Leftist supports anti-gun Brady Rally & Orr-Atwoodski

Kenneth Collins, of the Far-Left Green Party, spent today supporting his friends at the Sussex County Chapter of the Brady Campaign for gun control, while promoting the campaigns of Nathan Orr and David Atwoodski.  Orr and Atwoodski are candidates for the State Legislature.  Collins spent the day trying to get his fellow leftists to crash a Young Republican meeting (of all things!) and take it over on behalf of Orr, Atwoodski -- and presumably, Karl Marx.

Collins is a Green Party member who has run for office as a Green Party candidate and who has plainly expressed his hatred for Donald Trump and all things Republican. . . So why in the world is he helping Orr and Atwoodski?

Maybe they are helping him?  After Orr and Atwoodski get done "softening up" conservative Republicans Parker Space and Hal Wirths in the GOP primary, Kenneth Collins has announced that he wants to take them on in the November election.  Hmmmmmm.

Not only does the Green Party want to ban guns, they want to restrict the use of firearms by police.  It is actually part of their party's National Platform.

The Brady Campaign opposes the right of vulnerable individuals, including the victims of domestic abuse cases, to protect themselves from violence.  The rally was held in Morristown in opposition to federal legislation, introduced in the US House of Representatives as HR38 and the US Senate as S446.  These bills would allow people licensed to carry a concealed firearm in their own state to do so legally in all states.

Joining the Brady Campaign at their rally were people representing a number of groups including Action Together, Citizen Action, NJ 11th for Change, the Green Party, Action Morris County, Gays Against Guns, and the Socialist Workers Party.  They were joined by various elected Democrats.

Legislation proposed in the New Jersey Legislature by Assemblyman Parker Space,  AR-221, memorializes Congress and the President of the United States to enact HR38.  Space is the prime sponsor of this legislation.  Joining him are Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce and Assemblymen Anthony Bucco and Ron Dancer.   Below is the text of Assemblyman Space's legislation:

An Assembly Resolution memorializing the Congress and the President of the United States to allow reciprocity for the carrying of certain concealed firearms.

Whereas, There exists a public interest in individuals maintaining the ability to protect themselves and their families from violence; and

Whereas, The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States; and

Whereas, The ability of law-abiding citizens to legally carry concealed firearms to defend themselves is a fundamental right; and

Whereas, It is in the best interest of our nation that citizens be able to travel freely from state to state without sacrificing the right to protect themselves and their families; and

Whereas, States currently may decline to recognize permits to carry concealed firearms issued by other states, thereby causing our citizens to forego the ability to protect themselves and their families when traveling outside of their home states; and

Whereas, Requiring all states to recognize a concealed carry permit issued by another state would rectify this inequality; and

Whereas, H.R. 38 of 2017-2018, the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017,” has been introduced in the United States Congress in an effort to protect our citizens’ Second Amendment rights, allowing them to travel between states without sacrificing the ability to protect themselves and their families; and

Whereas, H.R. 38 permits a person carrying a valid identification document containing a photograph of the person and a state concealed weapons permit to carry a concealed handgun in any state, so long as the individual is not prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal law or from carrying a concealed firearm in the individual’s state of residence; and

Whereas, At present 22 states recognize other states’ permits to carry concealed firearms or allow law-abiding non-residents to carry a firearm without a license; and

Whereas, Enactment of the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017” will enhance citizens’ Second Amendment rights by permitting reciprocity among all the states for the carrying of concealed firearms; now, therefore,

     Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    The Congress and the President of the United States are respectfully memorialized to enact H.R. 38, the “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.”

     2.    Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly, to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the United States Congress elected from this State.

Dems use Graham to run Hayden, Orr, Atwoodski

Left/liberal Democrat Phil Murphy's plans to flip Sussex County from Trump red to Clinton/Obama blue got a major boost when Freeholder George Graham, a nominal member of the GOP, agreed to direct the campaign of Hayden, Orr, and Atwoodski.  The three are running in the GOP primary to "soften up" conservative Republicans Steve Oroho, Parker Space, and Hal Wirths.  It is the same method used last year to take down conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett.

Graham, a longtime political consultant to Hudson County Democrats, has an interesting pedigree to say the least.  Back when Graham was a local elected official in Stanhope, he 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.  Just so everyone is straight, Graham went from D to R to D to R.

Graham's political consulting business, York Strategies, worked to elect liberal Democrat legislators like Bayonne mayor Joe Doria.  A committed leftie, Doria is still on the campaign trail with fellow liberal Democrat Jim Florio, only now they campaign for gun control and against the NRA (National Rifle Association).  At a recent gathering the two called for new constraints on the Second Amendment, with Joe Doria calling the NRA "dirty".  Not to be outdone, Florio added that the manufacturers and sellers of guns were, in his words, "Merchants of Death." 

