Republican State Sen. Michael J. Doherty represents the 217,000 residents of  Warren and Hunterdon counties in North Jersey.

Doherty graduated from West Point in 1985. He then served four years as a U.S.  Army captain in command of an artillery unit with nuclear-tipped missiles at the  East German border – when Russia was still the Soviet Union in a “Cold War” with  us.

After the service, Doherty went to law school and became a successful patent attorney specializing in semiconductor and medical technology. He is now 48  years old, married, with three sons who also served in the U.S. military.

In 2000, Mike Doherty took an interest in politics and was elected as a Warren County freeholder. Within a year, he advanced to freeholder director, a key  position in counties that don’t have a county executive like Atlantic County  does.

For three years, Republicans under Doherty cut the tax rate by 23 percent and paid down a big chunk of the debt run up by previous officials.

During that time, Warren County Community College demanded $5 million for a new  building. The Republican freeholders under Doherty refused to borrow the money  and raise taxes. They pointed out that the existing buildings were sufficient,  and that they were empty much of the time, since the college did not hold any  classes on Fridays or Saturdays.

College officials sued the county, and a Superior Court judge ordered the  Republican freeholders to either borrow the $5 million or be jailed for  contempt.

Doherty and the Republican freeholders defied that judge, saying that only elected officials had the constitutional authority to put county taxpayers into debt. Later the State Supreme Court ruled that Doherty was right and the judge was wrong.

In 2001 Doherty was also elected assemblyman for Warren and Hunterdon counties, where Leonard Lance was state senator. When Lance resigned to become a U.S. congressman, Doherty asked party leaders to let him replace Lance.

But state Republican Party leaders said Doherty was too independent and too conservative. They picked someone else. But Doherty defied them and ran “off the  party line” in the June primary election. He won, then defeated his Democratic  opponent in November of 2009, and was re-elected by a large majority last  November.

During his two years as state senator, Doherty forcefully and effectively championed conservative Republican principles around the state.

Doherty explained and exposed the deliberately complicated and confusing school  funding formulas that funnel two thirds of New Jersey’s income tax money into just 32 of its 567 towns. He showed that by giving more money to towns that had  more kids getting free school lunches, the state encouraged fraud and  corruption. He proposed a simple “Fair School Funding” formula that complies with our state Constitution, and would allocate all state income tax money to  every school district equally based only on the number of students in each district.

Doherty fought crony capitalism and state taxpayer bailouts of failed private business ventures from the Xanadu Mall in the Meadowlands to the Revel Casino in  Atlantic City. And he stood with Atlantic City residents when Christie Republicans and Sweeney Democrats stripped them of their right to put Revel tax  abatements to a public vote.

If Chris Christie were anything like the conservative reformer he pretends to be, he would embrace someone like Mike Doherty and help him run against Democrat  Bob Menendez, the lackluster U.S. senator who is up for re-election this year.

But Christie is instead using all of his money, power and influence to keep Doherty out, and make pay-to-play hack Bob Kyrillos the Republican candidate against Menendez instead.

Because Mike Doherty consistently supported and defended the basic principles of  American liberty described at www.libertyandprosperity.org, he will be our guest  at our annual fundraising breakfast and reception Sunday, Feb. 26 at the  Carisbrooke Inn, 105 S. Little Rock Ave., Ventnor.

Seating is limited to 10, and tickets are $250. Tickets for the afternoon  reception are $75 per person or $100 per couple.

Because LibertyAndProsperity.org is recognized by the IRS as a tax deductible  educational charity, we do not and cannot endorse Mike Doherty or any candidates  for any public office.

But we need money from events like this to truthfully inform citizens when  officials like Mike Doherty effectively support and defend our principles.

We also need money from these events to teach ordinary citizens the skills they  need to become effective and winning candidates – like Mike Doherty.

(Reprinted from February 15, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/21180-new-jersey-need-more-candidates-like-mike-doherty.html)

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For  information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or  call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every  Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Northfield.

(Image Source – http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2009/06/medium_mike_Doherty.jpg)

1.  We will find out in two weeks!    Our major fundraiser is Sunday, February 26, at the Carisbrooke Inn, 105 S. Little Rock Ave., Ventnor, NJ.   Each of the ten tickets for breakfast with State Senator Mike Doherty is at 11 AM is $250.    Tickets for the 2PM to 4PM wine/cheese/gourmet appetizer/dessert reception with Senator Doherty, also at the Carisbrooke Inn later that day are $100 per couple, $75 per individual.

2.  Why is this fundraiser so important?   For eight years, we could only complain of  how the failure by government in New Jersey to apply basic principles of liberty, was killing the prosperity we once enjoyed here.    We did not have enough members or money to convince government officials to do the right thing.    Now, with more than 50,000 people reading the Liberty and Prosperity newspaper column each week,  1,600 people get this email update twice each month, and several thousand hear us on the radio each week.   We are finally  strong enough to make some serious changes in government—if we have enough money to get our message on radio and TV.

3.  Right now, we have $16,000 in our treasury on the eve of our major fundraiser—twice as much as we ever had.   Our goal is to raise $12,500 from that fundraiser, and collect $30 dues from over 100 more members  in the next two weeks so we have more than $30,000 in the bank by March 1.    With this money, we can make liberty known and respected in South Jersey once again.

4.  This is a very modest goal–But we need your help.   Please buy a ticket—or sell one!  And if you open our emails, read our newspaper columns, or hear us on the radio, please donate $30 each year (less than 60 cents a week) so we can be effective.

TOP ISSUES FOR 2012:

A.    Public hearings on “Smart Growth” this Monday, February 13, at , 6PM at Stockton College, in Galloway Township.    The NJ Department of Environmental Protection under  “Progressive” Republican Governor Chris Christie is proposing radical changes to zoning laws that are designed to replace the American Dream where each family decides where and how to live, with a “collective” nightmare.    State government plans to drive up land and home prices with “open space” purchases and oppressive regulations, so only the rich could afford cars and one family homes.   State officials  describe their “State Strategic Plan” (Part of United Nations “Agenda 21”) at http://www.state.nj.us/state/planning/plan-draft-final.html.    But you can learn the basics in a short video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzEEgtOFFlM.

B.  Please do some Google Searches on “Smart Growth” and “Agenda 21”, and give your opinions at that hearing!     We will discuss these issues in our breakfast discussions for the next several Saturdays.

C.  Stockton College has become a real stone in our shoe lately.    During the past two years, it has borrowed and spent $225 million on projects that do nothing to benefit students, and is now charging students and their families $24,000 per year for tuition, room, and board—double what it should be charging!    But it is also indoctrinating students to support new laws that will double our electric bills again.

D.   Right now, we in New Jersey pay double what we should pay for electricity, because 99% of electric customers are forced to pay hundreds of dollars every time “green energy” producers make $60 worth of electricity.    But there are new laws that will double electric rates again so that windmills can be built in the ocean, and solar panels can cover acres of farmland.

E.   On Friday, February 22, 2012, Stockton College is presenting a “Green Energy” symposium featuring President Obama’s Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson from 8AM to 3:30 P.M.   Stockton invited 13 speakers.   Every speaker is in favor of doubling electric rates again to pay for more “green energy”.  Two of them represent “green energy” corporations that will make huge profits if the new laws are past.    Not one opponent of this “rip-off” legislation was invited to speak.   Last year, Stockton College bragged that it got a one million dollar gift from an “anonymous” donor.   Now that Stockton is pushing for laws that will make huge profits for a handful of people, shouldn’t we know who that donor is?

F.  What to do?    It is obvious that Governor Christie and his Republicans  support both “Agenda 21” and the “Green Energy” rip-offs as much as Democrats like Senate President Steve Sweeney.

G.  Both the Republican and Democratic Parties are controlled by “County Chairmen” and “County Committee” members elected to four year terms in the June 5 Primary elections.  One U.S. Senator in New Jersey and all members of Congress are up for election.   The deadline for filing nominating petitions for any office is  64 days in advance, or 4PM of April 2, 2012.   For instructions on how to file a nominating petition, go to http://www.njelections.org/.    LibertyAndProsperity.org is NOT a political organization.   We do not support or opposed any candidates for public office.   But we do teach candidates how to run effective campaigns so they can win!           5.  BUSINESS AND BOARD MEETING ON THE SECOND SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH (THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11) AT 10:45 A.M.,  IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BREAKFAST DISCUSSION.   Business and Board meetings are open to all paid voting and non-voting members, although only voting member can vote.  At business meetings, we decide which events to sponsor,  who should take charge of them, and how our limited funds should be spent, etc.

6.  SETH GROSSMAN RADIO PROGRAM:   SATURDAY, 8AM to 9AM on WVLT, 92.1, Vineland.  The on air call-in number is 856-696-0092.   This station is heard in most of South Jersey, Philadelphia, and Wilmington, Delaware.    Jesse Kurtz of Atlantic City hosted the program last Saturday when Seth Grossman was on vacation.   We also sponsor a two minute presentation every day during the Rush Limbaugh program on WMID 1340AM Atlantic City and 1230AM Cape May.

7.   ABOUT STATE SENATOR MIKE DOHERTY—OUR FEATURED GUEST FOR OUR FEBRUARY 26 FUNDRAISER:   Mike Doherty is 48 years old, and a  graduate of West Point.   As an army captain, he commanded a battery of nuclear missiles in West Germany.   He then went to law school and became a patent attorney specializing  in semiconductor and medical technology.   In 2000,  Doherty was elected freeholder in Warren County.  In 2002, he became Freeholder Director.    In his three year term, Doherty’s Republican majority cut the tax rate by 23%, and paid down the county debt.    When a judge ordered Warren County freeholders to borrow $5 million for an unnecessary expansion of the county college,  Doherty defied that judge until the NJ Supreme Court agreed that the judge lacked power to issue the order.   Doherty was elected to the Assembly in 2001.  In 2009, he ran for the State Senate seat vacated by Leonard Lance.     He won even though he was opposed by Republican Party leaders and ran “off the line”.   In 2011, Doherty proposed the “Fair School Funding” Plan to distribute all state income tax equally per student.   Doherty may seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez.             8.   WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2012:   RALLY IN FRONT OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT  TO  OPPOSE  OBAMA’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL TAXES ON RENTS,  AND BEING FORCED TO BUY EXPENSIVE GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH INSURANCE     Steve Lonegan of Americans for Prosperity is running buses to the event for $10 per person.   However, if you register through us, that $10 will be paid to Liberty and Prosperity!    Find out how to be part of this historic event—and help our organization at the same time!

