I wanted to just do a quote of the day for today's stupid statement by 2nd District Republican Senate candidate Sonny McCullough, but decided to expand it and include some of his other wondeful moments throughout the campaign. Regarding the situation of the missing Atlantic City mayor, his opponent Jim Whelan was all over it calling for a resignation, but not Sonny...
"I have not heard any outrage," McCullough said. "In Atlantic City we have seen mayors go to jail, get indicted. It's an unfortunate thing, but we've lived with this stuff before.
"The only thing I hear is 'how could Whelan do this to his best buddy?'" he said. "That's what the locals are talking about."
"If somebody at a fundraiser hands me an envelope, I just turn it right over to the treasurer."
It's still unknown if he returned the cash. That's Sonny trying to say he's not responsible for the people who give him money and sees no conflict at all because .... he doesn't look at who gives him money. He just takes their checks and then just so happens to implement policies favorable to his contributors. Yep, forget the fact that they cash the checks and spend the money: that's see no evil, hear no evil, do no wrong Sonny for you. I wonder who else gave Sonny money that he "doesn't know about"?
"I have not heard any outrage," McCullough said. "In Atlantic City we have seen mayors go to jail, get indicted. It's an unfortunate thing, but we've lived with this stuff before.
"The only thing I hear is 'how could Whelan do this to his best buddy?'" he said. "That's what the locals are talking about."
So Sonny is the kind of legislator who says screw the people, I will stick by my corrupt friend. And his nonchalant comment about Atlantic City Mayors going to jail, well that's like driving by an accident and having the officer tell you to pay no attention to what you see, there's nothing going on there. In what world is it NOT something to take notice of if a Mayor disappears without a trace? Oh and his opponent, Jim Whelan: yeah, he was one of those boring Mayor's who just ran the city and didn't get indicted. Sonny must not like that.
Assemblyman Jim Whelan's 1st TV ad for the 2nd District Senate Seat is a positive bio piece talking about what he has done for his constituents.
I think the ad does it's job and I like him going with a positive introduction to the voters considering how ugly the campaigns have been. Your thoughts?
Sonny McCullough has a history of blaming Bill Gormley for his own problems. When development overran Egg Harbor Township, Mayor McCullough pointed the finger at Gormley. When Atlantic County Republicans defected to the Democratic party, McCullough accused Gormley of forcing them out. Now, as he tries and fails to find support from the moderate wing of the Atlantic County Republican party, Sonny McCullough tells us once again that it is all Bill Gormley's fault.
In a recent interview with the Press of Atlantic City, appointed State Senator McCullough complained about the lack of help from retired Senator Gormley and his supporters. But McCullough has only himself to thank for the rift in the Atlantic County Republican party. Before he spoke of unifying the party at the special election convention to fill Gormley's Senate seat in February, McCullough had the Egg Harbor Township Republican club cleansed of Frank Blee's supporters. At the convention, he trashed Gormley, accusing the retiring Senator of forcing his political enemies out of the Republican party.
Many of the moderates who backed Assemblyman Blee in the special election convention saw little reason to support the man who had shown no respect for them and their longtime leader, Bill Gormley. Blee himself endorsed McCullough's opponent, fellow Assemblyman Jim Whelan, while Gormley has remained neutral, refusing to endorse McCullough.
At the same time Atlantic County Republicans find themselves unable to bridge an intractable divide in their shrinking party, Atlantic County Democrats are energized behind their strongest State Senate candidate in a long time. In 2005, then-Assembly candidate Jim Whelan won more votes in the second district than Jon Corzine, while outpacing Blee by over 2,000 votes and thrashing incumbent Republican Assemblyman Kirk Conover by 7,000.
I'm usually not one to give political advice to Republicans, but if Sonny McCullough is going to be more than a ten-month Senator, he might want to stop worrying about what Bill Gormley and his friends are up to, and start worrying about himself, his big mouth, and his opponent.
