TRENTON – After a sedate budget session with little discernable action and time running down, both sides suddenly opened up in a bitter back and forth sparked by state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan).
Karrow trained tough questions on Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria, wondering why city officials in Jersey City are getting raises and why a zoo in Cumberland County is slated to receive state dollars in tough times.
That prompted back-to-back regional objections from Democrats serving on the Senate Budget Committee.
“Bridgeton houses a lot of bad things, senator,” state Sen. Steve Sweeney (D-Bridgeton) told Karrow. “They have nothing. If you want to pick on them for having a zoo (the Cohanzick Zoo), please come to Bridgeton before you criticize Bridgeton. Come take a trip with me. I’ll take you on a trip. Cumberland County houses 26 percent of the state’s prison population. That’s our economy.”
In a GOP primary in her home district with Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), Karrow fought back.
“I am not putting down a severely stressed city,” she said. “My question is why we would have a co-pay for the zoo. Why wouldn’t it be free?”
“You don’t have the level of poverty this community has,” Sweeney replied. “The only thing they have is the zoo. No money No jobs. No opportunities. Do you want to take the one bright spot this city has? We’re a distressed community right now. I offer anyone to go to Bridgeton right now and make a determination.” Then it was state Sen. Sandra Cunningham’s turn to battle Karrow.
“I’m not the mayor of Jersey City, but it’s unfair to (assess) a city as unstressed if you haven’t been there,” she said. “It’s unfair for you to make those kinds of judgments. The bulk of Jersey City residents live in very small houses, apartments. They’re suffering poverty and foreclosures. If you want to look at numbers, don’t look at salary increases. Let’s look at our unemployment rate. Do not sit here and say my city does not qualify for distressed dollars based on some numbers you saw on the Internet.”
“I don’t question whether it’s unstressed,” said Karrow. “What I said was how do those people in Jersey City feel about 400 employees making over $100,000 and a 4% raise being given to the mayor (Healy, whose 2009 salary jumped to $117,782)?”
Cunningham wasn’t done.
“You’re not looking to do right by the community, you’re looking to put out an attack position,” she told Karrow. “Let’s not tear the city down.”
Karrow stayed on the attack.
“In my district, there are 44 municipalities that are losing more than 2 percent aid in this budget,” she said. “I do think I have a right to question.”
Karrow praised the mayors of Camden and Newark for making cuts, which she didn’t see in the Jersey City numbers.
