NJ Libertarian News

NJ Libertarian Party Selects Kenneth R. Kaplan for Governor

2009-04-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

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

2009-04-23T14:27:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-23T10:20:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-23T06:50:00.002-05:00

$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?

2009-04-21T20:10:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-21T06:37:00.001-05:00

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

2009-04-21T06:32:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-18T18:49:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-17T20:02:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-14T07:11:00.001-05:00

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

2009-04-10T14:44:00.004-05:00

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.

More Gay Bashing To Be Had

2009-04-08T20:36:00.002-05:00

National Organization for Marriage is spending $1.5 million in fighting to make sure that gay marriage does not become legal in NJ. They are broadcasting commercials throughout the state advocating an anti-gay marriage position. Do these people have nothing better to do than persecute other people in the name of "protecting families"? These kinds of campaigns prevent families from being built. But of course these aren't the kind of families that they approve of. But then who are they to tell us what a family should and should not consist of? Do they get their ideas from the bible or other religious text (Freedom from religion is an important civil liberty)? Or perhaps just ignorance of what it means to be gay? I have yet to hear of a valid argument as to any reason why two people of any sex who love each other should not be able to get married. Having come from a broken family myself it is hard for me to understand how a heterosexual marriage is so inherently better than a gay marriage.

Feel free to try to convince me otherwise.

Click here for the news source.

Loch Arbor, NJ, The Twilight Zone Episode

2009-04-08T19:44:00.003-05:00

Have you ever seen your property taxes more than double? If your answer is no then you probably don't live in NJ. In Loch Arbor their school taxes are increasing by five fold to send 24 students to a neighboring school district. What is the total amount that Loch Arbor is paying in school taxes? $1.6 million. Lets break down the numbers:

- Total amount paid in school taxes = $1.6 million
- Total amount of students = 24
- $1.6 million / 24 = $58,333.33
- Amount being spent annually per student from Loch Arbor = $58,333.33

Numbers do not lie and what these numbers are telling me is that NJ is flushing some more money down the drain.

To read the full news article click here.

PolitickerNJ Puts NJ Libertarian News Back On

2009-04-03T14:58:00.002-05:00

I received a very nice email from Wally over at PolitickerNJ. He disagreed with my previous post and with an email that I sent them but I believe that no bad blood exists between us. They have put the blog back on the blog roll and hopefully this incident will have turned into something positive as now I have a point of contact over at PolitickerNJ. I apologize to Wally and the other folks over at PolitickerNJ if I seemed to have gotten a little hot blooded but when you are in a third party the assumption always is that you are getting jacked by someone. I look forward to working with them in the future.

PolitickerNJ Kicks Off NJ Libertarian News From Blog Roll

2009-04-02T22:20:00.002-05:00

If you take a look at the PolitickerNJ web site you will see in its blog roll sites such as "Blue Jersey" and "Conservatives with Attitude" but you will not see NJ Libertarian News. This blog used to be listed on their site up until recently and for reason we were taken off, yet the Republican and Democrat blogs have stayed on. This has been a pattern that most of the mainstream media have taken. They cover third party candidates and activities only when it suits them and then afterwards we get swept under the rug with the likes of Ron Paul. This is evidence of the fact that we need to fight harder and louder to regain the individual liberties that were promised to us in the US Constitution.

A Bit Backwards?

2009-03-31T22:18:00.002-05:00

Today in the Star Ledger in an article titled "Former governor may sue Corzine over slashed arts funding" Former Republican Gov. Tom Kean is "outraged" that governor Corzine has made a proposal to cut cultural funds to below the minimums outlined by the law and in fact is considering filing his own lawsuit against the governor over the issue. Is is just me or shouldn't it be the Republican who wants to cut spending, not the Democrat? This is just another example of how the Republican Party has become a big spender. How can we vote for Republicans expecting them to cut down on big government when a miracle occurs and a big spender Democrat like Corzine recommends cutting funding, and the Republican threatens to sue? At this point in American history the only vote you can make to try and cut down on big government is a vote for the Libertarian Party. Voting for the Republicans or Democrats is just a wasted vote.

Click here for the article

German Homeschoolers Seek Asylum In US

2009-03-31T06:29:00.003-05:00

A German family has fled to the US and is seeking political asylum so that they can home school their kids. In Germany, where sending your children to public schools is mandatory, they were being persecuted by the local law enforcement and government officials for not sending their children to school. The parents are evangelical Christians whose values conflict with much of what they teach at the public schools.

The story can be found here.

