It’s apropos in the midst of the annual Trenton budget drama to observe – with your own eyeballs, Save Jerseyans – how Trenton Democrats operate at the legislative committee level.
Last Thursday, our friend Assemblyman Brian Bergen (R-25) found himself fending off Democrat derision for asking a seemingly obvious question during an Assembly Appropriations hearing: where are the absent committee members who are nevertheless casting votes in that same committee?
Believe it or not, legislators make a practice of “leaving” their votes on a slip of paper before leaving a hearing in order to attend another hearing (or do God knows what outside of the hearing chamber). The obvious conclusion is that Trenton committees don’t function as committees so much as partisan rubber stamps for the Democrat leadership; as Assemblyman Bergen noted in his testy exchange with Democrat members, there’s no allowance for the potential of changed vote after a member having had the benefit of discussion, debate, and in some cases testimony from experts, stakeholders, and members of the general public.
There’s also no independent verification of the absent member’s “vote.”
THIS is how our state government operates. Does it seem like a particularly good system to you?
Watch below:
