Vice President Kamala Harris’ Monday address at the NAACP’s national convention in Atlantic City came with a hefty price tag for the people of New Jersey.
The final cost: $3.2 million.
How did it happen? Back in January, the New Jersey legislature adopted a bill (S4218) appropriating $2 million for the far-Left organization’s event. Meanwhile, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) kicked in an extra $1.2 million to secure the convention. The CRDA reinvests gaming revenue in a variety of projects, some of which are less clearly related to helping the community than others. “The 1984 law gave each casino a choice to either pay 2.5% of its gaming revenue to the State, or reinvest 1.25% of its gaming revenues through the CRDA in community and economic development projects in Atlantic City and around the State,” the CRDA’s website explains. “Without exception, the casinos have chosen reinvestment.”
Was it appropriate to drop millions on a notoriously-political nonprofit organization’s private event?
“There are so many better things that we can do with $2 million in the state of New Jersey than to pay for a party for an organization. I don’t care what that organization stands for or what they do, we should not be doing it,” Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-25) had complained ahead of the floor vote.
