Wipeout

(Courtesy of the New Jersey Herald)

A lesson in American studies

A certain Sussex County Freeholder, who was named in Sunday's New Jersey Herald as a central figure in the solar scandal, has questioned Watchdog's right to exist.  Mr. Freeholder, along with a small coterie who sadly have missed out on their education, claim that anonymous publications should be banned.  They want to send men with guns to break up the printing presses and burn the books at Watchdog's dog barn.

 

This is a deeply anti-American idea.  It goes against everything we stand for.  Did they forget or perhaps never learned that the anonymous Federalist Papers are one of the building blocks of our Republic?  They were written, anonymously, under the pseudonym "Publius" between October 1787 and August 1788.   Mr. Freeholder and his acolytes believe that anonymous speech today should be stamped out and so it follows that the writers of the Federalist Papers -- Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay -- should have been crushed under the totalitarian boot.

Instead of burning books, Mr. Freeholder should try reading them.  Perhaps broaden his perspective?  Gain a little tolerance for opinions not his own?

It's all about words.  We love them more than you do, Mr. Freeholder.  As an anonymous character once said, "Words will always retain their power.  Words are for the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth."

Major story developing...

Watchdog has learned that one of the candidates on the ballot this June 2nd has been threatened in what appears to be a blackmail attempt.  We understand that it involves social media but do not have further details.

The attempt could possibly be a further act of retaliation by those connected with misuse of federal 1603 solar grants.  These grants were a funding source for the Sussex County solar project.  Because of the federal money involved, the United States Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would become involved in any blackmail attempt.

Every politician has an attack dog

One-party states don't have "negative" campaigns.  In one-party states all the candidates share the same "insider" perspective and everyone thinks everyone else is a "goodfella" because they all are.  The Soviet Union had elections, so did National Socialist Germany, but they didn't have campaigns that focused on the contrast between candidates because none existed (outside of hair color, height, weight, age, and so on).

So when you hear a person complaining about the "negativity" of a campaign, what they are really complaining about is democracy.  Because it is only in democracies that you find "negative campaigning". Everywhere else you find detainment camps.  And when you read about this pundit or that talking about the good old days of early American democracy, remember that those good old days featured negative campaigns that would make today's campaigners blush. 

Every political operation has it's attack dogs.  They vary in terms of competence but they are all there none-the-less doing battle on behalf of a candidate or, in the case of this election, a government vendor with a contract before the county.

So here's a run-down on how Watchdog sees the attack dogs of election 2015:

Phil Crabb and Rich Vohden have one...

The Sussex County GOP has one too...

 

Marie Bilik has two...

 

Warren County's GOP takes a different approach...

 

There's a reason the Essex GOP leaves Sussex in the dust...

 

But the Hometown Conservative Team had one...

 

As for Parker Space.  He doesn't have an attack dog, but he has a tiger named Chris Russell...

How the whisper campaign costs taxpayers

County politics in Sussex County was once a village.  It was more than close knit, it was closed.  This presented a problem for reformers.  In closed societies, people tend to overlook the corrupt practices of others, so as not to rock the boat.  Go along to get along.

The problem with this is that corruption ends up costing everyone who pays taxes -- everyone that is except the people making money off the corruption.

In closed societies like this anyone who identifies or even talks about problems is considered "impolite".  Steve Oroho was impolite in 2004 and especially so in 2007.  Parker Space was impolite in 2010 and Gail Phoebus in 2012.  Space, Phoebus, and George Graham have been very impolite this year, because they asked that a deal that was sold to the Freeholder Board with false promises be investigated and that those who made money by ripping-off Sussex County taxpayers be held to account.

Reform is Rude in Sussex County.  At least as far as the county's political  class is concerned.  The fact that all of those mentioned above romped to victory (some by big upsets) indicates that most residents of Sussex County do not share the same opinions as the county's political class.

When he was United States Attorney, Chris Christie used to talk about the "corruption tax".  This was the extra-cost to taxpayers that came from the single-bid wired for a political insider or from hiring someone "connected" instead of someone competent.

Because it is such a closed society, county politics in Sussex County was once largely controlled by an exclusive group whose business was politics.  That is how they made their money.  Turnout at elections was low and campaigns were conducted mouth to mouth, whisper to whisper, for in politics here it is rare for people to be straight with you.  To your face it is all smiles, behind your back, it's the whispers.

And then along came Steve Oroho.  He hired a consultant who worked with him to expand the number of residents who participated in politics.  Turnout at elections went up and the mouth to mouth campaign counted for less.  No longer could you get over on someone by pretending to like him while helping his opponent, because it didn't matter as much.

Steve Oroho opened the door to allow new people to participate and voter turnout went up.  It also let the fresh air of reform in. It became safer to speak the truth and identify bad practices.

There are those who long for the days when they could ostracize anyone who dared blow the whistle on corruption, theft, or malfeasance.   Those days are gone and, though some may try, they will not come back. 

The voters will not allow the county political class to steal their government from them.  They will not be content to "shut up and pay" ever rising taxes so that this "wired" county politico can get a no-show job in order to qualify for a state pension.  They will not "shut up and pay" so that local elected officials can be a sales reps for vendors who demand government use a product that nobody asked for.  This is the past and those who benefitted from these corrupt practices had better get used to it.