J. Joseph Rivera, who has been commenting on political blogs over the years as Dino, has finally revealed himself and has started a blog called www.savejersey.com.
He’s a young Republican in North Bergen and he’s tired of Democrats mucking up the state. But what can Republicans do to become prominent in Jersey’s urban areas again? That’s what he wants to know.
Here’s what he’s got to say on his blog:
“My full name is J. Joseph Rivera. The J stands for Justin, but I go by my middle name and prefer to be called Joe, mainly because I got tired of people calling me Jason for twenty eight years! I’m half Puerto Rican, half Italian and was raised in a blue collar, North Bergen Italian-American family my entire life. I’ve spent the bulk of my years living all over Hudson County and spent some time in Fairview where I watched the whole Zulima Farber/Hamlet Goore fiasco of three years ago unfold from my living room window.
“I got into politics at a very young age. My grandmother would listen to Rush Limbaugh everyday and over time, I caught the fever as well and was hooked for life. I registered to vote as a Republican at 18 years of age and never looked back. The first time I ever got involved in active campaigning was when Bret Schundler ran for Governor in ’01. I can honestly say that Bret is not only one of my favorite politicians, but the biggest reason I took as deep an interest in politics as I did. At 20 years of age as a first time volunteer for anything, I was helping man Bret’s campaign headquarters on 73rd and Bergenline in North Bergen and spent a lot of time pounding the pavement, distributing literature, making phone calls and doing whatever I could to help Bret get elected which unfortunately, wasn’t in the cards.”