Atlantic City councilman doesn’t really want you to spit on the mayor

This one might be an Only In New Jersey situation.

I mean how often do you have a local councilman encouraging people to hock a loogie on the mayor of their town? Is it not a bit reminiscent of when a governor famously said he’d like someone to “take the bat out” on a certain state senator?

That’s when Sen. Loretta Weinberg was complaining about Gov. Chris Christie being slow to call out an ally for double dipping, yet Weinberg was also a double dipper. The someone he wanted to take the bat out was the media.

"I mean, can you guys please take the bat out on her for once? I mean, here's a woman who knows she did it, yet she comes to you and is pining about 'Oh, my goodness how awful this is,'" Christie said at the time.

Of course, it was soon explained that this was just an expression. Which is exactly what Atlantic City Councilman George Tibbitt is now saying about his suggesting what people ought to do to Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr.

“Everyone of you should be pissed and spit on him when you see him,” the councilman said in an interview on “Hurley In The Morning” on WPG recently.

So of course people went berserk. Allies of the mayor lined up to denounce Tibbitt at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

That was way far overboard,” decried Floyd Tally, an anti-violence leader in the city. “Do you understand what kind of frenzy that could have if somebody actually took you for your word? That’s like saying shoot the man when you see him.

Is it? Even if taken literally, spitting at someone being compared to shooting someone doesn’t even rise to a specious level.

Tibbitt did what any politician has to do, which is keep apologizing.

“You are correct, and I immediately apologized for saying it to the public,” Tibbitt offered. He says it was a mere figure of speech. I guess take the bat out had already been used.

Now what’s really insane is anyone on the council or in the public getting hung up on Tibbitt’s words over why he said them. The "why" was the criminal charges against the mayor and his wife for child endangerment. The charges of child abuse against their then-15-year-old daughter include beatings, leaving bruises, and hitting her enough times with a broom to cause her to go unconscious.

Atlantic City doesn’t need a mayor at the helm bringing this sideshow of distractions. Yet we’re supposed to get hung up on the councilman’s spitting remarks?

Tibbitt says he did not mean it literally and I accept that. Not the way Mayor Small is charged with literally beating his daughter into unconsciousness. Let’s focus on that, shall we?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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