In 2020, Assemblyman Space got $359,838 from the federal government.

Here is an interesting transaction that isn’t subject to legislative disclosure in New Jersey but should be:
 
In February 2020, Space Farms Inc. got $359,838 in a Warranty Easement Deed it "sold" to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program - Wetland Reserve Easement via the Commodity Credit Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture. The federal government paid to "acquire" three parcels of Space Farms Inc's properties - yet Space Farms Inc is still listed as owning the properties under this unusual agreement. It seems despite "selling" the parcels the Space business is allowed to still hold title - despite getting the $359,838.
 
Remember that this deal concerns not one but two elected public officials – Assemblyman Parker Space and Sussex County Commissioner Jill Space – both of whom are paid by the taxpayers. Space Farms is also a public vendor, holding contracts in several counties.
 
Every state requires elected members of the legislature to file some form of financial disclosure. Most require it annually. Some states are serious about it.
 
For example, states that are serious about financial disclosure require employment information, including the employer or business name, job title, a description of the business and the work involved, and the salary or income from that employment. Ditto for the legislator’s spouse.
 
Serious states require disclosure of all for-profit and non-profit corporations and business entities in which the legislator or spouse serves as an officer/director and some require a description of the purpose of that entity. Investment information is also required: Name, description, and value/holding amount. All stocks. And ditto for the spouse.
 
They don’t stop there. States that are serious about open government require their legislators to individually list every client and every payment from a government unit. That includes the client’s name and information, and the income from that client. Spouses included.
 
All real estate owned by the legislator or the legislator’s spouse is identified, some states extend this to dependents as well. The value of each property, any encumbrances on the property and any income derived from the property and from whom is also reportable.
 
States interested in transparency audit these disclosures for accuracy and penalize legislators who fail to report accurately. And it is all made public and easily accessible.
 
Unfortunately, New Jersey isn’t one of these serious states and in the last six months has taken major steps to remove citizens’ access to open government, transparency, and public disclosure. For example, both chambers of the Legislature recently approved a resolution that would no longer require lawmakers to disclose their home addresses, including the town they live in or any description of the home, on financial disclosure forms. The resolution didn’t need the governor’s approval and applies to the legislative financial disclosures due in May 2023.
 
Some have suggested that the undisclosed deal for $359,838 was worked out with the assistance of Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s office. Of course, the Democrat Congressman represents much of Sussex County, and such assistance could justifiably be provided to any constituent. That said, there is an unresolved controversy regarding Assemblyman Parker Space (R-24) and Sussex County Commissioner Jill Space (also a Republican State Committeewoman) helping at a campaign event for the Democrat Congressman in August 2022.
 
The practice of Republican elected officials supporting Democrats has been going on since Josh Gottheimer’s first race in 2016 – one in which the Bergen County Democrat defeated Republican incumbent Congressman Scott Garrett of Sussex County. After some local Republicans complained about their former mayor/ councilman supporting Gottheimer, Sussex County GOP Chairman Jerry Scanlan wrote to the elected official, laying out the complaint:
 
I’m writing to you because your past and recent endorsements of Democrats have sparked a controversy within our party. At present, the Sussex County Republican Committee does not act in response to elected members of our party openly supporting Democrats during a General Election, but we will be taking up this question at our county committee meeting on September 21st.
 
As you are aware, you have benefitted from the support of members of our committee and from the committee itself. The question is whether we should continue to provide such support in the face of your repeated support of Democrats. It’s a free country, and we are as free to withhold our support as you are to give yours.
 
In a press release prepared by Democrat Josh Gottheimer’s campaign this week, this statement is attributed to you… I’d appreciate you showing up at our September 21st county committee meeting, where you will have a chance to explain yourself.
 
The elected official in question responded to Scanlan and defended his support for the Democrat but announced that he was resigning his office (which he did, on October 15, 2022, for “health reasons”). The matter was discussed but not formally taken up at the September 21, 2022, meeting.
 
Other occurrences were brought to the attention of the county GOP – including an August 18, 2022, incident in which Commissioner and Assemblyman Space were “surprise guests” at a Gottheimer campaign telephone townhall event. Commissioner Jill Space led the event in the pledge of allegiance and Assemblyman Space was on hand to participate in a Q & A with the Democrat Congressman.
 
When one Democrat asked how people could help Gottheimer succeed in combatting “crazy Republicans doing crazy things”, the Commissioner and the Assemblyman offered no objection to this slur against their party and its members. They put up no defense throughout the plainly anti-Republican event.
 
Correspondence related to this incident confirmed that the Commissioner and Assemblyman acknowledged what they did but insisted that helping Gottheimer in this way was a smart political move. There were calls to have Commissioner Space removed from the State Committee (an additional elected position she holds) and NJGOP Chairman Bob Hugin personally admonished them.
 
As both the Commissioner and the Assemblyman are members of the GOP county committee, this triggered a request that the Sussex County Republican Committee “formally adopt rules governing the behavior of county committee members in this regard and with regards to any and all Democrat Party candidates.” It was suggested that the adopted rules extend to “candidates and elected officials who seek or who have sought and received the support of the Sussex County Republican Committee.”
 
This request was to be formally discussed at the March 9, 2023, meeting and rules adopted then or at the next meeting on June 21, 2023. But the March 9, 2023, meeting was cancelled and not rescheduled.
 
The meeting was canceled after there was a move to censure Commissioner Space and a request that she resign as one of the county’s two representatives on the Republican State Committee. There was some discussion about censuring the Assemblyman as well, as he is a member of the County Committee.
 
There have been suggestions that the couple could retaliate by switching parties, but that is unlikely. There hasn’t been a niche in the Democratic Party to accommodate them since the days of Alabama Governor George C. Wallace.
 
Despite Gottheimer’s coziness with the pair, most mainstream Democrats remember Parker Space’s antics – like calling a female candidate a “bitch” and having various Confederate flag tattoos (including one gained in the aftermath of a horrific incident). The pair were also heavily criticized for posing under a band banner that incorporated the Confederate flag as part of its design. So, joining the Democrats isn’t a serious threat.
 
But will anything be done about two elected Republicans, in the state’s most Republican county, helping the Democrats keep control of Congress? Perhaps more importantly, when will New Jersey have disclosure laws that makes legislators and county officials disclose $359,838 from the federal government?

SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS?

We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell
(Read the original version of 1984 and not the attempted revised version the anti-Life Liberty and Freedom establishment is trying to adapt to their ideology).

N.B. We welcome a conversation on this and all topics raised on this website.  Jersey Conservative is entirely open to your ideas and opinions.  To submit a column for publication, please contact jerseyconservativetips@protonmail.com.