They’re just memes. And sure, they make a political statement, but the idea is to have a little fun. So says Jay Webber, who is running to keep his Assembly seat in the 26th District. But to his Democratic opponents, Webber’s fun-loving memes are really “doctored photographs” that represent slimy politics in the extreme.

We begin with the landscape in a district that mostly covers Morris County, but that also includes towns in Essex and Passaic.

The incumbents are Webber and BettyLou DeCroce, who are not the best of buddies and who are running separate campaigns.

The Democrats – Christine Clarke and Laura Fortgang – are also running separate campaigns, although Webber is doing his best to lump them together as radical left-wingers. Recall he tried that last year against “Montclair Mikie,” with less than positive results.

Most of District 26 overlaps with Congressional District 11, which can mean trouble for Webber. Then again, this is another year, another election and the numbers favor the GOP.  Webber and DeCroce won reelection two years ago by about 7,000 votes each and Republicans maintain about a 14,000 advantage in registered voters.

Which brings us to the phony photographs or, if you will, the memes.

Clarke, who has stressed her environmental credentials since the campaign began, says she will not accept donations above $200 from those associated with the oil, gas and coal industry. And to fully emphasize that point, Clarke is pictured on campaign material holding a large sign that says precisely that.

The Webber camp is using her photo and her sign, but has created new messages – more than one in fact.

In one case, the sign reads that “Laura Fortgang has pushed for the release of drug dealers from prison.” It includes a “get out of jail free” card from the iconic Monopoly game.

Another altered sign that Clarke “holds” suggests that she and Fortgang want to raise state income taxes by $536 million. Then there’s one about the Dems supporting drivers’ licenses for those here illegally. These creations adorn Webber’s campaign Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Clarke said in a post of her own that, “It’s disappointing that some candidates would stoop to this kind of behavior.” She asked Webber to remove the doctored photographs; not surprisingly, he has not done so.

Webber says his opponents are without clean hands, noting that he has been portrayed in campaign material as both a skeleton and a dinosaur.

And he says the messages on the “memes” accurately depict his opponents’ positions. That’s true when it comes to driver’s licenses for those here illegally.

As for the other two cited here, like all “bumper sticker” messages, they lack context.

For example, the message about raising income taxes in excess of $500 million stems from the Democrats’ support for a so-called millionaires’ tax, a goal of Gov. Phil Murphy for the last two years. However, unlike the implication of Webber’s message, this tax will not be paid by average residents, just those earning more than a million dollars a year. That kind of narrows the field. Polls say the tax is popular.

Turning drug dealers loose is tied to the Democrats’ support for legalizing pot. Part of that legislation would also exonerate some of those already behind bars for marijuana infractions, including possession of up to five pounds of pot. That admittedly is a pretty high threshold, but still, we’re talking about marijuana, not fentanyl. No one is advocating for the release of El Chapo. More importantly, that five-pound threshold certainly can be reduced when or if the bill is passed.

Judging from posts on Webber’s social media accounts, Republicans love the “memes.”  Of course.

So whether this is funny politics or despicable antics is clearly in the eye of the beholder.

But you have to figure that if Clarke had this to do again, she would have eschewed the sign.