Does Fulop and His Assembly Bandwagon Cede to Gottheimer on IHRA?
Jersey City mayor and NJ gubernatorial candidate Steven Fulop has managed to build an entourage of Assembly hopefuls into his bandwagon. Electorally it is probably a good primary strategy as it guarantees that he will have advocacy for his primary bid in many of the Legislative Districts. So where does Fulop and his Assembly candidate entourage stand on what this editor believes is the most important issue in the NJ state legislature? Will our beloved rights to Constitutionally protected free speech survive the Democratic Party led legislative effort to ban Palestine advocacy in NJ as if it is “anti-semitic”?
Currently almost 3/4 of the NJ Assembly body of 80 members is either a sponsor or a co-sponsor of A3558 which will give legal power to attack advocacy for Palestinian freedom and against US-Israel commitment of genocide in Gaza against the Palestinian People as “antisemitic.” Those who will be harmed by this repressive legislation package – estimated as many as 1 million NJ citizens and residents are mobilizing voters for the 2025 elections as well as for protests opposing these repressive NJ proposed laws and we are closely watching the phenomenon of Fulop’s assembly team.
Fulop himself has been absolutely silent on the issue. Even after Gubernatorial hopeful US Congressman Josh Gottheimer called to bring the full weight of the law against the pro-Palestine advocacy movement in NJ in November 2024. Fulop has lots of words – he knows how to take a position. He also has to be aware of this important concern because this editor has written about candidate Fulop’s silence and has tweeted to him dozens of times on the matter and has written to and talked to supporters of Fulop who claim to have access to him. Fulop is fully aware and he is fully silent. He has not made any speech in defense of our free speech.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE FULOP TEAM REGARDING OUR PROTECTED FREE SPEECH RIGHTS?
There are 4 sitting Assembly members that are on Fulop’s assembly band wagon. One of those John Allen (LD-32) is a co-sponsor of the fascist bill. Three others are not on the bill to their credit but they have not spoken against the bill either. They are: Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (LD-31), Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (LD-32) and Assemblyman Julio Marenco (LD-33). So the sitting candidates provide no evidence that there is any principled opposition to the Democratic Party led, bipartisan effort to implement fascist repression of Palestine advocacy. John Allen’s name ON the bill shows it is not a vetting issue for the Fulop organization and Fulop welcomes support for ending constitutional protection for free speech in NJ.
As for the Assembly candidates that are not sitting in office – we are reaching out to them. We have emailed the ones we have contact information for and are contacting them also through social media. The following is an open letter to Fulop’s Assembly candidates team:
To All Assembly Candidates Aligned with the Steven Fulop for Governor campaign,
FightBackBetter is concerned that you are teamed up with Steven Fulop over his silence over A3558 which threatens to remove protections for free speech in NJ when the issues of Palestine and Israel are concerned. Fulop states many policy positions but the Mayor has not found the time or capacity to utter yet a single word of concern for the one million NJ voters and residents who will be subjected to legal harm should NJ define opposition to Israel as “anti-Semitic” as per A3558. We have a pledge being signed by voters and Assembly candidates who are pledged to oppose any attempt to implement the IHRA fraudulent construct that opposition to or criticism of Israel is “antisemitic.” We are pledging also to vote against and to refuse to endorse any candidate who is silent on this matter.
We call upon you to unite and to appeal to your team leader, to Mayor Steven Fulop, to break his silence and to speak out AGAINST the IHRA fraud and to call for a pause on the debate on these laws during 2025. Nobody has to agree with us about how we feel about US support for genocide – but you should at least be able to say that we can continue to exercise our protected free speech rights – otherwise you are politically subborning fascism. As individuals we invite you to join our efforts to pledge to protect our free speech rights in NJ from the bipartisan encroachments led by the Democratic Party.
Please ask yourself: why should people who believe in our beloved fundamental right to free speech, support Fulop? As Fulop’s Assembly team you actually have the power to turn this around. You can tell him that you will be losing the votes of supporters of free speech. You should proclaim your own support for free speech and opposition to the IHRA fraudulent conflation of the nation state of Israel with the practice of Judaism.
You can individually and collectively go to Fulop to tell him that he might be able to help his own chances for governor as well as your own chances by proclaiming that he opposes A3558 and he will oppose any IHRA linked measures if he were governor. Every day that he is quiet proves that he agrees with Josh Gottheimer who is the only Democratic NJ Gubernatorial who has staked a position on IHRA – Gottheimer is a staunch advocate of unleashing the full force of the law against Palestine advocates. By that he means police and lawfare litigation attacking a million NJ citizens and residents because we say “Palestine” and we have negative thoughts about Israel.
For your part individually you can make your own statements as well as sign on to our Pledge to support only the free speech supporting candidates and as candidates to oppose A3558 and the IHRA fraud.
We appreciate if you can forward this letter to your team members as we attempt to also establish contact with them so they can all be aware of this important concern that will be a factor in 2025.
We are running Assembly candidates to protect free speech. Priorities and capacity will determine which LDs are able to field the strongest challenges from our side so we are very interested in breaking the silence of Fulop and his Assembly followers. Our goal is to stop these bills and any similarly worded bills and to protect the free speech of all NJ citizens, residents and visitors, including our right to criticize Israel and support the cause of Palestinians.
Sincerely,
Bob WItanek, Editor, FightBackBetter
READERS ACTION: Reach out to the following Fulop candidates and urge them to defend our free speech!
Rohit Dave (LD-27), Brandon Saffold and Carolyn Rush (LD-1)join State Assembly Candidates Andrew LaBruno (LD-39), David Jiang (LD-39) and David Tingle (LD-18), Steve Pylypchuk (LD-25), Donald Bonomo, Esq. (LD-38), Loretta Rivers (LD-17), Ron Arnau (LD-40), Steve Barratt (LD-24), Debra Di Donato (LD-10), Vonetta Hawkins (LD-4), Rosalee Keech (LD-9), Bruce Weekes (LD-2), Brittany Claybrooks (LD-34), Frank Vélez (LD-34), Tamar Warburg (LD-37), Daniel Park (LD-37), Lisa Bonanno (LD-2), Brian K. Everett (LD-4), Rashan Prailow (LD-5), Rebecca Holloway (LD-6), Kevin Ryan (LD-6), Eddie Freeman III (LD-8), Romi Herrera (LD-35), Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (LD-31), Assemblyman John Allen (LD-32), Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez (LD-32) and Assemblyman Julio Marenco (LD-33).
