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The CWA! blogging community made up of Michael Illions, Richard Ross, Gina Diorio, Mike Proto, Sharon Soon & Richard Zuendt, compiled a list of the Top New Jersey Conservatives of 2009.

We would like to share this list with you, and have you offer your opinions inside the comment section. The criteria used to choose was what New Jersey Conservatives stood out in 2009 as going above and beyond to advance the Conservative agenda, adhere to the Constitution and who overall, helped the movement.

#7

Hank Butehorn

Hank Butehorn had a remarkable year in 2009 for the Conservative movement. Starting with his being asked to lead Steve Lonegan’s campaign for Governor as the “front-man”, serving as State Chairman for the campaign. Traveling across the State for close to 7 months, speaking on behalf of Steve and for Conservatives across the State, Hank stayed on message while facing seasoned surrogates for Chris Christie like Senator Joe Kyrillos, Senator Gerald Cardinale and others.

After the Primary, the Christie campaign sought and endorsement from Hank for Chris Christie, recognizing his strong Conservative credentials and after Christie won in November, Hank was offered a spot on one of the Governor’s Transition Committees, where he continued to offer his sound fiscal Conservative advice.

#6

Jay Webber

This honor bestowed upon Jay Webber is a reflection of his work as an Assemblyman NOT for his role as State Chairman. Jay is one of the best, fighting day and night against the evil’s of big Government and bad Democrat legislation. His commitment to the life of the unborn and to the Sanctity of marriage makes him not only an endangered species in this State, but also in the New Jersey Republican Party.

While a freshman Assemblyman, he played a key role in the Mitt Romney for President campaign here in New Jersey, and of course his backing and endorsement of Chris Christie resulted in his being chosen as the new New Jersey GOP State Chairman.

#5

Scott Garrett

What can be said about Congressman Scott Garrett, that hasn’t already been said. His Conservative credentials make him a “Top” Conservative across the Country, never mind just in New Jersey. Although not the most vocal in the House, he is the most consistent, with his opposition to tax hikes, expanding Government and excessive spending.

The NJ GOP needs more Scott Garrett’s, not less

Heck, this Country needs more Scott Garrett’s.

#4

Michael Patrick Carroll

Michael Patrick Carroll is still an Assemblyman, thankfully. Withstanding a challenge from his left by 2 Primary opponents, and the lack of an endorsement from the Morris County GOP Chairman, the incumbent still received the highest vote total, proving once again that the GOP voting base know more then the NJ GOP establishment.

A strong Conservative, with Libertarian views on some issues, Michael is one of the most articulate speakers in the New Jersey Legislature. Want to know if a Bill is good or bad for New Jersey? See which way Michael Patrick Carroll voted for it.

#3

Steve Lonegan

Like Scott Garrett, what can be said about Steve Lonegan, that hasn’t already been said. What he means to the New Jersey Conservative movement can not be captured in just a few sentences and do him justice.

He has been an inspiration to so many who have been involved in politics or because of him decided to get involved in politics, that he is the true leader of the Conservative wing of the NJ GOP.

#2

Alison Littell McHose

It’s tough to believe that someone could not only “replace” the irreplaceable Scott Garrett, but also be as effective as he was. But it’s true. In 2003, Alison was elected to replace Scott Garrett in the Assembly when Scott became a Congressman, and just 6+ years, Alison has become the strongest female Conservative voice in New Jersey.

Dubbed the “Sarah Palin of New Jersey“, her steadfast believe in lower taxes and smaller Government has wrinkled the feathers of not only Democrats, but some of the leaders in her own Republican Party.

Sounds like a Conservative with Attitude! to me!

#1

Michael Doherty

Michael Doherty was voted the Top 2009 New Jersey Conservative for multiple reasons. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in this State who had a more up and down political year then Doherty.

No need to rehash the history of last year’s internal primary battle that saw Michael win and become a State Senator. Doherty’s Conservative credentials though did play a role in some of the happenings last year, used against him by NJ GOP leadership in hopes of keeping him out of the State Senate and by giving up his Assembly seat to pursue the Senate seat, he could have very well been out of politics this year.

Instead, he is the 2009 TOP NEW JERSEY CONSERVATIVE!

Last night I attended a Jersey Shore Tea Party meeting in Ocean Twp which had a few important guests: Steve Lonegan, Mike Halfacre, Scott Sipprelle and Alan Bateman. I’ll keep this short, as the event wasn’t as explosive as some people might have expected.

