Finding a courageous politician in the Garden State (Opinion)

Politicians with guts and common sense fighting on behalf of our nine million New Jersey residents are not as common as we would hope. The good news is that there are many more than you might think, given the challenging situations are state continues to face.

Over the next few months, I'm going to highlight some of the local leaders who are fighting for you and fighting to restore normalcy, and yes, common sense to the Garden State. Here are a few who joined us on air for the first segment highlighting public service:

Assemblyman Antwan McClellan

Antwan represents the first legislative district in New Jersey covering Cape May, Atlantic, and Cumberland counties. He's a former municipal government official serving his home community of Ocean City, New Jersey. Currently, he fighting to prevent future violent events that have plagued many Jersey Shore towns, they call then "pop-up car rallies" but in reality, the events are violent, and dangerous and have resulted in property damage and the death of innocent people. Antwan has a bill that will empower law enforcement and local officials to put a stop to the madness.

Senator Doug Steinhardt

Newly minted as a State Senator, representing Warren and Sussex counties, Doug is off to an incredible start. Already pushing back against the Chinese Communists by pushing a ban on the purchase of NJ farmland, he's also working hard to implement common sense gun laws which puts the focus on criminals and respects the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens. It's truly a breath of fresh air.

Mayor Mark Taylor

Mark is the three-term mayor of Florham Park. He's seeking a fourth term and is off to a strong race. His advocacy helped secure critical funding for flood mitigation for towns in Morris County and in a nice break from partisan vitriol, Mark was complimentary of Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill who was finally convinced to act on behalf of local residents. Mark offers a unique and balanced perspective and is one of the more thoughtful and public service-focused mayors in New Jersey.

Senator Joe Pennacchio

Joe is one of the few voices of strength and courage that we had in the legislature during the lockdowns. Fearless about cancel culture and political repercussions, he brought in expert after expert to push back on the governor's outrageous, unconstitutional, and deadly lockdown policies. Now he's fighting to hold the administration accountable for the deaths of thousands of seniors in our Long-Term Care facilities after a March 30, 2020 letter from the health commissioner forcing infected patients back into the LTCs with a reckless disregard for the vulnerable population. The results were disastrous. Joe is fighting back.

We also had two county chairs join the conversation to discuss what's happening in the fight to change the majority party at the county level and the state level.

Both Tom Crone in Camden County and Tim Howes in Somerset County are doing an outstanding job of focusing resources and communicating the message to unaffiliated voters and democrats about the need to abandon the radicals in charge of the democratic message who are damaging our state and forcing so many to leave.

Here is my conversation with Tom:

And my conversation with Tim:

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

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