By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Atlantic County GOP Chairman Keith Davis isn’t waiting for the general election to go hammer and tongs after Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-2), Save Jerseyans.
Rebranding the freshman incumbent as “Meadowlands” Mazzeo, Davis’s organization launched www.MeadowlandsMazzeo.com this week (along with www.Facebook.com/MeadowlandsMazzeo) to take Assemblyman Mazzeo to task for refusing to fight casino expansion in North Jersey.
Specifically, Davis cited Mazzeo’s refusal to support district mate Assemblyman Chris Brown’s efforts to stop a statewide referendum authorizing North Jersey casino expansion.
“Assemblyman Brown’s idea was about as common sense as you could get,” said Chairman Davis. “A referendum needs a majority vote in both the Democratic State Senate and Democratic State Assembly before it can be placed on the ballot before voters – that’s 41 votes in the State Assembly.
“Chris Brown secured a majority of the Republican caucus in support of the measure. All Vince Mazzeo had to do was to get 17 of his 48 Democrat friends to sign on and stop North Jersey casinos. Not only did he fail, worse, he didn’t even try. If that doesn’t demonstrate Mazzeo’s lack of leadership then I don’t know what does. ‘Meadowlands’ Mazzeo let everyone in Atlantic County down, because he didn’t have the guts to stand up to his party bosses in Trenton. That’s a disgrace and the voters of Atlantic County need to know.”
This year, Chris Brown will be running with Atlantic County Freeholder Will Pauls to take back the seat John Amodeo lost in 2013. On the Democratic side, Mazzeo is joined by Atlantic County Freeholder Colin Bell.
The site itself is unsurprisingly casino-themed, inviting visitors to “hit” for more trivia or “stay,” the latter option producing a familiar customized pop-up box informing players that the “self-interested dealer” (read: Mazzeo) is only dealing bad policies.
For Davis, it all boils down to a matter of ineffective representation. “When pressed on what he thought of the fight to stop casino expansion to North Jersey, Mazzeo said he was ‘over it’ and that if it happened this year or next on his watch, then ‘so be it’,” added Chairman Davis. “Who talks that way? No Republican or Democrat representing our region has ever been so weak and tone deaf. Mazzeo sounds like someone waving the white flag and giving in to the party bosses and special interests who control him and pull his strings. Here in Atlantic County we deserve better than that. We deserve better than ‘Meadowlands’ Mazzeo.”
Need a little background on what’s expected to be one of 2015’s toughest (and most expensive) contests? Click here for our initial LD2 race review.