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.

Good Night, Sleep Tight In Your Parsonage Where The Bed Bugs Can’t Bite

Phil Rizzo (source: City Baptist Church website)

Ever since the news broke that Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Rizzo lives tax free in a mansion worth $1.84 million and once listed for $2.65 million people have been talking – and writing – about it.

Most recently Fred Snowflack over at InsiderNJ wrote a piece about Rizzo, and the issue of the mansion came up. Snowflack wrote, in part:

Ciattarelli took notice of Rizzo last week with a campaign mailer that essentially called him a tax cheat.

The house in question is in the New Vernon section of upscale Harding Township in Morris County.

“The church didn’t buy me a house,” said Rizzo, who is married with four children. “Like any job, there’s compensation.”

He said he bought the house originally and improved it. Then the church, the City Baptist Church of North Bergen and Hoboken, took it over. He said it’s standard practice for a church to own the pastor’s home.

He said that’s because pastoring a church is a 24-hour a day vocation and that congregants often need assistance at all hours.

“Jack and Hirsh hitting me on that is just political mudslinging,” he said.

A church providing a pastor, priest or any clergy for that matter is indeed a common practice, it’s called a parsonage.

Because providing a member of the clergy is common practice, I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide if City Baptist Church buying Rizzo’s house is a tax dodge.

Now I will say a parsonage is almost always close to the church. Because Rizzo’s church is a Baptist church, I searched for parsonage standards for Baptist churches. I could find none.

Fortunately, the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church has “parsonage family housing standards” which include:

1. comfortable and conducive to a happy family life;

2. safe for those in residence and those visiting the parsonage;

3. conserves energy and is economical to operate; and

4. located in the church’s neighborhood or next closest neighborhood to the church which is suitable for safe family living and far enough from the church to insure the privacy of the parsonage family..

Harding Township in Morris County isn’t even close to Rizzo’s church’s neighborhood and I highly doubt it is the “next closest neighborhood to the church which is suitable for safe family living.” Weehawken is nice and right next to Hoboken.

Additionally, the Clergy Housing Handbook Parsonages, published by The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women of the United Methodist Church, clearly states that a historically perceived advantage of a parsonage is, “Close proximity to the workplace, allowing for family time and an economical lunch at home as well as a short, efficient walk to work rather than a time-consuming commute…”

Once again, Harding Township in Morris County isn’t even close to Rizzo’s church. I’m fairly certain that Harding Township to Hoboken would be a less than efficient walk to work.

Rizzo told Snowflack that the church didn’t buy him a house.

Then who bought it?

Looking at the City Baptist Church website there are only two people listed under “our staff,” Rizzo and the church’s treasurer.

This is just a guess, but it would make sense that if there are only two people making the decisions of the church, and Rizzo is one of those two people, he probably had something to do with the church’s decision to buy the house he lives in.

In a Politico article Rizzo is quoted:

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Rizzo said that when he “decided to walk away” from his business of building and renovating homes, his church was not able to provide a salary.

“Instead, the church decided to purchase my home as an asset and allow my family and I to continue living there,” he said. “In addition, the home provided peaceful and beautiful acreage in Harding, out of the city, where we could bring our church and community for family dinners, picnics, games, Bible studies, and kids events. You can fault me for many things — just ask my kids! But I don’t believe this is one of them.”

The Politico story went on to explain, “Rizzo’s campaign declined to answer follow-up questions about how the church was able to raise the money to purchase his home, why it paid him more for the house than he paid for it, whether he or the church paid for the renovations and examples of recent church events he held at the home.”

All good questions! But what jumped out at me was the fact that Rizzo said he “decided to walk away” from his business and his church was unable to provide a salary.

So, off to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) website I went to take a look at Rizzo’s Personal Financial Disclosure Statement.

