Town Hall Message to Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman: Dem Party Authoritarianism in CD-12, LD-16, Somerset County, Montgomery Twp
I received two invites to attend this 5/27 Town Hall meeting – hosted by Montgomery Township – on one of the invites there was a call to “Thank” Bonnie Watson-Coleman on her forward role on the issue of Palestine. As editor of FightBackBetter – our publication has reported the important stances taken by Rep. Watson -Coleman and has covered her presentations and statements. FightBackBetter has also covered the illegal threats of legal harm to Rep. Watson-Coleman, called for the dropping of the charges against Ras Baraka and has called for the immediate dropping of the phony and illegal charges against Rep. MacIver. Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman’s opposition to ICE and her attempting to challlenge the concentration camp being installed at Delaney Hall in Newark is appreciated and all part of the proper role of a representative in these times.
FightBackBetter coverage of some of Rep. Watson Coleman’s work can be reviewed at this link.
I acknowledge appreciation for Rep. Watson-Coleman’s role in serving as a model as to what representatives in congress should do to oppose genocide and repression. My role is to call upon you to address the repressive climate in Congressional District 12, in Legislative District 16, in Somerset County and in Montgomery Township. I also implore Rep. Watson–Coleman to speak clearly in no uncertain terms against the current attempt of the overwhelming Democratic majority in the NJ Senate and NJ Assembly to attempt to bring a reign of fascist terror to NJ through sponsorship of proposed “IHRA” codifiction. The NJ Democratic Party legislators proposed IHRA codification falsely equates criticism of the policies of US supporting of Israel as anti-semitism and would bring legal harm to those of us who exercise our free speech rights in NJ to challenge US policy toward the Palestinian people.
Rep. Watson-Coleman, you have spoken clearly in condemnation of the treatment of the visiting visa holding students including Mahmoud Khalil – so it is clear you principally support our free speech and our right to oppose US policy toward the Palestinians. But it is now a critical moment in NJ history and your important voice is needed not only to challenge the fascist ICE repression bringing danger to NJ streets and not only the repression from the Trump administration against dissident students, as you are doing. The IHRA proposed laws for NJ are modeled on an illegal executive order from Trump’s first term to impose the repressive narrative of IHRA. At a time when escalation of government terror is growing across the whole nation – NJ Democrats need to separate themselves from Trump and fascism and denounce increasing the pretext for our repression.
Rep, Watson-Coleman I implore you to make a strong clear statement – as you know how to do – to call upon your Democratic Party colleagues in the NJ legislature to stop with the repressive IHRA nonsense! You have condemned the repression as it is coming from the Trump administration but the very same repression coming from your own party must also be condemned. They need your guidance and it needs to be specific – for example – by imploring NJ Democrats to take their names off S1292, S2937 AND A3558 and to permanently table these repressive attacks on our beloved protected speech rights as per the First Amendment of the US Constitution. We need more than implied opposition – we need specific words to specifically call for the defeat of IHRA codification in NJ and I implore you as my Congressional representative to find those words and make your opposition plainly known in the eloquent way that you do. You can also speak directly to Freiman and Drulis – they are your representatives too and they support your repression.
There is a perfect example right here in Montgomery Township, Somerset County, Legislative District 16, Congression District 12 – our home. On March 17 at an event sponsored by the Montgomery Township Democratic Party and LD16 Democratic Party incumbents Asm Freiman and Asw Drulis, I attended as an invited member of the public. At the event I addressed both Assembly representatives with a message that I am intending to run for Assembly to challenge their support of the fascist IHRA measure. On March 19 the police came to my house because Asm Roy Freiman with the support and approval of Asw Mitchell Drulis made a malicious and false police accusation of the felony crime of bribery over my protected free speech opposition to their support of IHRA and my asserted right to run for office, to vote for the candidates of my choice based upon the issues they address and the stance they took.
The false accusation was sent by Montgomery Township police and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s staff to the NJ Office of Attorney General and for 3 weeks the idea of a possible felony charge was dangled over my head while I relentlessly documented the buffoonery of NJ Democrats Freiman and Drulis, Montgomery Township Mayor and Committee, the Montgomery Police, the Somerset Prosecutors Office and the NJ Assembly Democratic Party Chief Counsel Nicole Brown to bring this legal harm to me. I reached out to you Rep. Watson-Coleman and to everyone begging for statements of support and specifically for on the record calls to dismiss the charges and release the police report. Sadly there were only 3 voters in all of LD16 that actually made a statement or signed a statement of support – two of them being the challengers to the Montgomery committee seats Mazhar Syed and Amanda Baumunk – appreciation for those worthy candidates and to the other private citizen who also explicitly supported me. From the rest of LD16 there was silence (aside from my daily reporting on the false accusations) and no other calls to dismiss the false accusation.
The threat of a felony bribery charge – which has a maximum penalty of 10 years – over my protected free speech attempt to oppose Freiman and Drulis’s support for similar repression on a wholesale statewide basis based upon the false IHRA narrative is a precise example and a taste of life under IHRA and the vision of “freedom” that the majority of NJ legislative Democrats have for our future. If I was indicted and convicted – I could have ended up dying in prison.
After almost 4 weeks of fierce self advocacy, the police report was finally released. It showed that the prosecutor’s office had immediately determined that the accusation by Freiman was false but the prosecutor required the false charge be sent up to the NJ OAG anyway and I spent 3-weeks looking for cop cars to be rolling up on me. It was certainly a disappointment of the silence of the entire local political establishment as well as all of the advocates. Also silent were the local micro focus media sites and most of NJ’s media that did not see a false accusation by a sitting politician against an opponent of his policies as newsworthy. They were all notified repeatedly of these occurrences and chose not to cover the false accusation by a sitting Assembly member Freiman against his constituent citizen and voter, me, Bob WItanek.
Back to the iHRA issue: NJ Democrats join “Hands Off” rallies to challenge Trump’s policies while they organize legislative support of IHRA measures based upon a Trump presidential order that will end up “Handing US Off” to Trump. We see ICE dragging us off the streets, home invasions, smashing car windows, loading students into vans and in your and MacIver’s case – coming after congress members. This is not the time for Democrats to be conjuring up more fascist powers for the Trump administration. That Democrats in NJ legislature are hip joined to their Trumpian Republican partners in repression on the IHRA laws is an ominous sign. I implore you to speak loudly and clearly to this issue from the podium of your Town Hall presentation in Montgomery Township and to use your charisma and political power to work to help defeat IHRA in the NJ legislature.
As the Trump administration threats against you have shown, you as a senior congress member are not safe from the repression of the Trump administration and it is highly likely that your advocacy against genocide – could also come under the repression of the proposed IHRA legislation being promoted by your own fellow democrat partisans.
Use form at this link to request meet up to sign Bob Witanek’s nomination petition:
