---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bob Taschler <bobtaschler@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 3, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Subject: BCRO - The value of lawn signs - Importance of vetting candidates - After the primary
To:

Dear friends, fellow Republicans, County Committee Members, Elected Officials and Candidates:

The Value of Lawn Signs

I have long held that lawn signs placed along public rights of way are of little value. After all, have you ever voted for anyone just because you saw 100 of their lawn signs along a highway? No? Well neither has anyone else. Yet I may have discovered some value for them after all.

I received several calls from friends telling me that they had seen George Song lawn signs along Route 17 this weekend. Today I am hearing that George Song's lawn signs have been torn down, trampled or blocked by Mary Guinchard's lawn signs.

So the value of lawn signs is what the candidate's opponent does to them as an indication of the opponent's character.

I fully expect Mary Guinchard will claim to know nothing about this and hope that we will all blame Josh Gittheimer for this dirty deed.

Isn't politics pretty, ... I mean petty?
Importance of Vetting Candidates

I must admit that I tend to take most Republican candidates at face value assuming that they are who they say they are. Unfortunately, as the song goes ... Smiling faces, smiling faces, sometimes they don't tell the truth.

For the past several years I kept hearing that Mary Guinchard was the mayor of Tuxedo. Tuxedo is a town in NY state with a population of about 3,800 similar in size to Haworth or Ho-Ho-Kus. and she has often touted her extensive experience of working on several boards in town.

Well I did a little digging and it turns out that in 2015 Mary became the mayor of Tuxedo Park, a small village of a few hundred within the town of Tuxedo which has 7 other villages. Essentially similar to being the president of an HOA. She served just one term and then was thrown out by the people who knew her best when she received just 182 votes in 2017.
As for all of the experience on all of the boards she says that she served on, well, perhaps it was more like Mr. Hainey on Green Acres.   As they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle, or in this case all cowgirl boots.

Should she prevail in the primary it will because Zisa handed her "the line" and I predict that Josh Gottheimer will wipe the floor with her in November and likely use her to crush a number of local candidates running with her on the ballot. You all know my track record for being accurate and I have no fear of being wrong on this point.

After the Primary

Well, first there will be a flurry of reorg meetings for municipal organizations, many of which have been split by Zisa's divisive action of throwing so many people off of the line for county committee and local council seats. Those bruised egos will remain behind long after Zisa leaves for Florida with all of the proceeds from selling insurance to towns run by democrats  It is the smart play after all as state income taxes do not exist in Florida. The power brokers who own the democrats are quite pleased I am sure.

Then there will be a "reorg" of the BCRO a few weeks later where Jack DeLorenzo of Hasbrouck Heights gets to inherit Zisa's legacy of complete and utter failure.  Jack D is ascending to the throne unopposed so it will be more of a coronation than a reorg, especially since most of Zisa's board will remain. Unfortunately for Jack D the throne will have little power without the line which will disappear next year and the current board members who have done little to win elections over the past 8 years will likely continue to contribute nothing to future success. I guess for them it is all about having a title no matter how meaningless that title is.

Jack D. will call for unity or course but I doubt that will happen anytime soon, at least not until half of those bruised egos retire out of the area or die. Many candidates will go on vacation for the summer and begin campaigning after Labor Day as they have done on the past which is way too late given how well organized the democrats are with VBM efforts. They outpace us at least by 3 to 1.

Our only hope will be to learn how to recruit more voters to the Republican Party. Instead of turning to poli-sci majors and

lawyers with lackluster careers, perhaps we should be hiring people with sales, marketing and advertising experience who know how to communicate and persuade voters. Instead of learning how to make excuses for past failures candidates should be training with speech coaches and join Toastmasters to learn how to make an effective stump speech.

Message Matters and we better begin to get it right. Most candidates keep trying to tap the dwindling supply of existing Republicans in New Jersey but there have been two people this cycle who have demonstrated an ability to recruit voters to our side: George Song and Albert Harshaw. George has been effective at recruiting democrats in Bergen County from the Asian community and by reaching out to Jewish democrats. Albert has been effective at recruiting democrats from the Jewish community, veterans groups and reaching out to the NAACP through Baptist and AME churches. Sadly, the Republican power brokers have ignored them so they are starved for operational funds. If leadership does not change we will continue to fail.
I am always open to hearing from anyone with a differing opinion so long as they can back them up with facts.

Best,

Bob T.