There’s been quite a bit of activity in the Camden game of musical chairs — where public and private positions with deep political connections shuffle around to reinforce both the power of that political structure and reward those who are loyal to it. Anthony Perno is out at Cooper’s Ferry, replaced by Kris Kolluri who used to head the Rutgers-Rowan Board. Dana Redd is out as mayor, but not before her pension got bumped through a piece of legislation apparently specifically designed for her, then she ends up at… Kolluri’s old position for the Rutgers-Rowan Board. It’s all a game of musical chairs (with public funds). Kevin Riordan walks through the troubling implications of such a system. But a friend and colleague at Rutgers asked me if I had another take on the story beyond that, and I do.
There’s the “take care of their own” angle, but also telling to show how deep the Christie-SJ coalition was — this part of a wider package of rushed work (nominations etc) to take advantage before changes.
— Stephen Danley (@SteveDanley) January 16, 2018
One of the things that stands out to me about the Dana Redd Memorial Pension Fund Act (naming rights are copyrighted) is that it was pushed through using a South Jersey-Gov. Christie coalition. There has been a flurry of activity using that coalition — including the failed attempt to reauthorize aspects of the Urban Hope Act and a burst of appointments. In other words, the South Jersey Democratic Party looked up at the prospect of a new Democratic governor and said no, we like Gov. Christie’s vision for New Jersey better.
It’s a partnership that was memorialized in Christie’s last State of the State speech: “The rebirth of Camden is happening,” Christie said, “With a bi-partisan spirit and a can-do attitude.”
That, in many ways, is an old political story — that conservative South Jersey Democratic leadership embraced fundamentally Republican approaches to solving problems in exchange for power and resources and in doing so propped-up Gov. Christie and chose resources and conservative ideals over liberal ones. But it’s ever more pertinent now as South Jersey Democrats appear to be one of the largest roadblocks to progressive state policies under Governor Murphy. In many ways, Camden is the locus of that discussion — it’s successes and failures are inextricably linked to the power Christie held over the city, and the ways he partnered with South Jersey Democrats to promote right-wing ideas in Camden.
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