9.   SETH GROSSMAN COLUMN WAS “BUMPED” FROM MOST PRINT EDITIONS OF THE CURRENT AND GAZETTE NEWSPAPERS THIS WEEK.    The papers were filled with advertisements for Valentine’s Day.    However it did appear in some Atlantic County print editions and online at http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20938-progressive-treatment-of-atlantic-city-is-killing-the-patient.html.   See  also http://www.libertyandprosperity.org. “Three years after George Washington retired as our first president, he was still in excellent health at age 67. He rode on horseback around his large farm almost every day to inspect his fields, fences, buildings and livestock. “But after being out for five hours in heavy rain and snow on Dec. 12, 1799, Washington came down with a very bad cold, cough, and sore throat. Some of the best doctors in America rushed to treat him. “Today, we know that this is usually caused by germs that attack our bodies. The best treatment is rest, nourishment and liquids that help our immune system put white cells and other defenses into our bloodstream. “But Washington’s doctors were certain that “bad blood” was making him sick. So they cut Washington’s veins and removed more than five pints of his blood. Washington died from loss of blood within two days of this “treatment.” “George Washington’s doctors remind me of the clueless “experts” that Republican Gov. Christie hired to cure Atlantic City during the past two years. . . “ For full column, go to http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20938-progressive-treatment-of-atlantic-city-is-killing-the-patient.html.   See  also http://www.libertyandprosperity.org.

10. Liberty and Prosperity Ten Point Program:

I. No eminent domain for private gain. II. Enforce federal immigration laws. No amnesty. Deport illegal aliens. III. Make tax and zoning laws fair, simple, and apply them equally to everyone. IV. Cut taxes by cutting government spending. V. Post all government salaries, contracts and budgets online. VI. Repudiate (refuse to pay) all state government debts incurred without voter approval in violation of our State Constitution. Repudiate all federal government debts incurred for purposes not permitted by Article I, Section 8 of our Federal Constitution. VII. Bring “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” back to our public schools and local governments. Let parents apply taxpayer money spent to educate their children to the qualified schools they choose. Don’t force public employees to pay dues to unions they don’t want to join. Let elected officials again decide what salaries, pensions, and benefits to pay our public “servants”. VIII. Hold frequent non-binding referendums (public votes) on all issues of public importance. IX. Term limits for all elected officials. Pensions for none. X. Audit, reform or abolish the Federal Reserve Banking System and have Congress establish a stable currency secured by precious metals or assets with recognized and stable values. Have the United States withdraw from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and any organization which purports to require the U.S. Government to spend money without appropriation by Congress pursuant to the U.S. Liberty and Prosperity 1776, Inc. is a non-profit, education organization. We are registered and recognized by both the State of New Jersey and the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. “Our mission is to learn and teach why ‘Liberty and Prosperity’, New Jersey’s motto since 1776, is still true and relevant today — and how Americans can again be free and effective citizens.”

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS: Voting Members: $60 dues; attend 3 business meetings per year; work on one board approved project per year. Non-Voting Members: $30 per year; no attendance or volunteer requirements.

WHY ARE YOU RECEIVING THIS E-MAIL? At some point during the past three years, you, or someone who knew you, asked that we put your name on our e-mail list. If for any reason, you do not want to receive these communications from us, please contact us and we will immediately remove you from our list. If you agree with our mission, please forward this message to your friends and family. Thanks! Respectfully submitted: Seth Grossman, Executive Director, http://www.libertyandprosperity.org 453 Shore Road, Somers Point, NJ 08244, sethgrossman49@gmail.com. (609) 927-7333.

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Three years after George Washington retired as our first president, he was still in excellent health at age 67. He rode on horseback around his large farm almost every day to inspect his fields, fences, buildings and livestock.

But after being out for five hours in heavy rain and snow on Dec. 12, 1799,Washington came down with a very bad cold, cough, and sore throat. Some of the best doctors in America rushed to treat him.

Today, we know that this is usually caused by germs that attack our bodies. The best treatment is rest, nourishment and liquids that help our immune system put white cells and other defenses into our bloodstream.

But Washington’s doctors were certain that “bad blood” was making him sick. So they cut Washington’s veins and removed more than five pints of his blood.   Washington died from loss of blood within two days of this “treatment.”

George Washington’s doctors remind me of the clueless “experts” that Republican Gov. Christie hired to cure Atlantic City during the past two years.

Ever since 1854, when Jonathan Pitney and his investors built that first railroad, liberty was the lifeblood that brought success and prosperity to Atlantic City.

Once the railroad was built, anyone was free to buy whatever land they wanted on the empty, greenhead-infested island. Thousands of displaced farmers, poor immigrants from Europe, and freed black slaves from the south moved to Atlantic City and took advantage of that opportunity.

Until “progressives” like Democratic Gov. Woodrow Wilson took control ofNew Jersey government in 1910, government permits were not needed to build a house, a hotel – or a power plant. Or to sell liquor, run a casino, sell cocaine (then a key ingredient of Coca Cola), or grow and smoke a common “weed” now called marijuana.

Until New Jersey’s Governor Wilson became president in 1913, there was no federal income tax, Federal Reserve Bank or inflation. A dollar in 1913 had the same buying power as a dollar in the days when Thomas Jefferson was president.

