Blue what? The only NJ Dem legislator elected to Congress was endorsed by the NRA!

There’s a lot to be said for not having a record. 

For a start, you can lie about who you are and what you will do when you get elected.  You can even target your lies to different audiences – like pretending you have a war record and appealing to suburban voters with your anti-tax broadcast advertising, while using your grassroots to find and target liberals with a message especially for them.  That’s how the Democrats did it. 

Republicans… they did it ass backwards.  They invested millions to tell their grassroots to go to hell and then broadcast an explicitly liberal message to those cultural leftists who hate the word “Republican” the most.  And they did it in the midst of the most divisive national election since 2010 – on par with 1994.  They invested even more millions in turning out the very people who loath them – all the while doing their utmost to convince their base that they think of them the same way they think of dog excrement.  See, in this way you lose everybody! 

New Jersey Republicans desperately needed a unified message to take to war in 2018.  After Donald Trump and the GOP leadership in Congress screwed them by passing a tax package that arguably raised property taxes in the state with the worst property tax problem in the nation – somebody should have got everyone in a room to figure out a message.  Hey, it’s a small state so if you don’t want to come off like a cacophony, you’d better all be singing the same tune.

Instead, half argued that screwing with the state’s property tax deduction was a net positive, half said it was a net negative – and the Democrats, they just loved it!  For once, they got to be the party defending the beleaguered property taxpayers of New Jersey.  What passes for the media in New Jersey backed them up on it.  And more importantly, so did the instincts of the average property taxpayer.  Donald Trump or no Donald Trump, when it comes to trusting the promises politicians make about property taxes, they don’t.  Period.  Somebody should have remembered that.

After handing the property tax issue to the Democrats – the issue that has consistently tested as the top concern of New Jersey voters for at least the last decade – it is amazing the NJGOP did as well as it did on November 6th.  A large part of the electorate already hated Donald Trump (and therefore, the Republican brand) and wanted to show it – but by miscalculation, the remainder were granted permission to hate the GOP too… over property taxes!  Gagged and gagged again.

But it wouldn’t have worked so well if the Democrats hadn’t been such clean slates.  Just think of it.  All those Democrats in the Legislature with all those perfect liberal voting records… and the only guy who is acceptable to the electorate to move up and go to Congress is the state’s most conservative Democrat legislator… the one who is endorsed by the NRA.  The one who voted against same-sex marriage.  Heck, Jeff Van Drew is more Pro-Life than many Republicans and has opposed both RGGI and increasing the minimum wage!  But he moved up, and all the rest stayed behind. 

Meanwhile, DC residents Andy Kim and Tom Malinowski simply move into the state, take out six month leases on rental properties, run and win.  And the silly fools who spent years as Democrat committee members, in local governments, running for Freeholder and then for Assembly… they just suck ass.  You can’t get elected because your liberal records won’t let you.

Where did Mikie Sherrill come from?  The “Navy pilot – Prosecutor – Mom” fell out of the sky and landed in Congress.  In the new politics of congressional elections, she’s one of the Houyhnhnm.  Back in the trenches, the time-serving yahoos can only snort and envy her advancement. 

Yesterday, Rutgers put out a new poll showing that – once again – taxes top the state’s issues grid (with a sizeable number volunteering “property” taxes as their big concern).  The Eagleton poll noted that people are generally happy with the state’s economy and, as it is part of a generally buoyant national economy, that shouldn’t surprise anyone, but it does appear Democrat Governor Murphy is taking more credit than the state Republican leaders.  One “research professor” drew attention to “a new phenomenon” of voters not having quite formed an opinion of Phil Murphy, after nearly a year in office.  It’s like they don’t know him and it’s taking some time. (Maybe they will now… after yesterday’s snow job?)

A phenomenon is it?  Why is anyone surprised, given the state of political news coverage in New Jersey?  Just ask anyone on press row… oh, that’s right, it’s not there anymore.  If it’s a national election like we just had, the coverage will be driven by national outlets.  If not… good luck.  And that is something our campaign gurus are going to need to consider when planning what used to be called “earned media” campaigns. 

Meanwhile, back at madness central, a couple of juvenile delinquent Democrat Assemblywomen invited “pro-death penalty for American military members” activist Jane Fonda to place a feather in her patouee and lead a conga line from the Speaker’s office to the Governor’s den.  Not a word yet from Navy pilot Mikie Sherrill about the appropriateness of Fonda’s appearance – or from Andy Kim or Tom Malinowski, for that matter.  But hey Assemblywomen, keep it up.  If that’s the fashion, keep it up and you’ll soon find yourself in… Congress?  NOT!

The pro-tax radical who runs Byram politics

Councilman Scott Olson made no bones about it.  He is supporting the candidacies of Jim Oscovitch for Mayor and Marie Raffay for Council.  And it’s easy to understand why – they supported Olson when he ran for Byram Council in 2011.

Led by Scott Olson, Oscovitch and Raffay make up the current political establishment in Byram Township.   Who is Scott Olson?

Well, you can tell a lot about someone by who he hates, and Scott Olson hates Republicans Governor Chris Christie and Senator Steve Oroho.  Olson runs a blog and he has posted a lot of nasty stuff about the Governor and Senator Oroho. 

Olson’s blog has attacked Senator Oroho for supporting Fair School Funding legislation that would bring more education money to Sussex County to provide property tax relief.  Olson attacks Oroho for fighting for Sussex County taxpayers.

Apparently, Olson wants most of the state income tax money we pay flowing to school districts like Hoboken to provide property tax relief for the millionaires and corporations there.  This ignores the fact that Hoboken has a far higher median income than Sussex County and higher education attainment levels.  Even some Democrats agree that Hoboken is now too rich to get so much of our tax money – but that hasn’t stopped Olson’s blog from attacking Senator Oroho for fighting for us.

Olson’s blog calls Senator Oroho “radical” for proposing legislation that would prevent companies who knowingly hire illegal aliens from receiving state contracts.  So let’s get this straight.  Is Olson advocating giving state contracts to companies who cut costs by BREAKING THE LAW to hire cheap illegal labor instead of American workers or Immigrants with legal work visas?

The Olson blog has opposed giving women the opportunity to have an ultrasound or sonogram prior to having an abortion. 

Olson’s blog has attacked Governor Christie and Senator Oroho for their success in passing the 2% cap on local government spending.  The cap has kept spending down with the result that property taxes have not gone up like they did under Jon Corzine.  Olson obviously misses the “good old days” of huge property tax hikes and wants them to return.

With winter heating costs what they are, it is nice to know that Olson supported the RGGI fuel tax.  He called the bi-partisan legislation to repeal the heating tax “right wing”.

Olson also backs the Highlands Act, in which sate government has taken the property use of Sussex County residents without compensation of any kind.  This is unfair any way you look at it, but Olson doesn’t seem to care about his neighbors and their rights.

Olson’s blog finds it “shocking” that Senator Oroho wants to make English the official language of New Jersey.

Olson’s blog advocates very strongly for abortion.  It has attacked Senator Oroho for suggesting that parents be notified when their minor children receive medical or surgical procedures relating to pregnancy.

Olson has described Sussex County as “militia-friendly” – which is a slur on the people he claims to represent as a Byram Councilman.  Does Jim Oscovitch and Marie Raffay share Olson’s contempt for Sussex County and the residents of Byram Township?  Do they share his agenda?

They should set the record straight and in a hurry.