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Posted: Aug. 3, 2017 12:55 am

HAMPTON -- Despite a low member turnout typical of late-summer gatherings, the Skylands Tea Party was full of energy on Wednesday night due to the group's guest speaker.

Constitutional Party gubernatorial candidate Matt Riccardi brought his message of "Liberty, Integrity, and Prosperity" to Sussex County and told the attendees he was running for the state's highest office because "New Jersey is at a pivotal point."

"I stepped up to the plate because I knew New Jersey was at a really bad point in its history," Riccardi said. "I didn't realize how bad it actually was."

Riccardi, 30, of Neptune (Monmouth County), is a Marine and married father of three who runs a business started by his father. He said his choice to run for governor was based on a desire to reform the system of corruption that he believes permeates every level of government in the state.

"New Jersey is the most taxed state in the country and the most in debt," he said, questioning how the state could take in so much revenue and still not be able to pay its bills. "Something doesn't add up. I think it's time for a change."

The cornerstone to Riccardi's bid to become the 56th governor of New Jersey is a "legally binding contract" he's making with the people. The contract, Riccardi said, will legally require him to keep his campaign promises or face a monetary penalty, which he said he will pay out of his own pocket. Riccardi said he's contacted the campaigns of Democratic candidate Phil Murphy and Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno to make the same pledge, but hasn't received a response.

"Kim and Phil are liars," Riccardi said. "They know the promises they've made have nothing to do with their job."

As an example of such a promise he's willing to take to the bank, Riccardi said he would veto any tax increase that's passed, regardless of what the revenue is slated to fund.

The high-intensity Riccardi said the people of New Jersey deserve better than two candidates "who don't represent them," and as someone who has already sworn to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution he vowed to fight for the people.

"I don't care if you love me or hate me, I will fight for your rights," he said.

Riccardi also touted his strong Christian faith and is adamantly pro-life. He said he would donate his governor's salary to any charity, chosen by the people, which reflected that position.

As for the state's lagging economy and "worst in the country business climate," Riccardi said his jobs plan would provide opportunity to small businesses to thrive alongside large corporations in New Jersey by eliminating government fees, taxes and regulations.

Riccardi is one of five independent candidates running for governor in November. The other four are Green Party candidate Seth Kaper-Dale, Libertarian candidate Pete Rohrman, former Long Hill Mayor Gina Genovese and Vincent Ross.

Riccardi admits that one of the two major-party candidates will "likely" win in the fall, but he said he believes his candidacy will energize those who feel they have to choose between the "lesser of two evils."

"We have been afraid for far too long," he said, "and look what it's brought us."

More information about Riccardi and his campaign can be found online at: http://www.r4nj.org, or his Facebook page: Riccardi4NJ.

David Danzis can also be contacted on Facebook: ddanzisNJH, on Twitter: @ddanzisNJH, or by phone: 973-383-1274.

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High-energy third-party candidate pitches to Tea Party - New Jersey Herald

Payton Walker , WCNC 10:24 AM. EDT August 02, 2017

Photo courtesy of Cindi Williams Photography in Coppell, TX

COPPELL, TX --Cops are usually the ones to shut a party down, butDeputy Constable Mark Diebold came to start one up.

The Texas officer had a tea party with little Evelyn Hall to celebrate the anniversary of her entrance into the world, something Dieboldplayed a big part in just one year ago.

"She loved clinking her little tea cup with him. They had a bonding moment there for sure," mother Destiny Halltold ABC News.

"Mark Diebold, without a doubt, is one of the most genuine, loving, thoughtful and caring [people] we have ever met. He is quick to think of others, and we are so blessed to call him friend and family."

In the early morning hours of July 18, 2016, Destiny went into labor. As her husband Caleb Hall raced to the hospital, they were pulled over by Diebold.

Learning the situation, Diebolddid his part in helping the Halls get there. He turned on his sirens and escorted the couple, but Destiny realized she wasn't going to make it.

"She said 'Pull over, I'm having the baby!' and I said, 'No!'" Caleb told ABC News."When she told me that it was happening, we were behind Officer Diebold, and he had his lights and sirens going. I kind of had a small glimpse of hope that maybe we would make it."

But baby Evelyn wasn't waiting any longer. The couple pulled over to a gas station where Diebold helped deliver their little girl. She was thenphotographed with Diebold's badge in honor of the role he played.

"It was amazing," Diebold told ABC News. "It was heartfelt, and it was a big deal. That photo shoot reminded me that [police work] is what I need to keep doing until it's my time to stop."

And Evelyn's latest photo shoot with Dieboldis now having that same heartwarming effect on people across the country.

"Evelyn's birth has blessed us in countless ways, but our friendship with the Diebolds is one of the biggest ones," Destiny said.