Disclaimer: The content and ideas represented by this post are entirely my own and no connection should be made between this statement and my position at Rothman for New Jersey
When I worked at a half-way house in Texas I learned the term "White Knuckle Alcoholic". The term refers to someone who knows they are an alcoholic and tries to give up the juice on their own - no support system, no medical or counseling help, nothing. They are trying to simply stop being an alcoholic by willing it away. Sometimes people can hold their addiction at bay through sheer force of will for years. More often, their addiction catches up with them - and often at the worst possible time.
I've come to believe that racism is merely an outward symptom of an inward addiction to supremacy. Like a drug, the feeling of superiority over entire classes of people gives a false image of being in control, of being powerful. Like an addiction, this core supremacy can be confronted, controlled, and ultimately defeated if a person is willing to learn the humility necessary to do so.
Earlier this week, State Senator Sonny McCullough was reported to have shared a racist joke with a reporter. On the heels of Senator George Allen's "macacca" comment and Don Imus' "nappy headed hoes" uproar, you would think that a public official would be a bit more careful of what they were saying. But that neglects the power of an addiction to bend the perception of reality so that denial can whisper its lies into the conscience.
McCullough's reaction to the uproar over his slip shows that he has been white-knuckling it. Like an alcoholic uncle who beligerantly tells his wife, "It's only one drink!" McCullough asks us to believe that a joke built on racial stereotypes was not meant as an ethnic slur.
You can spot the problem by the symptom - and the symptom is the unapologetic apology. McCullough tells us, "It was never said in a slanderous way toward African-Americans or the Chinese. If they took it that way, I certainly would apologize. I never took it that way." Don Imus told us, "I'm not a bad person, I just said a bad thing." George Allen told us, "I didn't know macacca was an ethnic slur."
That is the cry of denial, coming from someone who desperately doesn't want to be a racist, but who can't find the courage to face the core of supremacy from which the original statements spring. You can bet as surely as Sonny McCullough has told such jokes before that he would also not tell it in a room full of black or asian americans. At some deep level, he knows that it's wrong. He just can't admit it to himself, much less to us.
It's also the confused cry of someone the world has passed by. George Allen, who kept a noose on his desk and a confederate flag pin on his hat, couldn't understand what the sudden fuss was about. Don Imus, who had built a media presence by insulting and demeaning people, couldn't understand what the sudden fuss was about. I don't know what Sonny McCullough's personal background is like, but I'm almost certain that this joke didn't come from a vaccuum. Once, such humor was a means of showing comraderie. Now, it's just mean.
This isn't the 1st time Sonny has had problems and it does not mean that Sonny McCullough is unfit for office - no more or less than it meant George Allen was unfit for office or Don Imus was unfit for the airwaves. But it does mean that he is out of touch with the world around him. If he has the courage to confront the ugliness within himself - something neither Imus nor Allen had - then he could still issue a heartfelt apology and regain his footing in a world that never rests. If, for whatever reason, he is unable to see the beam in the world's eye for the mote in his own, then it is time for his constituents to ask if someone who is stuck in a quickly receding past can possibly lead them into the future.
During an interview last week with PoliticsNJ, State Senator Sonny McCullough shared a joke about "a Chinese couple and an African American baby". The joke wasn't published, and Democrats calling for an apology would not repeat it, but a quick google search turned up this:
Did you hear about the Chinese couple that had a black baby? They named him "Sum Ting Wong"
Is this the joke Senator McCullough told? It's bad enough that it's horribly racist. But to think that it would be appropriate to share something like that with a reporter? Not even Senator Allen was that stupid.
James "Sonny" McCullough, a conservative who has spent eighteen years as Mayor of Egg Harbor Township, won Bill Gormley's State Senate seat tonight, defeating seven-term Assemblyman Frank Blee by a wide margin.
Gormley was supporting Blee and McCullough was supported by Congressman LoBiondo. The Democratic County chairman promptly welcomed the Senator Elect/Mayor to the race by calling on him to give up his 2nd seat...
Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Ronald Ruff called on McCullough to step down as Mayor. "It would be inconceivable for him to take the oath of office to a second position at the very time the state legislature is trying to put an end to the practice of dual office holding," said Ruff. "Why turn back the clock?"
No word on if he will re-sign from his Mayor's seat but he will face Assemblyman Jim Whelan in the November Election in what will be one of the hottest races in the state most likely.
