Post by richardkelsey on Oct 6, 2007 14:30:11 GMT -5
Last Tuesday -- I almost posted this post. Like I have done for the last two months -- I held my fire. Shame on me.
Over the past several days actions, events, and the words of some have absolutely made this post more relevant and prescient than when it was written.
The single biggest story in this election should be the unanswered question left hanging with respect to who serves on the Borough Committees.
The Machine has closed ranks, closed doors, and closed mouths. It wants to ride this controversy out to the end -- counting on lazy and sloppy local reporting, and a defeated and demoralized opposition.
When people tell you that party politics doesn't matter, even in a small town like Freehold Borough -- either they are stupid, or they believe you are stupid.
The political machine in Freehold, which this Mayor has been a part of since his first election to office in the early 80's, and his unfortunate and untimely rise to Mayor in the spring of 1985, is still dominating this small town using the same tactics any political machine would use. They go unnoticed to many.
But I lay them bare today. Below is the post I should have posted previously.
Like Candy from a Baby
Oh the joys of being a member of the democrat machine in Freehold. You have no organized opposition – except from your left. That’s even okay because the left - the open borders' lobby -- has no registered or register-able constituents.
As a member of the Freehold democrat machine you start with a built in cushion of votes – not earned by action – but purchased and co-opted by national party ID. (80% of people vote because of party ID -- including most independents who associate themselves with one party or another. )
In big election years – e.g Presidential or Governor – turnout alone makes defeat as a member of the machine nearly impossible, givne the natural voting advantage of registered voters in Freehold.
When would the machine be most vulnerable? The machine is most vulnerable in the off year election – this year.
But – the machine has no organized opposition this year -- or for many years. Yes, there is now an involved, passionate, smart opponent entering the race very late to run against 3 incumbents. The machine has to like those odds. More importantly, the machine likes that no organized political opposition exists to look under the hood, if you will. Political organizations -- even small -- make a very big difference.
Without an opposing party, or opposing party activists – you don’t have to worry about opposition research. You don’t have to worry about one side working the local papers for bad press against you. You don’t have to worry about party insiders or spies leaking out info on appointments, actions, and inner-circle discussions. You don’t have to fear organized, intelligent, calculated, public comment on substantive issue where you fall short. You don’t have to worry about political theater that invariably would happen at public meetings in hotly contested elections.
You don’t have to worry about precinct captains, door knockers, letter writers, ad sponsors, or movement issues that a grass-roots organization can exploit on a moment’s notice.
You don’t have to worry about being challenged – and of course, no matter what party one is in – not being challenged is bad for the voters – always.
The machine has few worries – though it is always working. The arrival of a candidate late in the process still shows that this machine – while often inept on governing issues – is still politically savvy enough to play the game.
What has the machine done in the last few years.
It appointed and co-opted one of the last republicans and put him on its team.
It avoided a messy public fight over a Hispanic appointment by adroitly appointing to an open seat another minority candidate. Did it choose a well-established, politically savvy, strong-willed, universally revered candidate? Of course not. That type of pick might have caused a power struggle within the machine. It choose a nice young man – malleable, eager, and not likely to tinker with the machine. Good move – strong politics.
Most recently, it cleared the public meeting deck to insure no last minute campaign shenanigans in a mid or late October meeting. Then, it did exactly what machines do in little towns, big counties, and large cities across this country. It made it’s last meeting a politically packaged event – a campaign and positive PR event. Bully for the machine.
This is what happens when dissent dies, is broken, or in this case – chooses to vote with its feet.
The machine loses touch with reality because for too many years it has lived politically. Make no mistake, the machine believes it lives and carries on un-opposed because it is doing a great job. It never occurred to the machine’s members that the greatest repudiation is apathy, declining voter participation, and the mass exodus of home-owning voters.
People are not running for office because they already ran – ran from the town.
How is it that a little town that talks tough on illegal immigration never answers for its failure to act? Simple – no one is left to hold this body accountable. No one is left to question the unquestioned. No one is left to invigorate the media, rise up the home-owners, and ask for an accounting.
Why does the Mayor write an article for the Hispanic paper, but not interact on this site with the lawful residents of his own town? He doesn’t need to do so – plain and simple. He has the vote he needs to win this town. He does not know when or how, but he fears the amnesty of the illegals, and finds himself, and the machine, positioning themselves for that reality. He knows it is more likely he will need those votes, than the votes of those he has forsaken.
