By Dawn Fantasia
Governor Mikie Sherrill should’ve bumped that press conference a little later to happy hour because nobody should have to sit through an all-you-can-eat buffet of BS without a drink.
Caldwell is resigning after a months-long investigation. Her campaign heard repeated concerns about behavior beginning in March. When did Sherrill know the deal, and what did she do besides leave him in charge of the state for 18 days while he was under investigation? Instead of an answer, we got Trump, Climate Week, and a random, off-the-wall claim that utility ratepayers will save a magical mystery billion dollars over eight months.
Then she claimed that the NJ Assembly GOP & New Jersey Senate Republicans are only concerned about the Caldwell debacle because we’re “ducking for cover” over Trump. Au contraire. Wanna talk about ducking for cover? Sherrill ducked for cover when summer storms devastated northwest NJ; she couldn’t even face people in the counties she used to represent in Congress.
Then she said we’re bitter because she’s running an “incredibly competent” administration. That’s where we would’ve spit out our drinks. Is that what she calls promising no pork and signing a budget full of it? Promising to freeze electric rates while bills spike? Massively botching the Delaney Hall riot response? Signing unconstitutional laws that get NJ sued on the taxpayers’ dime? Or signing a lazy, unvetted law, realizing the mistake and saying, “It’s okay, we just won’t enforce it”?
Caldwell was also secretary of state, overseeing elections. Thousands of noncitizens were registered in a single year, and hundreds cast ballots. So comforting to know the prerequisite she emphasized for the person taking over wasn’t cleaning up NJ’s voter rolls. Apparently it was “must dislike Trump.”
And it’s the same flaccid excuse whenever NJ’s own failures come up: blame Trump. NJ lands at the bottom of just about every fiscal ranking in the country. This might shock and surprise her, but Trump is president of the states at the top, too.
Want to know why New Jerseyans are upset? We’re getting absurd electric bills and paying for Trenton’s mistakes while she travels the country auditioning for her next job. We don’t have millions in stock holdings to cushion us from her poor decisions.
NJ is our home, not her chess board or her stepping stone. We aren’t pawns. We warned people during the campaign, and eight months in, she’s already got us in the rearview.
We told you so.
