‘Stop playing the race card’, says Ramras Montgomery, after reading another Press of Atlantic City newspaper article that could be seen as protecting poor financial decision making by elected leaders. Press writer Christian Hetrick highlighted potential legal threats suggested by the visiting Black Legislative Caucus lead by North Jersey Senator; Ron Rice. They convened in Atlantic City to investigate why a state takeover is looming, and to consider if this kind of state action is really just an attack on local people of color.
Onlookers wondered why local leadership lead by Atlantic City Mayor Guardian and Council President Small, didn’t keep the Black Legislative Caucus up to date on the City’s serious and well-documented decades of fiscal mismanagement.
More from Ramras Montgomery:
As a black person, I can’t stand it when people use the race card whenever something occurs that has NOTHING to do with race. Atlantic City’s financial problems have everything to do with elected officials being oblivious to the phrase ‘fiscal responsibility’. We don’t run our household finances the way they’ve run the business of the city.
AC got $45 million dollars from the State a few years back. That should’ve prompted city officials to make adjustments in spending, especially since successful casino tax appeals forced the city to make refunds. Instead, Atlantic City officials FAILED to appropriately react to such a drastic change in financial circumstances.
PRESS OF AC: Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, D-Essex, Passaic, said after the hearing that she believes “we need to talk to the NAACP legal defense fund and the American Civil Liberties Union” about a lawsuit.
AC officials looked to the State, once again for more money. This time the State said okay, but there will be strong conditions. The rest of NJ taxpayers are not going to keep subsidizing AC’s ‘fiscal irresponsibility’. It’s like having a friend or relative spending their money on vacations, designer clothes, gambling, etc., then coming to you every month to borrow money to pay their bills. ENOUGH!
When I read the Press of Atlantic City article: ‘State senator suggests class action lawsuit over Atlantic City takeover’, I knew this meeting would be nothing more than a bunch of flowery speeches to get applause. What it should’ve been was our black legislators putting predominantly black AC officials on notice that they need to buck up and do what must be done to straighten out the financial mess the city is in. They could’ve offered concrete, specific adjustments the city must make in getting the November plan in order so that the State won’t invoke the takeover. Don’t know from this article if that happened.