New Jersey is so bad, the Democrats are fighting each other (Opinion)

For the past few weeks, we've been following the saga of the Democratic machine infighting starring George Norcross' puppet, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Norcross antagonist Governor Phil Murphy. None of the players have the best interest of New Jerseyans in mind.

Sweeney is desperate to hold onto the fake power that George Norcross bought for him, Murphy wants to be a national player, either hoping for a Democratic win in 2020 that will get him out of NJ or even make him a credible candidate for the radical left in 2024. Norcross for his part, being the actual power behind the throne, at least in the legislature, just wants more money.

The greedy insider has benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks with very little in the way of any real accountability. It got so bad that Murphy shut down the gravy train and that sparked an all-out war among the Left. Norcross is a connected insider who pulls the strings on more than one political leader and most people in Trenton know it. Even failed presidential candidate and scandal plagued Chris Christie was in on it, giving out hundreds of millions to Norcross' connected firms.

Christie, as you may remember, was elected as a reformer who was going to defeat the special interests and stand for the working and middle class people who put him in office. Not even close. At least Murphy was honest about raising taxes during the campaign and unlike most politicians, he kept his tax raising word. Steve Sweeney for his part is clearly not bright enough to make independent decisions and is beholden to Norcross so he's seemingly doing everything possible to get the Economic Development tax credits flowing again to his political masters.

On behalf of the 'little guy' is a group called NJ Working Families. Full disclosure, I probably disagree with this group on 95 out of 100 issues. But we found common ground last week when their executive director Sue Altman was forcibly removed from the committee hearing as George Norcross was about to testify. She has claimed through a complaint the group filed that the committee appointed by Sweeney is made up of mostly Norcross allies. So from her perspective, the fix is in and the money will start flowing as soon as Sweeney wraps up the charade of the hearings. I agree with her.

Sue joined me on Monday to talk about how middle and working class people get left in the dust as the powerful insiders continue to enrich themselves. We agreed that the so called 'corruption tax' is killing our state and driving good people away.

I'm happy to find allies on the Left if it means fighting the corruption in Trenton to fix New Jersey. We are beyond partisan players, proposals and talking points. It's time to take a wrecking ball to the halls of corruption in Trenton.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea. The opinions expressed here are solely those of Bill Spadea.

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