Recently, Dan Perez -- who advised and provided legal advice to both Freeholder Graham and Gail Phoebus -- announced that he had switched back to Democrat and is running on a far-left platform with fellow liberal Democrat Jennifer Hamilton and her two running mates for the state legislature.  Perez, who was appointed by Graham to a taxpayer-paid patronage position on the SCMUA board, is running for Freeholder in Sussex County. 

Word has it that if Perez is successful, Graham and one other nominal Republican intend to flip to Democrat to swing the board left and to the Democrats.  If this happens, the property tax increases Sussex County has suffered since George Graham came to the Freeholder Board will seem like nothing compared to what awaits taxpayers under a Democrat Graham-Perez dominated board.

Why would Perez leave the GOP and Graham consider making it D-R-D-R-D? 

The gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Phil Murphy is one reason.  Murphy is a Goldman Sachs rich guy, former DNC finance chairman, and Obama ambassador who has his heart set on becoming Jon Corzine # 2.  The Sussex County Democrat Committee and its candidates will be funded like never before.  And Murphy is the favorite to win the Governor's race in November.  Which would mean access to jobs and appointments for loyal Democrats in the new administration.  If you are an opportunist who never gave a damn about the GOP platform, the time is right.

Graham's first move has been to pressure the subsidized media -- the print media that gets infusions of money from property taxpayers through mandatory government advertisements -- into serving as a message delivery system until the full weight of the Murphy money arrives.  How this works will shortly be made apparent, but one must always remember the pressure that today's print media is under to stay afloat and keep the presses running.  Graham knows this and knows that one of the first things the Freeholders do at every re-organization is to hand out the subsidy to selected print media -- not every newspaper gets it.  His control of three of the five members of the current board ensures that he will have his way.

This story is developing. . .

Great Ideas for Transparency in Sussex County

A recent story in the New Jersey Herald (December 15, 2016) by reporter David Danzis highlighted the about face by Freeholder boss George Graham on the issue of allowing Sussex County's citizens to see what goes on at the Freeholder Board meetings.  Having campaigned on "transparency", the majority of the freeholders are now on record as opposing it.  Danzis reported:

The Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted to reject a resolution that would have requested a local cable television provider record and broadcast regularly-scheduled public meetings.

The resolution was a formal request of Service Electric Cable TV of NJ, Inc. to provide broadcasting services pursuant to federal law concerning Public, Educational, and Governmental Access Channels. The cable provider would have subcontracted a videographer to attend the meetings. The service would have been free of charge to the county. The meeting would have aired at least twice on SECTV's public channel.

The vote on Wednesday evening was 3-2 with Freeholder Director George Graham, Freeholder Deputy Director Carl Lazzaro and Freeholder Jonathan Rose against and Freeholders Phillip Crabb and Richard Vohden in favor.

...Following the vote, several members of the public voiced their disapproval of the freeholder's decision.

"I think the vote you took on cable TV was, I'm thinking, absurd," a Sparta resident in attendance commented. "You had an opportunity to get this thing to reach some additional people ... I don't know why you wouldn't vote ‘Yes' for that."

Harvey Roseff, of Byram, said he found it "absurd" that the issue has taken months to be brought up only to be voted down.

"There's absolutely no problem here," Roseff said. "It's already done all over New Jersey. You're not breaking any new ground. You just don't want to do it. There's a core group of people here pretending it's a complicated matter -- it just isn't."

Posted under the story in the Herald, a number of people commented with good insights and proposals for moving forward.  Among them were the following:

"No reasonable person would say that free TV airing of a meeting is worthless. Plenty of people still have Service Electric cable. It's funny that the same people that voted no are the ones who ran saying the meeting times would be changed so more people could attend. It is also the group that authorized $500,000 to be spent on an investigation that the board refuses to inform the public about..." (Nathan Orr)

"The following information is taken directly from the NJ League of Municipalities website, and can be found at http://www.njslom.org/magart_1208_pg74.html

'Municipal officials are often concerned about the videotaping of municipal meetings by the public, both because of the possible disruption of the meeting and because some residents attending the meetings do not want to be videotaped. New Jersey case law makes it clear that a member of the public cannot be prohibited from videotaping a municipal meeting. In the case of Tarus v. Pine Hill, Docket No.a-93-05(2007), the New Jersey Supreme Court said “…we hold that, subject to reasonable restrictions, members of the public have a common law right to videotape municipal proceedings in New Jersey. Our conclusion is supported by an interwoven tapestry of jurisprudence and policy that demonstrates both the value of open government and the right to document governmental proceedings.'  As for concerns over the privacy of members of the public, the Court said 'Although some citizens may be fearful of video cameras, we find that consideration insufficient to deny the right to videotape. Further, no right of privacy protects a citizen’s public comments.'

It appears from the information above that this SECTV proposal can be circumvented; these meetings may be recorded by any member of the public, with additional information on the website including the caveat that such recordings may in no way disrupt the meeting. This NJ Supreme Court case law may open the floodgates to live streaming, i.e. Facebook Live or Periscope, to provide instant, real-time, open access to the greater public.

County citizens, including myself, have spoken at meetings of the freeholders in order to request a later start time to allow for greater public attendance and participation. Sussex County is vastly a 'commuter county', with a 5 pm start time prohibiting many from regular participation. I commend Freeholders Crabb and Vohden for recognizing these challenges and for supporting a valid solution. I do not fault these gentlemen for not acting on this issue prior to now; demand for technology is swiftly evolving, and it is foolhardy to not accept a current offer of this kind in a timely manner--free of charge to the taxpayers--in order to bring these meetings to a larger audience. 'Grandstanding', although obnoxious, is certainly protected under the first amendment, and can be witnessed from both sides of the dais; fear of such behavior is an invalid reason for rejecting this proposal, as is the assertion that because of the limited scope and sequence of airings, recording and rebroadcasting has no intrinsic value. I also do not see anywhere in state statutes where the right to record may be rejected because it may '...not take into account the entire county'. I urge the Board of Chosen Freeholders to revisit this issue, as the optics of this rejection does not bode well if the goal of the board is transparency." (Dawn Fantasia)

"Necessity is the mother of invention. President-Elect Donald Trump figured that out when he took to Twitter to circumvent the media and reach out to the voters directly. Someone needs to step up and do the same in Sussex County." (Ann Smulewicz)

"I remember reading George Graham is looking to be Freeholder Director for a 2nd straight year. I also have heard George Graham is waiting to become Gail Phoebus’ Chief of Staff, which would make George a 'double dipper' for taxpayer funded positions. I was wondering if this was announced at the Freeholder meeting, because if not, and George & Gail are planning this, when are his colleagues and the Sussex County taxpayers supposed to find out?

...The 5PM start time does not allow normal and most out-of-county workers to attend Freeholder meetings. I believe this was something else Mr. Rose was going to address to make meetings more open and transparent to the public.

...To the Sparta resident’s point this would give the ability to reach more residents county wide and could even be a positive as people could actually find out what services are available to them. Believe it or not, not everyone has a computer to look things up on a website, especially the elderly. I’ll bet they have TV.  Besides transparency, it’s called communication. What is “the right way to do it”? Sounds more to me like fear of communication and this type of openness would bring more questions from the public to this Freeholder board."  (Kathleen Gorman)

"Here is yet another instance of why taxes are high and services low in Sussex County. If last night's meeting had been aired, instead of being held at the usual and uninviting hour of 5pm, one would have learned that an employee union contract was approved without discussion or the public knowing what the new expense will be. One would have seen that Freeholders delayed for 26 months to do the minutes of a critical solar program closed session meeting. A most controversial Hopatcong development project was approved, but a resident asked that a proper planning process first be followed before a vote. All over New Jersey and the nation, government meetings are televised and placed on the web to bring healthier governing. Six months of pretense and delay, and we get not a solution for more transparency in government, but legal blather, and hollow excuses, to make sure it won't happen in Sussex County." (Harvey Roseff)

The arrogance of young Nathan Orr

Maybe it's his involvement with the Tea Party?  Or maybe it's just the way he's been raised?  Rarely, very rarely, has there been a more bold-faced exposition of smug, youthful arrogance than the letter to the editor, written by Nathan Orr, and published by the New Jersey Herald on November 1st.

But which Nathan Orr is this? 

Is it Nathan Orr the law partner, or Nathan Orr the software engineer, or Nathan Orr the accountant, or Nathan Orr the executive, or even Nathan Orr the 4th Grade school teacher?  No, it is Nathan Orr who graduated from Centenary College in 2013, spent time traveling through Europe courtesy of some family money, and whose first act as an adult appears to have been a campaign for political office. 

This is worth noting, because young Nathan called the Senator who represents him a "career politician."  Well, if he is, then he came to his career a lot later than Nathan Orr has. 