Before the progressives took over, people who arrived broke and worked as carpenters, bricklayers, cooks and maids could and did earn, save and borrow enough money to buy land, build, and start their own businesses in a few years. Everyone was free to keep most of what they earned, since taxes were almost nonexistent.

Private donors and volunteer organizations provided libraries, hospitals, recreation facilities, and even food, clothing, housing, and medical care for the poor.

Back then, the term “public servant” meant something. People afraid of the risk and uncertainty of private jobs and businesses agreed to take less pay in exchange for job security and modest pensions.

But in spite of low taxes and low pay, Atlantic City’s public schools were so good that foreign diplomats who lived in Washington, D.C., sent their kids to our schools. Serious crime was almost nonexistent, and white tourists freely mingled with blacks walking to and from some of the town’s best nightclubs and gambling halls in the mostly black neighborhoods at all hours of the day and night.

The HBO TV series “Boardwalk Empire” is fiction. But it tells the true story of how progressive laws that deprived adults of their freedom to buy liquor created crime, murder, and abusive, expensive and corrupt government.

But other progressive laws were just as harmful. Progressive politicians had the government take over the work of highly effective and efficient volunteer groups and charities that provided good libraries, health care, recreation, food, housing, and college scholarships for people in need. This brought tax hikes, vote-buying, and attitudes of dependency and entitlement that hurt the economy and increased crime.

Atlantic Citygot progressive zoning and building laws in 1929. Before then, churches and bawdy houses were built next to each other, and both did well. Now, almost every new project violates some law, so almost every builder needs a special variance and must pay to play.

The obvious way to saveAtlantic  Cityis to have less government, lower taxes, and laws that let ordinary citizens again be free to build and open the businesses they want to invest in.

But Gov. Christie’s “experts” are killing Atlantic City with more of the “treatment” that made it sick in the first place: more government agencies in control of more things and needing more permits and approvals – and higher taxes and fees to pay for them – so only a few insiders with special deals can succeed.

(Reprinted from February 8, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20938-progressive-treatment-of-atlantic-city-is-killing-the-patient.html)

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Egg Harbor Township.

(Image source – http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2005_winter_spring/images/GWDeath.jpg)

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Some folks liked what Republican Gov. Chris Christie said inhis speech to legislators in Trenton two weeksago and at his “Town Hall Meeting” show last week in Vineland.

But I didn’t hear what the governor was saying because I wastoo busy looking at what he was doing.

During the past two years, Christie borrowed and spent likea Democrat – and raised tolls and local taxes to pay for it. He frozeprincipled conservatives like Steve Lonegan and Mike Doherty out of hisadministration. He used tribal affiliation (sex, race, ethnicity and sexualpreference) rather than merit to fill key positions. He rewarded the worstpay-to-play Democrats in the state with contracts, appointments and otherspecial deals that increased their power and allowed them to clobberRepublicans in the 2011 legislative elections – then bragged about hisbipartisanship. He failed to enforce immigration laws and did almost nothing touncover and prosecute political corruption.

Is Republican Gov. Chris Christie doing a great job? Or ishe a pathetic fool (or brazen swindler) like Democrat Jon Corzine? Let’scompare on a few key issues.

State government debt

The Panic of 1837 was an economic collapse caused bypay-to-play politics, aka public-private partnership, and out-of-controlborrowing by state government. That’s why New Jerseyadopted a new state constitution in 1844 that made it illegal for stategovernment to borrow money without a vote of the people. But starting in the 1960sRepublicans and Democrats used gimmicks and loopholes to incur roughly $160billion worth of debts and unfunded pension obligations without voter approval.

Democrat Jon Corzine recognized that this was a big problem.But his “solution” was to pay down this old debt by selling the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike and AtlanticCity Expressway for $38 billion and then raising tolls by 800 percent.

The Republican governor doesn’t think this is a problem, andhas no solution. His “pension reform” was a joke, because it only applies tonew hires and does nothing about baby boomers who are about to bankrupt thepension funds.

State taxes

New Jersey had nosales or income tax until Democrats gave us the 3 percent sales tax in 1966 andthe 2 percent income tax of 1976. Republican governors took the sales tax to 5percent and the income tax to 3.5 percent. “Evil” Democratic Gov. Jim Floriotook the income tax to 7 percent in 1991; then “good” Republican Gov. ChristineWhitman only took it down to 6.37 percent in 1996 – still almost double what itwas before. Most economists agree that New Jersey’sexpensive government and high taxes are killing jobs in this state.

Corzine shut the casinos to get the sales tax up to 7percent. He then set up various “public-private partnerships” so that selectedbusinesses with good political connections got taxpayer-funded, low-cost loansand tax breaks.

Christie kept Corzine’s 7 percent sales tax hike in placeand increased parkway and turnpike tolls by 50 percent. Lincoln and HollandTunnel tolls jumped to $12. Like Corzine, Christie also gave taxpayer loans andtax breaks to selected businesses like the Revel Casino.

Christie now wants a 10 percent income tax cut. This isanother sick joke.

All income tax money goes to the state’s Property Tax ReliefFund. Two-thirds of that fund pays for schools in 32 of the 586 towns in thestate. In two years, Christie failed to change that deal. So any cut in theincome tax just means even less state money – and higher property taxes – for Republicantowns and suburbs.

