Alocal newspaper featured photos last week of state Senate President Richard Codey and his staff, clad in green shirts and ball caps, cleaning refuse on the shoulders of Route 37 in Seaside Heights.
This type of volunteer activity is to be commended. Sen. Codey appears to be a nice man. He comes across as likeable, quick, smart, and often funny. He is a great advocate for mental health in New Jersey. Sen. Codey has been in the Legislature for over 30 years, president of the Senate for several, and a former acting governor after Jim McGreevey resigned.
Unfortunately, despite all of his “plusses,” Sen. Codey has been intimately involved in many of the financial debacles that have mired our state in crushing debt, our incredible liability for pension and health insurance costs, which remain unfunded and the property tax burden on business and the struggling homeowner.
All of this combines to drive jobs from New Jersey and the average citizen to distraction. The senator has also been in the middle of many of the “failed” attempts at passing real ethics reform in the state. Somehow, he appears too smart, too quick and too able to amass such a record by accident.
I would respectfully suggest that the senator leave the cleaning of Route 37 to someone else, and concentrate on other issues — like helping to clean the mess he helped to create in Trenton. Certainly, a clean highway is a lovely thing, but a clean state would be a true blessing.
Stanley Rosen
Marlboro