This is evidence of the fact that homeschooling is a right which we must fight for and protect. We don't want to end up like the Romeikes (the German family) and have the police knock down our doors in to take away our kids just because we are trying to provide them with a good education. Fortunately in NJ we are allowed to home school our children which should be an option that many parents may want to investigate if they live in an Abbott District. But our neighbor, NY, is not so lucky.

We must keep a vigilant eye on our local legislature that in their zeal to "reform" the education system in NJ that they don't tread on our right to educate our children in the best way we see fit.

To find out more about how and if you can home school your children please visit http://www.hslda.org.

NJLP Convention Results

2009-03-29T15:23:00.003-05:00

The NJ Libertarian Party Convention was a rousing success. It was wonderful to see other Libertarians who saw the future with as much optimism as I do. The speakers were fantastic, including Wayne Allyn Root, Jim Bennett, Howard Kupferman, and Walter Luers. I cannot imagine a better lineup than what we had at this convention. We have video of the speakers and when it has been posted online I will inform everyone. The elections also went well with the following results

Sean Colon (Me) being elected State Chair

Walter Luers being elected Vice Chair

Derek Demarco being elected Secretary

Kevin Ferrizzi being reelected Treasurer

Ken Kaplan being reelected Member At-Large

Paul Tahan being elected Member At-Large

Jay Edgar being elected Member At-Large

I look forward to this upcoming year and all the obstacles and opportunities that lay within it. I have many goals and many plans that will start to be mapped out within this week.

Our beloved America is in a sad state of affairs right now and everyone is looking for the bright light at the end of the tunnel. Obama and the Democrats are offering them socialized health care, nationalized industries, more executive authority, less freedom of education, more taxes and hidden fees, and less 2ND Amendment rights for everyone. The Republicans offer nothing better having, in the last 8 years, increased the size of government, reduced our civil liberties with the Patriot Act, increased our debt, reduced our international reputation to the status of "Bully State", increased federal control of education, and reduced our safety and security abroad.

In NJ both parties have ravaged our great state. We suffer from the worst taxes, corruption, and regulations in the whole US. The NJLP plans to change that. Please join me this year in taking a big step in the right direction by DOUBLING OUR STATE MEMBERSHIP. To achieve this everybody just needs to register one other person for membership. So if you don't know what to do and you have even just a little free time on your hands, call some friends or family up.

I look forward to working with all of you.

Money And Rights Flushed Down The Drain: NJ Prisons

2009-03-25T07:24:00.003-05:00

With NJ already being in debt and scrambling to try to scrape up every cent it can get out of the tax payers, Gov. Corzine is starting to look at closing prisons. Right now the state of NJ has a budget set aside of $1.3 billion for the Corrections Department. We currently imprison 25,359 people in NJ, 23% are non-violent offenders and 32% are drug offenders. This means that over half (55%) of the prison population has not done anything to physically harm anyone else. And it costs the state $34,600 per prisoner annually. So lets break the numbers down:

- $1.3 billion in NJ budget for prisons.
- 25,359 prisoners in NJ.
- $34,600 equals cost per prisoner annually.
- 55% of the prisoners are non-violent offenders.

Now lets take it a bit further

- 55% of 25,359 prisoners equals about 13,947
- 13,947 times $34,600 (annual cost per prisoner) equals $482,566,200.
- It will cost the state of NJ $482,566,200 to keep all the non-violent offenders in prison, including the drug offenders who may be guilty of nothing but possession.

It seems like there is something we can do here to help our budget crisis and protect the rights of our citizens. Perhaps drug offenders need help rather than imprisonment (where there are more drugs!). And maybe non-violent offenders can pay for their crimes another way besides eating up the tax payers money (community service, wage garnishments, paying restitution). I am not saying open the doors and let everyone loose. It must be analyzed on a case by case basis. But something must be done.

You can find the article I drew the numbers from here.

Strip Search Case Going To Supreme Court

2009-03-24T08:35:00.002-05:00

A case in which a 13 year old eighth grade girl was strip searched at school for prescription drugs is now going to the Supreme Court. Many of the details are disputed so I won't go through a lot of it but what is not disputed is that a 13 year old girl, suspected of having Ibuprofin, was forced to expose herself to the school nurse and secretary in a hostile environment. Minors have rights too but the government doesn't seem to recognize that. In the state of NJ you can't buy cigarettes until you are 19. That means you can drive, vote, enlist in the military, die for your country, buy a house, get a mortgage, then lose your house, get married, have kids, run for elected office, and be a model citizen but you are not or mature enough to inhale tobacco smoke.