In the past 30 years, bad and very political rulings by theNew Jersey Supreme Court allowed $160 billion of state debt without voterapproval, forced billions of state money to bail out Democratic politicians in32 mismanaged towns, and forced low-income housing into every town. Christiecould have turned this around by picking three strong, principled conservativesfor the Supreme Court. But he used tribal affiliation, not merit and principle,to make his picks: a woman, an immigrant, and one justice who is both black andgay.

Under Democrats McGreevey, Codey and Corzine, New Jerseygot the fourth-highest electric rates in the country by forcing utilities topay $600 every time solar panels and windmills produce $60 worth ofelectricity. But Republican Christie wants us to pay even more – by buildingeven more solar panels, and windmills in the ocean.

In his speeches, Christie brags that he is doing a great job,just like Corzine did.

(Reprinted from February 1, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20692-christie-borrows-and-spends-like-a-democrat.html )

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Last November,Atlantic Citygovernment had to pay $34.6 million in tax refunds to several casinos that appealed their tax assessments. Instead of cutting spending or raising taxes to come up with that money, local officials borrowed $38.5 million and agreed to pay $4 million in interest.

Last week, Cape May County Chief Financial Officer Ed Grant saidCape MayCountyis short money because of an “unprecedented” drop inCape MayCountyproperty values. But instead of drastic cuts in spending, county officials are proposing tax hikes.

But the real problem in both cases is taxation without representation.

WhenNew Jerseyvoters approved casino gambling, most people thought real estate taxes would go down inAtlantic City, since casinos would be paying so much of them.  But it didn’t work out that way, because state law banned virtually everyone in the casino industry from being involved in politics in any way.

Casino companies, unlike racetrack owners, cannot contribute to political campaigns. Most casino employees are barred from running as candidates. And because the politicians on the Casino Control Commission can yank the license of any casino and destroy a $2 billion investment like the Tropicana at any time, casino executives won’t even talk aboutNew Jerseypolitics.

Casinos are heavily involved inNevadapolitics. But did you ever hear any casino executive complain that it costsAtlantic City$216 million each year to run its local government for 40,000 residents? Did anyNew Jerseycasino suggest cutting any of the $153 millionAtlantic  Cityspends on its public schools each year? For years, casino companies were even afraid to appeal their tax assessments.

Because most casinos rushed to open during the boom years, they grossly overpaid to assemble their land. And they paid too much for the “right” lawyers, consultants, contractors and unions with the right connections to quickly get their government permits and approvals. As a result, most casino properties inAtlantic Citywere never worth anywhere near what it cost to build them.

But for 20 yearsAtlantic City’s assessor taxed them based on the inflated prices they paid to buy and build them. Meanwhile, everyone else in town was assessed at current fair market values.

The result was that casinos paid 60 percent to 80 percent ofAtlantic  City’s real estate taxes – two to three times what they should have been paying. This led to taxation without representation for the casinos, and representation without taxation for most voters.

Most voters inAtlantic Citylive in tax-free or tax-abated housing, qualify for senior citizen tax breaks, or have high-pay jobs or contracts with the local government or public schools.

But now casinos must deal with a bad economy and out-of-state competition. As casinos like Resorts, Trump Marina and Hilton sell for a fraction of their assessed value, they are proving in court that they are overtaxed and entitled to refunds.

To avoid disaster,Atlantic Cityofficials must immediately shrink the size and salaries of local government to what they would be without casinos. OtherwiseAtlantic Citywill continue its death spiral. As more casinos fail (except for the Revel, which has tax abatements), the city will collect less in taxes. Without big spending cuts, the city must raise taxes even more, and force more of the surviving casinos and other businesses to fail.  Which will cause even more tax hikes.

The same thing is going on inCape   MayCounty. During the casino and real estate boom, lots of out-of-towners bought big vacation homes at grossly inflated prices. County and local governments then used taxes from those vacation homes to give big pay hikes, hire more people, and borrow more money to buy more things.  Local politicians didn’t care since most of the new spending was paid for with taxes from people who didn’t vote.

But nowCape MayCountywill also be in a death spiral, unless there are quick, drastic cuts in spending. As more out-of-towners unload their vacation homes, values go down. And if taxes keep going up, even more out-of-towners will sell, causing even lower property values and higher taxes next year.

Its chief financial officer said these drops in property values were “unprecedented;” that property values in Cape May County had “hit bottom” and are about to “turn around.”

But those of us who know that only liberty brings prosperity and that taxation without representation is tyranny know that this is only the beginning.

(Reprinted from January 25, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20443-atlantic-city-cape-may-county-caught-in-financial-death-spiral.html )

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Egg Harbor Township.

(Image source – http://business.outlookindia.com/dailyimages/131208/death-spril.jpg )

Each week, President Dennis Mahon puts together a fantastic agenda for the breakfast meeting.   Even apart from the meeting it is filled with great information and worth reading.

Click here for the 21 January Saturday Agenda.

Also, e-mail dmahon1@yahoo.com to both suggest content for the weekly agenda and to start receiving them via e-mail.

On Jan. 19, 2008 Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine hosted a “town hall meeting” at the Middle Township Performing Arts Center in Cape May Court House.

