Democratic presidential candidate Corey Booker is well connected in New Jersey politics – and he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.
For example, Booker faced serious criticism for refusing to condemn Sen. Bob Menendez when the longtime Democrat was facing pedophilia charges. Menendez beat the charges thanks to a hung jury.
Now his political allies in the state have another dirty trick up their sleeves – removing President Donald Trump from the 2020 election ballot in the Garden State.
Democrats are trying to remove Trump’s name from the presidential ballot in New Jersey in 2020, unless he discloses his tax returns under a bill now advancing.
The Democratic-led state Senate passed legislation Thursday that critics call the bill a cynical partisan attack meant to suppress Republican votes.
The measure requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to release five years of federal tax returns to appear on the state’s ballot; Trump famously refused to release his tax returns during the 2016 election.
Trump said it was because he is being audited.
Democrats have used the issue to speculate about what might be in the documents.
The bill goes to the Democratic-led Assembly. If the measure is passed there, it would head to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
This isn’t the first time Democrats in the state have tried the move. But Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a political ally of Trump, previously vetoed the legislation, calling it a “transparent political stunt masquerading as a bill.”
When he vetoed the bill, Christie proposed that state Democrats first take their own advice.
Before focusing on the president, he proposed Democrats first expand the New Jersey’s Open Public Record Act.
Christie proposed allowing voters more transparency into New Jersey state lawmaker’s finances, political donors, tax returns, and potential conflict of interests.
Democrats didn’t like that idea.
Transparency in government, it seems, only suits them when it suppresses Republican votes.
— The Horn editorial team