A heart-wrenching story from the NYT, “Government Workers Who Have Lost Their Jobs Worry About Their Housing”:
After losing his job at the U.S. Forest Service, Cameron McKenzie was worried about finding a new job. But first, he had a more immediate concern: How was he going to pay the mortgage?
He’s done the math — finding another job in the environmental sector could take months — and keeping up with the nearly $2,700 monthly payment on his three-bedroom home in Blairstown, N.J., will be a challenge, if not impossible. “Even on unemployment,” said Mr. McKenzie, 27, who worked as a community engagement specialist, “I’m not going to be able to make my mortgage payment.”
Mr. McKenzie’s termination was among thousands of federal job cuts, part of a purge of the work force under an executive order signed by President Trump.
It’s the New York Times, so it is important to stress that the “community engagement specialist” profiled happens to be a member of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community:
Mr. McKenzie, who worked at the U.S. Forest Service, said he and his husband are planning to list their New Jersey home — which his husband first purchased in 2022 for $215,000 — in May, when there’s more greenery to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Though they used to split the mortgage payments, Mr. McKenzie took on the task when his husband started law school. He estimated that around half of his $87,000 salary was going toward the payments and a construction loan the couple took out to cover renovations.
Who else is profiled in the article? “a single mother with three children” working as a “a health insurance specialist” and “Nathan Barrera-Bunch, who was a management analyst at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs … staying in Washington might not be feasible. It all depends, he said, on whether his fiancé, who still works for the federal government, can keep his job and if Mr. Barrera-Bunch can find a new one.”
In other words, the NYT apparently couldn’t find a single fired federal employee who was in a heterosexual partnership of some sort. Nor could they find an example of children growing up in a two-parent household.
Let’s circle back to Mr. McKenzie. If his cash compensation was $87,000 per year it seems fair to assume that he was costing taxpayers $250,000 per year (salary, benefits, pension, office space, etc.). What does a “community engagement specialist” do that justifies 100 percent of the personal federal income tax of perhaps 20 median-income families being harvested (i.e., for those 20 families, not a penny of their tax dollars can be used to deliver other services to them)?
I tried to answer my own question and found these slides from the Forest Service that include contributions from two community engagement workers. Here are some samples:
The white male cares about social justice, but is hogging this position that pays 2-3X private sector wages and thereby preventing a Black trans female from enjoying it? Only a white male can understand “Recreation Equity”, apparently:
Taxpayers keep funding DEI and yet don’t get any diversity, equity, or inclusion. The folks who get paid to achieve DEI aren’t discouraged by their long track record of (paid) failure:
Whiteness is to blame, it seems, but the white people won’t give up their unearned jobs and fat government salaries:
Critical Race Theory is not being funded or applied by the government, except in the minds of paranoid MAGA:
I started off wondering how financially illiterate the Princeton-educated Mr. McKenzie would have to be to wind up with a $2,700/mo payment on a $215,000 house (even at 7% rates in 2022, a 30 year fixed mortgage should run around $1900), and went down a bit of a rabbit hole of public records.
The home can be easily pinpointed, and Warren County records show a FHA rehab loan pushed the borrowed amount up to $294,137 on a 30-year note. Factoring in the eye-watering actual annual property tax rate of $7185.02 and likely addition PMI on a low/zero-down loan, the $2700/mo payment figure starts to make sense.
Sifting through the property records also led to a clear record of Mr. McKenzie’s father-in-law. Said father-in-law started off as a Coca-Cola distribution franchisee in 1985 and built a successful business over the span of 25 years with 700 clients across 4 states. It seems reasonable to presume that a couple of decades of hard work in the beverage industry are what afforded him the opportunity to send his son to Princeton, where (per LinkedIn) he earned a BA in English Language and Literature as well as a “Certificate in Gender & Sexuality Studies.”
The husband, who certainly must have learned at Princeton that he was a beneficiary of white privilege, was not a complete freeloader. He worked as a library assistant and a Residential College Advisor, a role where (according to princeton.edu) “[t]he RCAs work closely with a group of first-year advisees (zees) to help them transition to life as Princeton students.” Given timelines of attendance at Princeton, it seems likely that this is where the happy couple met.