Four years later, the taxpayers of Middle Township just paid a total of $100,000 to LibertyAndProsperity.org, nine of our members and our lawyers because their public school and police officials would not let us display signs or hand out literature there.

Corzine came to Middle Township to win support for his complicated plan for the state to borrow $38 billion, without a public vote, by “leasing” its three toll roads – the Parkway, Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway – to a dummy agency set up by Wall Street. This money, plus interest, would be paid back with 800 percent toll hikes for the next 99 years.

Corzine said he wanted that money to pay down New Jersey’s enormous debt of $115 billion. Corzine said the state owed $30 billion in bonds, $60 billion to the pension funds for state, county, local and employees, and $25 billion to give free health benefits for life to retired public school teachers.

At that time, Jon Corzine was popular and respected by Democrats and Republicans alike in the state Legislature. In 2000, Corzine spent $62 million of his own money to win the Democratic nomination, and then election to the U.S. Senate. In 2005 he quit the U.S. Senate and spent $38 million more to win the Democratic primary and then the November election to be governor of New Jersey.

Corzine made roughly $300 million to $400 million between 1994 and 1999 when he and Henry Paulson (who later invented the Troubled Asset Relief Program as secretary of the Treasury for Republican President George Bush) were co-chairmen of the Wall Street firm of Goldman Sachs.

Corzine and Paulson replaced former Goldman Sachs CEO Robert Rubin, who left to become secretary of the Treasury under newly elected Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Jon Corzine made buckets of money for Goldman Sachs by gambling on risky investments that never failed – because Bill Clinton’s Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury were always there to bail them out.

Henry Paulson also scored big for Goldman Sachs, spending years in China cultivating personal ties with communist leaders and getting them sweetheart deals from the Clinton White House.

Corzine first tried to sell his toll hike scheme in 2007. But his traffic accident speeding back from the Pinky Kravitz radio program in Atlantic City delayed his plans. Corzine again tried to win public support for his plan in January of 2008. He set up 21 town hall meetings, one in each county.

The first three in North Jersey worked as planned. Corzine was prepared and stated facts – complete with pie charts and slick graphics. Articulate critics like Steve Lonegan were barred from participation. Those who were unprepared, uninformed or who rambled on about pet causes that had nothing to do with the governor’s plan could talk as long as they liked.

We of Libertyand Prosperity worked closely with former Mayor Steve Lonegan of Bogota to research the facts. We prepared signs and literature that taught the “inconvenient truths” never mentioned by the governor.

We wrote that New Jersey taxpayers didn’t owe $115 billion as Corzine claimed. Court cases and our state Constitution say we only owe the $3 billion in debts approved by voters.

We wrote that it was stupid to add $38 billion of new debt at higher interest rather than pay down $38 billion at lower interest – unless you were a Wall Street insider sharing the 1 percent “transaction fees” ($380 million)!

We wrote that a similar scheme bankrupted Argentinain 1998, while making big profits for Goldman Sachs.

Our signs were not in anyone’s way. We politely handed our literature only to those who wanted it. We did not shout, or push or confront anyone.

Supporters of Corzine’s plan were permitted to hand out their literature and display their signs inside; they were even given a table to sign up volunteers.

One hour before Corzine was to speak, Board of Education official Walter Landgraf and the police told only our Liberty and Prosperity group to get our signs and literature off their “private” property, or be arrested.

The others put their stuff away, or moved 100 yards away. I and Lonegan stayed, and we were arrested. Our group (but not Lonegan) sued the Middle Township Police and Board of Education. Several weeks ago, they both agreed to pay us and our lawyers a total of $100,000.

Once again, innocent taxpayers – not guilty officials – were punished.

(Reprinted from 18 January, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20315-taxpayers-pay-for-public-officials-misdeeds.html)

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Egg Harbor Township, NJ.

(Image source – http://www.bobdorigojones.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Tax-Bill.jpg)

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the  press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the  Government for a redress of grievances.”

This First Amendment, adopted on Dec. 15, 1791, is the most important part of  the Constitution. With free speech and press, we can be informed when government officials violate other parts of the Constitution. And we can inform others any way we can, and form organizations strong enough to either make them stop – or vote them out of office.

Without the absolute right to freely speak, assemble and organize, a constitution is useless. The Soviet Union under the dictator Stalin had a  constitution that gave its citizens all sorts of rights. But anyone who reported violations of those rights or who tried to organize any opposition to the government was killed or sent to prison.

Last week Norm Cohen, my fellow columnist, wrote that he, and others with him on the left, want to “take the money out of politics.” They include filmmaker Michael Moore and MSNBC commentator Dylan Ratigan.

They want us to lobby for a new amendment to our Constitution with these four provisions:

“All elections for president and members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate shall be publicly financed.”

That means the people who already run the government would force all of us to pay taxes to support their campaigns for re-election – even if many of us despise them.

“No political expenditures shall be permitted in support of any federal candidate, or in opposition to any federal candidate, from any other source, including the candidate. Nothing in this section shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.”

That means we would only have the right to share our political opinions with friends over the telephone or a cup of coffee. If we were to spend any of our own money to tell others how we feel by printing and mailing out leaflets, putting out signs, or paying for ads on radio, TV, or a newspaper, we could be arrested and fined as criminals. And the owners and managers of any newspaper, radio or TV station could also be punished or shut down.

