Do You Support Trenton's A.C. Takeover? 
Sipprelle Needs to Explain His Donor History
| March 16, 2010 I've been pretty hard on Mike Halfacre for his "evolving" abortion-related beliefs, Save Jerseyans.
Scott Sipprelle's loyalty to the Republican cause, however, is rapidly emerging as a much more troubling issue. At first, we were told that his generous contribution to arch liberal Chuck Schumer was an isolated incident. His "my boss made me do it" excuse was bad enough, but I can (maybe) accept that an eight year old mistake doesn't necessarily define a man, even if that mistake is named "Chuck Schumer."
But what about questionable donations made just nine months ago?
In a Monday release, Halfacre CM Tom Fitzsimmons slammed Scott Sipprelle for donating to the following Democrats during the ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade debates:
(Source: fec.gov)
The Halfacre release also points out that Sipprelle donated to the liberal Democrat mayor of his own town -- Princeton -- just three weeks after he apparently re-affiliated as Republican in 2007.
I'm starting to get a bad feeling here, Save Jerseyans.
GOP congressional candidates should be expected to consistently exercise loyalty to the Republican brand and conservative values over time. Scott Sipprelle's voter registration and campaign donor histories -- taken together -- suggest either severe ideological schizophrenia or some degree of political nihilism. Whatever the real case may be, I won't feel comfortable supporting his candidacy until these worrisome FEC facts are explained in full. How can I trust a guy to vote against ObamaCare in Washington if he donated to some of that legislation's most vocal Capitol Hill supporters?
Matt, your observations are misleading on at least two points. First, I believe that 4 out of 5 of the "Blue Dog" democrats that Sipprelle donated to voted AGAINST Obamacare not for it as you indicate.
Second, Sipprelle's total Democratic donations are less than $10,000. That must be compared to Sipprelle's total Republican donations over the same period which are close to $100,000. That's a 10 to 1 ratio favoring Republicans and before you include the $250,000 Sipprelle has contibuted so far to his campaign to take out Holt, a democrat. Include that and the ratio is 35 to 1. Shizophrenia? Nihihlism? Hardly.
Reply to this
The most recent Halfacre release is as misleading as all the others.
There was no Republican candidate for mayor in Princeton when Sipprelle gave a donation to Kim Pimley.
In fact, Pimley is a self-made businesswoman and a reform candidate put forward to break the stranglehold of the Democratic machine in Princeton, which holds all the council seats and the mayors office. She was supported by a fusion of Republican, Independents and Democrats in Princeton. The state Democratic party bused in workers to beat back her insurgent campaign and she lost.
Halfacre's credibility is shot after he claimed Sipprelle "first registered as a Republican in 2007" only to find that it actually occurred in 1988. Don't let him steal your credibility as well.
Reply to this
According to the Trenton Times, Pimley was supported by a fusion ticket of rich people from her neighborhood.
Nice try Dwight.
Reply to this
Blue Dog or not they are still Democrats - you don't donate to the opposite party! There is no way the GOP can stand behind Sipprelle now.
Reply to this
Nor will they.
Reply to this
I am donating to Halfacre - Sipprelle voting for Schumer was enough for me. I would change jobs before a boss could force that one on me!
Reply to this
So I guess you don't believe in bipartisanship on any front Matt? If there was no republican candidate running for Princeton mayor it doesnt seem like a bad idea to support the less liberal candidate especially in such a liberal area?
Reply to this
The woman Sipprelle gave money to WAS ON THE BOARD OF THE NJ ACLU. Unless the Princeton Mayor at the time was a direct decendant of Karl Marx, Sipprelle's candidate WAS the liberal in the race.
Reply to this
Well, at least Matt Rooney prints (as far as I can tell) all of the posts of those with comments. On 'that other blog' covering this race, some submitted comments are just disappearing into thin air.
For instance....is Halfacre planning to return the $2400 June 2009 campaign donation of Diane Gooch, who also has given extensively to Democrats? Is he planning to denounce her? And another (paraphrased) submission ... why isn't Tea Party endorsee Halfacre endorsing Mayor Anna Little, a true grassroots advocate?
Reply to this
Don't be too sure. It now appears that Matt is censoring his Halfacre-leaning site like that other propaganda mill "pay-to-play" blog. He also seems to be touting Halfacre's misinformative press releases without fact-checking.
Reply to this
What do you mean by ""pay-to-play" blog"??
Reply to this
Sam and Joe, what are you guys smoking?
The GOP will support anyone whose contributions favor the GOP 10 to 1 much less 35 to 1.
Reply to this
Money doesn't buy everything. It didn't buy Doug Forrester anything, it didn't buy Jon Corzine a second term as Governor and it's not going to buy Scott "Wall Street Wizard, Part II" Sipprelle a primary victory either.
Reply to this
Frankly, there is an unsophisticated Rube-like quality to the complaints about Sipprelle's limited donations to Democrats (especially in light of the hundreds of thousands of dollars Sipprelle has given over the years to Republican causes). I see nothing wrong with making targeted donations to Democratic candidates when the alternative is worse. The donations to the Blue Dogs is a case in point, as is the donation to Kim Pimley. There was no viable Republican candidate to donate to when Pimley ran for mayor in Princeton. Pimley was a far better choice than the other Democratic candidate. Should Sipprelle not have gotten involved in that home-town election, or was it better for him to support the better (although not ideal) candidate? If a Republican is elected from CD-12, he is going to need to be able to occasionally work across the aisle to get things accomplished for this Democratic-leaning district. Halfacre and his supporters (including, unfortunately, certain blogmasters who will remain nameless) don't appear to be sophisticated enough to understand this.
