By Their Friends Shall You Know Them

Slow news days make for boring blogs.

Nonetheless, I thought I might continue on the theme offered by Senator Lautenberg the other day. To refresh your recollection, he asserted, in effect, "by their friends shall you know them". Put another way, you judge candidates by the company they keep.

Two of the first folks to endorse the Democratic team in the 25th LD were Congressman Robert Menendez (from Hudson County) and Assemblywoman Nellie Pou (from Paterson). We can assume, then, that the local Dems, receiving the support of these two products of urban Democratic machines, are, more or less, on the same page. So, let’s have a look at the record and see if we, in Morris County, would benefit from the sorts of policies that Menendez and Pou support.

Congressman Menendez exemplifies virtually everything wrong with the Democratic Party. He voted against tax reform, voted against abolishing marriage penalty, voted against making Bush tax cuts permanent, and voted against eliminating the death tax. He supports racial preferences and favors partial birth abortion. He opposes giving students in failing urban schools the chance receive a decent education. He consistently ranks among the most irresponsible of the "Big Spenders" in Congress. He consistently opposes efforts to stop illegal immigration.

Assemblywoman Nellie Pou never met the tax increase she didn’t love. She voted for doubling taxes on business, for the mis-labeled "millionaires’" tax (which disproportionately affects Morris County), and in favor of the illegal, unconstitutional borrowing the Assembly Democrats saddled the taxpayers with over the course of the past four years. She was an early supporter of the Presidential candidacy of Howard Dean. She received an "F" grade for her staunch opposition to basic Second Amendment Rights. She caved to union pressure and endorsed project labor agreements and banning of subcontracting, both of which added tens of millions to our tax bills. She supported the fraudulent tax shift convention, the only result of which would be to further increase taxes on Morris County residents while providing no spending control. She co-sponsors a proposal to permit illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

The question, then, is whether the residents of Morris County would be well served by electing acolytes of these high-taxing, high-spending products of urban machines?

By their friends shall you know them. Senator Frank said it; it must be true.