Steve Lonegan was the first speaker, talking about the importance of winning several Congress seats in New Jersey, in order to stop Obama’s socialist agenda. He also touched state issues, mainly the Senate bill #1, which is supposed to abolish COAH. Introduced by Dem. Senator Ray Lesniak, this bill will replace COAH with something much bigger and much worse (”COAH on steroids“, as he called it).

And then, the Rush Holt opponents in the 12th District spoke. It was not a debate, just a speech by each candidate, followed by a brief Q&A. Mike Halfacre went first and after a short bio portion he spoke against Government spending, in favor of less Government and strong national defense, against Rush Holt’s record and so on. There were no hard questions (except a few weird ones), and Mike handled them all very well. He didn’t say anything about his primary opponent, and neither did Sipprelle, which was very polite of both of them.

Scott Sipprelle also told his life story, repeatedly presenting himself as a representative of the middle class (well, probably Wall St middle class, as his wealth approaches $100 mil). He explained his Wall St background as something not as negative as many would think it is, and I agree with him, I don’t like the continual vilifying of the banking and investment industry. Scott presented himself as the opposite of Rush Holt in all the economic issues.

His main points were about reducing spending, including withdrawing our troops from all our fronts. In the Q&A section, he again refused to answer John Menella’s question about his donations to Chuck Schumer. Scott acknowledged that it’s the third time he gets that question, and he dodged it for the third time. He also blamed the blogs who keep bringing up the issue (thanks for the shout-out, Scotty!). He also quoted Rush Holt’s claim that “America is a rich country because of Government spending”, and so far this has only been mentioned on my blog as well as in my letters to the editor. Glad to have him as a reader. Sipprelle also made it clear that he’s not pro-life, he just wants less abortions. He said that abortions are caused by economic conditions, and he’ll fix that by improving the economy.

It was quite a big crowd, and besides the usual tea partiers there were a lot of Monmouth GOP people that have never attended a tea party meeting. It was the result of a successful phone offensive by Sipprelle’s campaign who kept calling municipal chairmen around the county asking for support at tonight’s meeting (he was probably afraid of the tea party “nuts”, as he knows he doesn’t fit their mold - details in his recent interview; no word yet on the size of the checks he sent them).

Alan Bateman also spoke for a few minutes, referring to his primary opponent, Chris Smith’ abysmal record (voting for cap&trade and for Pelosi’s light bulb bill, against the Bush tax cuts, against drilling in ANWR, sponsoring card check).

Mike Halfacre was endorsed by two big tea party groups, and it’s interesting how will Scott Sipprelle address the conservative grass-roots from now on.

Today in the Wall Street Journal, a front page story reveals that for $30,000 you can buy a United States Senator, Bobby “I am not guilty” Menendez.  Here is a little part of that article:

Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey urged the Federal Reserve last July to approve an acquisition to save a struggling bank in his state. He didn’t mention that the bank’s chairman and vice chairman were big contributors to his political campaign.

If the acquisition had been approved, it would have prevented the two executives from losing what was left of their investments in the bank.

In his letter to the Fed July 21, Mr. Menendez said there was a strong likelihood that First BankAmericano, of Elizabeth, N.J., would fail in three days, which would “send yet another negative message to consumers and investors and further impact our fragile economy.” The one-page letter, obtained by The Wall Street Journal under the Freedom of Information Act, urged Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to approve a sale of the bank to JJR Bank Holding Co. of Brick, N.J.

You can read the entire story here: Senator Prodded Fed to Aid Ailing Bank From Home State

Once again, New Jersey shows the nation that you can take the politician out of the corruption that is Hudson County, but you can’t take the corruption out of a Hudson County politician.  Now it is time for the United States Supreme Court to stand up and protect state rights, and allow New Jersey to recall this embarrassment of a senator.

“There ought to be one day - just one - when there is open season on senators.”  Will Rogers

Last week, the commercial that was going to be shown during the Super Bowl with Tim Tebow and his mother talking about life was considered the most controversial ad that would appear during the broadcast.  Well another commercial shown during the game should bring nightmares to every single American.  That commercial is:

The Green Police are coming!  Funny?  Yes.  Insightful?  Absolutely!  This is not a fantasy, but a prediction of tomorrow if we continue to allow the Enviro-Nazis to have their way. 

