News & Such

I haven't been able to blog much, but that doesn't mean there isn't news to report. So here's a round up of stuff going on around the Fifth:

*The Daily Record gives Representative Scott Garrett a "nudge" about his vote against the Economic Stimulus package:

Unfortunately, that urgency was lost on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage. Garrett, whose district includes Sussex and Warren counties, was one of 34 House members and the only one from New Jersey, to vote against the stimulus package. Such a stance is not new for Garrett, who seems to believe that the federal government should do nothing at all.

*The NJ Herald covered the fact that potential Democratic challenger Dennis Shulman outraised Garrett last quarter. They highlighted his use of the Giants as a metaphor for his own potential for success; which Hillary Clinton used the other night on 60 Minutes. Shulman was the first to use it, but it seems John Bresnahan's nightmare is coming to fruition.

*Eric Boehlert over at Media Matters writes about how Rush Limbaugh is trying to tear apart the Republican Party. He notes Garrett and others rushed to Limbaugh's defense last year during the "phony soldiers" controversy.

*The folks over at Inside Bergen profiled new Executive Director of the BCRO, Matt Mowers.

*Phillip Crabb was selected to replace Assemblyman Gary Chiusano on the Sussex County Board of Freeholders.

*The Record profiled Steve Lonegan's work against Corzine's toll plan, and spoke of his aspirations for Governor.

Here's a random thought: If Shulman were to win this year and Lonegan next year, those of us in the Fifth would likely be the first constituency in the nation to be represented by two legally blind individuals. It's an unlikely scenario, but interesting thought none the less.

I'm Back

So, now I'm home again. Here's what I missed:

Representative Scott Garrett took the opportunity to follow the news that the GDP grew at the slowest pace in five years to send out a Garrett Gazette saying how great things are with the economy thanks to the tax cuts. Not mentioned in the Gazette were the facts of the unfair competitive advantage the cuts provide foreign companies, or the fact that there is growing concern within economist circles that phantom GDP may be artificially inflating the strength of the economy. Also, Garrett neglected to mention his vote against 10 years of tax cuts for small business owners.

On a positive, it seems the hotly debated Homeland Security funding bill will have an amendment to allocate funds based on risk, a primary recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, and Garrett sponsored the amendment to get it in there.

Both Kevin O'Toole and Steve Oroho won their primaries. O'Toole's victory was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as Guy Talarico's time as Chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization. Oroho notched his second victory against Garrett's preferred candidate, and has built a strong coalition of moderates and classic conservatives that is reshaping the power balance in Sussex. Assuming O'Toole and Oroho both win, they have very big shoes to fill in the State Senate for their respective parties and constituents.

And on a final note, Garrett's press secretary Will Holley has been hired to handle media for Mitt Romney in South Carolina. One of the biggest gripes since I first started following Garrett was that you could almost never find quotes or statements or anything regarding his thinking when voting on our behalf. Basically, before Holley came on board Garrett's website was about as useless to constituents as ice cubes are to Eskimos. I'm not sure when Holley will be leaving Garrett's office, but Holley's work was light years beyond what we had before (even when he was spinning) and he will be missed.

Don't Throw Rodney Under the Bus

Here's a lesson for those who may seek a nomination for a State or County office: don't throw a sitting member of Congress from your own party under the bus.

I had great hope for Steve Oroho, a Sussex County Freeholder talking about being a "true conservative" and doing things differently in his campaign for the State Senate in the 24th District. In looking at what Representative Scott Garrett is doing in Congress and how Guy Talarico has hurt the Republican Party in Bergen County, the 24th District having the last remaining Mountain Man as their primary voice in Trenton could be a bad thing. I've written before about the need to work with the other party, and Guy Gregg's philosophy is not one of cooperation. Oroho seems to have a good team and a blend of moderate to conservative candidates on his ticket, with a realistic view of representation.

However, at the first sign of "trouble", the dual endorsement of Gregg by both Congressmen serving the Legislative District he hopes to represent, Oroho decided to descend quickly into the labeling and trashing of Representative Rodney Freylinghuysen. While attempting to discredit Gregg, who is as conservative as Garrett, Oroho attacked Rep. Freylinghuysen on his abortion and gun voting record. It was the classic ridiculousness of the "Republican in Name Only" (RINO) attack that's been going on for the better part of a decade now. However, because Freylinghuysen is who he is, GOP leaders are demanding an apology.

Morris GOP Chairman John Sette and Morris County Freeholder Director Margaret Nordstrom said Oroho "went too far" in criticizing Frelinghuysen after he and Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.) both endorsed Gregg this week.

"He owes Rodney an apology," said Nordstrom. "He should know there's a grown-up way to act if someone doesn't endorse you."

In my hope for a change in the direction politics has been going the last few years, it's an unfortunate development. With State Senator Lorretta Weinberg and her slate running against Papa Joe's machine in the southeast corner of the District, I was hopeful there would be a solid ticket of folks running in the northwestern part of the District against the overly caustic conservative cannibalism that's been going on the last few years.

