A little too quick on the draw there, Bill Hayden

There are conspirators within the Skylands Tea Party group that are allowing Freeholder George Graham to use the group's email list, mailing list, meetings, even the group's name, in order to conduct a political campaign.  This is in direct conflict with the organization's tax status and places the group in jeopardy, but these conspirators don't care about the Tea Party or its mission -- they care about George Graham.

When Freeholder Graham launched a vicious attack on the wife of a candidate for Assembly, photo-shopping the cancer-survivor's face in a very unflattering way, the Tea Party's own Bill Hayden had the attack posted to his Facebook page before the email even hit.  Either Hayden is clairvoyant or he is in on the deal.

Then there was this disgusting display.  Yep.  Hayden again.

https://www.facebook.com/whowhatwherewhen/videos/10208392022592286/

The fellow behind the urinating video above was one of the four people who attended Mark D. Quick's "rally" on Newton Green on February 25th.  Bill Hayden was another.

And it was Bill Hayden who snapped this picture of George Graham's nemesis, Bill Winkler (aka Wee Willy Winkler, Philly Bill Winkler, The Old Fat Quaker, The Fonz, Gail's Sweetheart, and so on) and Sussex County activist Harvey Roseff on Newton Green back in the autumn:

Wait a minute!  Why does Winkler get so many nicknames and Graham none?  Gail Phoebus and Kim Seelagy had one for George:  "Walk of Shame."  They gave him it after he got up to no good (in their words) down in A.C. at some League confab.  But "Walk of Shame" is too long, don't you think?  He needs something shorter and career-related, like "Freeloader."  Perfect!  Freeloader George Graham!

But we digress.  The photo Bill Hayden snapped above ended up in the rather vulgar post below:

So... it must be Bill Hayden again.  Unless Hayden gave the photo to George Graham and an elected member of the Sussex County Freeholder Board was up at night, in front of his computer, photo-shopping the heads of other Republicans onto vaginas?  Yeah, that sounds about right...

Something is wrong with George Graham.

On Tuesday night there was a wonderful exchange between Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Jay Parini, a professor, author, and poet.  Given the circumstances, they make the salutary point that "we all proceed on insufficient knowledge" and conclude that what is lacking in current political discourse is "modesty" and that we need to "teach modesty" and "inculcate a spirit of modesty" as a corrective.

Given what we've seen from the likes of Quick and Graham, maybe just teaching how not to be nuts would go a long way.

Workers blame Phoebus for losing jobs

We were asked to publish the story of five area residents who formerly worked for Assemblyperson Gail Phoebus at the country club she owns.  The former employees of the Farmstead Golf and Country Club contacted Watchdog.  One employee identified herself and forwarded a statement and the letter of dismissal from Farmstead.  This is an excerpt from that statement:

The former employees believed that their ages played a role in their firing.  They believe that the legislator's actions "speaks to her character."  Referring to Phoebus' firing of her legislative staff before Thanksgiving and to the further attempts to destroy their reputations and ability to earn an income to provide for their families, the statement notes that "this behavior with Gail Phoebus is nothing new.  She has been treating people badly for quite some time."

In response to accusations that were posted and distributed about legislative staff by members of the Skylands Tea Party group, the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) last week issued a formal statement saying that EVERY accusation made against the innocent staff workers was wholly false and without any basis whatsoever.  In other words, it was all made up.  A fantasy designed to destroy the livelihoods of human beings, their spouses, and their children.

In fairness to Assemblyperson Phoebus, last week Watchdog offered to publish her response to the above statement by her employees, unedited.  Instead of a straightforward response for us to print, her campaign circulated rumors that suggested blame be placed elsewhere and that she was away at the time -- this time not at the Colorado ranch but in sunny Florida.

When will she own up?

Farmstead workers blame Phoebus for firing

We have been asked to publish the story of five area residents who formerly worked for Assemblyperson Gail Phoebus at the country club she owns.  The former employees of the Farmstead Golf and Country Club contacted Watchdog.  One employee identified herself and forwarded a statement and the letter of dismissal from Farmstead.  This is an excerpt from that statement:

The former employees believed that their ages played a role in their firing.  They believe that the legislator's actions "speaks to her character."  Referring to Phoebus' firing of her legislative staff before Thanksgiving and to the further attempts to destroy their reputations and ability to earn an income to provide for their families, the statement notes that "this behavior with Gail Phoebus is nothing new.  She has been treating people badly for quite some time."

In response to the accusations that were posted and distributed about legislative staff by members of the Skylands Tea Party group, the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) this week issued a formal statement saying that EVERY accusation made against the innocent staff workers was wholly false and without any basis whatsoever.  In other words, it was all made up.  A fantasy designed to destroy the livelihoods of human beings, their spouses, and their children.

Nevertheless, in fairness to Assemblyperson Phoebus, we understand that there could be another side to this story.  We therefore offer to publish her response to this statement, unedited.