Fake Tea Party Candidates in Michigan Face Serious Legal Problems… is New Jersey’s Fake Tea Party Candidate Next?
In New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district (NJ-3), Fake Tea Party Candidate — and obvious Democratic Party plant — Peter DeStefano ought to be quaking in his boots… and he’s not the only one! DeStefano and Democratic Party candidate — not to mention district incumbent — John Adler have so far refused to answer several key questions, among which are the following by no means exhaustive list:
* Adler claims that none of his current staff members has worked on DeStefano’s campaign — but what about past (including recent past) staff members?
* For example, how is it that out of thousands upon thousands of NJ-3 voters, of the 247 signatures on DeStefano’s filing documents, one of them is Marshall Spevak, the December 2007-November 2008 Press Assistant for John Adler?
* The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that at present, “Spevak lives just doors from Adler” on the very same street! How close are Spevak and his family (multiple Spevaks signed DeStefano’s candidacy documents) to Adler, especially given that Spevak used to work for Adler, and that various Spevaks have donated thousands of dollars to Adler and other Democratic Party candidates?
* Given Spevak’s involvement, and the fact that both notaries that signed off on DeStefano’s filing documents are politically active Democrats, what other Democrats — and Democratic Party officials — were/are involved in DeStefano’s campaign?
* DeStefano claims that a friend of his son’s circulated the petition that Spevak signed. Why was DeStefano unable to name or produce his son’s friend when asked to by the Philadelphia Inquirer? Does this supposed acquaintance even exist? Who really obtained Spevak’s signature?
* Why, in an interview with PolitickerNJ.com, did DeStefano indicate that he left the Republican Party to become an independent, when in fact it was the Democratic Party that he left to become an independent?
* DeStefano filed his candidacy on June 8th, but was a registered Democrat until June 3rd. How many of the 247 signatures in his campaign filing were collected when DeStefano was still a registered Democrat?
* Why had no legitimate grassroots tea party organization in New Jersey ever heard of DeStefano prior to his candidacy?
* Why has not a single legitimate grassroots tea party organization in New Jersey announced its support for DeStefano’s candidacy?
* When DeStefano posted comments to our tea party group’s Facebook page — deleted when we kicked him out — why did he attack Republican Party candidate Jon Runyan, but not attack Democratic Party candidate John Adler?
* Why does DeStefano claim to have “tried to get in on the Michael Smerconish debate” between Runyan and Adler, when the Michael Smerconish Show radio program director says that DeStefano never contacted them in this regard?
* Why has DeStefano — an independent candidate with little money or name recognition — agreed (multiple times) to be interviewed by reporter Jane Roh of the Courier-Post newspaper (as best as we can tell, the largest daily newspaper in terms of circulation based in South Jersey), only to back out of these scheduled interviews every single time?
* Why have multiple New Jersey-based tea party organizations — such as us (the North New Jersey Tea Party Group), the North Jersey Regional Tea Party, and the West Jersey Tea Party (formerly known as the Burlington County Tea Party), come out against DeStefano’s candidacy?
* Were any laws broken — for example, laws against fraud?
At least one state has started to take fraudulent tea party candidates — and laws broken in the process of registering these candidates — seriously: Michigan.
Even the left-wing daily newspaper the Detroit Free Press — Michigan’s largest daily newspaper in terms of circulation — has stated in an editorial that “It’s time for the Oakland County [Michigan] prosecutor and the state attorney general to get involved, and get to the bottom of this affair… last week, a Democratic operative in Oakland County was accused of fraudulently notarizing affidavits for a dozen of the candidates on the ballot. That in itself is a crime worth prosecuting. But it’s also worth finding out how deep and wide this planned diversion goes. Who bankrolled it? Did state party higher-ups know about it, encourage it or aid in the high jinks?… how desperate do Michigan Democrats look by trying to pull this off? It’s almost an admission that the party’s candidates need something other than merit to win this fall. Monday, the state Board of Canvassers denied all the Tea Party candidates places on the ballot… Democrats on the board voted to put the Tea Party on the ballot — yet another sign this is all a sham.”
The Detroit Free Press editorial appeared on August 24th, shortly after the following:
* A tea party activist in Michigan, Jason Gillman, discovered that an individual named Jason Bauer — who had notarized 12 of the Fake Tea Party’s 23 candidates’ affidavits — was Political Director of the Oakland County Democratic Party.
* The Fake Tea Party submitted documents citing that one of their candidates is Aaron William Tyler. Tyler’s signature on this document does not match Tyler’s actual signature, and Tyler — who moved to Arizona months ago — sent a letter dated August 20th to Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson saying that “I did not sign this… I have no intentions of running for elected office… I believe a fraud was committed.” The notary on “Tyler’s” document? Democratic Party operative Jason Bauer.
* According to the Detroit Free Press, “Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson said Tuesday that she believes up to three of the Tea Party candidates’ affidavits notarized by the former official, Jason Bauer, contain forged signatures. Johnson said representatives of her office met with investigators from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday.”
* When the former union steward — Mark Steffek, who formed Michigan’s Fake Tea Party — spoke with the media on August 23rd, he couldn’t remember the date of the political party’s alleged convention (July 24th), and he couldn’t remember the name of the hotel in which the alleged convention was held.
* Of the 23 Fake Tea Party candidates, at least 19 of them submitted documents claiming that they had secured the party’s nomination before the supposed convention allegedly held on July 24th. In other words, at least 19 of these candidates submitted affidavits claiming to have the party’s nomination before it was possible to have received the nomination.
* It has been found out that the Fake Tea Party’s petition drive was conducted by Progressive Campaigns Inc., a California-based leftist outfit with extensive ties to Democratic Party causes and well-known leftists, such as their client George Soros.
For more information, please click on the following links:
“A Lawyer Offering Few Details is Face of the Mysterious ‘The Tea Party’”
“Mysterious ‘The Tea Party,’ Under Investigation and Going to Court”
“Tea Party Candidate Identity Statements Could be Invalid”
“Democratic Party Political Director Linked to Mysterious Tea Party Political Party”
“Fake Political Party Runs Mystery Candidates”
“Activists, GOP Leaders Sue to Keep Tea Party Off Ballot”
The North New Jersey Tea Party Group is happy to see that law enforcement officials in Michigan are getting serious about the Fake Tea Party attempts to mislead voters in that state, allegedly breaking multiple laws in the process.
Given that the Peter DeStefano Fake Tea Party candidacy in New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district raises numerous similar questions, the North New Jersey Tea Party Group continues to call for a formal law-enforcement investigation into the candidacy of obvious Democratic Party plant Peter DeStefano.
Any additional information you — or somebody you know — may have about DeStefano, Spevak, and Adler in this regard may be sent to us at:
*** The North New Jersey Tea Party Group is the largest New Jersey-based tea party organization on Facebook in terms of members, with over 4,500 of them combined in our two group pages. ***
*** As always, feel free to pass on the above information! ***
Mark Kalinowski
North New Jersey Tea Party Group
Liberty, Free Markets, and Individual Rights
By the way, I encourage ALL liberty-minded folks to “friend me” on Facebook, and also to join the official Facebook page for the North New Jersey Tea Party Group
For folks not on Facebook, please add your name to our e-mail distribution list by contacting us at nnjteaparty@gmail.com