Flora Calls For Hudson County to Abolish “The Line”: Rally Set for Saturday

This year in New Jersey, the Primary Election will be held on June 2, 2020. Just like there are different theories at the national level which center around the Democratic National Committee and the process of influencing delegates, New Jersey politics has its own system of leading voters to choose the establishment choice.

Democratic Primary Congressional Candidate John J Flora (NJ-10) is challenging this system directly in New Jersey. He and other anti-establishment candidates and organizations across the state, mostly progressive in nature, are bringing attention to this issue in their respective counties through a series of rolling rallies beginning on March 5th.

“Big party machines that are supposed to represent party voters in the county use every trick to make sure they retain power. That is dangerous for democracy and a Petrie dish which promotes corruption,” argues Flora.

One of these treacherous voter traps is “The Line”, a tactic which bestows an unfair advantage to the people that county bosses endorse or wants voters to support. In New Jersey, it is considered impossible to win an election without being on the party “line”. This column on a primary ballot vertically aligns candidates to “run together”. It is considered an insidious form of voter suppression by many New Jersey voters because no other state allows their ballot to be manipulated like this.

“What kind of oil does a political machine run on? You guessed it, tax dollars,” laments Flora.

Big political machines have big municipal and county budgets to spend. They need to hire. If you follow the money in New Jersey, you can see which law firms are red and which ones are blue. It is not uncommon for party organizations at the county level to insist that their municipalities use these businesses. In turn, these businesses donate large amounts of money to party organizations, PACs, and approved candidates.

It is also not uncommon for county-level organizations to have intergenerational family legacies. Hudson County, one of three counties comprising NJ-10, has a ruling monarchy currently led by the DeGises, Amy and Tom.

“There should be a limit on control somewhere”, opined Flora. “Voter turnout and apathy are high in New Jersey. One reason for this is that many voters know about these tactics and feel powerless so they don’t even bother voting.”

The Flora campaign is organizing a rally for those who disagree with “The Line” and county-level endorsements being promulgated by county political machines. It is taking place this Saturday March 7^th at 10am in front of the HCDO headquarters located at 180 Danforth Ave.

“The time has come for voters to stand up to the machine!” Flora added. “Amy DeGise ran on a progressive platform to elevate the voices of committeepersons in Hudson County. But so far in 2020, we’ve seen no debates, no town halls, no convention for membership, no candidate interviews. Just another closed-door conversation for insiders to pick candidates, followed by a public endorsement for the rank-and-file to follow.”