NEW JERSEY COALITION FOR DEMOCRACY REFORM INC

A fully volunteer, non-partisan,
501(c)(3) non-profit working to unite
New Jersey in support of
comprehensive democracy reform.

The situation isn't good in New Jersey.  Our property taxes are the highest in the United States, we're the 2nd worst state to retire in, and the people that control who gets elected have left us dead last in the country for our state's fiscal health.  If you live in New Jersey, make no mistake, your quality of life isn't as good as it could be.

On the other hand, our two dominant political parties have it pretty good with our state as their playground!  A book was written about it, it’s called “Soft Corruption” , here’s a review by Irwin S. Stoolmacher in this guest column at NJ.com.  Don't misunderstand me, the two-party system isn't as much to blame for what is wrong with New Jersey as it is the two parties themselves, especially the people from both parties that act as party committee leaders at the state, county, and municipal levels.

Those are the people that have the power to fix literally everything that is wrong with how we execute the functions of democracy in New Jersey.  By simply releasing New Jersey's Republican and Democratic legislators from their obligation to covet and protect political power at all costs, laws that return that power to voters could be introduced, passed, and the process of building effective and equitable government for all of New Jersey could begin in earnest.

But, let's be honest, it's never going to happen.  Just in the past few weeks, we witnessed yet another political power grab that moved good governance even farther out of reach of NJ voters when the oddly named “Elections Transparency Act” was passed and signed into law by Governor Murphy.

The truth is, our current state legislators will never be allowed to dismantle the machine that endorsed their candidacies, the machine that gave them an insurmountable advantage on election ballots, that excluded almost 40% of legally registered voters from participating in primary elections, and that willfully facilitates the promotion of toxic ideas from the RNC and DNC that are detrimental to our state and local politics.

It's.  Never.  Going.  To.  Happen.

But, as the great philosopher Frank Sinatra said;

Are you happy that your taxes are funding a wasteful, ineffective, and corrupt government?  Are you content knowing that being a student, a business owner, a reliable employee, a parent, or retiree is harder in New Jersey because every person elected is beholden first and foremost to a political machine instead of the people they are supposed to represent?  As I said, the situation in New Jersey isn’t good but it won’t change until determined people of conscience from across the political spectrum decide they’ve had enough and are ready to fight back!

If you are ready to get into the fray and fight back from within, I invite, no, I urge you to join me on Saturday, April 29 for “The Basics”, a one day training event “for those interested in learning how to best prepare to run for office, work on a campaign or effectively lead on an issue in their community.”

This event is being run by The Campaign School At Yale University and is hosted by The League of Women Voters of Livingston, NJ.  

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, SEATING IS LIMITED

Send me an email ([email protected]) after you've registered and we'll plan to meet before the training.  If there are enough of us we can try to meet somewhere local for coffee and a quick bite to eat.  I'll have NJCDR pins for you and I'll be interested to hear why you're participating.

Thanks for reading and I'll be hoping to see you there!!

Bart Cocchiola
ED, NJCDR
www.PTTP.buzz

New Jersey Coalition For Democracy Reform Inc
2 Emley Road
Pittstown, New Jersey  08867

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