Why 99+ Pages

A look back.....

Press of Atlantic City

Sunday, July 26, 1992
....Initiative and referendum, a process by which voter-petitioners can place constitutional amendments and/or legislation directly on the ballot, was defeated by the Republican-dominated Assembly

Horowitz said her group will also consider campaigning against Assemblyman Frank A. LoBiondo , R-Cumberland, Cape, Atlantic, in his Congressional bid this fall.

"It's not a definite threat, but ( LoBiondo ) is someone we could focus on," she said. "I think we'll see a backlash in November's election against people who betrayed us. It was a real slap in the face."

LoBiondo scoffed at the notion that voters will oppose his candidacy simply because he voted against I&R.
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Stein for Congress. com
Why 99+ pages?

These inept challenges (every two years- like clockwork) by hopelessly out-gunned, but often very insightful opponents of our fair to middling Congressman, need to be chronicled. This year I'm the likely road kill. There's Frank's million dollar war chest staring at me, and 16 years worth of name recognition, but I'll research the record and lay it all out anyway. So far the record is worse than I expected. Navigation buttons: LoBiondo. And to think I voted for Frank LoBiondo 6 times beginning in 1994. If nothing else comes of it, at least it's a head start for an established, well- funded and informed candidate in 2012. In the mean time, where are you hiding, 2nd District-Democrat machine bosses? "We" (the candidates) are always left to fend for ourselves. I have no problem with that, but what about the others that came before me?

The last candidate, Dave Kurkowski, a very professional gentleman who I met personally twice, at our debates, complained quite publicly that he had no backing from the party machine. Edward Janosick was 82 years old when he ran against LoBiondo in 2000.....had no backing. One, Dereck Hunsberger, was in his 20's and a security guard at Rowan University....definitely no backing. One lady, Viola Thomas-Hughes, when asked about policy, said after she's elected, advisers will fill her in...... seriously. No backing (or even good advise?) for her either. What about, me? I'm doing my homework (99+ pages) and maybe I'll pull the biggest upset since Truman defeated Dewey, or Scott Brown......oooh, sorry, he beat a Democrat in Massachusetts. I'll never get the machine backing with quips like that!

Chapter One......1994

Frank LoBiondo's only difficult Congressional campaign* ( it's almost two decades now) was 16 years ago, in the 1994 primary against Bill Gormley..... a REPUBLICAN. Our now, entrenched Incumbent, won that in large part by promising to serve only 6 terms- which Gormley properly called a stunt, when challenged by Frank to make the same promise. Two other notable gimmicks that spring of 1994, was to accuse Gormley of being a tax hiker, for of all things- proposing a bottle refund on soft drinks! ......continued, but first another "look back"
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A Look Back-

the primary in 1994

Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) - Wednesday, May 4, 1994
Author: JASON WILSON Staff Writer

Assemblyman Frank LoBiondo on Tuesday outlined 65 specific cuts designed to reduce federal spending and renewed his call to impose a balanced budget amendment on Congress.

In an appearance at his campaign headquarters, LoBiondo challenged his opponent in the 2nd District congressional primary, Sen. Bill Gormley, R-Atlantic, to come up with a similar list of cuts.

He also challenged Gormley once again to take an anti-tax pledge that the state senator has dismissed as a "gimmick."

Gormley responded Tuesday by calling on LoBiondo to apologize for breaking the anti-tax pledge the assemblyman signed during his 1992 bid for Congress against retiring Rep. William Hughes.

LoBiondo , R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, sponsored a bill in 1992 that allowed the Wildwoods to institute a 2 percent sales tax increase to fund tourism development.

"The cornerstone of Frank 's campaign in 1992 is a pledge he broke," Gormley said
Meanwhile, LoBiondo blasted the "business as usual" attitude in Congress on Tuesday.

"Congress has it backwards," LoBiondo said. "They say they cannot balance the budget because they don't have enough revenue. I say that Congress cannot balance the budget because they spend too much."

Two of the most visible spending cuts LoBiondo proposed are to cancel the $10.4 billion space station program and to eliminate medical benefits and Social Security to illegal immigrants, except for emergencies, to the tune of $21 million.

