I should be on debate stage, too
On May 5, two of the three candidates on the ballot for New Jersey’s 8th District Democratic Congressional Primary will participate in a debate hosted by the NJ Globe. Despite being the second candidate to enter the race, and being at around 10% in the polls, I am being excluded from participating in this debate.
The Globe has decided that the people of NJ 08 should not hear from one of their three candidates for reasons that have not been explained to me. A candidate who, despite being an underdog, has a growing percentage of the voters’ support. While our lawmakers and press rightfully rally to support the democracy in Ukraine, here at home, we silence an independent candidate running in his first election.
I believe in democracy, and I believe that the people of NJ 08 deserve to hear from all the candidates on the ballot. If the people decide I am unworthy of their votes, then they will be free to support one of the other two candidates.
Kyle Jasey, Jersey City, Candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District
Editor’s note: The debate is sponsored by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, and the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
World dictators could learn from Dems
There are leaders around the world who are marked as dictators for their raw tactics used against their challengers; instead they should pay attention to Democrats. They are using the legal system to stop President Donald Trump. If successful, he would lose his money and maybe go to prison.
Dem operatives are using the Manhattan district attorney to prosecute Trump for paying off a porn star; it doesn’t matter that former president Bill Clinton did something similar and also lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton escaped with a fine because he wears the letter “D.”
I think members of Congress both present and retired are shaking in their boots; they used taxpayers’ money to pay off their scandals. Once this door is open, there is no turning back.
The beauty of this trial is the gag order which denies the former president his First Amendment right.
Dictators can look at bank statements of their opponents, which is what Democratic Attorney General Letitia James did. She prosecuted Trump over the value of his properties from bank loans. She ran for office not to uphold law and order but to get Donald Trump. Now she wants his bond denied by the courts.
Many experts in the legal and banking fields said there is no crime, but the goal is to bankrupt the former president and take his properties.
In case there is a mistrial or a win favoring the former president, there is always the case in Georgia. Donald Trump and his associates are charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election. This charge is presented as an indictment against a criminal enterprise. But we will ignore that the fact DA Fani Willis keeps cash in her house, something real criminals do to avoid a paper trail. Willis admitted to this in court while explaining her improper relationship with the prosecutor she picked to go after Trump.
The strangest case is the feds showing up at Trump’s Florida home, accusing him of taking papers that belong to the federal government. Yet Sen. and later Vice President Joe Biden was accused of the same thing. The difference is the former president does have the legal authority to declassify papers while Sen. and later Vice President Biden did not. This is probably the weakest of all of the cases but if that fails, Dems can look at Donald Trump’s record at college. Just maybe, he cheated on an exam.
So, dictators around the world, you now have a blueprint, courtesy of the Democratic Party, of how to get rid of your enemy and keep your hands clean.
Yvonne Balcer, Jersey City
Send letters to the editor and guest columns for The Jersey Journal to jjletters@jjournal.com.
