Camden Mayor: “We Will Not Tolerate Anyone Speaking Down To My City.” (Unless His Name Is Norcross)

Camden Mayor Frank Moran

“This is a warning to anyone that wishes to diss my city,” and “We will not tolerate anyone speaking down to my city.” You may recall those were the words of Camden Mayor Frank Moran after a perceived “diss” of the City of Camden by Holtec’s CEO Kris Singh. As has been pointed out in this blog, more than once, Moran has failed to recognize that Congressman Donald Norcross made remarks that backed up Singh’s comments.

Not only has Moran given Norcross a free pass on “dissing” his city, the mayor and congressman stood united at the Camden Working summit on Wednesday. The Courier-Post, noted in an article, “Holtec was conspicuous by its absence from the gathering.”

Of course, Holtec was absent from the Camden Working event, the mayor of the city attacked the company’s CEO because he said something that was so true that the area’s congressman backed up what the CEO said.

Now, I don’t live under a rock, nor am I an idiot, so I get it. Mayor Moran is a Democrat, so is Congressman Norcross and when one chooses to take part in partisan politics one should show party unity at every opportunity. That could be why Mayor Moran displayed a complete lack of a spine and never called out Norcross for his “diss” of Camden’s workforce.

I also understand there are times when rules need to be broken. I was part of Chris Christie ’09. I burned a lot of bridges that may never be repaired doing what needed to be done for then candidate Christie – even “bullying” a party chair into awarding him the line in the primary (that particular chair wanted to go with Steve Lonegan). But when Christie “dissed” South Jersey Republicans I called him out publicly. Some Republicans hated me for it, but it was the right thing to do because if you aren’t willing to stand up to people in your own party you lack credibility when fighting against the other.

Mayor Moran refused to recognize that you need to stand up to members of your own party. Instead he gave Congressman Norcross a free pass and then rubbed salt in the wound by standing with Norcross at the Camden Working summit.

The Courier-Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and South Jersey Times (to a lesser extent) all cover Camden politics and not one of them has called out Moran for not going after Norcross in the same way he attacked Singh. The South Jersey Times went the extra mile and propped up Norcross in an editorial. To me, the local press in South Jersey is part of the problem. If they are willing to join Camden’s mayor in giving the congressman a free pass, why should anyone stand up to fight the machine?

As far as the press is concerned the story is dead. We promised to stay on it and we are doing our best. Unfortunately, the protests are over, the Camden Working summit has passed and everyone in Camden has forgotten their mayor lacked the courage to stand up to one of his fellow Democrats and come election voters of that city will simply vote for Democrats even though that party has failed the city for decades.

The only question left is will Mayor Moran accept my invitation to come on The Bob & Steve Show and explain his double standard?

Hypocrisy Is Alive And Well In Camden

Camden Mayor Frank Moran

I really hate to go on and on about the Holtec story but I’m mad. I’m mad that the press in this state allows politicians to get away with their BS.

In this case the BS is the press letting Camden Mayor Frank Moran off the hook for not going after Congressman Donald Norcross in the way he attacked Holtec’s Kris Singh. We can argue all day about the comments Singh made concerning Camden’s workforce, but there is no argument that Norcorss’ made remarks that backed up Singh’s comments. Even those who protested in front of Holtec in Camden “blasted” Norcross according to WHYY.

I will say Moran was right to stand up for his city. Any mayor should go on the attack when one perceives someone disses their municipality. Unfortunately, Moran loses points for choosing to go after only Singh.

If I can see Norcross backed Singh up, protesters can see it and public television can see it, why can’t the rest of the press? Why can’t Mayor Moran?

Instead, from New Jersey’s press all we get is excuse after excuse, employers should invest in training, blah, blah, blah. When I entered my first career as an EMS professional I went and paid for training out of my own pocket. Before going into political consulting I went to school at night and paid for it out of my own pocket. My point? I found a way to get the education required to do what I wanted to do.

Moran was quoted, “This is a warning to anyone that wishes to diss my city,” and “We will not tolerate anyone speaking down to my city.” One would think that the rule according to Moran would include Norcross. Apparently not, because after making his rule clear Moran was at a press conference with Norcross. According to WHYY:

Yet at the City Hall press conference, Moran and a half dozen other local leaders vouched for Norcross’ character and praised the work he has done in Camden, where he lives. The two-term congressman also announced that he would be organizing a summit on jobs and career training in Camden next week.

Moran didn’t publicly demand Norcross apologize for his remarks like he did Singh. Nope! Instead Moran stood at a press conference with Norcross and praised him. Why the double standard from Moran?

What about the warning? Did Moran mean anyone not in the Democratic Party that disses his city? It appears Moran tolerated Norcross’ diss of his city. Or is it okay because he and Norcross are both Democrats?

These are fair questions that residents of Camden deserve to have answered by Moran. I sent an email, via the city’s website, asking Mayor Moran to come on The Bob & Steve Show yesterday. I even explained in the email that we do have listeners who live in Camden. We’ve had callers from Camden, so we know it to be true. So far my email has gone unanswered.

Whether Moran accepts my invitation to come on the show or not remains to be seen, but one thing is clear, calling out Singh and then joining Norcross and praising him at a press conference is hypocritical at best. At worst, it’s a sign Moran is afraid of the Norcross machine. I prefer to believe the mayor is a hypocrite, and at The Bob & Steve Show we’ll do our best not to let him get away with his hypocrisy.

Pete the Parrot Strikes Again

The South Jersey Times Editorial Board managed to get their paper placed in the bottom of Pete’s cage with a hypocritical op-ed.

In a Sunday op-ed, “Trash talking Camden’s workforce is offensive,” the editorial board took Holtec CEO Kris Singh to task. They even ended the piece with:

By Friday afternoon, Singh had "clarified" his remarks, so all will be forgiven by the bigshots. The hard-working majority of people who live in Camden and environs have cause to remain offended.

The editorial board is entitled to their opinion, after all it was an opinion piece. What they are not entitled to is hypocrisy. This editorial board went out of its way to praise U.S. Representative Donald Norcross. They wrote:

It's not clear from the roi-nj interview to what extent Holtec accepts that responsibility. But, in comments for the same article, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-1st Dist., suggests that other new-to-Camden employers are doing more. Norcross cites European Metal Recycling as one firm that has invested heavily in one-on-one training.

Not even Public Broadcasting, WHYY praised Norcross. WHYY wrote in a piece online:

Protesters also blasted U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, whom they claimed compared Camden workers to children in the same ROI-NJ story.

“When you stop to think about it, I say children are that one asset that you can’t blame them for anything,” the Democrat told ROI-NJ. “Same thing goes for people who have not had a structure that taught them.”

Yet at the City Hall press conference, Moran and a half dozen other local leaders vouched for Norcross’ character and praised the work he has done in Camden, where he lives. The two-term congressman also announced that he would be organizing a summit on jobs and career training in Camden next week.

One of South Jersey’s other papers reported on Norcross’ comments. So did others.

Not, the South Jersey Times editorial board. They chose to suck up to the congressman. Speaking of sucking up, Camden Mayor Frank Moran did the same.

We can argue over whether or not the “hard-working majority of people who live in Camden and environs have cause to remain offended,” but this hard-working person who gets in his car and drives to Wawa every Sunday morning to buy a copy of the South Jersey Times has a right to be offended, once again, by this editorial board.

The only question left for the South Jersey Times editorial board is: are they hypocrites or simply an extension of South Jersey’s Democratic Party?