MORRIS COUNTY — Continuing his momentum heading into the Morris County Republican Committee convention, key Republicans from four of the five largest municipalities among Republican primary voters in the County threw their backing behind Tayfun Selen for Congress. The list includes Mayors of two of the three largest municipalities – Rockaway Mayor Joe Jackson and Jefferson Mayor Eric Wilsusen – as well as Parsippany Councilman Paul Carifi and Republican Chair Lou Valori.

“Last year’s election shows the Democrats are facing real headwinds from the liberal Biden-Pelosi-Sherill agenda in Washington, and New Jersey voters are craving new leadership to provide affordability and get America back on track. Tayfun Selen is the best candidate for Republicans, with a proven conservative record and inspiring life story. I’m proud to support him,” said Parsippany Republican Chairman Lou Valori.

The announcement follows on last week’s major endorsements for Selen of four Republican Morris County Commissioners including Stephen Shaw, Deb Smith, John Krickus, and Kathy DeFillippo. The most recent reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission also show Selen currently leading the pack with the largest cash-on-hand.

“Tayfun’s stopped higher taxes four years in a row by bringing business-smarts to government. That’s what we need in Washington. Less talk, more action, to deliver greater affordability for New Jersey taxpayers,” said Jefferson Township Mayor Eric Wilsusen. “There is no better way to have Republican fighting to keep the American dream alive, than someone who has actually lived it. Democrats are scared of Republicans like Tayfun Selen.”

“I’m excited about the momentum we are creating to build this campaign from the ground-up, unite Republicans, and be in the strongest position to take on Pelosi’s local rubber-stamp in Mikie Sherrill,” added Selen, who serves as the Director of the Morris County Board of Commissioners. “I want to thank the Mayors, council members, and Republican Party officials who are standing with me in this effort. My agenda in Congress will be to stop higher taxes, reduce our debt, enhance strict border security, fight for our Veterans, and hold adversaries like China accountable. I’m looking forward to sharing more announcements in the coming days.”

MORRIS COUNTY — Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll and First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood announce the hiring of Michael J. McDonald as Assistant Prosecutor for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Assistant Prosecutor McDonald was officially sworn in by Prosecutor Carroll at the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office on February 14, 2022.

Assistant Prosecutor McDonald will be assigned to the Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit that serves to investigate and prosecute sex crime offenders and works to protect our children from exposure to criminal and predatory misconduct.

Assistant Prosecutor McDonald most recently served as a Deputy Attorney General for the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and was assigned to the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. He formerly served as the First Assistant Prosecutor for the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office (WCPO) since 2012.

Previously, he also was employed as a trial attorney for a private law firm and as an Assistant Prosecutor at the WCPO from 1991 through 1998. He also served as a judicial law clerk for the Hon. John C. Stritehoff, Jr., J.S.C. in Warren County. AP McDonald is a certified instructor at the Office of the Attorney General Advocacy Institute.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts with a Business Major and Classics Minor from Gettysburg College, and a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University. Prosecutor Carroll said, “The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is fortunate to have a prosecutor with such a wealth of experience joining our ranks.”

MORRIS COUNTY — Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) led ten fellow Frontline Members of Congress in a letter this week to President Joe Biden urging the Administration to support and help negotiate a targeted relief package to assist small businesses currently suffering from the surge in Omicron-variant transmission.

Consumer demand for businesses centered on in-person gatherings, such as restaurants and live venues, has been greatly impacted by the current wave of Omicron cases while workforce shortages for these industries have been exacerbated as transmission and hospitalizations rise. At the same time, the essential small business relief programs available earlier in the pandemic are no longer in place, making it difficult for hard-hit businesses to make ends meet. Combined, the nation could see a new wave of business closures in the coming months without additional, targeted assistance.

“As we have met with small business owners and local elected officials over the past several months, we have heard unanimous concern about the impact of Omicron on the economic health of our communities,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter to President Biden. “To this end, we urge the Administration to immediately work with Congress to pass a targeted small business relief package that focuses on the industries most hard-hit by the Omicron surge.”

In addition to leading this letter, Rep. Sherrill for the past two years has been a strong advocate for enhanced assistance and relief for small businesses, the lifeblood of the nation’s economy and communities. She co-sponsored the original RESTAURANTS Act in July 2020, which was enacted through the American Rescue Plan as the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. She also led advocacy to expand funding for the RRF and co-sponsored a bill to replenish those funds for restaurants in need. In addition, she co-sponsored the Save Our Stages Act in September 2020, which was enacted through the December 2020 COVID-19 relief package, and co-sponsored legislation to provide an extension of this support to live venues. Finally, she also led outreach to extend the Employee Retention Tax Credit for hard-hit small businesses.

