23rd Turns Right, and right again and again.

Is the 23rd the ONLY district left in NJ where the Right wants to alight?

First, Warren County freeholder John DiMaio [pro-life, pro-gun, anti-climate change, etc] gets the convention nod from Hunterdon/Warren to replace Marcia Karrow in the Assembly.

Then, Hunterdon Freeholder Erik Peterson [also pro-life, pro-gun, anti-climate change, etc] gets the county line in Warren and Hunterdon for the Assembly race.

And now, to complicate things even more---the Chief of Staff of Assemblyman Mike Doherty [ even more so pro-life, pro-gun, anti-climate change, etc]---Ed Smith has decided to jump in to the race. His stand on the key right wing issues---you guessed it----pro-life, pro-gun, anti-climate change, etc.

Does he believe in evolution, gravity, magnetism? Who knows.

So, just how does the average Republican voter choose between the right-wing guys running? Again, who knows. One is more right wing than the next.

Former Senator Lance was a reasonable Republican---labeled himself an Eisenhower Republican. And for a while Ms. Karrow was reasonable, too. But Doherty is about as anti-progressive as you can get, and so are the three heirs to the throne.

So, you can bet the words/phrases you'll hear most often in the coming primary will be "Reagen", "Pro-life", "I never raised taxes" and "Corzine is a %$#!"

State Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough's 'Macaca' monent.

“State Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough is learning the hard way that jokes from another era with ethnic punch lines tend to punch back in today's political campaigns. Democrats on Thursday jumped all over McCullough, R-Atlantic — who is running for his first full term in the state Senate — after he told a reporter from a political Web site a joke about an Asian couple with a black baby.” (McAleer, Press of Atlantic City

I have been doing professional stand-up comedy for more than twenty years, and I have heard just about every racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, ageist, anti-feminist, and anti-transgender joke there is. Sometimes the jokes emanate from other comedians and sometimes from comedy club audience members. However, very infrequently do they come from fellow elected officials. In this case, however, that is not true. State Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough is setting himself to lose his seat on the basis of his exposed racist values.

And he made it worse by declaring afterwards:

"It was not an ethnic slur...It was never said in a slanderous way toward African-Americans or the Chinese. If they took it that way, I certainly would apologize. I never took it that way."

"...If they took it that way, I certainly would apologize."??? That's just like saying, “Hey! Come on. It’s just a joke! Lighten up.”

However, it’s not just a joke. Your sense of humor is a great window into your core value system. We should judge people’s core value system not just on the basis of what they say during prepared speeches. But what they say in spontaneous moments. This is especially true of those in public office. Remember Virginia Senator George Allen in 2oo6. His casual use of the racist term 'macaca' for a dark skinned person was caught on YouTube, and cost him the election.

At my annual program for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities on humor in government, we always have a panel consisting of myself, a professional political stand-up comedian, political cartoonist Jimmy Margulies, and sometimes another elected official. In the past, we have had the pleasure of having join us Dena Blizzard, the former Ms. New Jersey, and current stand-up comedian. We have had comedian Scott Blakeman from The Late Show with David Letterman and Barry Weintraub from ComedyCentral. And Assemblyman Jon Bramnick has joined us as well, as he is listed as the ‘Funniest Lawyer in New Jersey’.

There are great lessons to be learned from those elected officials who used humor wisely ---like John Kennedy and Ronald Reagen. And from those who used it poorly ---like Dan Qualye, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.

The question of what is appropriate humor will be debated for years. However, at the NJSLOM session we have always come away with the following universal truths regarding humor:

1-Always make yourself the butt of any joke.
2-Never make an ethic joke.
3-Always know your audience.

State Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough is most definitely learning the hard way. He should have attended my program at the League.