Family values GOP candidate smears feces on daycare & blames Barack Obama

Joseph Viso Jr., an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican candidate for New Jersey’s State Assembly, has admitted to smearing fecal matter on the doors of a daycare center in 2009 because he was upset that Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election. It’s just one of his numerous criminal convictions — the others have involved drugs, weapons possession, and unpaid debts.

During his current election campaign, Viso has repeatedly opposed LGBTQ+-inclusive school policies and classroom instruction, supporting policies that out transgender students and accusing LGBTQ+ rights advocates of “coming for our children,” rhetoric that right-wingers have used to imply that LGBTQ+ people are pedophiles.

Related:

Church’s rainbow flag smeared with feces amid repeated anti-LGBTQ vandalism

“I wish I could say that this particular act of vandalism is an isolated incident – but it’s not,” the church wrote.

Viso pleaded guilty to criminal mischief charges after smearing fecal matter on the doors of Children’s Studio, a children’s daycare center in East Rutherford, following a dispute with the owner, The New Jersey Globe reported. The daycare was next door to an electrical company he owned at the time, and he accused the owner of having police leave tickets on his employees’ parked cars.

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Police reports said that Viso’s employees would “frequently blast loud music with offensive lyrics next to the daycare center playground,” the aforementioned publication added. Surveillance video captured Viso smearing fecal matter over the daycare’s locks and door handles.”

Viso pleaded guilty and paid a $250 fine for his deed. Questioned about his actions, Viso said, “It was done before anyone got hurt. I’m not going to defend it. It was wrong. I was a young man. It was a horrible time, and I made a mistake. Obama came into office the year before.”

He is an anti-LGBTQ+ Republican. One of his campaign mailers says that he supports “parental rights in education” and “family values.” Both terms are conservative dog whistles that signal an opposition to racially- and LGBTQ+-inclusive learning environments.

In a September 15 Facebook post, he linked to an article accusing an LGBTQ+ non-profit of “sneaking gender lessons into schools so parents can’t opt out.” He wrote, “They are coming for our children whether you like it or not. If we do not stand up now, it will be too late. These people are sick and need to be stopped…. Save our children!”

In a public August 15 Facebook post, he mocked a government official suing schools whose policies require educators to out transgender students to their potentially unsupportive parents. The post called the official “out of touch with reality.”

In 2016, Viso pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to distribute Methylone. Police charged him with possessing 5,000 grams of it, enough to make five million ecstasy tablets, synthetic empathogenic street drugs. He said he sold the drugs to help pay for his cancer treatments at the time.

In 2014, Viso was charged with illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun near a school and sentenced to two years probation for it. He said he pleaded guilty because he couldn’t afford a lawyer. In 2013, he was charged with possession of heroin and smoking materials. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia.

Between 2011 and 2016, Viso was sued eleven times for non-payment of bills, and in 2012, he filed for bankruptcy. Records show that he owed over $3.3 million to over 200 creditors, including $400,000 in credit card debt, over $125,000 in unpaid business loans, over $42,000 in unpaid federal and state income taxes, over $43,000 in outstanding bills for unpaid code violations, $6,000 in unpaid parking tickets, $3,000 to his bail bondsman, and over $2,000 in unpaid employee wages.