By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Plenty of stomach-churning campaign finance-related allegations have been thrown around in Morris County this primary season centering, specifically, on the open Republican county freeholder and Parsippany municipal primary contests.
The problem, Save Jerseyans? As I’ve discussed with you before, the worst political allegations surround a D.C.-based Democrat Super PAC, NJ’s Future First, one that isn’t subject to the same disclosure regulations as most political campaign finance entities in New Jersey, making it nearly impossible to verify anything.
The lack of disclosure is also entirely legal. In fact, Jeff Brindle, head of non-partisan New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), recently penned a uniquely-specific and strong article singling out the Parsippany situation as emblematic of the need for new, further-reaching disclosure requirements.
What’s verified? Democrats are interfering in Morris County this year with BIG money. To what end and with whose knowledge remain questions that are open to speculation.
I invite you to dig deep and ask those questions. The latest example: a new May 4th filing with ELEC shows a different political entity, “Forward Central Jersey,” donating $8,400 to the Republican campaign of Cesaro, Myers and Tedesco for Freeholder ahead of this June’s primary contest.
What’s Forward Central Jersey?
Get this: it’s a Jersey Shore-based PAC spearheaded by Jonathan Salonis and his mother, Danielle Salonis, a Democrat County committeewoman in Ocean County, “to advance candidates and organizations who want to move NJ forward.” Sounds good! But who are these folks? Salonis, as some of you in the Monmouth County area may already be aware, is a Democrat operative with reported close ties to Monmouth Democrat Chairman Vin Gopal and who is the force behind Jersey Shore Insider, a new state-based website that, as our friend Art Gallagher at MoreMonmouthMusingsg argues here, is attempting to level the playing field for Democrats in the Central Jersey new media arena by going hard after Republican candidates and elected officials.
This sudden spurt of Democrat-linked PAC activity in Chris Christie’s home county isn’t contained to only the two aforementioned examples. Freeholders John Krickus and Dave Scapicchio and their 2015 running mate, Denville Councilwoman Deborah Smith, the opposing slate to Freeholder Cesaro’s team, recently pointed out in a press release how powerful Essex County Democrat and Fairview Insurance executive Ryan Graham has donated in the past to Freeholder John Cesaro and Cesaro’s Republican running mate, Angelo Tedesco.
Again, what interest Democrats have in Morris County Republican primaries (in a county where they’ve got no chance at a general election win) is a question primary voters need to ask. It’s troubling to say the least.
Freeholder Krickus suspects the NJ’s Future First Super PAC is part of a larger power-play by Democrat forces to make in-roads in a GOP power base, particularly given that entity’s Essex Democrat link.
“The main thing that concerns us is Essex Democrats coming into Morris County to influence our elections,” explained Freeholder Krickus in a recent telephone interview with Save Jersey. “They already took over the Bergen County Executive position and the freeholder board, too. Now that [the Democrats] have five towns in the 27th district, they’re looking at [Morris County] as a next target of opportunity.”
Draw your own conclusions about all of this, Save Jerseyans. In the interim, we’ll continue to try to connect the dots…
_____
Dull unless adultery is involved.
Provable point re: Jersey Shore Insider being highly biased towards Democrats while loving to take out Republicans. A few months ago they took on a Republican chair and his wife over what they deemed racist remarks. YET, WHEN I FED The Jersey Shore Insider a very similar story about provably false racist charges and slander by Democrats in the context of a Neptune Board Of Education campaign, they refused to cover it. The person that made the charges was a Democrat appointed to the Neptune Planning Board BY a Democrat and the person that shared it was a Democrat on the Neptune School Board. Hypocrisy anyone??? “Buyer Beware” as to anything JSI and Salonis does.