Well, I guess Rizzo’s church is doing a little better now because he now says he earns income from the church and from Edgewater Associates:

I found it a little odd that the church has a New Vernon mailing address when according to City Baptist Church’s website the mailing address is a Hoboken PO box. But I really didn’t care enough to figure out why because I was wondering who or what Edgewater Associates is. I learned Edgewater Associates “also operates under the name Rizzo Associates.”

“This organization primarily operates in the Sub-lessors of Real Estate business / industry within the Real Estate sector.” So, basically Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates rents out apartments.

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper for Rizzo’s church to rent him an apartment as a parsonage?

My guess is it would be a hell of a lot cheaper that $1.65 million to rent from Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates.

So why not have the church rent a parsonage and save a ton of cash?

It could be because renting an apartment managed by Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates is less than a pleasant experience. Rizzo probably didn’t want to move into a crappy Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates apartment.

The best Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates apartment I could find were the Carlton Village Apartments in Hamburg, NJ. The reviews on Apartments.com included things like, “moving into a handyman special” and “hole in roof and ceiling for almost for almost a year.” And. I sorted the reviews from high-to-low, I didn’t even bother trying low-to-high.

Like I said, those are the best Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates I could find! Perhaps the real reason Rizzo wouldn’t have his church save a bunch of cash and rent a parsonage from folks he knows is that he is afraid of bedbugs.

That’s right. Bedbugs! According to the Trentonian:

Caroline Harmon had a freakish routine. Every night, when her neighbors were sound asleep, she’d rise, retrieve a broom from her cockroach-infested kitchen and sweep the bedbugs out of her bedroom mattress inside her apartment.

Harmon, a 90-year-old woman who has arthritis in her hands and knees and a curved spine, needs a walker to get along. She can’t work, requires government assistance to pay her rent and couldn’t deal with the problem on her own. She relied on others to help her.

But for the last decade, she has been forced to live in a bed bug-infested apartment while state officials and her landlord turned a blind eye to the problem, her attorney said.

Apparently, nobody wanted to talk about living in an Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates apartment. The article went on:

Hunter Hills Apartment owner Nicholas Rizzo didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Despite the horrendous conditions, Harmon paid her rent on time for the last 10 years.

The owner at the Hunter Hills Apartments, in the past a rich target for torrential crime complaints, has known about an infestation since at least 2010, according to court records. Rather than immediately getting it professionally treated, Rizzo had apartment management spray Raid in a cost-cutting effort.

Brilliant! They sprayed Raid.

It appears crime was a problem too. According to the Trentonian article:

In Flemington, New Jersey, a borough in Hunterdon County with roughly 4,600 residents, Rizzo has faced stiff opposition from leaders over concerns of mismanagement at the Hunter Hills Apartments. He’s been pelted over the years by complains of excessive crime and overcrowding. At one point, the complex accounted for more than half the borough’s reported property offenses.

Fed up with the problems, borough officials contemplated forced redevelopment of the 180-unit complex, according to news reports. That was halted when Rizzo agreed to work with the borough to address the issues. Officials told The Trentonian that while they’ve seen a reduction in the number of calls to police from residents, crime remains a problem at the complex.

Remember according to Rizzo’s own Personal Financial Disclosure Statement, he earns income from Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates – heartless people who collected rent from a 90-year-old woman infested with roaches and bedbugs in a crime-ridden apartment complex, did nothing to fix the problem and then tried to evict her.

At least now I know why Rizzo’s City Baptist Church didn’t save money by renting a parsonage from Edgewater Associates/Rizzo Associates.

My Dad Would Beat Singh Or Rizzo In A Primary

Nick Kush

I haven’t blogged in what seems like forever, mostly because South Jersey politics have been pretty boring. Fortunately, the GOP gubernatorial primary has provided a little action lately, so finally, something to write about.

Watching the guy who appears to not like Catholics very much, Phil Rizzo and former beauty pageant winner Hirsh Singh fight on social media over who is more of a MAGA candidate is entertaining.

