Three Seats, Six Hopefuls: Much to Ask

Today, members of the Herald staff will meet six candidates, three Democrats, three Republicans, who seek to represent the First Legislative District in Trenton. It is a huge district that encompasses all of Cape May, Cumberland and parts of Atlantic counties. The residents are as diverse as the landscape, so governing them is a great task. It is a job New Jersey grants to part-time public servants.
The half dozen hopefuls will not be in the same room at the same time, so it will certainly not be a debate.
The same set of questions will be asked of each team. It is our desire to get answers to questions that have, sadly, not been asked, lost in the mudslinging that has become the subterranean hallmark of political campaigns here and elsewhere.
Far more important questions should be answered of the men and women who want our votes than the shop-worn ones that have disgraced our mailboxes.
Yes, Cape May County, indeed the entire First District, cries out for jobs, good jobs, ones with futures that qualified college graduates can secure once they return to the area. We must remember it is not within government’s domain to create jobs, that is a function left well enough alone to the private sector. So to listen to candidates talk about jobs really means the jobs they hope to land under the gold dome in Trenton.
What political entities can do to assist private firms in locating or expanding is really what should be discussed: possible tax abatements and hiring of local people, but even that is not a ticket to success. Consider the several failed ventures at the Cape May County Airport Industrial Park over the decades. Finally, it seems, there are a few that may succeed, but the original track record (i.e. Everlon and Timme Fabrics then a seafood processing facility) all went down to failure, taking many hopes and dreams with them, as well as costing federal and state cash.
To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, we ought to be able to judge our future legislators not by the color of their political skin, but by the content of their character.
It would not be realistic to believe we are endeavoring to elect to the Assembly and Senate three potential saints. We cannot expect perfection among mere mortals, especially when we send them into the halls of the state Capitol, but we can expect to know they are the best that we can select from among this vast district.
Will those we send to do battle for us against the wiles of North Jersey power bases be fearless and do for us what we cannot do by ourselves? Can we expect three voices will champion the fight to return to Cape May County what is sent there from tourism taxes? We get far less of a return in tourism funds from Trenton than is sent by merchants from May through September.
Would it be too much to expect that Cape May County would regain a second commissioner on the Delaware River and Bay Authority? There is but one Cape May County commissioner. When the last appointment was to be made it went, by Gov. Chris Christie’s nod, to a Camden County resident. The DRBA has no facility in that county. Here they operate the Cape May–Lewes Ferry and the county airport.
If tourism is to be the district’s economic mainstay, what should we expect our Assembly members and Senator to champion?
Sporting clogged, archaic two-lane highways our paying customers (visitors) experiencce insufferable delays getting here and returning home. Would Route 55 offer a viable alternative? Route 47 certainly is maxed out on summer weekends. Could DRBA run ferries from Camden to North Cape May carrying cars and tourists? How about a railway system that could carry thousands of tourists without using highways?
There have been many times I wondered why anyone would want to seek a seat in the Assembly, or even the Senate. We know it’s definitely not for the money, although to many in Cape May County a job that pays $49,000 a year sounds pretty decent. For the work that’s expected of them, it’s chicken feed.
Keep in mind that 97-mile one-way trip from here to there. Multiply that twice per day when the chambers are in session. Add trips for committee hearings and other assignments. When that’s all done, return to the district and attend senior citizen luncheons, scouting events, school fairs, ribbon cuttings by the score, political functions (to raise money so you can keep doing what the party is helping you do), and then, when time allows, meet your constituents.
All that aside, six people will visit the Herald today. All hope to sit in those swivel chairs in the Capitol and do our business. We will report what they say so voters will have something solid upon which to base their decision, not just some mud-spattered glossy campaign pieces that tell nothing except who not to choose on Nov. 5.