---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bob Taschler <bobtaschler@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 2, 2024 at 9:18 AM
Subject: BCRO - 72 hours GOTV - CD5 Mendacity - US Senate - CD9
To:
Dear friends, fellow Republicans, County Committee Members, Elected Officials and Candidates:
Well, well, well, we are now getting down to the wire for the 2024 Primary on June 4th yet I have seen very little activity from candidates of either party. Just a few mailers and a few video clips on cable on the recent week or two. Most campaign efforts are uninformative, offer few reasons to go to the polls and are therefore ineffective. I know this because I ask people I meet in my daily life. Store clerks, wait staff and patrons at diners and bars, parents at kids sporting events, and people I meet at social events. The only race they have any knowledge of is Trump - Biden. The only issues that virtually everyone speaks about is inflation and war. Not one person mentioned abortion or DEI.
So here are some thoughts.
72 Hour GOTV
What has been organized by our esteemed Republican leadership? Once again, it seems like every candidate is left to his or her own devices. After our fearless leader deliberately pushed hundreds of faithful Republicans off of the line in the largest F.U temper tantrum, not one ounce of effort is being expended to promote the Republican party. I hope the democrats made it worth their while.
CD5 Mendacity
It seems that Maga Mary has gotten rather desperate. She has claimed endorsements that were never given and has pissed off many people with those antics. Many now regret having voted for her in the convention to get "the line". She has posted misleading endorsements on social media and had to later remove them when challenged.
At an America First meeting in Sussex County that I attended she claimed that George Song had promised to drop out if she won the Bergen County convention. That was completely false. George Song made no such promise. In fact Zisa had specifically stated that he was not asking that question of the congressional candidates because the district covers three counties and would make no sense. I also confirmed this with George Song himself.
She tries to impress everyone that she has the Sussex slogan and the support of the county chair. I understand that what she did was hire the wife of the county chair to work on her campaign. Not sure that the chair's wife even has any real political campaign experience. So I guess you could say that she may have gotten the chair's support the old fashioned way.
At a Fort Lee committee meeting where Maga Mary was the featured speaker she drew only 8 people and that included me and her husband. There she claimed that she would raise $1.2 million but when directly asked how much she has already raised would not state an amount claiming that she did not know. Turns out that she had only raised $101 in the first quarter of 2024 from a donor. The rest of the money that appeared on her report was a loan that she gave to herself and a few thousand from a PAC in a prior year, basically moving money from her left pocket to her right pocket and claiming that it was raised. Bottom line is that she is not attracting donors. I have also heard that her political advisor insisted on being paid up front given her inability to attract donors..
By contrast, a month later, George Song was the featured speaker at the same Fort Lee meeting and he drew over 60 people with over 50 new faces. That is because while Maga Mary was busy seeking photo ops George Song was busy recruiting voters to the party; nearly 1,000 new Republican voters. Many of whom had been democrats. The fact is Maga Mary brings nothing to the party and has no coat-tails to help local candidates.
Maga Mary, aka "Boots", will recite a list of her activities whereas George Song lists his accomplishments.
Maga Mary will tell you that many of her relatives have worn a uniform.
- George Song actually wears a volunteer fireman's uniform and an auxiliary and special law enforcement officer's uniform.
Maga Mary will tell you how her family had a fish business in Texas where she may have violated child labor laws.
- George Song actually runs an insurance and financial services business in New Jersey
Maga Mary will tell you how many endorsements she has, whether they are real or not.
- George Song recruits new Republicans simply by asking people "Why are you a democrat?"
Turns out that most do not know why and George signs them up by telling them why he is a Republican.
Hmmm ... can Maga Mary even define what being a Republican means?
Maga Mary posted a photo of herself standing in a marbled rotunda on social media which stated that she was a Work Horse, not a Show Horse. But I find the opposite to be true. For instance she was an invited speaker at a Women for Common Sense luncheon that I attended where Bill Spadea was the featured speaker. Maga Mary opened the event by singing a slightly off key rendition of a patriotic song and then proceeded to tell us about her stage career and tried to impress everyone by dropping the names of famous actors and actresses with whom she has she worked. She also explains that she wears cowgirl boots because she is from Texas where she worked as a child in her family's fish business. How any of this qualifies her to be a candidate for congress I'll never understand. The rest of the afternoon she chased Bill Spadea around the room to get as many photo ops with him as possible as well as with as many of the attendees.
The luncheon organizers saw George Song sitting at Bill Spadea's table where I was seated and asked him to be the closing speaker. George obliged and spoke of the issues of the day as well as his recruitment efforts for new voters. When the crowd heard what George had accomplished he received a very happy round of applause.
I read campaign literature and listen to campaign stump speeches very, very carefully as I am workong on a dissertation for my MS in Psephology at the University of Difficile Pulsaverit. At no time have I read or heard even one creative solution, one original idea, or any explanation of how Maga Mary plans to beat Greedy Gottheimer. Instead of being a candidate, she is an actress playing the role of a candidate. She ran a weak campaign last year for County Commissioner and lost by 17,000 votes. If nominated to run for CD5, I can assure you that Zisa's losing record will remain unbroken.
At least with George Song you know that Greedy Gottheimer will go home with a bruised ego and George will actually help more than a few local candidates win their seats.