2017 WCNC.COM

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Cop attends tea party to celebrate first birthday of girl he helped deliver - WCNC

MARIETTA Georgias newly elected Congresswoman Karen Handel said there is frustration among her House colleagues over a dearth of media coverage regarding the good work they have accomplished with President Donald Trump.

Its unfortunate in the world of the media right now. Many outlets now, their compensation package is based on clicks to an article, and that puts intense pressure to have the most salacious things that you can cover, Handel said. And I dont necessarily put that in the lap of the individual reporter as much as I do with the management at a particular media outlet.

The Roswell Republican made her remarks during a special meeting of the Marietta-based Georgia Tea Party. The Monday evening event, held at the Cobb GOP headquarters, was by invitation only and saw a turnout of about 70. Yet Handel said she prefers speaking to constituents through such town hall-style formats rather than through the media, anyway.

Because I frankly think you are a much better messenger out in the community than some of the news outlets, she said.

Her comments were spurred by an attendee who said the good things that were being accomplished by Republicans were being overshadowed by the presidents Twitter messages.

What are your colleagues trying to say or do or tell him that hey, you need to let this good news come out and then tweet or something later? the man asked her, noting that just when a large company announces 10,000 new jobs, the news is consumed by the presidents tweet banning transgender people from military service.

What are your colleagues saying? Because it is a real problem, he said.

Handel said shed addressed the issue before.

I think I was pretty clear in the campaign that I was really interested in a new Twitter policy, but I dont know, I dont run the com shop, she said.

THE CAMPAIGN

On issues closer to home, the congresswoman gave a shoutout to Cobb Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, both of whom were present, not just for their support, but for voting down a proposed county property tax increase last week.

They went to bat for Cobb County, Handel said to applause.

When all the money in the race for the 6th Congressional District seat was tallied, it amounted to about $60 million, an amount Handel called obscene. Of that sum, Democrats spent $40 million, Handel said. Her Democratic opponent in the runoff, Jon Ossoff, raised about $30 million with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee giving him an additional $10 million infusion, she said.

Handel said she raised and spent $6 million with about $10 million from outside groups. The remaining $4 million came from the other Republicans in the race.

In terms of the keys to winning, first, just a little suggestion: you ought to live in your district in which you are asking the people to let you represent. So I think that at the end of the day ended up being a pretty pivotal issue, Handel said, referring to how Ossoff didnt live in the 6th District.

Handel introduced some of the staff shes hired to date, which includes her district director, Ashley Jenkins of east Cobb, a former member of the Sandy Springs City Council; her deputy director, Donovan Head, who is also from Cobb and formerly with U.S. Rep. Austin Scotts office; her Washington, D.C. scheduler, Ashley Dalton; and her chief of staff, Muffy Day.

DIVING IN

One big milestone was hit last week, Handel said. I managed to get everywhere I needed to go the entire week, and I did not get lost once.

Handels committee assignments include the Judiciary Committee and Education and the Workforce.

Handel said something curious shes found in the House is the enormous number of bills shes been asked to cosign.

Call me crazy, but I really like to read the bills that Im going to put my name onto. And its kind of interesting to me. Youre sitting on the floor during votes and randomly people just walk up, and they have a little card about this big (saying), Here, can you cosign this bill? Well, no, not right now.

Handel said she is busy reading the bills first.

One she has cosigned, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican, allows for states and victims to fight the advancement of online sex trafficking. Since January, the U.S. House has been one of the most active House chambers in history, she said, passing over 270 bills, many of them bipartisan.

Handel mentioned the National Defense Authorization Act, which included the largest pay raise in eight years for service members 2.4 percent.

Commissioner Birrells husband, Dave Birrell, commented on this, saying he hoped Handel realized that was not enough for the military, something Handel agreed with.

A SLUGGISH SENATE?

Handel also spoke of the historic regulatory relief that came with the Houses passage of the REINS Act, or Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act. When an agency issues rules, the act allows ample opportunity for those affected by those rules to have input, something that wasnt there before, Handel said.

One audience member asked where the REINS Act was now.

Its in the Senate, Handel said.

Congress has a technical procedure called a Congressional Review Act where it allows Congress to roll back what is considered overreach on the regulatory front. The House has acted on 15 Congressional Review Acts, of which 14 have been signed by Trump, she said.

And while the press was focused on other things, Handel said the Main Street Relief Act was passed to replace Dodd-Frank.

What is the status of that act, another attendee wanted to know, prompting a momentary pause from Handel.

There are a lot of bills awaiting the Senates attention, she said.

Indeed, Senate inaction seemed to be a theme of the evening.

Georgia Tea Party has talked about this for years, said Jim Jess, the groups vice chairman, noting the Senates use of the filibuster grinds business to a halt.

The institutional filibuster that they have in the Senate, basically they can say I filibuster and not even talk and everything stops. Thats wrong. That needs to be fixed, Jess said.

