By Scott St. Clair | The Save Jersey Blog
Vincent Prieto’s resume is what’s wrong with New Jersey politics.
The Hudson County Democrat, who serves as speaker of the state Assembly, has gotten a lot of ink lately over his race to the ethical bottom. He’s becoming rich beyond the dreams of avarice on the public dime, with a new politically-connected consulting gig augmenting his $200,000 salary.
He’s forgotten, if he ever knew, that elective office is about public service, not personal enrichment – serve the people, don’t drain them.
Prieto’s defense is the popular “everyone else is doing it,” which has long justified political graft and corruption. Yet, nobody forced him to run for office.
With every lobbyist, boss and “power broker’s” brother or cousin on the public payroll double and triple-dipping, no wonder our taxes are sky-high.
And how is it that South Jersey insurance agent George Norcross, who holds no elected position, picked Prieto as speaker
Limit the number of public-payroll jobs a legislator can have to the one to which he’s elected, slash elected-official compensation and preclude state or local government employing or doing business with legislative family members.
Otherwise, Prieto’s resume, and his income, will continue to get padded
Everything wrong with NJ politics can be summed up in two simple words: Chris Christie
They Should Be Embarrassed.
Last week Norcrat spokesman Ken Shuttleworth made an inflammatory statement when asked about the 200+ PEOPLE gathered in unity against the Norcross-Reid alliance:
“We’re talking about political leaders here – leaders of government. We’re not going to be riled by a citizen protest or any other sort of protest”.
Ken, you need to know something. Political leaders today are commonly view as dirty people. Political leaders are largely viewed as selfish, greedy and egotistic. Political leaders of today, such as Harry Reid, should be in jail, as in right now. The political leaders of today are NOT public servants, nor are they role models, rather political leaders of today are THE PROBLEM.
Ken, if the former US Attorney (Chris Christie) and NJ Attorney General did not botch the investigation into George Norcross (the Palmyra Tapes) years ago, what are the chances George would have gone to a federal prison?
Furthermore Ken, it is CRYSTAL STINKIN’ CLEAR George Norcross and Chris Christie have a significant deal in place, which allows George to run around without a worry in the word (i.e. The State Comptrollers report on the DRPA). It is CRYSTAL CLEAR Chris Christie is under TWO FEDERAL GRAND JURY investigations. So due tell Ken, how is this leadership work again?
Ken, the reality is you should be embarrassed by your statement. You should be embarrassed you refer to people like Steve Sweeney, Lou Cappelli, Jeff Nash, Lou Greenwald, Jim Beach and Don Norcross as ‘leaders’, just to name a few.
You should be embarrassed that BILLIONS OF DOLLARS HAVE POURED INTO CAMDEN without anything to show for it (except the power your people have amassed and the luxury cars your people drive).
You should be embarrassed that Camden and Gloucester Counties look like they are stuck in the 1980’s.
You should be embarrassed at your fellow minions woeful record on education reform, poverty reduction and anti corruption practices.
You should be embarrassed people go to work everyday trying to make a better life for their families while your minions find new ways to manipulate the system to enrich themselves, family and friends.
Ken, you should be ashamed at the example of the standard of behavior your people have set for the rest of the region. You should be embarrassed at the corrupt culture your people have fostered, and the hypocrisy they represent.
Perhaps most of all Ken, you should be embarrassed you exposed the contempt you have for the everyday citizen to rightfully and righteously express their discontent at the obvious.
With all due respect Ken, GO POUND SAND!
New Jersey has the best state government that money can buy!