Unlike Nathan Orr, who went straight from undergraduate to political candidate, the man he so casually shits on had other responsibilities after his father died young. He went to work in New York City, met a girl, married, started a family, got involved in the Right-to-Life movement.  He became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for companies like W.R. Grace.  He was a senior financial officer for S&P 500 companies like Young & Rubicam and was sent to Europe to put newly acquired companies back on a healthy financial track.  And all this was before he ever even contemplated running for public office.

Remembering how hard his father had worked and his early death, he retired from corporate life to have more time to spend with his growing family.  He got involved as a coach for a number of youth athletic teams -- most notably as a football coach at Pope John High School.  He got involved in his town's economic development committee, local community organizations and charities, then was elected to borough council where he learned about municipal budgets and the problems local governments have to deal with. 

He ran for Freeholder and together with Hal Wirths and Gary Chiusano, reformed the county's budget process.  The successes of that board -- and later the board chaired by Jeff Parrott -- are looked upon today as the "good old days" of Sussex County government. 

And then, after a lifetime of learning and experience, only then did this so-called "career politician" consider running for the New Jersey Legislature. 

Not so Nathan Orr.  No sooner he was birthed from college he had his petitions to run for the New Jersey Legislature.  No place for humility when you are starting at the top.

Maybe it's the way he's been raised?

A common thread throughout civilizations is respect for age -- which is really just a way of acknowledging experience and the practical learning that comes with it.  Those who give respect, get it in return.  Not so our Nathan Orr. 

This young man casually dismisses the generally acknowledged feat his Senator accomplished by successfully negotiating five tax cuts from a position of weakness, one in which the Democrats controlled both chambers of the Legislature by hefty margins.  And his Senator accomplished this with the Democrats knowing that all they had to do was to run out the clock, wait until November 2017, when they can elect a new Democrat Governor.  Then they could have raised the gas tax as much as they like without any tax cuts.  Against all this, his Senator forged a compromise.

But the Senator's accomplishments are casually shit on by a young man whose most noteworthy negotiation to date has been securing his girlfriend's agreement to be engaged to him.  It is an amazing case of arrogance.

Maybe it's the way he's been raised?

Young Nathan Orr concludes his letter with a threat.  Speaking for his father as well, Nathan Orr writes:  "We accept your offer to meet before we decide whether or not to recall you."

Wow.  Somebody told that young man a story about how great he was and he believed it.

It's nice that Daddy Orr and Nathan Orr will get to spend some personal time to screw with their Senator.  Father and son can bond as they ignore what their Senator has to say, safe in the knowledge that they have all the answers -- even if they can't say how they got them. 

One person who won't be at that meeting is the Senator's son.  He's in public service too.  He's someone Nathan Orr might sneeringly call a "career government worker and son of a career politician." 

No, the Senator's son won't be at that meeting, standing by his old man's side like Daddy Orr will be by Nathan's.  And that's because the Senator's son is a U.S. Army Ranger, deployed in the fight to defeat terrorism.  Yeah, like his old man, he's a doer too.

Public service (whatever others may sneeringly call it) runs deep in some families.

By the way, did you sleep well last night?

Phoebus lies: The Juice Bar Johnny Episode

New Jersey Herald reporter Eric Obernauer has a very close relationship with Sussex County politician Gail Phoebus.  Instead of behaving like a proper journalist, Obernauer advocates for Phoebus to the extreme.  In fact, Phoebus has used Obernauer on several occasions to spread rumors about politicians, officials, and even county employees.

For example, there was the appointment of Sussex County Attorney John Williams in June of 2015.  Williams was being appointed to fill the vacancy left after the retirement of longtime County Attorney Dennis McConnell.  Phoebus, then a county Freeholder, just days before had won the Republican primary for Assembly over Marie Bilik and Nathan Orr. 

Phoebus wanted to oppose Williams, but a friend of Phoebus had been dating Williams, so Phoebus used Obernauer to put out a rumor about Williams and who some of his clients had been.  They even came up with a nasty name to mock Williams by:  "Juice Bar Johnny."

At the June 10, 2015, Freeholder Board meeting, Phoebus broke with Freeholder colleague George Graham to vote for Williams.  But she was content that the rumors against Williams, spread by Obernauer, would do their work and eventually undermine the County Attorney and force him out. 

Subsequently, the inside joke she shared with Herald reporter Obernauer became such that they became reckless and Obernauer included someone on an email to Phoebus that he shouldn't have.  The "Juice Bar Johnny" reference was questioned and brought to the attention of the Herald's management, resulting in a reprimand of some sort for reporter Obernauer but no ramifications for politician Phoebus.

This is the power of rumors and "whisper" campaigns.  It is how politics is sometimes conducted in close-knit communities -- when smiles are lies and honesty is at a premium.  It almost destroyed the career of County Attorney John Williams.