DOT showing favoritism in removing campaign signs

The New Jersey Department of Transportation has gone off the deep end.  It's illegally involved itself in the political process in Northwest New Jersey.  Once again, DOT personnel have been caught, by witnesses, pulling down political signs while leaving alone those of DOT supervisor and fellow CWA union member William Hayden. 

When public employees remove or destroy the campaign signs of candidates who they oppose, while leaving up and intact the campaign signs of candidates they support , that is an illegal act and amounts to campaigning on public time.  The state's taxpayers shouldn't be paying for this. 

Besides which, the destruction, vandalism, and removal of political campaign signs is a criminal act .  Violations carry a fine of up to $1,000 and a jail sentence of up to six months for each act if convicted.

In Warren County, the prosecutor has said that he would bring charges against anyone who is seen "engaging in such behavior, regardless of political affiliation," adding, "I am instructing all law enforcement personnel with this County to be alert to this unlawful activity and to see that violators are charged... I respectfully request all campaign managers and candidates for office to remind their supported and workers that candidates for office spend money and time to print and post campaign signs. This is a part of the election process that should not be and will not be disturbed by vandals without penalty.”

Witnesses to these acts by New Jersey DOT employees now include a Roman Catholic priest and the pastor of a Church in Sussex County.  Here is what others have sent in:

"I witnessed NJ State DOT employees removing signage along Route 94 in McAfee and Hamburg.  I stopped and told them I believed their actions were illegal. They told me the signs were on State right of way and they were doing what their boss told them to do.  I do have a picture.  Call to discuss if you like."

"Attached picture taken on Route 94 across from entrance to Crystal Springs at 9:30 this morning.  Also removed signage on 638 in Highland Lakes, but miraculously Bills signs remain.  Check intersection of 515 & 638.  Orohos' signs removed, but Bill Haydens' remain."

"He pulled signs out of the DOT dumpster, not a Hayden one in there."

"FYI XXX XXXXXXX this morning watched the DPW take everyone's signs from 206 and left Hayden's. I think XXX was trying to get a video."

William J. Hayden (AKA Bill Hayden, Dell Hayden, Skylands Patriot ) is an 18 year public employee of the New Jersey Department of Transportation.  He works as a supervisor, based in Trenton, where he pockets a salary and extras more each year than any legislator earns -- plus full benefits and a pension.  Hayden is a member of the CWA -- one of the most liberal unions in America.  Hayden's union has endorsed leftwing Democrat Phil Murphy for Governor.

Hayden doesn't vote much.  He made it last November, but the last time before that was 2010.  Now he thinks we should give him a second public job -- as our legislator.

Hayden is being aided and abetted by two cronies -- Nathan Orr and David Atwood -- who have chosen to endorse Hayden's behavior and tactics, and who are running a joint campaign with him.  Perhaps Orr and Atwood should be asked if they approve of using government money, personnel, and equipment to thwart free speech and to obstruct the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States of America.

What is happening here is not so different from the violence visited up the campaign of Donald Trump last year, when his signs were destroyed and stolen.  Then, Trump supporters came up with some rather creative ways  of protecting their property.

In any event, this matter is coming before one or more county prosecutors and an internal investigation by DOT has been promised.  So the miscreants should have their fun now.  In a few weeks' time this will become a real shit sandwich. 

Hayden caught in lie about Oroho's family

William J. Hayden (AKA Bill Hayden, Dell Hayden, Skylands Patriot ) is an 18 year public employee of the New Jersey Department of Transportation.  He works as a supervisor, based in Trenton, where he pockets a salary and extras more each year than any legislator earns -- plus full benefits and a pension.  Hayden is a member of the CWA -- one of the most liberal unions in America.

He doesn't vote much.  He made it last November, but the last time before that was 2010.  Now he thinks we should give him a second public job -- as our legislator.  His education background, if his Facebook posts are to be believed, is high school.

On Friday, Hayden and company (which includes Democrat-turned-Republican George Graham, Democrat Freeholder candidate Dan Perez, among others) put out a lie about Senator Steve Oroho. 

Steve Oroho is a traditional Reagan conservative:  One-hundred percent Pro-Life, a proud NRA member, a Sunday churchgoer, Chairman of New Jersey's American Legislative Exchange Council, a Heritage Foundation supporter, a believer in that old-fashioned conservatism that says avoid borrowing and spend only what you take in.  His rural, hill country district isn't a wealthy one, but it is filled with the kind of salt-of-the-earth conservatives who have since 2007 elected and re-elected Steve Oroho with 70 percent of the vote or more.