With retiring State Senator Robert Littell as his guide, who has a distinguished career and record of serving his constituents while practicing bi-partisanship, Oroho could have worked to change the nature of the Republicans' race to the right and change the focus to results instead of rhetoric. However, it doesn't seem that's the case. Obviously, this isn't over yet, but as of now at least it seems to be more politics as usual.

Garrett drops us to bottom 5.5%

Saw this when I was scanning Blue Jersey, according to Congress.org the power ranking for our Fifth District is now 411 out of 435. I've used the phrase "minority of the minority" before when describing our District's position on the Hill, and this serves as reinforcement. When the Republicans were in the majority, Representative Scott Garrett was only able to get 1 of 41 bills he sponsored enacted. Due to his unabashed partisanship and sporting a voting record that's more conservative than 97% of the House, our District's position is likely to drop this year instead of climb.

The art of compromise is something that Garrett ran against from the very beginning, and is going to haunt our District the longer he is in office. Garrett is of the Tom Delay school of thought that compromise is a bad thing and that "Real Republicans" according to this mindset don't work with Democrats (sorry, 3% doesn't cut it). I've spoken before about how our former Representative Marge Roukema was targeted by these authoritarians and how Garrett was all too quick to answer their call for a challenger. This conservative cannibalism was also evidenced in primary challenges to Senator Arlen Specter and other good legislators who were targeted for no other reason than refusing to follow the hard right Republican leadership like lemmings at the expense of their constituents.

Closer to home, in New Jersey's 24th District, a battle for State Senate had been brewing between Garrett's friend and fellow "Mountain Man" Assemblyman Guy Gregg and New Jersey's longest serving legislator, retiring Senator Bob Littell. Voters in the 24th should think long and hard about Gregg's attacks that Littell wasn't a "Real Republican." As the State Senator's wife said to PoliticsNJ about her husband:

“He's a Republican,” Virginia Littell says proudly. “Sometimes you vote with the Democrats. Hello! You run in a Republican primary but when you go to the capital the people put you in the general election.”

"You get what you can get through the process of negotiations,” she said. “My husband is not a traitor; he's a trader, a horse trader."

In order to get things done for the District, you have to cut deals when you're in the majority and especially when you're in the minority. Gregg was using the same rhetorical attacks against Littell as Garrett used against Roukema (RINO, etc.). However, in this case, the game has changed. Littell has announced his retirement, and a fusion ticket has emerged in the 24th that seems to be principled, less divisive and more results oriented. Being effective leaders requires both principle and pragmatism. Garrett has plenty of principles he likes to talk about, but absolutely no pragmatism. Of all people, Richard Nixon probably has the best quote on this:

Idealism without pragmatism is impotent. Pragmatism without idealism is meaningless. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism.

My hope for the 24th, as with our Congressional District, is that Republican primary voters will see that the race to irrelevance being run by Representative Garrett serves neither our District nor will it serve the people of the 24th with Gregg.

Lincoln Day Dinner Season

So the annual Lincoln Day meal fundraiser season is upon county and local Republican organizations across the nation. For those who don't know, these are the annual dinners to celebrate the Republican party and tip their hat to the party's first President, Abraham Lincoln. It also serves as a chance for candidates or their surrogates to state their case for the nomination. In 2000, Gov. George Bush was coming to the Ottawa County Republican Organization's Lincoln Day dinner in Michigan.

I was asked to write the radio ad which was part of the marketing package being supervised by one of my professors. We framed the ad as hearing Bush's thoughts on the New Hampshire primary, had it read by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (who is as beloved in my old Michigan district as Marge Roukema was for us here), and I walked into a sold out event. My ads had nothing to do with the sell-out. Even though he had lost New Hampshire, Bush was still the odds on favorite for the nomination and people came from all over the state to see him speak at Grand Valley State. Part of the reason they got him was Ottawa County's massive Republican machine. If Bush was going to compete in the primary in Michigan, he had to carry Ottawa with big numbers.

Yesterday, Anthony Carbonetti showed up in Sussex County for their Lincoln Day Brunch to stump for Rudy Giuliani. The event was attended by Representative Garrett and most of the elected officials of Sussex. This was a bit of a coup for the Sussex crew in GOP positioning, however it makes sense as the New Jersey Herald quoted toward the end of the article about the event.

Sussex County Freeholder Director Susan Zellman said she is supporting Giuliani, and said the largely Republican county, in an otherwise Democratic state, had the potential to have a strong influence in the upcoming election.

"We certainly, as a county, need to be thinking about the next election," Zellman said. "We've certainly shown, in the past, that we have the ability to tip the scales in our favor, and we should do that."

That "in the past" part is talking about Garrett beating Gerald Cardinale in the primary to succeed Roukema. With all the news reports of the imminent demise of the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO), it should be interesting to see the caliber of speaker they get for their dinner. The organization still doesn't have someone listed on their website. It will be of more interest to see if Garrett actually shows up to the Bergen dinner.

I think the demise of the BCRO is greatly over reported, they're just going through a bad spot. Actually, with the Presidential primaries being moved up, it could be the shot in the arm the Republicans in Bergen need. Instead of using the county simply as an ATM, candidates may actually show up.

Jefferson-Jackson Day is the equivalent fundraising season for the Democratic Party. It should also be interesting to see who Papa Joe gets to come to Bergen.