“Nothing in this section shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.”

Oh really? Would all newspapers be allowed to freely support or oppose  candidates just before the election, or just certain “selected” newspapers?  Could candidates set up their own newspapers and mail them out to every voter before the election? Or would some new government agency issue licenses to only  those newspapers it found to be “genuine”? Would a liberal government official give such a “freedom of the press” license to a conservative talk radio host like me? Would liberals like Michael Moore (or conservatives like Citizens United) still be free to show movies that boost some candidates or trash others?  What about newsletters or websites by unions or other groups?

“Congress shall, by statute, provide limitations on the amounts and timing of  the expenditures of such public funds and provide criminal penalties for any violation of this section.”

The president and each of the 100 U.S. senators and 435 members of Congress together spend more than a billion of our tax dollars each year on travel, mailing and personal staff members who do favors for voters and who get them to look good on every local TV station and newspaper so they can get re-elected. Would they agree to “public” financing that would give their challengers enough money to knock them out of office?

What happens when we take big corporate money out of politics? In 1978,  Republicans and Democrats pushed through state laws that forbid casino companies  and most casino employees from spending any money or doing anything else to  support or oppose any candidates or government officials in Atlantic City.

The people who paid 80 percent of the taxes had no voice in government, while  people who paid no taxes controlled it.

This gave Atlantic City one of the most corrupt, mismanaged and expensive local governments in the country. It spends $216 million each year on its 39,558  residents. Its public schools spend $167 million each year ($20,875 per  student), but its high school is ranked by www.schooldigger.com at the bottom 11  percent of New Jersey schools.

We need more people involved in political campaigns – not more government  control over them.

(Reprinted from January 11, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/20023-public-financing-of-elections-would-abridge-freedom-of-speech-and-press.html )

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For  information see www.libertyandprosperity.org,  email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or  call (609) 927-7333 . Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every  Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Northfield.

(Image source – http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3338/3646066933_37b6f79754_z.jpg )

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Last week, a poll by Rasmussen Reports found that only 5 percent of Americans say Congress is doing a good job; 68 percent say Congress is doing a poor job.

There are 535 elected officials in the two branches of the U.S. Congress. The Senate has 100 members (two from each state) with six-year terms. One ofNew   Jersey’s senators, Democrat Bob Menendez, is up for election this year.

The House of Representatives has 435 members – one for each of the 435 congressional districts around the country. Each district has roughly 646,000 people. All 435 House members are up for election this year – including Republican Frank LoBiondo who represents the 2nd District of New Jersey’s 12 congressional districts. We used to have 13, butNew Jerseylost one because so many people moved out of our state during the past 10 years.

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution gives very short two-year terms to members of the House. That is because Article I, Section 7 requires all laws that collect taxes or borrow money to originate in the House. The founders of our country wanted this branch of Congress to closely represent the will of the people.

Although most Americans have opposed what Congress is doing for many years, 85 to 90 percent of all members of Congress who run for re-election win re-election anyway.  This is because most Americans think their own congressman is doing a great job, and that only the members of Congress in the other 434 districts are messing up.

Why? Just look at our own congressman, Republican Frank LoBiondo.

Most taxpayers are OK with paying him, and all 435 House members, a salary of $174,000 per year, and lifetime pensions based on their three highest salaries after just five years in office. The longer they stay in office, the fatter the pensions.

Most Americans want term limits for Congress, but just getting rid of these pensions would do the job.

According to www.legistorm.com, we also pay salaries of $1 million a year to the personal office staffs of each House member.

We pay 17 people in LoBiondo’s offices an average of $58,820 each.  They have titles like scheduler, veterans’ liaison, caseworker, etc. This means their main job is to schmooze and do favors for local voters – so those voters feel a personal obligation to support him for re-election.

And if you browse LoBiondo’s “official website” at http://lobiondo.house.gov/press-releases, you will notice that almost all of the positive “news” of the congressman in local newspapers, radio, and TV is written by LoBiondo’s $100,000-per-year press secretary, Jason Galanes.

Is Frank LoBiondo responsible for the mess in Congress? Of course he is. Just before the last election in 2010, when Republicans took back control of the House, I asked LoBiondo if he would vote to dump House Republican leader John Boehner after the election.

I thought it was a fair question. After all, Boehner’s out-of-control spending, pay-to-play, leadership and ramming through the Wall Street bailouts let Democrats clobber Republicans and take control in the elections of 2006 and 2008.

But LoBiondo looked at me like I had two heads when he said it was unthinkable to replace Boehner.

Two months later, LoBiondo voted with Boehner to block spending cuts in the lame duck session of 2010. In January 2011, LoBiondo voted to make Boehner the new speaker of the House. Three months later, LoBiondo supported Boehner’s deal that broke the Republican campaign promise to cut $100 billion from the federal budget. In July, LoBiondo voted with Boehner to raise the $14.2 trillion ($14,200,000,000,000) debt ceiling. That allowed the federal government to be $15.2 trillion in debt just five months later.

Just last month, LoBiondo supported Boehner’s latest deal with Democrats that now allows the 47 percent of Americans don’t pay any federal income tax to also avoid the “payroll tax” that funds Social Security.