Senator Oroho is a practical numbers man.  He's a certified financial planner and CPA.  Before beginning his career of public service, Steve Oroho was a senior financial officer for S&P 500 companies like W. R. Grace and  Young & Rubicam.  Steve has helped to put companies like Burson Marsteller back on a healthy financial track.

Hayden, with his background as a Trenton DOT bureaucrat, decided to spread a little dirt on Steve Oroho by questioning his credentials.  Here's what he wrote:

"First; we went on the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs website. There we found that a Steven Oroho from Mt. Laurel signed up to take a test in 2012, but never went any further. We then checked with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. No luck there. We then checked the entire CPA roster in New Jersey and in New York…nope. No Steven Oroho. We think that the Senator has some explaining to do."

This is straight out of the Gail Phoebus fantasy playbook -- and if this kind of b.s. continues, we will be hearing about more on that...

Not to worry.  Unlike Hayden, Watchdog has the intellectual capacity to actually read and, if Hayden had actually read the age of the "Steven Oroho from Mt. Laurel" who signed up to take the test, he should have figured out that it was the Senator's son -- Steven Oroho Jr. 

So now Hayden and company is trashing the Oroho family.

 And just so you fully understand who you are trashing, let us remind you.  Young Steven is a veteran of the war to liberate Iraq.  He signed-up for it and served four years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of sergeant.  While Hayden was playing video games in his bunker, young Steve Oroho was on the line, fighting to keep our nation's actual enemies at bay. 

And yes, young Steve Oroho did eventually take that CPA test and pass and he also took a test to be a Certified Fraud Examiner, which he passed as well.  With the likes of Hayden, Graham, and Perez around, a certified fraud examiner is just what we need.

As for old Steve Oroho - Steve Sr. - Senator Steve Oroho, he has been a CPA since 1982.  We reached out to the Senator's campaign and they graciously forwarded us a copy of his license. 

The lies spread by Hayden and his Skylands Patriot website have already been responsible for the end of one political career, that of Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus.  The whopper Skylands told about the district office lockdown and OLS destroyed her credibility in Trenton and left colleagues questioning her state of mind.  It was downhill from there. 

Anyone working with the Skylands website -- and that goes for a couple of low key Freeholders -- should be aware that you cannot treat the family members of candidates the way you treat candidates.  They are not necessarily public figures. 

While we welcome the presence of more blogs in Sussex County and Northwest New Jersey, you cannot just make things up.  It brings down the entire enterprise.  Just a friendly reminder, blog-to-blog.

Tea Party boss promotes liberal Democrat candidate

Next year, the leadership of the Skylands Tea Party group will travel down to Washington, DC, to attend CPAC -- the Conservative Political Action Committee conference -- where they will listen to an address by Senator Elizabeth Warren.  Only they won't.  Because unlike the Skylands Tea Party, CPAC is a conservative organization and conservative groups worthy of the name do not promote liberal Democrats.

We thought of this and had a good laugh when a missive was posted by Skylands Tea Party President Douglas Amedeo.  Of course, it was immediately "liked" by New Jersey Department of Transportation employee Bill Hayden (Skylands' Vice President and a candidate for State Senate).  We wonder what public employee Hayden does all day for his taxpayer-funded salary, pension, and generous benefits -- does he follow Facebook or work?

Amedeo's missive claimed that it was "conservative" to invite lawyer Jennifer Hamilton, a liberal Democrat running for State Senate against Republican Steve Oroho, to speak before the Skylands Tea Party group.  This was a follow up to the day before, when Amedeo sent out an enormous advertisement for Democrat Hamilton, urging Skylands' members and the public to come hear her speak.

Hamilton, who describes herself as a "progressive Democrat" was praised by the Tea Party's Amedeo as a "fiscal conservative" and as someone who is "more conservative" than Republican Steve Oroho.  Really, no kidding, the idiot actually said that.

Amedeo assures us that it is no big deal that Hamilton is pro-abortion, anti-gun, and pro-transgendered agenda.  Hamilton would spend millions funding Planned Parenthood and vote for the imposition of draconian gun confiscation laws, but these things shouldn't matter in defining this liberal Democrat as a "conservative" (the same view held by the libertarian group AFP, by the way).

Where have we heard this before?  Oh yes, last year's race for Congress between Republican Scott Garret and Democrat Josh Gottheimer. 

Don't worry, they said, Gottheimer is really a conservative Democrat (even while he called himself a "progressive").  So fools like Doug Amedeo helped screw Republican Scott Garrett (with a 99% American Conservative Union voting record) and replaced him with Democrat Josh Gottheimer (on target to get an 8% ACU record). 

