By Andy Gide
On the Statement from SCDC Chair Katie Rotondo…
I was very offended by the chair of the Sussex County Democratic Committee’s use of the word “Chairwoman” in the opening line of her statement regarding the Community College Board of Trustees. I mean, how unwoke!
Does “she” get that the gender neutral term is “Chair” and that “Chairwoman” is not only misogynistic but transphobic as well? This from the so-called “boss lady” of a purportedly “progressive” organization and a camp follower of Governor Murphy himself. How offensive and from a source who should know better!
How many isms and phobias can you list?
Ms. Rotondo, who claims affiliations on both sides of the aisle, strings together a litany of condemnations against her Republican counterpart, Mr. Jerry Scanlan. Against him she levels charges of “racism, sexism, prejudice, homophobia, religious intolerance, xenophobia and more”. Why not list it? Did Ms. Rotondo run out of time, or space? Did her memory lapse? Or was the spelling too much for her?
One thing Ms. Rotondo didn’t list is anti-Semitism. How could she? The anti-Semitism of the four Congresswomen is whose names Ms. Rotondo started this jihad is well established by other Democrats. So anti-Semitism is something that you will not hear her discuss.
It is clear that Ms. Rotondo has a personal dislike for Mr. Jerry Scanlan. Why else would she spend the time sifting through tens of thousands of “tweets” on his private social media page to find a handful she could claim “offense” over? Perhaps she followed him, went through his garbage, his laundry, his underwear?
Who is Ms. Rotondo to say what is and what isn’t racist, or sexist, or homophobic, or intolerance, or xenophobic? She is a Murphy operative who resides in Sussex County. Someone with an opinion among a billion people with opinions. All have their individual interpretations of what is racist, or sexist, and so on.
There is a great deal of political comedy these days. Some of it is very good, some of it falls flat. Has Ms. Rotondo ever complained about a Democrat? Of course not. Too often what you laugh at has more to do with your political party registration than a healthy sense of humor. Then there is the more recent phenomenon of wishing to suppress what you don’t find funny, of using one of those labels to suppress it.
Who is Ms. Rotondo to tell us what we can and can’t laugh at? Who gave her that power? Certainly not the people. Nobody voted for her. Murphy appointed her.
If she were a true “social justice warrior” we would have heard from her when fellow Murphy operative Katie Brennen was raped by a Murphy higher-up and told to shut up and take it. But where was Ms. Rotondo? Nowhere. Silent. She does as she is told.
Mr. Jerry Scanlan sits on the Board of Trustees of the Sussex County Community College (SCCC) an entity that was found to be corrupt not too many years ago, when a few of its trustees had to resign. From everything we hear, Mr. Scanlan has served the Board well and has helped to reform it. Although he is the Chair of the Sussex County Republican Committee (and as such, Ms. Rotondo’s direct competitor), Mr. Scanlan has never been known to bring partisan politics into the Board’s meetings.
Now, thanks to Ms. Rotondo, partisan politics has been brought into the Board’s meetings and will, if left unchecked, corrupt and disfigure the entire community college.
Not very long ago, there was another attempt to bring partisan politics into the Sussex County Community College’s Board of Trustees. It involved the appointment of Howard Burrell to the Board.
Howard Burrell was a former Freeholder and active in partisan politics for the Democratic Party. Among the people he supported were some very controversial characters including those who represented importers of narcotics into our region.
Some thought that in the midst of an opioid crisis that is ending countless lives, a decision to support such a candidate should count against Mr. Burrell. The all elected Republican Freeholder Board chose to ignore the partisan political record of Mr. Burrell and appoint him anyway. Partisan politics was not allowed to be a factor. The actions of Ms. Rotondo will change all of that.
Because of Ms. Rotondo’s need to spy on her neighbors, to be offended, and to bring partisan politics into the Board of Trustees of Sussex County Community College, now it will always be about partisan politics. All the time. The question is… will anyone ever pass muster again?
Everyone should be horrified over what she has done. Everyone should condemn her destructive and oppressive actions.
