Tea Party aims at Oroho... hits Garrett

The Skylands Tea Party claims to be conservative -- and yet, while the most conservative Congressman to represent New Jersey in decades is fighting for his political life, they have been focused on attacking a conservative Republican legislator.  That's become the role of the Tea Party.  They don't care about defeating Democrats because in a General Election setting, they're a joke.

Remember this Tea Party candidate:

And she's right... she is them. 

Yep, Republicans should have taken the United States Senate in 2010.  Instead, it took Republicans three election cycles to capture the Senate.  In 2010, the GOP was poised to capture both Houses of Congress like they had in 1994, but nobody had factored in the Tea Party (which didn't exist in 1994).  The deftness with which the Tea Party regularly shit the bed allowed the Democrats to hang on in 2010 and 2012 -- losing only in 2014, but setting them up for a comeback this November.

And they are doing it in Northwest New Jersey, where solid-conservative Congressman Scott Garrett is in a dogfight with Clintonista Josh Gottheimer.  The election is a month away and what is the Tea Party doing?  They are trying to screw a conservative legislator who believes debt needs to be addressed and  who successfully negotiated the largest tax cut legislation in New Jersey history.  They say it isn't the way they wanted it to be and so it's "let's kill our fellow conservative!"

When Tea Party Assemblyperson Gail Phoebus addresses a Tea Party rally in two weeks time, it will not be to help Scott Garrett or even to beat liberal Democrat Gottheimer, it will be to screw the Republican legislator she shares an office with -- the guy who endorsed her and helped her win an election less than a year ago. 

Yeah, these people do have darn short memories.  The operating principle of the Tea Party is to talk bad about liberals and Democrats but keep the screwings within the family. 

Tea partier Phoebus, a sort-of unofficial editor over at the NJ Herald, has been lobbying local mayors to screw her fellow Republicans.  Taking her advice, Franklin Mayor Nick Giordano threatened to recall and then run against Senator Oroho -- although he quickly denied doing so.  Not so with Vernon Mayor Harry Shortway, who formally endorsed liberal Democrat and former Clinton apparatchik Josh Gottheimer for Congress against conservative incumbent Garrett.  This is what happens when you save the screwings for fellow conservatives and Republicans. 

Now are you happy, Gail?

Why does the Tea Party focus all its hatred on fellow Republicans?  Because that is all they are capable of.  The Tea Party has never been known to do a Democrat any harm in New Jersey.  What they can do is shit up a primary and, if lucky enough to win, nominate a candidate so bad that even in Northwest New Jersey a Democrat can beat him.  What kind of candidate? 

This is a recent post from a Tea Party candidate who challenged Congressman Garrett in a primary and claimed that one vote he disagreed with made Garrett "a liberal":

Because of limped dicked conservatives we got the present problem and nobody is willing to vote for liars and thieves in different suits. So our representatives don't get to expand and we remain screwed...... Money whores fucking the working guy.

Yes, that is how they talk. 

The great problem with the Tea Party is that they lack humanity, humility, and common decency.  Like fascists, they treat those they disagree with like pests to be exterminated, not like people with a different point of view. 

Memo to Bill Spadea and others... your armbands are showing.

Sussex County's Obama Republicans

Many county insiders know the story of how George Graham, now the boss of the Sussex County Freeholder Board, when an elected local official switched from Republican to Democrat in order to vote in the 2008 Democrat presidential primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Graham had been a Democrat before switching to Republican but later switched back to Republican, his current party today (from D to R to D to R). 

Graham is not alone.  In February, Daniel Perez got a plum appointment to be a Commissioner at the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority (SCMUA).  Those old-line GOPers probably had no idea that Perez was a donor to the presidential campaign of Barack H. Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr.  An attorney, Perez' liberal views on abortion and other issues are not well known outside legal circles.

According to the SCMUA website:  "The SCMUA Board of Commissioners are appointed by the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.  Commissioners are appointed to serve a five-year term as provided for under NJSA 40:14B.  The Board of Commissioners serves as the governing body to the SCMUA which oversees the Sussex County Solid Waste Facility and the various wastewater treatment facilities, including the Upper Wallkill Water Pollution Control Facility.  Meetings are conducted in accordance with the NJ Open Public Meetings Act NJSA 10:4-6 et. seq. also known as the Sunshine Law."

Borough of Franklin Mayor and Facebook warrior Nicholas Giordano is another one.  Nominally a Republican, Mayor Giordano bragged on Facebook to constituents that he had voted for both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  The Mayor, who is said to be seeking a political appointment at SCMUA, has been a somewhat controversial figure in Franklin since replacing longtime Mayor Paul Crowley last year.

