NJ Libertarian Party Selects Kenneth R. Kaplan for Governor

New Brunswick, NJ - On Sunday, the NJ Libertarian Party State Committee unanimously selected Kenneth Kaplan to be the party’s candidate for Governor. Born in Newark, the 61 year old Kaplan grew up in West Orange but currently resides in Parsippany. He is a graduate from Brandeis University and NYU Law School. For twenty-two years, he was associated with the Archie Schwartz Company but currently serves as President of KenKap Realty Corp., a company he founded after a six year term at Edgerton Realty.

As Governor, Kaplan’s priorities are to phase out the state income tax and reduce the size and cost of government. Addressing affordable housing is one way he plans to solve this problem. Kaplan offers a creative solution to the decade’s long quest to create affordable housing in New Jersey. He wants the state to enact legislation to supersede local zoning ordinances, removing zoning barriers.

“The current system prevents owners of single family homes from converting them to two family homes and the owners of two family homes from converting them to three families,” stated Kaplan. “This solution will solve the affordable housing crisis, not just for people moving into the new units, but also for many of whom might be senior citizens.”

He says his plan will allow senior citizens to remain in homes that have become too large or expensive for their needs. He believes this will fix the affordable housing problem, without the expenditure of any tax dollars.

Kaplan also wants to address key issues, such as same-sex marriage, education, and healthcare. He would push for an enactment of a marriage equality law to allow same sex couples to marry. “I see it as a civil rights issue, where all citizens should enjoy the same right,” stated Kaplan. Additionally, he also wants to see a state constitutional amendment to allow for greater flexibility in education. He views vouchers as an immediate way to give parents more choice in where their children attend school. Most importantly, Kaplan champions patients’ rights and seeks to pass a law that would allow medical marijuana to be grown or purchased legally, when prescribed by a doctor.

According to Kaplan, “We have many people in New Jersey suffering the effects of cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and other ailments. The humanitarian and compassionate thing to do is allow them legal access to a drug that could help them.”

Kyleigh's Law Website To Be Up By Monday

Myself, in conjunction with some other supporters, are setting up a website to educate other New Jerseyans as to what Kyleigh's Law is with the ultimate goal of repealing it. You will be able to visit the site at www.repealkyleighslaw.org. This website will serve as the central point for communication and organization against Kyleighs Law. On Facebook there are already close to 10,000 people who have joined Anti-Kyleigh's Law groups. There are petitions being signed. There is Greg Trautmann who is bringing a suit against the state over the law. We must make it clear to Gov. Corzine and the legislators that we are tired of them trying ton control every facet of our lies and insulted by the extent they will go to label us to be profiled by the police.

When the site is up I will announce it on the blog and on Facebook and will welcome everyone to come and join the fight.

Majority Of NJ Supports Gay Marriage

A Quinnipiac University Poll was taken of NJ voters to gauge the support for gay marriage. The poll found 49 percent supporting gay marriage, while 43 percent are opposed. NJ is ready for gay marriage! To not allow gay couples to marry would be to assign special rights and privileges to heterosexual couples while restricting those of gay couples, which is what is happening right now. The only argument that I have heard against gay marriage is that marriage is only between a man and a woman. That is not a valid argument. That is on par with saying that a state funded art school can't teach how to paint the sky violet because the sky is not violet or that government grants shouldn't go towards researching evolution since it had not really occurred.

I will keep everyone updated as far as when it is supposed to be introduced into the state legislature.

Click here for the news article used as source.

Silence Is Golden

$1.5 million is being spent on making a train crossing in Edison silent. Talk about silence costing its weight in gold. This story hits closer to home for me because of two reasons. One, I go over that crossing to and from work and for a month I am going to have to take a detour that will add around 10 minutes to my trip. Two, I actually live close enough to hear the whistle of the train when it goes through the crossing. I believe the train whistles add character and culture to the local neighborhood. I find it to be a welcoming sound. Obviously others do not. But is it worth $1.5 million in this economy to make that crossing silent?

No!

The article doesn't go into great detail but my best educated guess is that Edison got some federal stimulus funds to spend on transportation and this is the best idea they came up with. The stimulus package does not allow the local government to decide what to do with the money. If it has been earmarked for transportation then it has to be used for transportation. This is just more waste and more of the same that we can expect from President Obama and our local government.

Click here for the news article.

Is New Jersey Finally Ready For Medical Marijuana?

Our esteemed Attorney General Anne Milgram has stated that the bill to legalize medical marijuana in NJ, that was recently passed in the State Senate, can work. I am usually not enthused by much of the news that I read throughout the day but this article broke that mold. The bill, if passed, would allow patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases grow marijuana plants for medicinal use or buy the drug at a licensed outlet. The next step for the bill is to pass a vote in the Assembly. I encourage everyone to call their local Assemblyman and ask them to vote for the bill.

Gov. Corzine has stated that he will sign the bill if it lands on his desk, though that one fact does not redeem everything else he has done to our state. Chris Christie, one of the Republican Gubernatorial candidates, has stated that he opposes the bill while Steve Lonegan, another Republican candidate, has stated that he supports it.

PRESS RELEASE: NJLP Reacts to Hunterdon County Proposed Tax Increase

On Monday, April 14, the Hunterdon County freeholders drafted a proposal to increase property taxes, in order to make up for the budget deficit. Despite the dissent, the freeholders have supported their decision. Matt Holt said, “the tax rate doesn’t mean a damn thing, people. It’s what you raise in tax levies that matters.” The New Jersey Libertarian Party (NJLP), however, has reacted to this proposal as another questionable decision by government.

