Republican congressional candidate Seth Grossman attended a forum on immigration policies at Bethany Grace Community Church in Bridgeton last night. As one might have expected, given the numerous attacks on Grossman over statements the candidate has made about diversity, and more recently attacks over social media posts he shared, there was a small gathering of protestors waiting for his arrival.

Based on a video posted to Grossman’s Facebook page it can be assumed at least one person blocked the walkway to the church given that Grossman stopped, turned and stepped between two small shrubs to gain access to the walkway.

In the video a man films himself and clearly states, “We asked the organizers to remove him from the panel, but were told it’s not in the interest free speech and instead they want to allow to give him a platform to spout his racism and intolerant bigotry…”

His characterization of Grossman is far different than that of someone who actually knows him, Atlantic County Chairman Keith Davis recently told Politico in a statement, “You can say many things about Seth Grossman, but the man doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.”

In the Politico piece Davis went on to say, “[Grossman is] no more racist ... than Senator Van Drew is a homophobe for opposing gay marriage or a xenophobe for opposing sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.”

Based on other videos of the event posted on social media it appears folks inside the church were respectful. As to the protestors, considering they asked event organizers to rescind their invitation to Grossman, they obviously only care about freedom of speech for themselves and not for people they disagree with.

Camden County Republican freeholder candidates aren’t going to let the saga of former Assemblyman Arthur Barclay just fade away. Today the campaign of Keith Cybulski, Vincent Squire and Claire Gustafson went after their opponents in a press release. It's starting to look like this could become a spirited race.

The release follows:

News Report Released Yesterday Regarding Former Assemblyman’s Arrest Raises More Questions
CCGOP freeholder candidates want answers

CHERRY HILL – Last month, after it was learned then-assemblyman Arthur Barclay was arrested for simple assault during a domestic incident, Camden County Republican Party officials questioned why Camden County Democratic Party officials kept the situation quiet for 11 days. They also questioned the truthfulness of a county and police department spokesman who claimed they “were just made aware of the incident” when Republicans knew about it for days before county government’s admission.

Late yesterday, a report was published, with police video, that Camden County Republican freeholder candidates Keith Cybulski, Vincent Squire and Claire Gustafson say still leaves unanswered questions.

“While we don’t want to pile on Mr. Barclay as he deals with his personal issues we believe it is important that county government is transparent in how they deal with the fact that he is a county employee,” Keith Cybulski said. “The same county and police department spokesman who claimed they were just made aware of the situation promised it would be ‘investigated by human resources as a personnel matter.” However, yesterday afternoon a report was published that stated Barclay still holds his nearly $60,000 a year county job.”

“The freeholders up for re-election should be asking the questions we’re asking,” Vincent Squire added. “Simply saying there will be an investigation isn’t enough.”

Squire asked, “Was an investigation launched? If so, what was the outcome of that investigation?  Why did the machine Democrats try to keep this quiet in the first place? Was Barclay at least suspended pending the outcome of the investigation? Is this just another case of Camden County machine politics where they sweep their problems under the rug?”

“We don’t know what the outcome of Barclay’s scheduled July 20th court appearance will be,” Claire Gustafson said. “But, we do know he admitted to a reporter ‘it happened,’ and county residents have the right to know if a man who admitted to punching his girlfriend in the face, for whatever reason, is still on the county’s payroll, especially in the age of the MeToo movement. We also know that if Barclay were a Republican the machine Democrats would be calling for his head. Why the double standard? I know my running mates and I would never allow this to be swept under the rug and I hope our opponents feel the same.”

​# # #

While scanning the internet looking for something to write about today, I stumbled upon this gem introduced by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman: H.R. 6266 – Enhancing Public Access to Feminine Hygiene Products Act.

The legislation reads, “A BILL To amend title 40 to require the Administrator of General Services to make feminine hygiene products available in restrooms in public buildings, and for other purposes.”

Watson Coleman’s bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

One has to ask what the Representative thinks “other purposes” are. Fortunately, lots of folks already did the research on that question and one woman went so far as to list 76 alternative uses for tampons on her blog.

​This is the kind of legislation you get when electoral districts are drawn to be uncompetitive.

Late yesterday, after the group Media Matters put out a piece stating that GOP congressional candidate Seth Grossman “promoted white nationalist propaganda,” NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers called on Grossman to get out of the race saying, “The NRCC withdraws our support of Seth Grossman and calls on him to reconsider his candidacy.”
 
A short while ago, Grossman fired back calling on Stivers to resign.
 
Grossman’s press release follows:
 
Grossman Hits Backs, Says NRCC Needs New Leaders in Tune with the Trump Era

Somers Point, NJ - Republican Congressional candidate Seth Grossman today hit back at NRCC Chair Steve Stivers and said that Stivers should resign over his failure to support Pro-Trump candidates -- a trend that if continued would lead to Democrats taking House control in the Fall election.

"Instead of calling on me to get out of the race, the NRCC should support candidates who support the President’s Agenda.   They should stop giving ammo to the radical left to use against Republican candidates," Grossman said. “Steve Stivers should resign immediately for failure to support the President and his Agenda.”

Grossman, a strong Trump supporter and thorn in the side to the GOP Establishment, doubled down on attacks against him this week.