What's up with the Sussex County GOP?  Who is doing the screening?

Obama voter: Mayor Nicholas Giordano

In July 2008, gas hit $4 a gal, what happened?

Remember the mass starvation that occurred?  The displaced masses?  Thousands died.

No.  That's right, it didn't happen.  And it didn't happen in October of 2012, when the price per gallon again flirted with the $4 mark.  And it won't happen when the price per gallon goes to $2.15 cents, due to the 23 cents per gallon tax increase.

Despite what the petroleum lobby (AFP) and the foul-mouthed followers of the Tea Party tell you, it won't be the end of the world.  In fact, the roads and bridges that had to be closed because there was no money to repair them will now get done, and the world will run a little smoother.

The $8 million dollars in road repaving money promised by the state TTF to Sussex County will now be sent.  That means the county won't have to raise our property taxes next year by $100 to cover that $8 million.  A 105-year-old bridge in Byram will be replaced.  Dozens of other projects in townships and boroughs that would have been paid for by increases in local property taxes will now be funded by the increase in the gas tax.

In New Jersey, the killer tax isn't the user tax on gasoline and diesel, it is property taxes levied by county and local governments and school boards.  New Jersey has the highest property taxes in America and because of it, we have the highest foreclosure rate too.  It is foreclosure that is the breaker of families and the bringer of misery.   

All the energy brought to stop a tax increase was aimed at the wrong tax.  The gas tax hadn't been raised -- not even adjusted for inflation -- for 28 years. 

28 years ago, what did your property tax bill look like?  What is it today?  Did you pay more every year?  Didn't it just go up again this year?

The petroleum lobbyists at Americans for Prosperity ignored the very real property tax/ foreclosure problem and instead focused our attention on the gas tax because that is a tax on the product they sell.  We can at least understand that.

But the Tea Party doesn't have that excuse.  Led by a foul-mouthed national candidate and populated with a legion of rude, foul-mouthed Facebook warriors, the Tea Party is not someone your Mom would let date your little sister.  They are just in it for someone to hate.  It's the anger not the reason that matters.

Some examples:

An X-rated Tea Partier...

After announcing his intent to run as the Tea Party candidate for State Senate against Republican Steve Oroho, Kevin Mazzoti talks Trump to a voter:

 Kevin Mazzoti I'm disappointed in you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Who do you think you are? Are you the one sucking xxxxx off?

An Obama supporting Tea Partier...

A Facebook exchange between Franklin Mayor Nick Giordano and a constituent:

CONSTITUENT:  Don't talk conservative when you brag about voting for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Mayor.

Franklin Mayor Nick Giordano: Yup cause I vote best candidate at the time not by party.

A two-faced Tea Party "hero"...

As a Freeholder, Gail Phoebus lobbied the Legislature to pass the gas tax to fund the TTF, then lied about it as a candidate, and voted against what she had lobbied for as an Assemblyperson. (Sussex County Freeholder Minutes, November 25, 2014)

A lost Tea Partier on Facebook...

Someone who lives hours outside the district, makes his obligatory threats:

I have been a life long member of the Republican Party.
Now I look forward to repaying you this favor at the ballot box in November.

A flip-flopping Tea Party "king"...

Assemblyman Jay Webber lectured other legislators on the importance of adopting a tax restructuring plan that included an increase in the gas tax and the phase out of the estate tax  -- then turned around and joined Marxists in attacking the plan he told others to support. (Star-Ledger op-ed by Jay Webber, October 14, 2014)

A Tea Partier melts down on Facebook...

At this time, I want you to know that I am going to be spending all my time and energy (outside of working hours) campaigning, writing, and calling everyone I know to VOTE YOU ALL OUT!!! (and it doesn’t matter if you are not in my district). Not one incumbent should be re-elected.

...The burden of the transportation infrastructure costs will now be carried EXCLUSIVELY by the people who travel to work every day.

Yes, by everyone who drives.  It is supposed to be.  It is a user tax -- the fairest form of taxation, according to Ronald Reagan.  Remember him?

...let me remind you that the roads and bridges are used by delivery people, EMT/Rescue personnel, fire trucks, mail delivery vehicles, package delivery, food delivery, telephone and utility (gas/electric) personnel, doctors and nurses who go to work, x-ray and medical technicians, teachers, etc. Now, remember, that people who do not drive utilize these services every day. Are they paying for the transportation costs? NO because they do not drive. The burden of the transportation funding needs to be carried by every citizen of this state.

In other words, New Jersey property taxpayers should subsidize the out-of-state drivers who use our roads.  By-the-way, 30% of those who use our roads are out-of-state drivers.  Wow...