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.
Sussex County Watchdog
