So far the Sussex County Republican Party has been close-mouthed about why General Assembly incumbent Parker Space is this year running as a team with newcomer Harold Wirths, rather than previous teammate and current incumbent Gail Phoebus.

Donald Trump on Jan. 25 issued an executive order aimed at cutting off federal funding for so-called “sanctuary cities,” a loosely defined term that generally means that local law enforcement does not investigate or inquire about the immigration status of residents not under arrest for crimes (and not defining “crime” as being in the country illegally).

U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11), whose district includes the Sussex County towns of Byram, Hopatcong, Ogdensburg, Sparta and Stanhope, hasn’t held a town meeting in four years.

On Feb. 1, the all-Republican borough council of Hopatcong voted unanimously to designate a nearly 33-acre parcel of land within the Borough as “an area in need of redevelopment.”

On Saturday, Right to Live proponents gathered at Newton Green to protest what they call government “funding” of Planned Parenthood because the women’s health organization provides safe and legal abortions among its numerous services.

New Jersey Republican leaders know they need a top tier candidate to challenge freshman congressman Josh Gottheimer for his fifth congressional district seat in 2018. One name keeps popping up: Wantage resident and Fox Business News anchor Lou Dobbs.

Two new candidates have emerged to contend for the twenty-fourth legislative district assembly seats, currently occupied by Parker Space and Gail Phoebus.

Josh Gottheimer surprised the county in November with an historical victory in New Jersey’s fifth congressional district over Scott Garrett, who held that seat since 2003. It was one of six House seats the Democrats managed to flip. But now the National Republican Congressional Committee sees Gottheimer’s seat as a prime target in 2018.

If the GOP-dominated legislature continues to have its way, down the road Americans may have to learn the hard way that environmental protections, gun restrictions and financial disclosure laws were enacted for a reason, and the solution to overly cumbersome regulations is to fix them, not gut them.

The Republican Party nationally and in New Jersey continues its assault on women, from promoting national legislation to restrict reproductive freedom to, in New Jersey, quashing a bill that would have guaranteed women workers equal pay.  And Sussex County’s GOP has an explanation for why that’s okay, and it came from a woman.