But make no mistake – the machine still watches. It watches every day. That’s right folks, even today, at 11 AM and throughout the day, the Mayor was logged on – watching, reading, observing, monitoring. He has been monitoring an awful lot lately. Why? The reason is simple – he is a political animal raised in the machine – and he knows that the fuse has been lit on a political bomb that just might damage the machine.
Being savvy – he is trying to figure out why the issue has not been used with brass knuckles to bring him down.
You can bet everything you have that he and the machine have already vetted the answer to the public question he knows is coming. In fact, one might bet that the political theater staged last night by the machine was done so in anticipation that at that public meeting, the proverbial cat would have been let out of the bag.
But – alas – the machine celebrates today. It celebrates the lack of organized, trained, dedicated, sophisticated, and experienced political opposition. It celebrates a local paper that won't dig, is timid, and is not being fed information from an organized opposition.
Opposition would have asked at that public meeting if the Mayor had appointed an illegal alien to a Borough Committee. Opposition would have asked why a non-resident and non-citizen would be considered, let alone appointed to any policy making and recommending committee. Opposition would have juxtaposed the Mayor’s tough talk – with his actual actions of politically empowering people who advocate for, and may themselves be illegal aliens.
Opposition would have gotten that story out – to the papers, the media, the cable news networks, the blogs, and then, of course, the voters. Opposition would rally. It would write letters, demand action, call for resignations. The Mayor knows this – because that has been the successful tactics of the illegal lobby in Freehold. He probably wonders why and for how long he can act without recourse before the Town’s lawful residents rise up.
The answer is seemingly forever. Dissent is dead – which as I have written before – is the final evidence of a town that has lost the war on illegal immigration. The evidence is that the town now serves the political interest of the illegal immigration lobby, as it fears no organized backlash from its remaining citizens. The machine knows it starts with a 500 vote advantage, and a collection of time townies will hold the line with its dead-weight, party line voters to keep the machine going.
In this season when politicians often grip and grin -- kissing babies -- this Democrat machine is grinning all the way to re-election, having used its machine to again dupe its remaining lawful citizens.
This campaign -- it was like taking candy from a baby.
Democrat -- independent -- or republican, you must vote against the machine -- if only because they are sure you won't.
Over the past several days actions, events, and the words of some have absolutely made this post more relevant and prescient than when it was written.
The single biggest story in this election should be the unanswered question left hanging with respect to who serves on the Borough Committees.
The Machine has closed ranks, closed doors, and closed mouths. It wants to ride this controversy out to the end -- counting on lazy and sloppy local reporting, and a defeated and demoralized opposition.
When people tell you that party politics doesn't matter, even in a small town like Freehold Borough -- either they are stupid, or they believe you are stupid.
The political machine in Freehold, which this Mayor has been a part of since his first election to office in the early 80's, and his unfortunate and untimely rise to Mayor in the spring of 1985, is still dominating this small town using the same tactics any political machine would use. They go unnoticed to many.
But I lay them bare today. Below is the post I should have posted previously.
Like Candy from a Baby
Oh the joys of being a member of the democrat machine in Freehold. You have no organized opposition – except from your left. That’s even okay because the left - the open borders' lobby -- has no registered or register-able constituents.
As a member of the Freehold democrat machine you start with a built in cushion of votes – not earned by action – but purchased and co-opted by national party ID. (80% of people vote because of party ID -- including most independents who associate themselves with one party or another. )
In big election years – e.g Presidential or Governor – turnout alone makes defeat as a member of the machine nearly impossible, givne the natural voting advantage of registered voters in Freehold.
When would the machine be most vulnerable? The machine is most vulnerable in the off year election – this year.
But – the machine has no organized opposition this year -- or for many years. Yes, there is now an involved, passionate, smart opponent entering the race very late to run against 3 incumbents. The machine has to like those odds. More importantly, the machine likes that no organized political opposition exists to look under the hood, if you will. Political organizations -- even small -- make a very big difference.
Without an opposing party, or opposing party activists – you don’t have to worry about opposition research. You don’t have to worry about one side working the local papers for bad press against you. You don’t have to worry about party insiders or spies leaking out info on appointments, actions, and inner-circle discussions. You don’t have to fear organized, intelligent, calculated, public comment on substantive issue where you fall short. You don’t have to worry about political theater that invariably would happen at public meetings in hotly contested elections.
