Assembly GOP Road Show Urges Residents: Don’t Move!

Assembly GOP members and Bergen Republicans pose with a giant banner on Saturday.

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Assembly GOP members and Bergen Republicans pose with a giant banner on Saturday.
Assembly GOP members and Bergen Republicans pose with a giant banner on Saturday.

Some (okay… many) observers might say it’s going to be an uphill climb with the current legislative map, Save Jerseyans, and they’re not wrong, but I think Jon Bramnick deserves credit, at this stage, for trying to make the best of a tough situation.

He’s campaigning all over that map at a time when the state’s top Republican in spending more (and more) time out-of-state running for president. Is Bramnick, the Assembly’s Republican minority leader, flirting with a gubernatorial bid? Sure. But so long as he never loses sight of party-building, then there’s no downside that I can discern.

That campaign took Asm. Bramnick and the GOP Assembly caucus he leads into blue territory this weekend. He thinks the time is ripe for an aggressive approach. “The people of New Jersey want more jobs and less taxes,” said Bramnick, flanked by party stalwarts. “Assembly Republicans are the team that can deliver. Assembly Democrats have had over a decade to provide tax relief, but the opposite happened: taxes have gone up.” 

After a rally at Bergen Republican headquarters in Hackensack, where the party urged residents “don’t move” in favor of voting for Republican-oriented change, Asm. Bramnick and a full compliment of Assembly members headed over to West New York to visit local businesses with Hudson GOP Chairman Jose Arango before ending the day in Jersey City.

“In West New York we saw great community businesses that serve their close-knit neighborhood well. But we hear from them that things should be easier in New Jersey,” added the Assembly Minority Leader. “Making it easier for local small businesses to thrive is key to a stronger New Jersey.”

All 80 New Jersey Assembly seats are on the ballot in 2015. Bramnick’s mission, for which a major theme remains changing the state’s ugly tax climate theme, is complicated not just by the map but also by a hypothetical gas tax hike which the Governor is leaving on the table.

There isn’t a uniform approach at the moment (take Webber and O’Scanlon, for example).

High time to bust a move if we want to stop the moving vans, guys and gals. My advice to GOP campaigns in 2015? Run 100% hard against the gas tax, turn it into a referendum on Trenton, and put forth several fiscally responsible alternatives in plain English. This shot is better than no shot!

We’ll see what happens. Moving forward and beyond the instant battle, while a few of Bramnick’s caucus members are rumored to be interested in a statewide run in 2017, his most difficult opponent might be someone who wasn’t present at today’s events: Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno.

Bramnick (center) greets diner patrons.
Bramnick (center) greets diner patrons.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

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