* * *
U.S. Senate race.
So we have 4 candidates to choose from. Curtis Bashaw and Christine Glassner are the picks of the county chairs and power brokers with Albert Harshaw and Justin Murphy as the relative newcomers and unknowns. Bashshaw is backed by long time friend and conservative NJ Senator, Michael Testa, but has never held public office whereas Glassner who is endorsed by Pres. Donald Trump is the Mayor of Mendham. Bashaw and Glassner can both deliver a polite stump speech ticking off the list of talking points but seem to have trouble generating any real excitement. They seem to spend their time buying tables at Republican club events and bashing each other claiming that the other is a RINO and they are the genuine Republican who can get elected. Neither seems to have mentioned much about Gold Bar Bob or the likely candidate, Andy Kim.
What strikes me is the lack of energy or detail in their campaigns. When they do show up in Bergen they draw about 20 to 30 people, mostly dedicated Republicans of the county committee or local Republican club. I am not seeing them draw in new voters the way George Song has been drawing in new voters. Bashaw's website speaks about his past business success and his summer employment as a teenage bell hop. Glassner's website was mostly empty until she plagiarized J.D. Vance's website word for word, got caught, then took most of it down. Both Curtis and Christine are nice people who would make nice neighbors but neither seem to be making the moves that would spark any excitement with the voters. But they were the ones who received the nod from county chairs and have the line so it is expected that they will receive the bulk of the down ballot votes as their names appear under Trump's name on the ballot.
That leaves Albert Harshaw and Justin Murphy. Both are veterans who served our country in uniform. That once mattered to voters. but seems to get overlooked these days. Too many voters think they know what the price of war is because they watched Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down or The Hurt Locker. Too many think that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer and a time to stuff their faces with hot dogs and hamburgers and too many politicians ignore the homeless veterans who are struggling with demons, living with addictions, and living in squalor.
I do not recall seeing or hearing that Justin Murphy has even visited Bergen County much less campaigned here. He posts a website that has a lot of boilerplate text about his positions that makes even my eyes tear up and hard to focus. So it seems that he is not running for office but more like standing or sitting for office.
Albert Harshaw is quite different. While his public speaking skills need to be improved (he speaks too quickly and too energetically at times) his message does have meaningful content. He speaks as if he has actually read the U.S. Constitution and understands it which is a rarity among many candidates these days. Instead of spending his time at Republican fundraisers kissing the posteriors of the political bosses he has been out at bowling alleys, barbershops, diners, and bars meeting the public where they live and not just in safe Republican neighborhoods. As far as I can tell, Albert Harshaw is the only Republican candidate for U.S. Senate to have appeared with leftist democratic candidates Andy Kim, Larry Hamm, and Patricia Campos-Medina at NAACP forums held at Baptist and AME churches in Elizabeth and Newark which earns him respect from many members of the black community.
Also, his communications do not focus on his Republican rivals but rather on the principles of governance and the failings of the democrats. He clearly reads legislation and has even submitted proposed legislation to Chuck Schumer and Ted Cruz which has received positive attention. Also, he has filed suit in New Jersey to challenge that peculiar institution of "the line" alleging that many of the county clerks are violating NJ Title 19:23-23 which states:
There shall be separate ballots for each political party. Such ballots shall be alike in form for all political parties.
Many county clerks, including Bergen County John Hogan, chose to use "the line" system for the Republican party and "the open primary format" for the democratic party. All Harshaw is asking is that the clerks follow the law as it is written.
I am attaching two of his press releases that you may find worthwhile to read. This is offered not with the expectation that Albert will secure the nomination which would be a heavy lift given the actions of the political bosses of the Republican party, but rather as a lesson to candidates and those political bosses on how to run for office after our party loses yet again in November.
CD9
I fully expect to see Billy Prempeh win the Republican nomination for CD9. Billy has grown his skills as a candidate and communicator over the past two cycles and this is reflected in his performance. He has boundless energy and has a talent for connecting with people from all walks of life. He continues to close the gap in spite of the power of incumbency of his democratic opponent. In 2020 Billy, a complete unknown with no money, lost to Pascrell by over 100,000 votes. In 2022 Billy lost by just over 17,000 votes. Pascrell should heed the words of Satchel Paige. "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
My bigger concern in CD9 is the rise of candidate Mohamed Khairullah, the mayor of Prospect Park who is challenging Pascrell for the democratic party's nomination. Their main point of contention is over support for Israel's right to exist or for Palestinian's right to eradicate Jews from the "River to the Sea".
Khairullah was disinvited from a 2023 Biden White House Eid al-Fitr celebration because the Secret Service denied him security clearance. Khairullah was placed on the federal terrorism watchlist in 2019. So instead of worrying about the people living in the USA, he seems to be more focused on the people a half a world away. If you drive through Paterson today, you will likely see more flags of Palestine than our own red white and blue. The result of Biden's open borders.
As always, your mileage may vary. I am always open to hearing from those who feel I may have gotten my facts wrong. All I know is that the Republican party in New Jersey has been on a consistent losing streak for the last 10 years and the reason has been poor leadership, not just in Bergen County, but across most of the state. If we do not change the recipe or our technique we will fall flat come November.
Best,
Bob T.