“If someone's property value goes down, you don't increase their taxes so you get the same amount of money out of them,” said NJLP State Chairman, Sean Colon. “Using that logic we should increase taxes on people making less than they did last year so that we could squeeze the same amount of money out of them.”

The NJLP finds this twisted logic to be one of the problems with New Jersey government. It does not make sense for the county to generate the same revenue, when families’ situations are adapting to the current economic situation. Citizens are cutting back, while the government continues to squeeze every last penny from their limited incomes. Furthermore, the NJLP also questions whether or not the county will decrease taxes, when the market picks up again.

“And what happens when property values go back up?” said Colon. “Is the county government going to decrease the property tax rate when the market recovers?”

New Jersey has never been known to lower taxes. So, the NJLP is doubtful that the taxes will decrease, when the economy improves. They criticize government’s actions to tax their way out of these harsh economic times. The Libertarians believe the problem can not be solved by taking the little income that citizens have left.

First Press Release

This is the first Press Release sent out by the new Press Secretary of the NJLP, Brian Canares.

NJLP Uses Tax Day Protests to Fuel Recruitment

On Wednesday, April 15, thousands of people joined all over New Jersey to protest the increasingly expansive Federal government. Republicans and Libertarians gathered to oppose the over taxation by the legislators in Washington. Steve Lonegan, 2009 gubernatorial candidate, was the keynote speaker for a number of tea parties. He expressed that this was a non-partisan effort to fight the over spending in government. NJ Libertarian State Chairman, Sean Colon, attended the tea parties in Morristown and Piscataway and noted the citizens’ discontent with the current administration.

"The Tea Parties were not a conservative event. They were for everyone who believes that the government should not take the majority of the wealth in America and run our economy into the ground,” Colon said. “The American consumer has learned that you can't always buy on credit and live in debt, unfortunately the Obama administration and Congress has not."

Libertarians made a showing at every single location in New Jersey. Many Lonegan supporters had even expressed interests in the small, but emerging Libertarian party. With no plans to sell any apparel, multiple participants bought NJLP shirts for the protests. The growing enthusiasm for the NJLP has sparked the party’s desire to organize statewide attendance at similar events in the future. Colon says the party plans to attend another Tea Party protest on the Fourth of July. “If April 15th was any indicator then I would say there are many Americans that are open to a third party during these hard times.” Colon said.

Roackaway Lawyer Fighting Kyleigh's Law

Gregg D. Trautmann, an attorney from Rockaway, NJ, is taking the government to court to try to repeal Kyleigh's Law. The law has many egregious provisions the worst of which is that drivers 21 and under would have to have orange decals affixed to their cars so that the police can identify them. It is completely ridiculous and I suggest that everyone support Gregg in his fight against the state of NJ.

To read the source article click here.

Operation Tea Party Was A Success

Myself and a few other Libertarians attended the Morristown and Piscataway Tea Parties. We wore new NJ Libertarian t-shirts which got compliments by many Tea Party attendees. I'll put up the design on the website soon. As Libertarians we got a warm reception at both Tea Parties.

Many protesters of many varieties exhibited interest in the Libertarian Party. There were Libertarians at all of the Tea Parties across the state. And without any intention of selling NJ Libertarian t-shirts we sold 10. It was a wonderful experience in which we met many passionate taxpayers.

And after this great experience all I could hear from the mainstream and liberal media was how we were ignorant racist supremacists with a neural disorder. What a crock. It is incredible that these people are still "respected" newsmen after saying things like this. I am going to try to start taking a tally of some of these comments and start posting them.

More about the Tea Parties to be posted later.

Operation Tea Party

Hello Libertarians!

I have gotten a lot of interest from members interested in coming so I want to lay out the plan for everyone. I will be at Molly Maguire's in Clark, NJ (which is right off of Parkway exit 135) at 11:00 AM on the 15th to meet with other NJ Libertarians that want to join me for a "tour" of the Tea Parties. I know that outside of our tour we will have members attending the ones in Trenton, Morristown, Vineland, and others. My plan is to hit as many as possible with brochures and wearing NJLP shirts. Most likely the tour will hit most of the tea parties with the exception of Vineland and Belmar, since the rest are all in Central/Northern Jersey and more clustered together. I have the shirts now and will hand them out to all the volunteers who I meet on the way. I will ask for a donation of $10 to cover some of the cost of the shirts, but it is not mandatory.

If you want to find out where the Tea parties are in NJ go to www.taxdayteaparty.com. If you can try to join our tour under the auspice of "Operation Tea Party" for the goal of promoting our party and increasing membership. If you think you can join me sometime later on the 15th then just email me now to tell me when you can jump on the tour and I'll tell you where to meet us. I look forward to hearing from many eager Libertarians!

Another Threat to the First Amendment

The Township Committee in Neptune NJ is actually planing to consider disscussing whether or not to ban gay pride flags from being displayed on the lawn of private residences. Certain members of the Shark River Hills property owner's association brought their disapproval to the Township with the intent of forcing the owners of the properties to have their flags removed. This may set a dangerous precedence that towns may gain the ability to suppress an individuals right to express there sexual, political or religious beliefs and orientations on their own property. This is a small example of a growing willingness by NJ government as a whole to censor freedom of speech and first amendment rights.