"These silly attacks are simply bizarre to both friend and foe who have known me for decades here in Atlantic County," Grossman said.  "I've been an outspoken opponent of racism and anti-Semitism for decades -- everyone knows that.  But what is just crazy is how the National Republican Party is freaking out over sharing a post from Allen West, a retired Black Army Commander,” declared Seth.

“In 2014, the same Media Matters falsely attacking me, led the call to protest our police officers, leading to many of their deaths,” Grossman said. “Republican leaders in Washington, and career politicians like Jeff Van Drew, should apply the same standards to those whose false and hateful generalizations helped cause the deaths of 126 police officers in 2016.”

​"Republicans have to stop worrying about offending people and start telling the truth about some of the problems we have in this country," Grossman said.  "President Trump won because he recognized what 17 other Republican candidates and the NRCC chair didn't see – that Americans want straight talk, not weak and timid career politicians afraid to tell the truth."

​Former Cumberland County GOP Chairman And Political Operative Reunite
Greco and Kush come together to host talk radio program
 
VINELAND – Former Cumberland County GOP Chairman Robert “Bob” Greco and Republican political operative Steve Kush announced today they have reunited to co-host The Bob and Steve Show, a talk radio program to air Saturday mornings from 7:00 – 8:00 A.M. on WVLT Crusin’ 92.1 beginning July 14.
 
Bob Greco and Steve Kush first joined forces in 2009 shortly after Greco became chairman of the Cumberland County Regular Republican Organization. Despite being told by many they faced an uphill battle the two, in a very short time, with the help of candidates who bought into their plans managed to turn a 7 – 0 Democratic controlled freeholder board to a 4 – 3 Republican majority.
 
The two plan for The Bob and Steve Show to feature a combination of live on-the-air guests and pre-recorded interviews with all shows available as podcasts at BobandSteveShow.com and livestreamed on wvlt.com. Controversial issues are guaranteed. The pair have congressional candidate Seth Grossman scheduled as their first guest.
 
“When the opportunity to host a talk radio show presented itself I couldn’t say no,” Bob Greco said. “And, when it came to a co-host, I thought who loves controversy and, Steve’s name immediately came to mind. I think when word gets out about our show people will tune in just to see if Kush can make it through an hour without dropping any F-bombs.”
 
Greco continued, “In the past, we brought some controversial topics to light and had much success, we’ll do the same on radio. There are plenty of controversial political topics in South Jersey, statewide and nationally for us to conquer and be entertaining and successful doing it.”
 
“Bob came to me with the idea of a radio show and the answer was immediately yes,” Steve Kush said. “Knowing I’m not a morning person he waited until after I said yes to tell me the time slot, but the last time I let him talk me into something we made a great team and won elections. There’s no reason we can’t be a great team on the radio. In fact, we have to be great, my parents listen to the station. There are a few people out there who like us and many more who don’t, so we’ll get listeners even if it’s out of curiosity, the trick is to be informative, entertaining and controversial all at the same time and together we can do it.”
 
# # #

In Delran Democrat Timothy Weir went through a lot of trouble getting on the ballot and then winning the primary in the Ward 1 council race only to apparently throw all that hard work away by getting in his car and “driving under the influence of alcohol” on June 28.

From the Delran Township Police Department Blog: “DWI ARREST: On June 28, 2018 a Delran Officer conducted a motor vehicle stop on a vehicle driven by Timothy Weir of Delran for a motor vehicle violation.  It was later learned that Mr. Weir was driving under the influence of alcohol.  Mr. Weir was taken into custody, processed, issued several motor vehicle summonses and he was released pending his court date.”

A DWI arrest is serious, as is a domestic violence arrest, but the difference between the way Burlco Democrats and Camco Democrats handled the incidents is as different as night and day. In Camden County, given that it took 11 days from arrest to the resignation of former assemblyman Barclay, it appeared as the Camco organization circled the wagons to protect him. In Delran, there were no public calls for Weir to get out of the race and no media coverage. The local Democrats, based on the fact they unceremoniously dumped their candidate from the “Team” section of their website quickly handled the issue.

​Maybe, just maybe, the Camco Democrats learned a lesson about not hiding things from the Dems in Delran, but we doubt it.

By Steve Kush

When followers of South Jersey politics last heard anything about former Assemblyman Arthur Barclay it was after the discovery of his arrest for beating his girlfriend.

According to several new sources Barclay was scheduled to appear in court on June 28. Additionally, a spokesman for Camden County (and the county police department), Dan Keashen, confirmed to the Courier-Post that Barclay was employed by the county and said “In follow-up, we were just made aware of the incident, which will be investigated by human resources as a personnel matter.”

Never mind the fact that “we were just made aware of the incident” was probably an untrue statement given the fact that I knew about it and gave it to the New Jersey Globe and I knew about it because I was told by someone who was told by yet another person, I then confirmed it with a cop and a guard at the jail and a Camden activist posted about it in a Facebook video using a Teddy Bear to show the girlfriend’s injuries. It was one of the worst kept secrets in South Jersey politics.

The probably untrue statement from the Camden County spokesman (who somehow manages to do double duty as the county police spokesman) aside, it’s time for Camden County to tell the taxpayers there if they are still paying a guy who was arrested for domestic violence nearly $60,000/year.