Keeping a close eye on the elections that matter
By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist
(Reprinted from August 4, 2010 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic & Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/index….at-matter.html)
Outside of South Jersey, the November elections for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are important. If enough real, conservative Republicans win, they can end the “public-private partnership” of big government, big unions, and big Wall Street banks that robbed us for 22 years under Presidents Bush, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama.
But here in South Jersey, the election for Congress means nothing.
South Jersey Democrats are not opposing 16-year incumbent Republican Frank LoBiondo. LoBiondo voted with Democrats for cap and trade, a plan to triple gas and electric bills and create billion-dollar slush funds for windmills, solar panels, and other federal spending. LoBiondo voted with Democrats to end secret ballot votes in union elections. He also trashed our Constitution by ?earmarking? billions of national tax dollars for local projects around the country that did little but buy votes.
Gary Stein of Mullica Township won the Democratic primary by sneaking in a last-minute petition and running unopposed. But Democrats are not giving him money or support.
Conservatives should have recruited, prepared, and supported a serious conservative candidate against LoBiondo in the June primary. We should have organized and funded a real campaign. But we didn’t. We must learn from our failure and do better in two years. We can start by helping Anna Little.
Anna Little is the only ?Tea Party” candidate who won a Republican primary for Congress in New Jersey. She is running in the gerrymandered 6th Congressional District that runs from Asbury Park (Parkway Exit 102) to Plainfield on Route 22.
Little upset the handpicked Republican choice in the primary last June. With some money and volunteers from down here, she can beat liberal Democrat and 22-year incumbent Congressman Frank Pallone in November. If Anna Little pulls this off, she will prove that conservative “Tea Party” Republicans can win anywhere in New Jersey. Learn more at www.annalittleforcongress.com.
Anyone who joins Anna Little’s campaign during the next three months will also learn the political skills needed to run a winning campaign here in South Jersey.
And not a minute too soon! In just 10 months, on Tuesday, June 7, 2011, all 80 members of the New Jersey Assembly will be up for election. So will half of the 40 state senators, including Democrat State Sen. Jim Whelan of Atlantic County. Republican leaders will probably pick Assemblyman Vince Polistina to challenge him. Republicans will also probably pick current Assemblyman John Amodeo and Atlantic County Frank Formica for the Assembly.
The Democrats will probably pick a lesser-known union leader and a public official from either Atlantic City or Pleasantville. The underdog Democratic Assembly candidates may not win, but they will get black and union votes for Whelan. Besides, Republican John Amodeo is a good union man who gives the Democrats most of what they want if he wins anyway.
In Cape May County, Democrat Assemblymen Matthew Milam and Nelson Albano will probably run for re-election. During the past two elections they defeated loyal LoBiondo Republicans who ran on personalities and gimmicks rather than conservative principles. In last June’s primary election, one of those defeated Republican candidates, Michael Donohue, became Cape May County chairman after upsetting the freeholder candidates endorsed by previous chairman, David Von Savage.
What are the issues that matter?
Should Stockton College students pay $24,000 a year for things like $4 million in “public service” projects that advance left-wing agendas, and millions more for bailouts of the Cape May County Ponderlodge, the Seaview Country Club, Noyes Museum in Galloway and the Atlantic City Library?
Should 20 percent of our state budget pay back money that was borrowed without voter approval, in violation of our state constitution?
Should towns balance their budgets with traffic fines from pedestrian walkway entrapments, Old South-style speed traps, and random DUI stops in which only one out of 676 motorists stopped is over the limit?
Should taxpayers partner with the Chinese government to bail out the Revel casino, or pay $7 million to fix up the Landis movie theater in Vineland, or $3.7 million for a new Hilton Hotel in Millville?
Should government give low-interest loans, cheap land taken by eminent domain, and special tax and zoning breaks to a few insiders at the expense of everyone else?
Has any Republican and Democratic leader or candidate in South Jersey ever publicly opposed any of these things?
If you know this is wrong, but do nothing about it, aren?t you also part of the problem?
Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears live on WVLT-92.1FM, heard throughout South Jersey 8-9 a.m. every Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email grossman@snip.net or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every Saturday at the Shore Diner, Tilton and Fire Roads, Egg Harbor Township.