Among the other cuts LoBiondo said he'd propose if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives were:

*to eliminate automatic pay raises to Congress, which he said has cost taxpayers $20 million,

*to institute a 5 percent across the board cut on legislative overhead, saving $115 million,

*to eliminate congressional mass mailings, saving $325 million,

*and to reduce federal travel expenses by $2 billion.

"If I can come up with these cuts as a candidate, imagine what 535 members of Congress can do if they were forced to by a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution," LoBiondo said.

.......A Look Back Double Take!!! (in case you didn't read it on top of the page)
he opposed, Initiative and Referendum

LoBiondo scoffed at the notion that voters will oppose his candidacysimply because he voted against Initiative and Referendum."

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Why 99+ pages continued...

....Ironically, our Congressman has since become a more than occasional cross over vote in to the Democrat camp. He's perceived as an environmentalist; cap and trade for instance. Would he take that Cap and Trade vote back now if he could? Dems were riding high after Obama's election. That's when the vote occurred. Mr. LoBiondo often gets his timing all wrong. Oil drilling off shore being the most obvious. He's switched positions three times. When they clean up this disgusting mess in the Gulf of Mexico and enact new regulation, and/or oil shoots back up into the $100 plus range per barrel, thanks to some bottleneck here, or in the Middle East, he'll feel the heat all over again. Will he switch- yet again?

The third somewhat disingenuous ploy back in 1994, was for Frank to take a (pro) woman's right to choose stand, but, be very..........evasive about it. Navigation buttons "Reproductive Rights" Today Frank is a very notable right to life Republican Congressman! One can't help wonder what his position was prior to that primary in 1994 against Bill Gormley? Gormley by the way, was very clear, honest and articulate about his own woman's right to chose position? In 1996, the time of Frank's first re-election campaign, facing Ruth Katz, a Democrat, a liberal, and a woman with unlimited personal wealth, Congressman LoBiondo was still pro-choice.

Hunkering Down- The Final Chapter 2010

In the last two years I've pretty much devoted myself full time to three campaigns which never seem get any traction, due more to the old chicken and the egg phenomenon, then to any lack of common sense and knowledge of the issues. Take the elitist press for instance i.e., Chief Political Reporter Jon Froonjan, Atlantic City Press, late summer of 2008- who, if I may paraphrase, said, "we'll cover you, if and when, you have a large following." Chicken and the egg; but go to my 2008 web site. Even though it's worse then this site, as far as professional layout goes, this candidate was hammering away at the Congressman's inane positions even back then! Was I crazy to get in this in 2008 and keep running, now two years later? Heck no!. I owe it to a friend back home in Mexico after five years in the United States. Since then, I consider myself to be a pretty sophisticated private citizen regarding the immigration-border-amnesty issue; navigation buttons: Mexico. I'd think that extra experience would be a good entree into the arena for some one like me, some one who's followed politics very closely since there 14 years old!!

Those early eye-opening days in 2008! That's when I discovered that running as just a poor, ordinary Joe, means you'll never break out of the anonymous zone. Fast forward to 2010; the stream of sarcasm, joking and jibing all over this site, owes itself to that first run, where I did in fact start out very polite. As if this present course- acting the wise guy- besides giving me one of my few pleasures in doing this- "this" meaning, being a candidate- which coincidentally, detracts from my ability to run a business- and take care of a house- properly, might get me noticed when "polite" didn't?

When people I trust, tell me it won't get me noticed, I often think back to the late Senator from Minnesota, the most liberal of Democrat's- tragically killed in a small plane crash- who, although- I was a Republican- I liked, and admired very much- Paul Wellstone. The biographical information below, quickly looked up on line at Wiki-pedia explains.....

United States Senator from Minnesota In office January 3, 1991 – October 25, 2002

"....In 1990, Wellstone ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Rudy Boschwitz, beginning the race as a serious underdog. He narrowly won the election, after being outspent by a 7-to-1 margin. Wellstone played off of his underdog image by airing a number of quirky, humorous advertisements created by political consultant Bill Hillsman including "Fast Paul"and "Looking for Rudy" a pastiche of the 1989 Michael Moore documentary Roger & Me." wikipedia
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Paul, if you can here me? "I've got work to do" ........and I ain't got no money.