New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal held the Confronting Bias: Sussex County Steps Up at the Sussex County Community College Performing Arts Center on the evening of January 7, 2020.  No Sussex County GOP elected officials or leaders were in attendance, nor have acknowledged this important symposium held by the Attorney General and Prosecutor’s office in the 9 days since it occurred. The only Republican elected official at the event left before New Jersey Attorney General Grewal’s comments were completed.

With multiple hate crimes committed in Sussex County over the last 4 years remaining unsolved amid a substantial uptick of graffitied swastikas and hateful language in our schools, it is unfathomable that none of our Republican County officials prioritized a symposium that offered tools and invaluable information about how to combat these crimes and report bias incidences.

Most significantly, on November 29th 2019, Sussex County was once again in national news (New York Times) regarding hate crimes. The recent arrests, and separate incidents, of two far-right extremists in Sussex County produced an array of startling revelations; high-powered weapons, a grenade launcher, talk of a mass shooting at a hospital, and a macabre fascination with the recent massacre in New Zealand, complete with video recorded re-enactments.

While the symposium went unattended and ignored by the Sussex GOP, they have been busy pushing and passing a Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution, introduced by LD-24 Assemblyman Parker Space, that opposes Red Flag laws. Red Flag laws are essential in protecting individuals from domestic violence. When these resolutions were addressed at Confronting Bias: Sussex County Steps Up, First Assistant Prosecutor Greg Mueller said, “The Prosecutor, the Prosecutor’s office, we are 100% committed to enforcing the red flag laws.”

Sussex County Republican elected officials, leaders and Assemblyman Parker Space can add unnecessarily endangering those at risk of domestic violence to their absence and silence on the matter of bias and hate crimes in Sussex County. The only stance on hate Sussex County Republican officials take can be heard at meetings where they fight against anti-hate resolutions, and in the case of the all-Republican Board of Chosen Freeholders they have allowed a former Freeholder to yell about the LGBTQ community deeming it a “wacko lifestyle” and have spoken about how hate speech may or may not even exist. One most recent example of their blindspot regarding the need for confronting bias in Sussex County was when they refused to remove censured Sussex County Community College Board of Trustee member, Jerry Scanlan. Amid pressure from the Board of Trustees, students and the public to remove Mr. Scanlan after his hundreds of misogynistic, prejudice, homophobic and xenophobic tweets, the Freeholders voted to allow Mr. Scanlan to serve out the rest of his term. In summary, they cited the first amendment as the reason he should remain in his position, neglecting to acknowledge that the first amendment protects individuals from prosecution, not from repercussions in one’s professional and personal life.

Furthermore, despite two nominations made to Sussex County’s Board of Chosen Freeholders to replace Mr. Scanlan when his term ran out at the end of October, the Freeholders only approved one of those nominations by their Appointments Committee; the Democrat was rejected and the Sussex County Republican Committee Chair Jerry Scanlan now remains nearly 2 ½ months beyond his expired term.

Attorney General Grewal said it’s imperative to report those who write or say hate comments, stating that “comments can lead to conduct,” adding as a community, parents should “demand more of schools and law enforcement” when it comes to bias incidents among youth. In 2018, Grewal said, almost 50% of known offenders of bias crimes were juveniles.

In 2018 when a home in Hampton Township was vandalized with antisemetic graffiti, the Hampton Township Committee said nothing. When they were pushed by residents to make a statement condemning the actions they refused and said it was likely the work of teenagers. That family’s home was vandalized again shortly after. Only after the third incident against their home and a peace rally held by members of the community did they pass a resolution against hate.