Just today it was annouced by THE GREAT OBAMA that a new agency, NOAA Climate Service is being formed to study “Climate Change”.   This expansion of the government will focus on one thing and one thing only, to twist and distort science in order to jam Crap and Tax down the throats of the American people.

THE GREAT OBAMA, instead of creating another bureaucracy, should be having the United States Attorney General start an immediate investigation of the greatest fraud that has been perpetrated on the American Taxpayer.  The amount of taxpayer money that has been spent on this hoax by both American researchers and those supported by American monies provided to the United Nations must be staggering.  Just like Obama and Eric Holder have persued dishonest corporate executives, the same enthusiastic zeal should be applied to tracking down those responsible for the greatest hoax ever seen by mankind.

“There is something fascinating about science.  One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.”  Mark Twain

Thanks to all that participated in yesterday’s Super Bowl Contest. The winner was the first person to make a prediction at 8:35am, Jim from Woodbrige, who was actually over my house for the Annual Illions’ Super Bowl Blowout Party and received his winning prize immediately:

And although she was late, (as usual), fellow blogger Sharon Soon was in the house enjoying the Super Bowl game:

We are just hours away from Super Bowl XLIV, between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.

Vegas has the Colts @ -4 for the game. What is your prediction for tonight’s big game?

The closest pick to the total score, (without going over), and the correct winner will receive a FREE copy of Grover Norquist’s book; Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government’s Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives.

As always, it’s nice to see that secular liberal society has it’s standards and priorities in tact.

The latest controversy that caused such a huff with the likes of the Huffington Post has been the highly anticipated “pro-life” ad run by Focus on the Family that featured college football player Tim Tebow.

Yes, the horror.

Liberal feminist activist groups including the National Organization for Women, the Women’s Media Center, and the Feminist Majority could have been spending some of their effort fighting against something that was actually relevant, like the over-sexualization of the media in its portrayal of women. But instead, they were flaling about and going into shock because CBS - suddenyl evil - CBS had DARED to accept an ad from a Christian organization known for it’s stance against abortion:

A national coalition of women’s groups is calling on CBS not to air the ad.

“This campaign is about holding CBS and the NFL and the other Super Bowl advertisers accountable,” said Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center, “for inserting an exceedingly controversial issue into a place where we all hope Americans will be united, not divided, in terms of watching America’s most-watched sporting event.”

A spokesperson for CBS told the Associated Press that the network had approved the script for the ad and that it would ensure that any issue-oriented ad was “appropriate for air.”

“This ad is frankly offensive, ” said Erin Matson, the Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women, speaking of the Tebow commercial. “It is hate masquerading as love. It sends a message that abortion is always a mistake.”

“Hate”? “Exceedingly controversial”? “Offensive”? Now that the ad has been shown, we can judge for ourselves:

Is it just me, or was this the LEAST controversial, most wholesome ad that played during the entirty of Super Bowl Sunday?

But at the same time, I can see why the feminists have all got their panties in a bunch. This simple, innocent commerical with a subtle pro-family, pro-life, pro-love message is exactly what the liberals DON’T want you to be seeing. They’ve actually got good reason to be flaling about as they do: it’s called fear.

They know, as we do, that the truth really isn’t on their side. And the more people find this out, the more the secular liberal agenda will fail in this historically God-fearing, value-respecting nation.

And if this is the case, we can expect see see far more “controversies” in the future.

What will happen to John Murtha’s seat?  I spoke to sources in the Democratic party and they are telling me they are expecting to LOSE his seat to the GOP.  This is still speculation, but without a strong Dem like Murtha running, the chances of them keeping the seat in this political climate are slim.

More from the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza:

“According to state law, the governor has ten days once the vacancy is officially declared to decide on the date of a special election, which can come no sooner than 60 days following that proclamation.

That likely means the special election will be held on May 18, which is the date already set for federal primaries around the state. (Special elections costs the state huge sums of money and it’s likely that Gov. Ed Rendell will choose to go with an already established election day to save some cash.)

Murtha had held his seat with ease since 1974 even as it became increasingly more competitive between the two parties. The only semi-serious challenge to him in recent years came in a redistricting-forced primary race against then Rep. Frank Mascara in 2002, which Murtha won easily.

With Murtha gone, however, the special election will be seriously contested. Murtha’s district is the only one in the country won by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008, according to Republican sources, and that trend line coupled with the volatile national environment for Democrats ensures Republicans will heavily target the contest.”

November 2010 is shaping up to be a huge defeat for President Obama and his agenda.