As long as Boehner is leading Republicans in Congress, nothing will change. And as long most Republicans in Congress are like Frank LoBiondo, Boehner will continue to lead House Republicans.

There are more than 200,000 adult citizens in our congressional District. So far, only Mike Assad of Absecon and Gary Stein of Mullica said they will run against LoBiondo.

Assad’s website says he is 24, was twice elected to the Absecon School Board, and “attended”Stockton. It doesn’t say if he ever graduated or held a real job. Stein has run five frivolous and losing campaigns for Congress, governor and Assembly.

Is that the best we can do?

(Reprinted from January 5, 2012 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/19886-blame-lobiondo-and-others-like-him-for-the-mess-in-congress.html)

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m. Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m. every Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Egg Harbor Township.

(Image source – http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tz2ZwgNrf2c/Sv0T2W7WPHI/AAAAAAAAAyU/xOmllCRzU5M/s400/government03.jpg)

By Seth Grossman, Political Columnist

Those who follow local talk radio know that my last afternoon “Liberty and Prosperity” program on WOND Radio 1400 AM was on Wednesday, Dec. 7 – Pearl Harbor Day.

A major programming change put Harry Hurley, my fellow columnist, on  WOND from noon to 4 p.m. every weekday as of Monday, Jan. 2.

As part of that change, WOND also dropped the national Rush Limbaugh  program, which it had run weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. for more than 20  years. Limbaugh is now heard at that same time on WMID 1340 AM, in  Atlantic City.  WMID will also carry a “Best of Rush” program on Saturday  mornings.

Matt “Matworld” Toenniessen, who shared the weekday 3 to 4 p.m.  afternoon timeslot with me after Rush for more than a year, moved to  weekday evenings on WOND from 8 to 10 p.m. I was also offered part of  that evening timeslot, but I declined.

I will continue the LibertyandProsperity.org program on WVLT 92.1FM in Vineland every Saturday morning from 8 to 9 a.m. That station can be heard in most of South  Jersey.

This shakeup in local talk radio teaches some important lessons about liberty – and the talk radio business.

For years, Norm Cohen, my fellow columnist on the left, complained  how “powerful” talk radio is dominated by conservatives like Rush  Limbaugh and me. He often wished that liberals like him could do their own liberal program.

But they can if they want. Unlike in most countries, the government doesn’t control private radio stations in the United States. In fact, we now have more liberty than ever when it comes to talk radio.

When radio first became profitable in the 1920s, thousands of Americans started hundreds of commercial radio stations around the country. They built the most powerful transmitters they could afford,  and broadcast on whatever frequencies they wanted.

The result was chaos. The signal of every station interfered with every other station, and no station could be heard clearly. To fix this problem, Herbert Hoover, the “progressive” secretary of commerce under Republican President Calvin Coolidge, got Congress to adopt the Federal Radio Act of 1927.

This new law made it a crime to broadcast radio signals without a license. A new Federal Radio Commission appointed by the president and the U.S. Senate would decide how many licenses to issue, who would get  them, and the locations, frequency, and power of every radio station in  the country.

At first, this limitation on each individual’s freedom to start a  radio station preserved liberty. Almost anyone could get a license by  proving that his or her signal would not “interfere” with the signal of  any other station. And each radio listener was free to listen to the  clear signal of the station of his or her choice, without such  interference.

But federal politicians quickly learned how to influence the FCC.  That federal agency soon limited licenses to restrict competition and guarantee profits for selected license holders in key markets. It made complicated regulations that required expensive lawyers and consultants.  It also seemed to grant and revoke (or threaten to revoke) broadcast licenses in ways that advanced the careers of certain politicians with  ties to the FCC.

One of them was Lyndon Johnson. He was broke when he was first  elected to Congress in 1937. But within 12 years, he was one of the richest and most powerful members of the U.S. Senate. He got his wealth when his wife bought a cheap radio station – that quickly became the most powerful and profitable station in Texas – after getting FCC permits nobody else could get.

But in the 1970s competition from new FM radio stations created a free market in AM radio. Then, in 1987, the FCC, under Republican  President Ronald Reagan, ended the Fairness Doctrine and other regulations that made it very difficult and expensive to broadcast anything political or controversial. This allowed small local stations  to make money on low-budget live talk radio, and even more money from  national shows like the new Rush Limbaugh program in 1988.

That is why it made sense for the owner of 1340AM to quickly pick up the Rush Limbaugh program. And why I think it makes sense for another  local radio or TV station to sell time to LibertyAndProsperity.org so we can put our message back on the airwaves. And why Norm Cohen can put his Left’s Turn on the radio whenever he is willing to sell some ads and buy the time.

Liberty is a wonderful thing. Let’s keep it on the radio.

(Reprinted from 28 December, 2011 Current-Gazette Newspapers of Atlantic and Cape May Counties, http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/politics/19636-lets-keep-liberty-on-the-radio.html)

Somers Point attorney Seth Grossman appears on 92.1FM 8-9 a.m.  Saturday. For information see www.libertyandprosperity.org, email
sethgrossman49@gmail.com
or call (609) 927-7333. Breakfast discussions are held 9:30-10:30 a.m.  every Saturday at the Shore Diner on Fire and Tilton roads in Egg Harbor Township.

(Image source – http://www.campaignforliberty.com/userfiles/10051pic.jpg)