It really matters who we send to represent us at all levels of government. Case in point: On his first day on the job, Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order which ensures that the Atlantic City Casinos will never be forced to close again during the pivotal July Fourth holiday weekend.
The steady leadership provided by Republican Assemblymen John Amodeo and Vince Polistina played a major role in this important executive decision. It was Amodeo and Polistina who captured the governor's ear and convinced him that this was vital to the overall health of the casino industry.
It was just several years ago that Democratic state Sen. Jim Whelan voted to close the casinos during the busiest holiday of the year. Whelan's effort helped cement a dreadful result that ended in a 10-day shutdown of the casinos. Millions of dollars were lost. Employees lost pay to provide for their families. Atlantic City received horrific negative national media coverage.
Not to mention that this reckless decision sent customers the wrong message about Atlantic City. As meeting planners and individuals were making their decisions for the July Fourth weekend, what sane person could ever imagine that the Atlantic City casinos would be closed for 10 days during the Fourth of July weekend?
No telling how much this hurt Atlantic City into the future, as people may have stayed away from Atlantic City during the Fourth of July for fear that the state might shut down the casinos again.
Thanks to Christie, Amodeo and Polistina, this can never happen again. The needed casino regulatory personnel have been deemed to be "essential" employees. Problem solved in just one day.
The sickest part of this is the fact that Whelan and his Democratic cronies used the Atlantic City casinos as a negotiating chip. They had years to solve this problem. They failed. But it should be noted that they failed on purpose. They wanted the leverage of being able to close the casinos in order to pass their various budget schemes.
All who played a part in this despicable scam should be voted out of office the next chance the voters get to be heard. If they are willing to play games with the health of the most vital industry in the state, they do not deserve to hold public office.
Let's go back to today's lesson. It really does matter who we elect to public office. I have been sharing with you for a while now that we are in the midst of a second American Revolution in America.
I have also been spending a great deal of time, energy and focus on the issue of elected officials accepting rich "Cadillac" medical health benefits at the expense of the taxpayers. This is another area where Amodeo and Polistina have shined. They have never accepted these benefits, saving the taxpayers more than $60,000 over the past two years.
To their credit, Amodeo and Polistina refused these taxpayer-provided benefits before most citizens were paying any attention to the matter.
Additionally, Amodeo and Polistina returned an additional $148,475 to the taxpayers in the form of frugality at their Assembly office. This is said to be the largest amount ever returned by a legislative team.
They were entitled to spend it. They chose another path. "The only way Trenton is going to change is if legislators lead the way,” said Polistina. “You don't have to spend it all just because it's there."
Imagine that. What a refreshing perspective in the otherwise maddening world of government bureaucracy.
"We believe that every aspect of state government can find efficiencies to save money, including legislators' offices. We have lived within our means. It's as simple as that," said Amodeo.
This is going to be a fascinating year. On one hand, the budget problems are so significant that you can be certain that tough choices will have to finally be made in New Jersey. This means that local, county and state governments can longer plod along, "business as usual," pretending that nothing is wrong.
No more cheap tricks and budget gimmicks. The taxpayers are wide awake, fully engaged and ready to exact as much political/electoral flesh as is required. Expect many career elected officials to bail out over the next two years. They simply won't be able to endure the public scrutiny that is coming.
Further, you can expect to see many career government employees who have amassed large golden parachutes take flight. The games are over. The taxpayers and voters are going to take back their government.
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