Of course, had I known that being the most pro-Trump candidate is what makes one a quality gubernatorial candidate I would have run my dad, Nick Kush, for governor. Unlike Singh and Rizzo, my dad has won a competitive GOP primary as the top vote-getter in the 5 candidate “Vote for 3” 2009 Camden County Freeholder (now Commissioner) Primary.

Unlike that Primary, I could have made some money this time. Plus, it would be fun to watch Singh try to call my father the establishment pick or a never-Trumper. Listening to my father’s views on Rizzo and Singh not paying property tax would be entertaining.

Enough of what could have been! The Rizzo – Singh fight is fun to watch.

Singh recently sent a mailer attacking Rizzo for not paying property tax on his home. The attack is accurate. Unfortunately, Singh completely ignores the fact that he lives at home with his parents and therefore does not pay property tax on his home.

In the same mailer Singh attacks Jack Ciattarelli as the “Establishment Pick.”

Apparently, Singh wants GOP voters to think he is anti-establishment. The problem is he is not anti-establishment. In a 2020 campaign press release Singh was happy to receive the endorsement of RNC Committeeman Bill Palatucci, RNC Committeewoman Ginny Haines, Ocean County Republican Organization Chairman Frank Holman, Ocean County Republican Organization Vice Chairwoman Barbara Lanuto, Ocean County Freeholder Chairman John Kelly, Freeholder Joseph Vicari, Freeholder Gerry Little, Freeholder Gary Quinn, Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella, State Committeewoman Janice Fields, Atlantic County’s Linwood Republican Club, Montclair Republican Club, to name a few.

That’s a lot of establishment support from a guy who claims to be anti-establishment!

In 2018, when Singh was running for Congress, he issued a press release announcing the endorsement of establishment Republican state Senator Chris Brown. In the same press release he proudly listed the endorsements of the Burlington County Republican Committee, the Ocean County Republican Organization, the Camden County Republican Committee, and the Atlantic County Republican Committee.

Unfortunately for Singh, by the summer of 2020 the establishment that supported him in earlier runs finally saw through his crap and began distancing themselves from him. This caused Singh to call them all “never-Trumpers” in a July 1, 2020 press release.

The moral to this Hirsh Singh story is the establishment is great until they stop supporting him.

We will get more fun out of Singh because he has “met the criteria to debate” according to NJ.com. The article also states, “Ciattarelli is required to participate because he accepted two-for-one matching funds from the state and Singh raised at least $490,000 for his campaign.”

Frankly, I can’t wait to see Singh in a debate. He can remind us that he once proposed building a bridge from Cape May to Delaware at taxpayer expense. Maybe he will remind us of the time he attacked South Jersey’s farmers.

Or perhaps Singh can remind us of his love for former President Obama:

As to Rizzo, I don’t know much about the guy. I do know he doesn’t pay property tax, which a lot of folks will find to be unfair. I also know folks aren’t happy with his past anti-Catholic statements. That story was broken by our friend Matt Rooney over at SaveJersey.

Apparently, what Rizzo said was, “It’s a very strong Catholic stronghold here. In a one-square mile town there’s seven Catholic churches,” said Rizzo. “I don’t know if these people have ever heard the gospel. Not only are they in bondage to their sin but they’re in bondage to religion.”

I’m not the most religious guy in the world, or the state, or even my town and I might even be in bondage to my sin, but I do know that one-third of the folks in this state are Catholics. I also know Rizzo has done nothing to explain the statement or even attempt to deny they are his current beliefs. But he has whined that pointing out the anti-Catholic remarks were attacks from a “professional politician.”

I do understand there are those who will continue to support Singh and Rizzo and that is their right. It is also my right to point out that these guys are not ready for prime time. My dad would beat these guys! Rizzo’s team couldn’t even file matching funds paperwork on time! If he and his team weren’t organized enough for that, how could he be expected to be organized enough to be Governor? Singh does nothing but yell, “MAGA.” The only chance one has at knowing where Singh stands on an issue is to research his past statements from the many other races he has lost.

Fortunately, there is a candidate ready for prime time, Jack Ciattarelli.