You don’t have to worry about precinct captains, door knockers, letter writers, ad sponsors, or movement issues that a grass-roots organization can exploit on a moment’s notice.
You don’t have to worry about being challenged – and of course, no matter what party one is in – not being challenged is bad for the voters – always.
The machine has few worries – though it is always working. The arrival of a candidate late in the process still shows that this machine – while often inept on governing issues – is still politically savvy enough to play the game.
What has the machine done in the last few years.
It appointed and co-opted one of the last republicans and put him on its team.
It avoided a messy public fight over a Hispanic appointment by adroitly appointing to an open seat another minority candidate. Did it choose a well-established, politically savvy, strong-willed, universally revered candidate? Of course not. That type of pick might have caused a power struggle within the machine. It choose a nice young man – malleable, eager, and not likely to tinker with the machine. Good move – strong politics.
Most recently, it cleared the public meeting deck to insure no last minute campaign shenanigans in a mid or late October meeting. Then, it did exactly what machines do in little towns, big counties, and large cities across this country. It made it’s last meeting a politically packaged event – a campaign and positive PR event. Bully for the machine.
This is what happens when dissent dies, is broken, or in this case – chooses to vote with its feet.
The machine loses touch with reality because for too many years it has lived politically. Make no mistake, the machine believes it lives and carries on un-opposed because it is doing a great job. It never occurred to the machine’s members that the greatest repudiation is apathy, declining voter participation, and the mass exodus of home-owning voters.
People are not running for office because they already ran – ran from the town.
How is it that a little town that talks tough on illegal immigration never answers for its failure to act? Simple – no one is left to hold this body accountable. No one is left to question the unquestioned. No one is left to invigorate the media, rise up the home-owners, and ask for an accounting.
Why does the Mayor write an article for the Hispanic paper, but not interact on this site with the lawful residents of his own town? He doesn’t need to do so – plain and simple. He has the vote he needs to win this town. He does not know when or how, but he fears the amnesty of the illegals, and finds himself, and the machine, positioning themselves for that reality. He knows it is more likely he will need those votes, than the votes of those he has forsaken.
But make no mistake – the machine still watches. It watches every day. That’s right folks, even today, at 11 AM and throughout the day, the Mayor was logged on – watching, reading, observing, monitoring. He has been monitoring an awful lot lately. Why? The reason is simple – he is a political animal raised in the machine – and he knows that the fuse has been lit on a political bomb that just might damage the machine.
Being savvy – he is trying to figure out why the issue has not been used with brass knuckles to bring him down.
You can bet everything you have that he and the machine have already vetted the answer to the public question he knows is coming. In fact, one might bet that the political theater staged last night by the machine was done so in anticipation that at that public meeting, the proverbial cat would have been let out of the bag.
But – alas – the machine celebrates today. It celebrates the lack of organized, trained, dedicated, sophisticated, and experienced political opposition. It celebrates a local paper that won't dig, is timid, and is not being fed information from an organized opposition.
Opposition would have asked at that public meeting if the Mayor had appointed an illegal alien to a Borough Committee. Opposition would have asked why a non-resident and non-citizen would be considered, let alone appointed to any policy making and recommending committee. Opposition would have juxtaposed the Mayor’s tough talk – with his actual actions of politically empowering people who advocate for, and may themselves be illegal aliens.
Opposition would have gotten that story out – to the papers, the media, the cable news networks, the blogs, and then, of course, the voters. Opposition would rally. It would write letters, demand action, call for resignations. The Mayor knows this – because that has been the successful tactics of the illegal lobby in Freehold. He probably wonders why and for how long he can act without recourse before the Town’s lawful residents rise up.
The answer is seemingly forever. Dissent is dead – which as I have written before – is the final evidence of a town that has lost the war on illegal immigration. The evidence is that the town now serves the political interest of the illegal immigration lobby, as it fears no organized backlash from its remaining citizens. The machine knows it starts with a 500 vote advantage, and a collection of time townies will hold the line with its dead-weight, party line voters to keep the machine going.
In this season when politicians often grip and grin -- kissing babies -- this Democrat machine is grinning all the way to re-election, having used its machine to again dupe its remaining lawful citizens.
This campaign -- it was like taking candy from a baby.
Democrat -- independent -- or republican, you must vote against the machine -- if only because they are sure you won't.