BORDER SECURITY, TAX REFORM

Last week, Handel said, the House passed an appropriations package that included the largest investment in border infrastructure and technology upgrades in a decade.

The president, with the help of the House, is moving forward on the promises he made, she said, noting Kates Law calls for stiffer penalties on deported felons who return and commit crimes while the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act will provide more resources to fight sanctuary policies and punish rogue cities.

Increasing funds for border security technologies and infrastructure improvements is key to reducing illegal immigration and stopping the flow of drugs, she said.

On the health care front, Handel expressed extreme disappointment with the Senate for failing to pass a health care bill.

Im hopeful that the Senate has a couple of procedural options that they can pursue to bring the issue back up, she said. Open enrollment is going to begin either in mid-October or first week in November, and folks, premiums are still going up at an astronomical rate, while doctor choice continues to decline because of the number of insurance companies not participating in the exchanges. This is unacceptable.

The next step in the House is tax reform. A task force composed of members of the House, Senate and White House is meeting, united in a framework of what the reform will look like.

The goal is to get the rates as low as we can possibly get them while still maintaining what we can do on the revenue side, she said. On the rate side, first and foremost its not just going to be corporate tax cuts, there will be individual tax cuts, including tax cuts for the middle class because we have got to have that. Its going to be tax cuts for small businesses so that small businesses can compete with large companies and tax reductions for large companies so they can be competitive on the global front. And permanent repeal of the death tax, she said to applause.

Jess is a fan.

Karens a solid person. She has solid values. And I think shes going to make a great member of Congress to represent the 6th District, he said after the meeting. If you think back, this district has been represented by some stellar individuals, and I would say we have another one.

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Karen Handel on the media, the campaign and the road ahead - MDJOnline.com

Sen. Jeff Flake is among the most endangered Republicans running for reelection next year. But he's not exactly acting like it.

The senator from Arizona unleashed a searing criticism Tuesday of President Trump and, more significantly, the GOP's unwillingness to confront the chaos at the White House.

Republicans, he writes in his new book, are in "denial."

"Too often, we observe the unfolding drama along with the rest of the country, passively, all but saying, Someone should do something! without seeming to realize that that someone is us," Flake writes in "Conscience of a Conservative."

"And so, that unnerving silence in the face of an erratic executive branch is an abdication, and those in positions of leadership bear particular responsibility."

Such frank criticism of ones own party is an unusual approach in Washington, and some are heralding Flake as a voice of reason in a Congress where most Republicans have been hesitant to confront Trump, especially in states the president won.

But its actually not surprising coming from the first-term senator, who was never a Trump fan. Flake has always been a bit of an outlier in his more than 16 years in Congress.

Flake is channeling his state's rich tradition as Western outsiders, a mash-up of Barry Goldwater's conservative legacy and, more recently, the dramatic return of Sen. John McCain to cast the deciding Republican no vote last week that doomed the GOP's Obamacare overhaul. Flake voted for the plan.

Second only to Nevada's Sen. Dean Heller as the most at-risk Republican in the 2018 midterm election, Flake certainly risks alienating Trump voters he will need next year to win reelection.

But Flake also appears to be calculating that Arizonas independent streak and its shift toward becoming a swing state will reward his McCain-like straight talk or that at least he will be defeated having had his say.

Certainly it's not the easiest path to reelection, Flake told PBS Charlie Rose, acknowledging his low net approval ratings in polls. It makes some people upset, but I felt it was important enough to do.

Flake said, "We politicians have to recognize that there are some things that are more important than reelection.

First elected to the House in 2000 and a strict fiscal conservative, Flake was tea-party-minded long before the rise of the tea party, railing against government spending and waste as a leading budget cutter in the House.

But he also comes from a Mormon tradition of missionary service, having worked for years in Africa. He has adopted a more welcoming attitude to immigrants than many in his party, and was part of the so-called Gang of Eight senators who drafted the 2013 immigration overhaul.

During the early days of Trump's fiery campaign trail rhetoric, Flake delivered a speech during Friday prayers at an Arizona mosque. He traveled to Cuba during the Obama administration, favoring more open relations.

Flake was among just a few Republicans in Congress who didn't vote for Trump, and has been more willing to speak out against White House policies.

In his book, excerpted first in Politico, he lambastes colleagues who were quick to attack President Obama in hopes of making him a one-term president but who today have "maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued."

"To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial," he writes.

Those sentences are a not-so-subtle swipe at party leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who orchestrated that strategy, which Flake indirectly argues left Republicans bereft of their own policy ideas.

McConnell dismissed questions Tuesday, saying he had not yet read the book.

Ill get around to it at some point, McConnell said.

Flake acknowledges he shares blame, accepting some responsibility for his own willingness to duck the hard questions over Trump.

