for Prosperity Advocates “Yes” Vote on Public Question 2

Ballot measure would increase constitutionally dedicated revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund

Boonton, N.J. – Americans for Prosperity, the state’s leading grassroots advocate for economic freedom, is encouraging voters to support Public Question 2 this November which concerns the dedication of certain remaining revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).

Specifically, the referendum asks voters to approve dedicating the remaining 3 cents from the 13.5 cent tax on diesel fuel, as well as all of the revenues from the petroleum products gross receipts tax to the TTF. The current dedication from the petro tax is a minimum of $200 million. The tax has generated $215 million in each of the past two fiscal years.

AFP state director Erica Jedynak provided the following statement.

“Americans for Prosperity supports the ballot measure and constitutionally dedicating the remaining revenues collected from the tax on diesel and the petro tax to the transportation fund.

“At the same time, AFP wants voters to be clear that this referendum does not authorize a gas tax increase, nor does it in any way resolve the transportation challenges the state is facing. The remaining revenue from these two taxes amounts to less than $30 million, a mere fraction of the $1.2 billion collected for the TTF last year.

“Americans for Prosperity is steadfast in our opposition to a gas tax hike. We continue to urge lawmakers to pursue reforms to rein in wasteful spending and to ensure our transportation dollars are used solely for our roads and bridges.”

For further information or an interview, please contact Mike Proto at MProto@afphq.org or 201-400-3666.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org state and taxpayers

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Phoebus flip-flops on Gas Tax Question

Speaking at a meeting in Newton Wednesday night, Assemblyperson Gail Phoebus executed an about-face on protecting gas tax revenue for transportation projects. 

When asked how she would vote on Ballot Question 2, Phoebus gave the old "my issues are your issues" response and told those present that she would vote whatever way they wanted her to vote.  Phoebus didn't mention that she had voted for Ballot Question 2 earlier this year, when it was discussed and debated for months on its way through the Legislature.

Was she awake during those legislative proceedings?  Was she playing video games on her iphone? 

Apparently Assemblyperson Phoebus scares easily.  A combination of Alt-Right "Red Shirts" led by Bill Spadea (who was tossed out of the GOP twenty years ago for attacking President Reagan and trying to set up a far-right alternative to the Republican Party) and far-left liberals like Democrat State Senator Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak (New Jersey's biggest proponent of left-liberal cultural values) are trying to defeat Ballot Question 2.

For Spadea, it is about power.  If he can derail the vote, he can build his new order movement and split the GOP.  For Lesniak, it is about giving the majority Democrats in the Legislature the power to take the money from the gas tax and use it to do things like replenish the funding for Planned Parenthood that Governor Christie took away.

According to the nationally-recognized, non-partisan organization ballotpedia, the purpose of Ballot Question 2 is easy to understand:

A "yes" vote supports this proposal to dedicate all revenue from gas taxes to transportation projects.

A "no" vote opposes this proposal, thus devoting the same levels of revenue to transportation projects.

The non-partisan organization ballotpedia.org provides the following details:

Amendment design

Question 2 would create a constitutional requirement that all revenue derived from taxes on motor fuels be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF).^[1] Currently, only 10.5 cents of the gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is required to be deposited into the TTF.

Transportation Trust Fund

Question 2 would require all revenue from tax revenues on motor fuels to be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). The TTF was designed to fund the Department of Transportation and NJ Transit, which then use the revenue for transportation-related projects.^[2] 

Phoebus has consistently voted against placing questions on the ballot that she opposes, so her opposition to a ballot question she strongly supported is a remarkable, although not unprecedented, flip-flop.

It will be remembered that as a Freeholder, Phoebus seconded sending a letter urging support for an increase in the gas tax to fund the Transportation Trust Fund and prevent a property tax increase.  She later voted against the gas tax increase and for the property tax hike.

As a candidate for the Assembly, Phoebus was less than honest when she denied voting to send the letter (she had seconded the motion and voted for it).  She also compounded that untruth by denying it on her campaign literature and website.  

Phoebus' latest flip-flop is even more remarkable because the Assemblyperson must be aware that her Democrat colleagues are itching to get their hands on the new revenues from the gas tax to send them to their urban districts.  During her talk Wednesday night, Phoebus expressed her strong support for mass transit and her wish to expand mass transit into Sussex County.

The Lackawanna Cut-Off Rail Project is almost completed but could end up being scrapped if the gas tax revenue that should rightfully go to transportation, ends up in the pockets of urban Democrat Party bosses.  The Andover Township council is pushing strongly for this expansion of mass transit in Sussex County and their efforts will be for naught if Ballot Question 2 is defeated.

There are countless examples of how funds raised for one purpose are misused for another.  The diversion of fees from the state's 9-1-1 program would not be happening if there was a Ballot Question 2 protecting how it should be spent.

Ballot Question 2 is the only way we can make sure that the revenue raised from the gas tax is spent in the way it was intended to be spent -- on transportation projects like roads and bridges and the Lackawanna Cut-Off Rail Project.  Sadly, Gail Phoebus is missing on this when it counts.

The Lackawanna Cut-Off Rail Project is doomed without a YES vote on Ballot Question 2.

Update:  In this morning's New Jersey Herald, Assemblywoman Phoebus denies knowing in January 2016 that there were negotiations on-going that included a gas tax increase.  This is, of course, less than honest.  In November of 2014, then Freeholder Phoebus seconded a motion by the Freeholder Board to send a letter in support of an increase in the gas tax. 

The Minutes of the Freeholder Board meeting, including Phoebus' motion and her vote to send the letter, can be accessed below:

http://www.sussex.nj.us/uppages/RMMinutesNov251.pdf

According to New Jersey Herald (November 25, 2014) reporter Bruce Scruton, Phoebus and her Freeholder colleagues clearly understood the need for a gas tax increase:

“I never thought I'd be in favor of increasing taxes."

"They do need to cut some costs down there, but the roads and bridges need to be funded.”

"Most of the ideas being considered by the state Legislature are on some form of tax or 'assessment,' whether from raising the state's gasoline tax, a sales tax on gasoline or possibly an assessment on the suppliers."

In the light of Phoebus' vote in November 2014 and these comments, Phoebus' comments today in the Herald appear to be willfully misleading.