This has been a repeating theme in NJ, we even have curfews in place for kids under the age of 18 in certain townships here in the Garden State. At the age of 16 I was employed as waiter at a local restaurant. If the town I worked in had curfew laws then I would have been fired. And now the government has taken the additional step and basically has said that if you are under 18 and over a month old they can strip you down and poke and prod at you until satisfied. No warrant, no real evidence, not even a police officer present (though I don't know how much that would have changed things), or a phone call to the parents. This kind of news makes me sick.

For the article click here.

#5 On The Top 10 Food Trends of 2009

2009-03-24T07:16:00.002-05:00

Now you may be asking yourself what do food trends have to do with individual liberties and small government? Well, to answer that question I will now unveil the #5 food trend as chosen by The Food Channel... too much focus on nutritional information by both consumers and the government. Consumers have a right to count calories all day long but part of the #5 trend is that more "obesity-related legislation" is seen on the horizon. This is one of the worst kinds of legislation, where the government tells you what you can and cannot eat, and its based solely on preventing obesity! Some people are heavy because of their body structure, their genes, and because they have bad eating habits. But the government should stay out of our palates. If I want to sit on the couch all day and eat doughnuts, french fries, and deep-fried snicker bars (they do exist in Wildwood) then that is my right.

Let me know what you think.

Pres. Barack Obama and Tres. Timothy Geithner Asking For More Power

2009-03-24T05:38:00.004-05:00

Whenever the most powerful person in the whole world asks for more power you should be very VERY scared. Of course Pres. Obama nor Mr. Geithner are stating that they will misuse and abuse it but in the end they all do. What is really frightening is that all they need is Congressional approval to get it. I didn't know that our system of checks and balances could kicked off to the side on Congress' say so.

Lets focus more on the power grabbers for a moment. What powers do they want and why? Lets see what they said...

From Bloomberg:

Regulators should be able to safeguard the entire financial system as well as monitor the health of specific institutions, Geithner said. This oversight should cover “all institutions and markets that could pose systemic risk” he said, according to the excerpts.

That is oddly vague. What is the definition of a "systemic risk" and why does the Treasury Department need to safeguard the entire financial system? Is that their job? Lets see what pops up on Wikipedia.

Managing federal finances;
Collecting taxes, duties and monies paid to and due to the U.S. and paying all bills of the U.S.;
Producing all postage stamps, currency, and coinage;
Managing government accounts and the United States public debt;
Supervising national banks and thrift institutions;
Advising on domestic and international financial, monetary, economic, trade and tax policy - fiscal policy being the sum of these, and the ultimate responsibility of Congress.
Enforcing Federal finance and tax laws;
Investigating and prosecuting tax evaders, counterfeiters, forgers, smugglers, illicit spirits distillers, and gun law violators.

Nope, I don't see anything on that list of responsibilities of the Treasury Department that include safguarding the entire financial system. Any powers handed over on such broad and vague wording can be abused on such a large scale. We are supposed to have a limited government here in the US, not an omnipotent one.

You can find the article here.

Brazilian Wax Jobs To Be Legal In NJ After All

2009-03-23T16:58:00.002-05:00

After a contentious few days when news of banning Brazilian wax jobs had spread through NJ, it has been recently announced that the state will not go forward in making the wax job illegal. I guess when the state noticed the backlash from the salon owners and other NJ residents they saw how ridiculous the whole "banning" idea was.

US Deficit Projected To Be Much Higher Than Previously Stated

2009-03-20T19:40:00.002-05:00

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the deficit from 2010 to 2019 will be $9.3 trillion, 2.3 trillion higher than previously estimated by Pres. Obama's administration. What a big surprise, Obama underestimated his spending when he plans to increase the size government to the largest it has ever been in US history. This should have not been a shocking revelation to anyone. If you add up the costs of the bail out, continuing troop deployment, his universal health care plan, education reform, energy programs, blah de blah blah then it should be easy to understand why the deficit is going to be huge.

You can find the article here.

Obama And Democrats To Push Through Health Care Legislation

2009-03-20T06:56:00.002-05:00

The Republicans will not have much of a chance to stop the government-sponsored health care plan which Obama had supported during his campaign. The Democrats plan to us a parliamentary procedure to bypass the filibuster, which is the only method with which the Republican minority can stop the legislation, and push through the health care bill. I dread the day when I will have full control over my own health but will have to share the majority of it with the government. The government has already put into place multiple laws and regulations to try to "help" people become more healthy and universal health care will be one of the final steps towards the public losing all decision making powers over their own health.

Some of the steps taken to control our health by all different levels of government has been:

- The banning of trans fats.
- The limit placed on the number of fast food restaurants that can open in a municipality.
- Seat belt laws.
- Safety gear laws.
- Laws that prohibit tobacco companies from advertising.
- And many many more.

It already is a sad state of affairs and we can expect it to get worse.

You can find the article here.