Why It Is Important to Elect Rush Holt to the United States
Senate from New Jersey
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 is primary
day for a special election to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate
caused by the death of Frank Lautenberg.
There are six candidates: two Republicans and four Democrats. Steve Lonegan, the
former Mayor of Bogota will certainly be the winner of the Republican
primary. He is a right wing ideologue.
The four Democrats in the primary
are: 12th District Congressman
Rush Holt, 6th District Congressman Frank Pallone, Newark Mayor Cory
Booker and New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver.
Rush Holt is a teacher and
physicist.
Frank Pallone and Cory Booker are lawyers.
Frank
Pallone and Sheila Oliver have been that New Jersey political animal, the
Double Dipper. Pallone served on the
Long Branch City Council and in the New Jersey State Senate simultaneously, a prima facie conflict of interest. Sheila Oliver served as an elected member of
a school board and as a county freeholder at the same time. Frank Pallone has
one other distinction; he supported the state constitutional amendment to take
the right to fill vacancies in the legislature away from the voters and give an
appointed power to the political party committee of the person who held the
office. Why did the voters approve this
amendment? Because the Explanatory
Statement on the ballot lied, it said the amendment “requires the county
committee to appoint within 30 days,” as if the then current law allowed them
to delay, without ever telling the voters they were giving the power to the
political committee for the first time.
Pallone and Oliver are just Democratic Party hacks.
Both Oliver and Booker have cozied up to Governor Chris Christie: Oliver supported
Christie’s public pension overhaul, while Booker plays patsy with charter
schools and accepted money from Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg to provide cover just before the release
of the movie The Social Network that
intimates that Zuckerberg stole the idea from the Winklevoss brothers.
That’s the way it’s done. When
you do something unethical, you make a large charitable donation with the ill-gotten
gains as a publicity stunt to deflect people’s attention away from your
misdemeanors. Booker is a willing
accomplice, as long as there’s big money and publicity. It used to be said that the most dangerous
place in America was between Jesse Jackson and a camera. The same can be said about Cory Booker,
except in addition that personal advancement is his only fixed policy position.
Cory Booker, the leader in the race, is more of an
entertainer than a governor. Like Fiorello LaGuardia, he goes to the fires; but on policy
matters, he is moderate to conservative playing to the billionaires.
It is not the defects of
Pallone, Booker and Oliver that make the case for Holt.
There is a large constituency in
the United States and elsewhere itching for a war with Iran. The causus bellum will
be Iran’s nuclear program. There are
only two physicists in the United States Congress: George William “Bill” Foster
and Rush Holt. Foster represents an
Illinois’ 11th District in the House of Representatives. We need a physicist in the Senate so that the
nation can’t be bounced into a war with Iran on phony intelligence. Nuclear science is complex and difficult. Someone who really understands the issue
needs to be a member of the Senate, the body charged with providing advice and
consent to the President on foreign policy.
If truth is the first
casualty of war, then the way to preserve peace is to have public officials
willing to speak and stand-up for the truth whether it is popular or not. Rush Holt has the strength of character and
the knowledge about nuclear science to prevent the country from being tricked
into an unnecessary war, like the invasion of Iraq. Cory Booker, as the past has shown, will
support any position that advances his personal career. He is a complete
narcissist, still unmarried at the age of forty-four.
It is also important to
remember that Chris Christie called the Special Election to create maximum
chaos in the political system, and to depress turnout. Two-thirds of New Jersey was personally
affected by hurricane Sandy. In
February, New Jersey had the coldest week in seven years. This summer is one of record rains and heat. Is the state really able to afford the $24
million to make voters traipse to the voting booth and cast ballots four times in
five months: Primary election June 4; Special Election primary August 13;
Special election October 16; and the regular General Election, November 5,
2013.
Asking people to vote twice
in less than three weeks, once for United States Senate, and next for Governor
and the legislature is really an affront.
It shows the contempt of the governor for the time and effort of the
people. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013 is an
important day in New Jersey. VOTE RUSH HOLT FOR UNITED STATES SENATE IN THE
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY. Unaffiliated voters
can register and vote as Democrats on primary day. I know it is distasteful, but do it in the
cause of peace.