"Ive been sympathetic to this impulse to denial, as one doesnt ever want to believe that the government of the United States has been made dysfunctional at the highest levels, especially by the actions of ones own party," he writes.

"But it was also a monumental dodge. It would be like Noah saying, 'If I spent all my time obsessing about the coming flood, there would be little time for anything else.' At a certain point, if one is being honest, the flood becomes the thing that is most worthy of attention. At a certain point, it might be time to build an ark."

What remains unclear, though, is how many fellow Republicans might follow his lead.

Republicans in recent weeks have shown some willingness to chart their own course or confront the White House, including passing a Russia sanctions bill, though the package also sanctioned Iran and North Korea.

Flakes colleague McCain and two other Republicans resisted Trumps insistence that they pass the healthcare bill, and many have also warned Trump against firing Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions.

Another Trump critic, fellow Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, also declined to back the president, but he prefers to troll Trump on Twitter rather than in public debate.

For now, that leaves Flake among the few GOP lawmakers who openly have spoken so critically about Trump and the situation in the White House.

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Sen. Jeff Flake is one Republican willing to take on President Trump and his party's 'denial' - Los Angeles Times

Remember this day, July 28, 2017. The day Donald Trump became a lame duck president. More significantly, the day the Tea Party revolution ended and Washington began the return to "regular order."

The coup de grace came at 1:30 a.m. on the Senate floor as John McCain became the third Republican to break ranks and defeat the third and final attempt to repeal Obamacare, which embodied the Democrats' promise that all American could -- and should -- have health insurance at a price they could afford. It was, as Tea Party Republicans had warned, another expensive government entitlement that, once granted, could never be taken away. Now John McCain had acknowledged that political reality.

Although it appeared to fall short by a single vote in the Senate, that was always going to be the margin of defeat for the seven-year effort to repeal Obamacare that had become the centerpiece of the Tea Party revolt. There were as many as 10 Republicans who had acknowledged that proposal cobbled together at the last minute by the Republican leadership was so bad that, earlier in the day, they had demanded assurances from the House of Representatives that it would never become law.

It was left to McCain, however, to do the deed so the others could protect themselves from the retribution of party leaders or the wrath of party Tea Party voters in the next Republican primary. Having just been diagnosed with brain cancer, the senior senator from Arizona had achieved that state of political liberation where he no longer had to worry about such things.

McCain was joined in his "no" vote by Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who earlier in the week had received a call from the secretary of the Interior warning that the administration would drop its support for expanded energy drilling and road construction in Alaska if she dared to defy the president and Republican leadership on the crucial vote. Murkowski did not take well to being muscled in that ham-handed fashion. As chair of the two relevant committees, she announced that she was indefinitely postponing sessions to consider nominations to Interior's top positions and to mark up its 2018 appropriations.

The collapse of the Obamacare repeal effort was hardly the only evidence of the waning influence of Trump and his Tea Party supporters.

In the hours before the vote, the attorney general of the United States had defiantly declared he had no intention of acceding to White House requests that he resign and dared the president to fire him.

"If he wants to make a change, he can certainly do so," Jeff Sessions told Fox News. The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged on by several Republican colleagues, had already warned the Republican president that anyone appointed to replace Sessions would not receive a confirmation hearing. And senators of both parties had indicated that they would use parliamentary slight of hand to keep the Senate in formal session through the normal summer recess to prevent Trump from replacing Sessions with a recess appointment.

Earlier in the day, military and civilian leaders at the Pentagon indicated they would "study" what to do about transgender members of the armed forces after the commander in chief had tweeted that they would no longer be allowed to serve.

And at the White House, the long-running tong war among members of the president's top staff finally broke out into the open, as the new communications chief let loose with a profanity-laced rant against a chief of staff whom he characterized as a paranoid schizophrenic leaker and chief strategist who spent his days engaged in political self-fellatio.

Hoping to demonstrate, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that the business of government was proceeding apace, the White House and the Republican leadership of the House and Senate issued a five-paragraph "statement of principles" for a long-promised reform of the tax code. Months in the making, the statement was a nothing-burger of political and economic platitudes that failed to resolve the central challenge of reducing tax rates without reducing tax revenue and exploding the federal deficit.

This is a Waterloo moment for Trump, the Tea Party and their alliance. They have been stopped in their tracks not only by Democratic opposition, but because of a mutiny within their own ranks. Although never particularly liked or respected, it is now clear that they are no longer feared. The bankruptcy of their ideas and their incompetence has been exposed. Their momentum has been dissipated. Their rejection of political norms has itself been scorned. Our long national nightmare may finally be coming to an end.

Steven Pearlstein is a Washington Post business and economics writer. He is also Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University.

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Trump now a lame-duck president - Bucks County Courier Times