(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Time for Dems to CLEAN HOUSE. Let's start - Fulop for NJ governor [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-15 I’m as shocked & appalled as all of us about the election result, and I’m still processing it all. At this stage it’s making me feel better to focus on what we can do to strengthen our party to take full power in the next elections. I know it sounds distant, but if we focus on winning a (Manchinema-less) federal trifecta in 2028, we have a real shot at finally nuking the filibuster, admitting DC (at least) as a state, reforming/expanding the Supreme Court and banning gerrymandering nationwide. This would finally allow us to stamp MAGA out for good, as I had hoped we would this time. Alas, while the decrepit, complicit corporate media remains the No. 1 reason we lost IMO, we can’t ignore that the Democratic Party has our own corruption issues that we MUST take this opportunity to correct — NOW — if we expect voters or anyone to take us seriously as we attempt to call out the nightmarish corruption to come in the Trump administration. Which brings us to the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election... New Jersey is a wonderful & important state — the 11th-most populous, one of the most highly educated & affluent, with a dynamic economy and rich history & culture. It’s also home to a mind-bogglingly corrupt state Democratic Party “machine” & holds off-year elections for governor — meaning primaries will likely be held about 7 months from now in June. Decision time is fast approaching for New Jersey Democrats, fresh off the genuinely enthralling victory of Sen.-elect Andy Kim. Kim’s rise was a triumph of ethics, integrity, honesty & character over the disgusting corruption of former Sen. Bob Menendez — and the corruption & nepotism of most NJ Dems who supported Tammy Murphy (including Reps. Josh Gottheimer & Mikie Sherrill). I was inspired to write this diary upon hearing the news that Gottheimer & Sherrill are planning to enter the Democratic primary. While I admire both congresspeople to some degree, they both not only supported Murphy over Kim (unforgivable) but they in general support continuing corruption in New Jersey politics. During the critical public discussion about NJ’s unique “county line” ballot design during the Senate primary, both Gottheimer & Sherrill were in favor of keeping the astonishingly corrupt “line” system, which empowered political bosses over the grassroots. This is disqualifying, in my opinion, for anyone running for a Democratic nomination in 2025. We need to be the anti-corruption party, not the party of corruption. We can’t let either of them become our nominee. Former state Sen. Steve Sweeney, another top contender for the nomination, is a completely corrupt sleaze bag who couldn’t even hold onto his own seat in the legislature. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has my respect for actively opposing the corruption of the county line system, but I believe another contender is our best candidate to beat the corrupt machine & make progress in spite of Trump 2.0 — Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. We cannot mess this up. We MUST elect Mayor Fulop . Fulop’s record in Jersey City speaks for itself, more than enough to convince me he would be an incredible governor to the entire state: housing boom, affordable housing innovation, public-private partnerships, new public parks, police training/reforms, new public transit, arts & culture support, stable taxes (as new development adds to the tax base), Vision Zero. This list goes on. Again with all due respect to Mayor Baraka, I believe this makes Fulop’s the strongest resume Democrats can put forward to contrast the Republican nominee. Most importantly, he is running an anti-corruption campaign in a state that desperately needs to clean house — and help Democrats’ branding as the anti-corruption party. The state legislature is extremely corrupt on its own, so at the very least having an anti-corruption “outsider” governor is a good start. Fulop is that candidate. He has been very vocal in his support for abolishing the corrupt “county line” system, and has gone so far as to recruit state legislative candidates for his “slate” — to hopefully start washing out the corruption there seat by seat. And look at the result of that corruption. Gov. Murphy only won re-election in 2021 by 3 points. Vice President Harris only won NJ by about 6 points, FFS! We cannot have defenders of bossism & state party machine corruption as our next governor and representative on a national stage. It’s bad politics heading into the midterms & 2028, and is morally wrong. NJ deserves better. Mayor Fulop has my full support. Donate. Follow. Volunteer. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/15/2286499/-Time-for-Dems-to-CLEAN-HOUSE-Let-s-start-Fulop-for-NJ-governor?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/