MORRIS COUNTY — Cops murdered and attacked; rioting and looting running rampant in American cities, defunding police and revolving door justice. This is the legacy of Joe Biden and the Progressive Democrats such as Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ CD-11).

Their misguided approach to crime is to treat it as social justice issue, which forgives bad actors for their crimes because of their race, poor upbringing or lousy schooling. As a so-called former prosecutor, Mikie Sherrill should know better.

Millions upon millions of minorities and poor people go through life without committing crimes. But they are often the victims of crimes by the same people that the liberal Democrats are trying to protect.

Just last month (January 2022) an innocent honor roll student, Robert Cudra, was shot through the head on a Paterson street by a stray bullet as he was taking in groceries for his grandmother. (Click here)

The response from the left was a deafening silence. No NBA or NFL stars came forward to denounce the senseless killing or console the family. Nothing from our Democrat leaders.

Paterson is not some far-off country. It is a town that is only minutes away from where your family and mine live. Paterson is the city where I made my living as a county prosecutor for 25 years. I devoted each day to putting bad guys in jail.

I care about Robert and many thousands like him because I know this young man deserves a chance in life, a chance that he is not getting because progressive policies are hurting, not just the people who live in Paterson, but people in your community. Emboldened criminals are spreading out to the suburbs, stealing cars, breaking into houses, and flouting the law.  Last year there were 350 reported burglaries in Morris County and 213 stolen cars in Parsippany. Recently police stopped a man walking down the street in Caldwell; he was carrying a loaded handgun with the serial number scratched off.

Confounded by the failure of their liberal policies such as bail reform, to keep people and property safe, the Democrats are floundering for answers. They keep coming up with the wrong ones.

Neither President Biden nor Congresswoman Sherrill can bring themselves to blame the people responsible. The criminals themselves. Sherrill has been silent on crime except to support The Justice in Policing Act of 2020: which was spearheaded by notorious and preachy liberal U.S. Sen. Cory Booker – the failed mayor of Newark.  The Act does nothing to help police fight crime, but it does put a tremendous onus on police officers who are trying to fight crime. The Act makes police suspects from the start.

Recently our often-confused President took to the airwaves to share his thoughts on how to reduce violent crime in cities such as New York (452 murders in 2021) Philadelphia (562 murders) and Chicago (800 murders) where liberal officials have been engaging in crime-excusing and failing to prosecute criminals. The President’s approach is at best naive, at worst dangerous to Americans no matter where they live.

Like most liberals, Biden can’t bring himself to blame individuals for crime. Instead, he blames inanimate objects. It’s the guns that are a problem – not the people using them. The solution: get guns off the streets and shut down rogue gun makers?

As a career prosecutor, I’m not sure what the president means by rogue gun makers, where they are or what their role is in murder. Neither is he nor Rep. Sherrill, I bet.

Gun buy-back programs have been tried in cities small and large. They are mostly publicity stunts that garner a lot of old and forgotten weapons and a few photo-ops. Hardened criminals and gang members are NOT going to turn in their guns for a few dollars.

Besides, many serious crimes are committed with knives and bats. Recently a woman in the liberal bastion of Seattle was struck violently in the back of the head by a man wielding a baseball bat. Are bats the problem? (Click here)

Democrat politicians are slowly waking up to the idea that their soft-on-crime policies are unpopular everywhere. So, in New Jersey they have come up with a quick legislative solution: keep people who commit crimes with guns in jail before their trials. I’m sure the ACLU will have a problem with that.

The proposed Jersey legislation is another quick public relation hit. Why deny bail or set incredibly high bail limits only for people who use a gun to commit a crime. How about using the same logic – that these people are a danger to others — and applying it to all sorts of violent offenders. The liberal excuse-makers will never take it that far.

As a prosecutor who actually worked to punish criminals, I know that if there are no consequences for criminal activity, we get more crime – whether it is looting, burglary, or shootings.

The certainty of punishment reduces crime and takes bad actors off the streets. As your congressman, I will make sure America does not continue its drift into lawlessness. I can’t say the same for Rep. Sherrill.

This press release was submitted by Paul DeGroot. He served as a Passaic County Prosecutor for 25 years. He is now a lawyer in private proactive and lives in Montville, Morris County  

The New CD- 11 Includes the following Municipalities from Morris, Essex, and Passaic Counties: Belleville, Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Montclair (part), North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, South Orange and West Caldwell in Essex County; Boonton, Boonton Township, Butler, Chatham, Chatham Township, Denville, Dover, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Madison, Mendham Twp (part), Montville, Morris Plains, Morris Township, Morristown Town, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Pequannock, Randolph, Riverdale, Rockaway, Rockaway Township and Victory Gardens in Morris County; Little Falls, Totowa, Wayne (part) and Woodland Park in Passaic County.