Reply to this
Of course money doesn't guarantee victory Joe. I don't really care that you support Halfacre and maybe he does win the primary. But, I haven't seen anything solid from you or anyone else that shows how Halfacre can beat Holt.
Halfacre says he can raise a total of $1,000,000 for the campaign. He almost certainly can't raise that much, but, political experts who don't care who wins the Republican primary, say it will take at least $2,000,000 for the Republican candidate to create enough name recognition to have any chance against Holt.
So Joe, when you advocate for Halfacre, unless you show us a financial strategy that gives him a shot to win, what you are really saying, is you are OK with Holt staying in office.
And please don't tell us that Halfacre is another Scott Brown. He ain't. There is no way Halfacre appeals to the independents and moderate democrats that we will need to beat Holt.
For me, getting rid of Holt is the top priority.
Reply to this
What a pretentious little putz you are.
I'm all about winning which is why running a Wall Street fat cat against an incumbent congressman while resentment and mistrust toward Wall Street is still alive and well would be a complete disaster. Nobody wants to another another millionaire to anything in New Jersey.
Regardless of whether or not Mayor Halfacre will be able to raise $1 million or not, I'm sure he will raise an ample sum of money to make a competitive race out of both the primary and the general. Furthermore, spare me the Scott Brown analogy. I could care less about him as I'm from New Jersey, not Massachusetts.
I'd much rather have a candidate who I know will make the race competitive as opposed to somebody like Scott Sipprelle whose ties to Wall Street are poison and will get him crushed in November.
Reply to this
Now Joe, only insecure people need to call other people names.
But you did make my point. Thanks. You say Halfacre can raise $1MM. You say $1MM is enough to be competitive even though only you and Halfacre think so. And you don't have a clue how either of those things is going to happen.
Very convincing.
Reply to this
That "other blogger" has stopped comments on any press releases by any of the CD-12 candidates. Since he refuses to post press releases from any candidate other than Halfacre, I guess "that blog" now officially is just an extension of the Halfacre website. Wonder how much traffic he will lose.....
Reply to this
Your concern for my traffic is heart warming.
Reply to this
Art, I generally like your site but I also think you have gone way over the line with Halfacre.
Reply to this
Ditto.
Reply to this
Ditto Ditto. Seems like Art's real interest is furthering Halfacre's political ambitions, not what's best for the district or the Republican Party.
Reply to this
Art is all about Art. He wants to be a player. He's cheesed off that Sipprelle, unlike Halfacre won't toady to him.
Reply to this
Art is now posting criticisms of Sipprelle on his blog without allowing anyone to comment on his criticisms. Unbelievable. What a putz. If Art and Halfacre were prison cellmates, I think Art would be referred to as Halfacre's b. . . . .
Reply to this
More disinformation from Halfacre's consultants. Pimley received 34% of the vote in the Democrat primary in spite of a venomous, character assassination attack on her by the Dem establishment/machine. The Dems must have hired Halfacre's team of hitmen.
Reply to this
My concern in regards to Siprelle, given his donating history, is that I cannot trust him to NOT vote along with the Dems in DC. We need someone strong, and someone that can withstand the pressure of the Obama machine. Saying things like: "My boss made me do it" makes me cringe. AND given that it was Obama's buddy Chuck Schumer he donated to, I cringe even more! Schumer was on audio tape released today suggesting that our constitution should be re-written! Wake up people of NJ!
Reply to this
Problem is--Sipprelle never said any such thing in regards to his Schumer contribution. His explanation was that since Schumer was the number one protector of NY investment firms in Congress, keeping liberal colleagues at bay, it was common practice for firms to contribute to Schumer who wanted to protect a prime source of NY revenue and jobs. Sipprelle had no boss at that time other than himself. One of Halfacre's cronies, to put the best face on it, misunderstood what was actually said.
Reply to this
To GOPGALNJ: You don't need to be concerned about Sipprelle's donation history. I decided to check into Sipprelle's donation history myself by accessing the websites for the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) as well as the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (“ELEC”). Here are the facts. These two websites show that Sipprelle has made a total of 45 political donations since 2000. The donations are too numerous to detail here, but anybody can go on the websites to see them. Sipprelle's total contributions since 2000 as reported on the FEC and ELEC websites are $102,200. Of this amount, $97,700.00 (96%) of Sipprelle's contributions went to Republicans and Republican/conservative organizations. Sipprelle’s most recent listed contributions (made during the last half of 2009) went to Chris Christie. Interestingly, during the period from 2000 to 2006 (when some in the Halfacre camp have questioned whether Sipprelle was a Republican), Sipprelle gave more than $75,000 to Republican candidates and Republican/conservative organizations, including $50,000 to the Republican National Committee (a $25,000 donation in 2005 and another $25,000 in 2006).
Reply to this
He also donated to Chuck Schumer during this period.
Yes, the liberal superhero who is anti-liberty!
Tea Partiers need to support Halfacre. We cannot trust a snake like Sipprelle.
Reply to this
Matt: I saw some posts here this morning that are now gone. What is going on? Why are comments being removed from this site? Are you pulling an Art Gallagher?
Reply to this
Never mind. The comments are back. Strange that the comments would be gone one minute and back a short while later.
Reply to this