The father-in-law was likely not as happy about the progressive outcome that his hard-earned tuition dollars led to, as he ran for a Republican congressional seat and stated “I also have a track record of taking on the most powerful political force in New Jersey – that’s the New Jersey Education Association – the teachers’ union that is behind almost every spending increase in the state – and the catalyst for some of the worst social legislation in the state – such as the new sexual education curriculum that is being pushed by Democrats to appease the radical progressive left.”
Father-in-law lost his bid for Congress and he and his wife sold their long-time New Jersey home and relocated to Rotonda West, FL in 2024.
Another happy family outcome thanks to the enlightened era that we live in.
Wow! Thats awesome sleuthing. Can you please share some links to the sources you found? Separately, the Rotunda development fascinates me! I haven’t been there yet, though.
@philg of course – I was avoiding sharing names and addresses, since as much as getting your sob story in the NYT opens one up to public criticism, the details start to cross the line of doxxing.
The address is quite easy to find – pull up Blairstown, NJ in Zillow, set it to look for Sold properties, and filter price to $214-216k. There are only two records, and once was sold in Dec 2022. Zillow has rotated out the full set of listing photos, but other realty sites still include them, so those are only a Google search away. They pretty clearly match the NYT photos. You’ll notice that some of the rehab loan money was used to repaint the porch railings white.
Punching the address into their county property tax search will net the annual tax rate and owner (husband) name. https://taxrecords-nj.com/pub/cgi/prc6.cgi?district=2101&ms_user=ctb21
I pulled up the Warren County Property Records site via the link here: https://www.warrencountynj.gov/government/warren-county-clerk-s-office/public-land-records. The link there seems to have some spotty HTTP forwarding behavior. When it works, it will take you to a search page at https://searchiqs.com/njwar. Searching by the husband’s name turns up mortgage details, as well as some docs for a failed business that point to another address. The second address is what leads to the father-in-law’s name and occupation.
LinkedIn profile pages are easily found for all of them, establishing education, employment, and timeline. The husband’s profile matches the NYT description of starting law school.
The failed business is also interesting. It seems that perhaps husband picked up some entrepreneurial aspirations from his father’s example, and leased a shop in the small town center to open a bookstore. It has 3 positive reviews on Google Maps, evidently not enough to make it profitable, and the shop folded after a year. I don’t think it’s much of a leap to assume that the hometown locals may not have been buying up literature on gender and sexuality studies at a high enough rate. Practical business planning also may not be part of the Princeton curriculum these days.
The father-in-law’s escape to FL can be traced using his name and NJ address punched in to realtyhop.com – a nice site that tracks a trail of property ownership for an individual. Use the Property Records search.
Finally – the father-in-law’s political career was just a few Google searches by name. The candidate profiles mention “beverage industry” which matches up with the contents of his LinkedIn profile.
Great stuff! Thanks.
It’s far more “uplifting” to share stories of people who have failed in life than those who have succeeded and made meaningful contributions to society. After all, Americans must constantly be reminded that living under a Republican dictatorships spells doom for everyone.
“Dr” Phil:
The article didn’t describe that these folks won’t be able to even get to work (remember: no telework!) because the new administration said transportation money will be prioritized to areas with high (hetero?) marriage and birth rates. No maintained roads for minorities!
I’m happy about that, because just like you I really hate my fellow LGBSFJKF and minority Americans…simply because they have different views than me…and take the chance to rake them across the coals at every turn.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/us/politics/trump-transportation-birth-rates.html
@phil I am surprised and puzzled why you are obsessed with NYT, even after your party and your leader won fair and square in this election. Why can’t you post some conservative media(may be they are fair and balanced) articles , telling how good things are and how the doge actions are positive to the economy, society and deficit reduction.
> Why can’t you post some conservative media
Sounds like your inner self is yearning for Instapundit!
$87k + a pension was better than silicon valley, 25 years ago.
How many “community engagement specialists” did silicon valley had 25 years ago? I know that 25 years ago single – family home price in silicon valley already hit $1,000,000 .
Did not realize that New Jersey had federal forests. Maybe along New Jersey Appalachian Trail? Doubt that any community other then whitetail deer or black bear community needs engagement there. I thought that people who engage those, along with hunters, are called forest rangers and are usually hired from prior military background, and by state, not federal authorities.