Politics
n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
-The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

In Washington, we have seen the political abuse of the Justice Department. Who doubts that political considerations were behind the midterm firings of US Attorneys?  As well, even the most benign public health matters have fallen prey to politicization.   Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona stated that Administration officials discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because it was founded by the Kennedy family!

In Bergen County, things are no different. On page one of this past Sunday's Record, we find the same old story.

Ever go to Rutherford's Williams Center?  Most likely not.  Apparently very few people in Rutherford do either. Nor do they donate to it.  But County Executive Dennis McNerney, who is on the bergenPAC board (!),  is throwing millions of County tax dollars at it while giving nothing -- ZILCH -- to bergenPAC.  Why be on the board if you won't steward the organization?

If we look at all of this through the lens of politics, the nonsensical starts making sense. After all, the Williams Center is where Ferrierocrat County Freeholder Bernadette McPherson holds yet another office concurrently: Mayor.  The County Machine is generous to its friends.  It'll give the shirt off YOUR back to them.

Let's make this short:

Englewood's Frank Huttle, husband of the Ferriero-independent Democratic Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle, is the founding president of the board of bergenPAC.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Joseph Kennedy, Jr. Foundation founded the Special Olympics.

The Huttles should be proud.  The Huttles are to Ferriero and McNerney what the Kennedys are to Bush and Cheney.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'd love to see the Williams Center right itself and thrive.  But the cart is before the horse.  County money is being thrown at the Williams Center before it has an artistic mission, an executive director,  real private support and a business plan. Where's the County leadership's fiduciary responsibility to us, the taxpayers?  Don't you need professionals with a plan before you spend our money? 

Perhaps the County Executive and Freeholders would like to deny the political narrative above and prove us wrong.  They could do so by giving as much support to our real/functional arts center in Englewood as it does to the virtual/dysfunctional one in Rutherford.

Is this another example of New Jersey living down to its inferiority complex?

New Jersey has two football teams that play on this side of the River but identify themselves as New York teams.  We have an NBA basketball franchise that is moving out to Brooklyn (!). We have a hockey team that deigned to stay here because it got a $377 million arena, mostly paid for by taxpayers.

And what about culture?

New York City spends over $130 million per year to maintain and support cultural assets.  It has dedicated an additional $800 million in capital funding for these assets over the next 4 years.  The Carnegie Hall board pays NYC exactly $1 per year to lease the world famous facility.  The same goes for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. $1 per year for rent.  Apparently New York City believes that the arts have something to do with the economy, value, soul and spirit of the place.  Recently, they have increased support to even more arts groups.

On the other hand, the entire State of New Jersey, the most taxed state in the nation and the most affluent per capita, spent a total of…I'm not making this up… $18 million in 2006!  Is that an acknowledgement of our dependence on NYC or merely a reflection of our governments' lack of regard for the quality of life, creativity, imagination  and, yes, economy of New Jersey?

Are we really just the clueless "bridge and tunnel crowd"  conned by and voting for our abusers, sleeping in the Tony Soprano State while commuting to more worthy places?  Perhaps we might consider insisting on something more befitting our true nature as NY-independent, energetic people living in a proud, self-sufficient state.

It's time for all of us to make our voices heard in the letters sections of the Record (letterstotheeditor@northjersey.com) and the Suburbanite (suburbanite@northjersey.com ) and in the halls of Hackensack (tpadilla@co.bergen.nj.us and webmchale@co.bergen.nj.us).