Tomorrow Is Election Day. Don’t Forget To Vote!

All the real action in this year’s GOP primary election is in the gubernatorial race. I’ve written that “I have no dog in this year’s GOP gubernatorial primary fight. I signed on with Doug Steinhardt, and we all know what happened with that.” It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me because it has given me the opportunity to say and write what I want, when I want about all the others in the race.

Every word I’ve written has been true, backed up with actual facts including articles and social media posts.

Still some campaigns – okay, really just one – has called us liars for using actual quotes from their preferred candidate.

Because the Republican primary election has turned out to be more exciting than many expected, following is an examination of the field of candidates:

BRIAN LEVINE

I have to be honest, I kind of feel sorry for Brian Levine. Levine is one of the nicest people you could meet in the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey politics, and he’s smart, too. He’s a former mayor and Somerset County Freeholder and way more qualified than former beauty pageant winner Hirsh Singh or Phil Rizzo. His campaign simply never caught on. If this guy had been in the only gubernatorial debate, some news other than Singh’s campaign manager, King Penna, being a jerkoff might have been reported. I’ve seen him referred to on social media as “a guy no one ever heard of” which pretty much sums up Levine’s campaign.

PHIL RIZZO

I don’t know much about Phil Rizzo, but that’s his fault, not mine. I’m the Republican municipal committee chairman in Greenwich Township (the Gloucester County Greenwich). The Rizzo campaign never reached out. That’s politics 101, call the county chairs then call the elected officials in the county, then call the municipal chairs. Even Singh knew enough to reach out.

Sure I’ve written about Rizzo’s past anti-Catholic remarks, bed bugs at one of the family business’s apartment complexes and my hypothesis that Rizzo “probably had something to do with the church’s decision to buy the house he lives in.” Less than two weeks later Rizzo admitted he was part of the decision to my friend Matt Rooney over at Save Jersey on his SaveJersey Live with Dan Cirucci.

My bottom line on Rizzo is he is Hirsh Singh 2.0. He’s a guy who jumped on the Trump train and thinks that is enough to be an elected official.

HIRSH SINGH

Contrary to popular opinion I do not hate former beauty pageant winner Hirsh Singh. I offered him advice shortly after he announced he was running for US Senate, before I met another whack job who ran in that race that I’m going to have to sue to get paid for the work I did for her. Outstanding debt that she still doesn’t list on her campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission, a violation of law.

Anyway, back to Singh. He chose to ignore the free advice he was given and chose to continue to be a lying douchebag..

When one first meets Singh, they walk away liking him. That’s the thing with con artists, they’re likable. People liked Jim Jones after meeting him, too, then they joined the Peoples Temple, moved to Jonestown, drank a grape flavored drink and died. I’m hopeful the Singh followers are a little smarter than the Jones followers.

I’ve written about Singh more times than I care to count. His lies have been well-documented on the pages of this blog.

Singh gives only one reason to vote for him this year – that he is pro-Trump. Frankly, I believe his pro-Trump stance is one of convenience. If one goes to his campaign Facebook page, clicks on filters, goes to the year 2017 and scrolls through one will notice that Singh does NOT mention President Donald Trump one time during his first gubernatorial campaign, nor during the entire calendar year. Singh’s first mention of Trump on this page is on February 26, 2018, after he decided to run for Congress, or was it Senate, before he made a deal with the same establishment Republicans he now claims to be against.

Singh thinks we should simply believe that he’s always been pro-Trump. Unfortunately, his cult-like followers believe anything he says.

Even money! Singh still sells the story that he uses his own money. His cult believes him.

It doesn’t matter that in 2017 his money came from a loan from his daddy:

Singh’s supporters still believe he has his own money.

It doesn’t matter that his 2018 financial disclosure filed with the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives showed that Singh’s net worth was between $50,000 - $100,000 and that he owned no assets.

Again, Singh’s supporters still believe he has his own money.

Now, in 2021, despite the fact he has no assets and lives in mommy and daddy’s basement, Singh says on his campaign finance report that he loaned his campaign $418,000.

Where did the money come from? Did he hit the lottery in the past three years? Did he win it gambling?

Singh did brag on his personal financial disclosure in 2018 that he won money at roulette:

It’s possible Singh won $418,000. He does have a history of gambling, his 2018 roulette win wasn’t his first time gambling. He once bragged about winning $1,320 while at a roulette table with Michael Phelps:

And, Singh once won about $1,000 at the Revel:

Singh obviously enjoys gambling! Though I seriously doubt he won $418,000. So, off to the ELEC website I went and I checked Singh’s Personal Financial Disclosure Statement he filed with New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Singh’s only source(s) of income are his “job” at his parents’ company where he gets a salary and bonus – probably not $418,000.

Again, where does the money come from. I scrolled through the Personal Financial Disclosure Statement and discovered Singh did report receiving gifts in excess of $250 from mommy and daddy:

I could be wrong, but the odds of that are slim, so I am guessing a couple of things here, (1) that Singh was not given a pay raise or a bonus big enough to be able to afford to loan his campaign $418,000 and (2) those gifts in excess of $250 from mommy and daddy are how Singh can afford to loan himself $418,000.

Think about the money Singh has spent on running for governor twice. $1,368,000!

If Singh were not running for governor, or senate or congress or whatever, he would be at work. Instead, his parents have given him the money not to go to work at the family business.

In other words, Singh’s mommy and daddy have given him $1,368,000 to stay out of the family business.

How big of a screw up does the kid have to be for his parents to pay him over a million dollars to stay away from the family business?

That’s just one more reason not to vote for Singh for governor.

JACK CIATTARELLI

I met Jack Ciattarelli a long time ago, I liked him then and I like him now. He’s a likable guy.

Being likable doesn’t automatically mean I’m voting for someone. I explained at the beginning of this post that I was with Doug Steinhardt at the start of this gubernatorial campaign cycle.

As to Ciattarelli, like Singh, he ran for governor in 2017. Unlike Singh, I supported Ciattarelli in 2017.

Ciattarelli is ready to serve. He will hit the ground running and not require any on the job training. Ciattarelli is a former freeholder, former Assemblyman, right of center, definitely conservative on the fiscal side, owned two successful businesses he started himself, acceptable alternative to Phil Murphy for soft Democrats, easy choice for “independents” and should have been the nominee in 2017.

Ciattarelli has been working for the last four years supporting candidates up and down the ballot. He has provided both sweat and treasure to candidates and republican organizations across this state. I witnessed it first-hand, if you look at last year’s Republican nominee in CD1 (and next year’s likely nominee), Claire Gustafson’s, FEC reports you’ll see Ciattarelli was the ONLY New Jersey politician to be a major donor to her campaign when others were afraid of their names showing up on a report because they fear the dreaded Norcross machine. Ciattarelli is not afraid!

Ciattarelli has built a ton of good will among the rank-and-file showing up at almost every fundraiser held by county and municipal organizations over the last several years.

Ciattarelli has worked to build up the down ballot candidates. He’s been working to build a winning team. With Ciattarelli at the top of the ticket we have a chance at seeing some upset victories in Assembly and state Senate races.

And, for those supporting Singh because he is not the “establishment,” remember this, four years ago the “establishment” wanted nothing to do with Ciattarelli, they backed former Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno. More recently, in 2018, the “establishment” backed Singh for Congress, it was the “establishment” that got Singh out of the US Senate race and moved him to the congressional race. Singh was for the “establishment” before he was against it.

So, tomorrow when you head out to vote, forget all the lies from the Singh campaign and remember Ciattarelli has actually put in the work and earned our votes.