PRESS RELEASE: ABC-NEW JERSEY CALLS ON RESIDENTS TO REJECT PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS

Associated Builders and Contractors New Jersey (ABC NJ) says legislation sitting on Governor Phil Murphy’s desk will leave “close to 85% of New Jersey contractors unable to bid on work.” ABC NJ’s press release on the matter follows:

The New Jersey Legislature has pushed through new legislation that revises the definition of ‘public works projects’ to permit government-mandated PLAs on even more projects. This legislation now sits on Governor Murphy’s desk for him to sign into law. As a result, the majority of construction contractors and workers in New Jersey will be unable to compete for PLA projects, solely based on the fact that their workers are non-unionized, leaving close to 85% of New Jersey contractors unable to bid on work. 

PLAs typically require that most or all employees hired for a project be referred through union hiring halls and union apprenticeship programs, which discriminates against the 70% of New Jersey construction workers who choose not to join a union. Most contractors do not like this requirement because they have invested heavily in their own existing employees to ensure a safe, productive jobsite, not strangers from a union hall.  More than one of every four New Jersey workers have filed a claim for unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the state Labor Department. This figure represents 1.24 million workers or 28% of the entire workforce. The unemployment rate for May is 15.2%. Considering PLAs only cater to the 15% of the construction workforce in New Jersey, why would we put into law a measure that would stop the ability for the 85% of the construction majority from bidding work?  This is not the time to discriminate against the majority of the construction workers.

Additionally, non-union contractors already have their own benefit plans in place, but the PLAs also require such contractors to pay union benefits and pension funds for any non-union employee working on a PLA job. This forces contractors to pay double the amount of benefits, even though union pension plans are at risk and non-union workers do not receive the benefits unless they join the union and become vested.

PLA mandates also disproportionately discriminate against women and minority-owned construction businesses and their workers, who traditionally have been underrepresented in New Jersey’s construction trade unions.  We should be encouraging not discouraging these companies.

The price and timeframe for these projects usually skyrocket as there are less available bidders. This harmful piece of legislation not only discourages competition between qualified merit shop contractors and workers, but it also adds between 12-18% to the cost of all taxpayer-funded construction projects.  More specifically, on school construction projects it is even worse.  Based on a New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development study, PLAs add an average of 30.5% to the cost and extend the construction period by 22-weeks.

As we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe our tax dollars must be spent diligently, while also creating an environment where competition is welcomed, not disparaged.  I encourage all New Jersey residents to let the Governor and your legislative representatives know that we cannot afford to overpay for our public construction projects because well-connected lobbyists want to steer contracts to unionized contractors and create an artificial monopoly for union labor via PLA mandates. 

New Jersey taxpayers deserve to have their hard-earned money spent in a competitive, fair, and open market where New Jersey based non-union contractors get an equal shot.  It is imperative that you make your voice heard.

PRESS RELEASE: Pattern Of Camden County Democrats Hiding Bad Behavior Continues

Camden County Republican Chairman Rich Ambrosino called out what he calls “a pattern of county Democrats hiding bad behavior of elected officials” after a Cherry Hill councilwoman resigned over insensitive racial remarks. Ambrosino’s press release follows:

Camden County Republican Chairman Rich Ambrosino, after reading multiple reports that Cherry Hill Councilwoman Carolyn Jacobs resigned following a racially insensitive remark she made, wondered why the Democrats kept the incident quiet for nearly two weeks.

“Here we go again, a Democrat exhibits bad behavior, county Democrats keep it quiet for as long as possible,” Rich Ambrosino said. “It’s a pattern with the Democrats, an Assemblyman admits to punching his girlfriend, it takes 11 days for him to resign. A township Commissioner crashes his car into another, leaves the scene, lies to the police and blames the accident on his wife, not a peep from the county Democrats. A Deputy Mayor gets in a bar fight, again not a peep from the Democrats. And now, in Cherry Hill, a Councilwoman makes a racially insensitive remark, she takes five days to resign and then another six days before we learn about it on a political news website.”

Ambrosino continued, “For a party that acts so righteous, especially on issues related to women and race, one would think Camden County Democrats would be more proactive exposing these types of incidents. They certainly shouldn’t be trying to hide them.”

“While Councilwoman Jacobs did eventually do the right thing and resign, once again Democrats in Camden County did the wrong thing and tried to hide the bad behavior of one of their own from the public,” Ambrosino said. “It’s time for this pattern of county Democrats hiding bad behavior of elected officials to end. Voters are sick of it and I think they are beginning to realize the only way to end it is to end single party rule in Camden County.”

Senate Candidate Benefited Greatly During Obama Administration

Hirsh Singh

Last week I wrote about how “internet trolls were making the claim that frontrunner Republican US Senate candidate Rik Mehta was an Obama appointee, then the trolls changed the narrative to he was an Obama Administration official with the ridiculous claim that “his big promotion was given by Barack Obama.”

I went on to point out that, in fact, Mehta started his career during the President George W Bush administration.

While writing that piece I thought if a candidate, or supporters of a candidate, want to make a false claim about another candidate benefiting from president Barack Obama’s administration then it is fair game to point out how much money the other candidate made off Obama’s administration.

Or to put it plainly – if Hirsh Singh and his supporters want to claim Rik Mehta made money off the Obama administration, I should probably look and see how much money Singh’s family made during the Obama years.

It’s a lot of money! At least $35,828,281.

Naturally, Singh may try to make the case that it’s his daddy’s company, and it may be true, but Singh is at least partially responsible for the money that came in to Hi-Tec Systems according to his own biography:

Singh doesn’t get to say he was a Business Development Specialist and then say he had nothing to do with the money that came into the family business from the Obama administration. He can’t have it both ways.

Perhaps all the government money coming into the family business in 2009 is why in June of that year Singh tweeted glowingly about then President Obama’s speech in Cairo, Egypt:

Screenshot I took of Singh’s Twitter back in the 2018 congressional primary

So, why do I use the phrase “At least $35,828,281” when writing about the money the Singh family business brought in during the Obama administration?

When searching Hi-Tec Systems on USAspending.gov using the firm’s DUNS number one comes up with $41.6 million:

And just for fun, here is where I found the company’s DUNS number:

And, to arrive with “At least $35,828,281” I scrolled down on the page to this:

Hovering over the bars in the graph on the page shows exactly how much money came in during the years. I simply added the numbers during Obama’s years in office to arrive at $35,828,281.

Scroll back up and look at the graph. Something I noticed is that under President Donald Trump the Singh family business government contract money has flatlined worse than my EKG in the middle of my heart attack. Zero new awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and so far in 2020.

Who knows, maybe the reason Singh wanted to be Governor, then US Senator, then Congressman and now US Senator again is that it’ll make it easier for the family business to get back in the government contract game.

I also have it ask, is it possible that the reason Hi-Tec Systems announced on its Facebook page on April 16, 2019 that they changed their name is that it has no new government contracts under the Trump administration?

Whatever the reason is for Singh’s continuous reach for such hi-profile offices, one thing is clear, his family business did much better under Obama than Trump.

With two weeks to go before you have to get your mail-in ballot filled out, the moral to this story is don’t yell and scream about a government job your opponent had when your family business was raking in over $35 million under the Obama administration.