We must stop election crime

Something about crime in politics- electoral or otherwise numbs people. Especially in places like my homestate of New Jersey where corruption and campaign crimes are fueled from a number of negative pressures- the cost of living in NJ, urban blight, unchecked single party domination, organized crime, over-development, old fashioned greed and power.

John Lynch was a State Senator, lawyer and Democrat Party Boss in Middlesex County, NJ. It was a top targetted swing county for Reagan and now is solid Democrat. Lynch built a machine that would take over the state and bring Jim McGreevy to power among many others- and out of it. I beleive he is still in federal prison, but it took decades to bring him down. You can check polling from NJ and the corruption issues don't cut. Whether people tolerate it, or expect it or think it's cool, when it is brought up as an issue in campaigns you can hear crickets chirping.

The FBI Camden County field office was one of the largest pre-9-11 field offices in the U.S. I can only imagine how large the offices are for Essex and Hudson counties, it's not so much finding the crime as where do you begin?

Chris Christie- a Republican US Attorney and oft mentioned candidate- led a sting operation in the Republican suburban oasis of Monmouth County, NJ and plunked local and County elected officials alike mostly related to taking bribes for contracts, jobs, zoning variances, planning board votes, etc. With the highest property taxes in the nation, it's no wonder taxes can't keep up with infrastructure to support urban blight and suburban sprawl. Corruption figures directly into both of those issues as does the violence and intimidation around all levels of campaigns and political participation throughout the year to get those in place who will vote directly or appoint those who will get the "job" done.

The NJ Democrats have rolled a real estate strategy for diluting Republican areas for decades. So in places like Bedminster, East Brunswick, Monmouth County, and even in strongholds like Warren and Hunterdon Counties- they built condominiums by the thousands with all of the strip malls you can imagine. A district of large single family residences, which would tend to house Republicans- maybe 125 voters would suddenly have 200 more voters that might tend to be Democrat leaning or Independents with left leaning demographics. They also poored millions into trying to save NJ cities, tempting young professional types to move out of the burbs and into transit hubs like New Brunswick- out of that safe Republican district you now can't afford to buy in because of high property taxes from over-development- now with one less GOP vote placed into an urban district where they might be one of ten registered Republicans to 800 registered Dems. At the same time, this strategy pushes the really wealthy folks farther West, South or to residency in Florida. And people, who can afford to get out (might tend to be Republican)- are leaving by the thousands.

You might think this is a brilliant political strategy unti you see how taxpayers paid for it from an ugly ring of buying farmland (remember the garden state) getting the variances from a locally appointed zoning board, or a master plan change from an appointed planning board- throw in tax abatements too. Critically they would need local and county seats to not only get friendly attornies lucrative contracts to oversee the appointed boards and hire loyal town clerks, engineers, inspectors etc. Note that many elected officials in NJ work for the same law firms that represent municipalites' extensive legal needs. These firms would raise much of the money for the campaigns- along with engineering firms, developers, and construction companies,  Republicans have played this game and got busted too- but the Democrats invented it and fronted this corruption asa quasi-legal, yet still totally unethical art form and destroyed NJ in the process.

My sister pays over $20,000 a year in property taxes for your average 3,000 square foot suburban colonial. My nephew just paid over $500,000 for a home I could purchase in St. Louis County for $280,000 and pay a fraction of the property taxes. Real estate is power on any political level. The following is one of my favorite tactics I ever learned about in local politics: Have your best ward Chairpeople buy real estate on the outskirts of developments facing county or state roads. So ten, fifteen years down the line when overdevelopment causes a roads to be widened- your party commiteeperson gets paid to lose 10 feet of their property as their curb cut gets moved back. If you are giving that same person a job with the city, state or county as well, you would expect them to beat the crap out of anyone who threatened their deal with the party as in the story above. I am sure they had lawyers in place at Campaign HQ to "give the campaign legal advice" that day, oh ok and represent belligerent ward Chairman. If you haven't been assaulted in NJ on election day, you weren't actually doing GOTV.

Every cycle we accuse the Dems of inflating voter turnout- busing in workers from out of state- getting entire unions days off to work GOTV, paying homeless people with packs of cigarettes to do GOTV etc. And they accuse us of voter suppression- if it rains on election day- the GOP seeded the clouds to drive down turnout in a minority area. Have to show an ID? Voter Suppression. Security Guard at a polling place? Voter Suppression. Crying about an assault and battery? Voter Suppression. You have to reseach provisional ballots in NJ to really get a sense of how far this issue goes.

A great film on this topic is StreetFight- about Cory Booker's rise in Newark. And the subsequent downfall of Sharpe James, State Senator, Mayor, Dogcatcher, substitute teacher, numerous pensions and guess what he was finally busted for? Dirty real estate deals. No way! Check it out. It's complete with more Dem on Dem crime as Booker's campaign is up against, the Newark Police Dept, every city worker, and one of the classic urban politicial machines of our time.