There are several important axioms that are practically biblical when it comes to professional gamblers.
“The house always wins.” “Never play with your own money.” “Never throw good money after bad.”
In the showdown between northern New Jersey, which would like to expand gambling beyond Atlantic City, and southern New Jersey, which wants to hold casino expansion to rescue the financially-strapped resort city, these axioms mean different things.
For instance, state Senate Pres. Stephen Sweeney and Gov. Christopher Christie are playing a poker game as if they own all the chips.
But as in the James Bond flick “Casino Royal,” they seem to be desperate to win at all costs. The villain opposing James Bond over the poker table needs to regain money he lost in another caper.
In the Atlantic City conflict, Sweeney and Christie are gambling to save an industry that may already be close to death. They are literally planning to throw good money after bad, like compulsive gamblers thinking they will recoup losses and save a city that no longer has a monopoly on the gambling trade.
Sweeney and Christie even seem willing to throw unions under the bus, doing what state GOP leaders have done since the 1970s. So in part, they aren’t playing with their own money.
But something more than union money is at stake. Gambling was introduced in New Jersey as a way to do more than prop up a dying seaside resort. Some of the proceeds from gambling were supposed to fund senior citizens and other programs. With many of the retirement benefits already eroding as a result of changes made during the presidency of George W. Bush, programs funded by casino gambling are even more necessary.
This means the state must either update its gambling model by providing venues that people can actually reach without a three hour one-way trip, or abandon the concept for some other innovative funding mechanism.
Expanding gambling to northern New Jersey would help fulfill the promise legislators made when first seeking approval for gambling in this state.
State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is the James Bond in this game, playing on the other side of the table, apparently seeking to find some alternative to save Atlantic City without totally abandoning its public employee unions, and at the same time not hold hostage proceeds that northern casinos might make. In other words, he doesn’t want to throw good money after bad.
But as the two sides dig in their heels, the contest seems more and more like a high stakes poker game being played on the Titanic.
Carroll will be honored
General Douglas McArthur once said: old soldiers don’t die, they just fade away.
This can be said for legendary political figures as well.
But the Hudson County freeholders will do their best to make sure that Neil Carroll, a former freeholder and freeholder chief of staff, will not be forgotten.
On May 14 at 11:30 a.m., the freeholders will dedicate a portion of Stephen Gregg Park in Bayonne in Carroll’s honor – a fitting tribute, since among many of Carroll’s accomplishments was to help restore the Spanish-American memorial called “The Hiker” near the 39th Street entrance to the park.
Carroll, who is the father-in-law of former Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, has been involved in public service since the conclusion of World War II after he completed service in the Navy. He returned to the Navy several years later to fight in Korea. He left the armed forces at the end of the Korean War and went on to serve as congressional aide for Congress members Cornelius Gallagher, Joseph LeFante, and Dominick Daniels. He has also worked on numerous gubernatorial and presidential campaigns in New Jersey.
Gallagher is scheduled to appear at the dedication ceremony, as well as former governor Jim Florio, and former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli.
Carroll is a former executive director and campaign manager of the Hudson County Democratic Organization and served as deputy political director of the Florio for Governor Committee. In 1990, Florio named Carroll as chairman and executive director of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Carroll has been involved in numerous community efforts. He was named Man of the Year in 1989 by the Bayonne Sicilian Club, then Man of the Year by an Irish club in Bayonne in 1990. He was inducted into the Bayonne High School Hall of Fame for Community service in 1997.
Former West New York Mayor Sal Vega called Carroll a model public servant. Vega met Carroll when both men were elected freeholders in 1996, and Carroll went on to become a political consultant for Vega in West New York. Carroll served as freeholder from Bayonne from 1996 to 1999.
Carroll served as an advisor to former mayor Smith when Smith was the HCDO executive, and has had close relationships with a number of powerful political figures, including State Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
GOP to ride Trump coattails in Bayonne
A coup of sorts is apparently underway to take over the Republican Party in Bayonne. Members of this splinter faction will be meeting next week. Led by Michael Alonso, the group appears to be gathering strength from the anti-establishment rhetoric of presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The battle for control of the Bayonne GOP will take place in the June primary, but will set the stage for a larger conflict in November.
The new Bayonne GOP seem to be hoping that a Trump presidential victory will give them new clout and help turn Bayonne away from its historic Democratic roots.
The primary, of course, will also see a change among Bayonne Democrats when former Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell is ousted as chairman.
But the Democrats are still split, partly because some are no longer happy with Mayor Jimmy Davis.
Historically, the Democratic mayor usually has control over the Democratic committee.
County students coming out in droves
The Hudson County Schools of Technology (HCST) Alumni Association hosted its first voter registration drive for students in County Prep and High Tech High Schools.
The association partnered with the Hudson County Board of Elections to bring in voting machines and sample ballots to better educate students on how to vote, and to register students turning 18 years of age to vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
The two schools participated in friendly competition by trying to best the other in getting more students registered to vote. The final tally was fairly close, with County Prep registering 104 students and High Tech registering 91. More than 200 students will have registered once mail applications are processed.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.