Amedeo and the Tea Party want to follow up last year's brilliant exercise by replacing Republican Steve Oroho (with a 93% American Conservative Union voting record) with Jennifer Hamilton who might manage a 5% if she works real hard at it.  This is "progress" in the eyes of the Tea Party leadership.

"Progressive" is the word liberals use when they don't want to be called "liberals," but let's look at what the Democrats themselves had to say about their legislative team:

Trish and Matteson complete a Democratic ticket that includes Jennifer Hamilton as a hopeful to replace Steve Oroho as state senator.

Sussex County Democrats, long thought a largely invisible minority, are seeing a resurgence of energy and commitment in the wake of the disastrous Christie administration, the more disastrous presidential election and a realization that its entrenched GOP representation has steadily supported pro-corporate agendas—as well as those antagonist to women’s rights, education, environmental protections and other progressive no-brainers—to the detriment of the population.

“It's clear that our current local leadership is just right in alignment with this right-wing, pro-corporate agenda,” Trish said Thursday evening at the Irish Cottage Inn in Franklin. “All the local leadership is voting just like Scott Garrett did.

“There's one more thing they have in common with Scott Garrett,” she continued, “and that is that their time in our district is limited.”

(Sussex County Democrat Committee, March 31, 2017)

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We all get that law firms play both sides of the aisle, but it is rare to find one that exclusively contributes to just one party.  Enter the law firm of Duffy Amedeo.

Now it may be true that in love, "opposites attract," but in everything else "birds of a feather flock together."  Duffy Amedeo is a two lawyer firm in New York City.  One of those partners in Douglas Amedeo, the President of the Skylands Tea Party group.  His partner is described by Amedeo as "a liberal Democrat."  

Here's the question Mr. Amedeo needs to answer:  So of all the lawyers in the world, you left another law firm to make your career with someone you call a "liberal Democrat."  The two of you make money together and every political contribution that comes from your law firm goes to liberal Democrats -- thousands upon thousands of dollars in contributions, according to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

For most Republicans, hearing a potential business partner tell you that he contributed to Barack Obama might make them think twice.  But not Doug Amedeo -- so what you voted for Barack, our minds will still be in tune on the way we practice law, our outlook on the world, and on our perceptions about how government should interface with the private world of individuals and business. 

The Republican Party obviously does not matter much to Mr. Amedeo.  Expanding his law practice does, and since the beginning of our Republic, lawyers have been using politics to expand their law practices.  That's why they contribute thousands to politicians and political campaigns.

Amedeo reminds us of another lawyer -- Dan Perez.  He was a New York City lawyer too.  When he came to Sussex County he got busy.  A Democrat -- a very liberal Democrat -- he soon adopted the language to "pass" as a Republican.

He went after Republican control of Vernon Township, the county's largest municipality, and sued the GOP leaders there under the RICO law.  It was ridiculous, and the suit was dropped, but he did stir up enough trouble to drop the town's partisan elections -- and with it, Republican dominance.

Then he targeted some longtime Republicans on the Sussex County Community College board.  He was appointed to a vacancy.  His law practices contacts in the county were growing.

Perez became the political advisor and attorney for Freeholders Gail Phoebus and George Graham.  After Phoebus was elected to the Assembly and Graham took control of the Sussex County Freeholder Board, Dan Perez was appointed a commissioner at the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority (SCMUA) and the New York City law firm he had recommended got a $500,000 contract to "investigate" the solar deal.

Last week, Perez came out as a Democrat again.  He is running for Sussex County Freeholder on the Democrat ticket with another lawyer, Jennifer Hamilton.  And his law practice is doing just great!

Lawyers!  Lawyers are people who charge for one hour what a heavy equipment operator earns in a day, a clerk in a week, and a farmer in a month.  And they don't break a sweat doing it -- or produce anything besides paper and red tape.

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It is clear that the current Tea Party group in Sussex County -- which was formed after a lawsuit and trial that split an earlier group in two -- is not there to help the Republican Party.  The Skylands Tea Party group refuses to endorse Republicans and did nothing in the way of political action for Congressman Scott Garrett when conservatives needed the Tea Party's help.  They invited him to speak at their meeting -- the same they do for liberal Democrats.

Anyone who was present or who has heard the recording of their February meeting knows how Skylands treats conservative Republicans -- they trash them and try to humiliate them and their families, in public.  Under its current leadership, the Skylands Tea Party group is at best a third party in Sussex County, suppressing the Republican vote, and at worse a Fifth Column, actively working with the Democrats to turn Sussex County liberal blue.

Until there is another party strong enough to represent conservative interests and win elections, the Republican Party is pretty much it.  Sussex County needs to have its own Republican Tea Party.  One that supports the party and understands its platform.  A Tea Party that endorses Republicans, not one that promotes Democrats.