Is Sen. Weinberg empowering Trenton’s bad sexual habits towards women?
/By Rubashov
On Sunday last, the Star-Ledger ran an expose on the bad sexual behaviors of those in Trenton who make and administer our laws. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) put out a press release claiming shock, writing that she was “saddened and disheartened” to learn of the cases detailed by the Star-Ledger – concerning twenty women who were “groped, propositioned, harassed and even sexually assaulted.”
As Senator Weinberg has held political office in New Jersey since 1975 – and has been a legislator since 1992 – we find it remarkable, indeed unbelievable, that Sunday is the first she’s heard of behavior that has long been openly practiced in Trenton and in other venues of power around the state. Anyone who has observed Trenton for any length of time (and there are those of us who have watched at close quarters for some decades) knows about the sexual merry-go-round that operates there.
And it’s not just women who have been victimized. After all, didn’t the revered and feted former Governor Jim McGreevey assign one of his male staffers the task of keeping his First Lady sated? This is not meant in any way as a negative commentary on the obvious physical attractiveness of the then Mrs. McGreevey, a former reporter for the Record, but such an assignment is somewhat exotic and should constitute a form of harassment.
And it’s not just men who have victimized women. During the administration of Governor Christine Todd Whitman there were situations, one notable in which a senior female administration figure was accused of sexually harassing and propositioning a young female staffer. That staffer received no thanks and less support for reporting said allegations, and the matter was quickly extinguished.
One could fill a book with the promiscuity and downright bizarre sexual practices displayed by, mainly men, who seem at times to be making up for some drought suffered during high school. There is the story of the legislator who installed a family member as an intern at the State House, only to have her become the prey of a more senior legislator. Now this legislator was old school, stormed into his colleague’s office, taking him by the throat, and threatening to – let us say – deball his colleague. When his more senior colleague reminded him of the State Police officer on duty nearby, the legislator suggested that he call the officer in, and the media, for a press conference about why the senior legislator was being deballed. There was no police, no press conference, just heartfelt apologies and accommodations. Pity. He needed deballing.
You want to talk about Weird New Jersey? This state is home to elected officials who have got up to such things as accessing child porn on a legislative office computer, urinating on a crowd of his own supporters, stalking women while impersonating law enforcement, being drunk at a swingers convention, requiring a state house employee to accompany one to a New York City sex club, placing a daughter’s college roommate on the public payroll in order to make her a paramour, and conspiring to kidnap and eat his female victims. These are just a handful of the dozens and dozens and dozens of such stories.
We suppose it should come as no shock that now they’re trying to screw working moms out of employment and force children to comply against their will and that of their parents. These politicians are beyond shame. They are crazy. Stone cold nuts. And if their constituents knew even half of it, they would never stop throwing up.
Senator Weinberg has been around long enough to know all of this. We found it particularly hypocritical of her to condemn the New Jersey State League of Municipalities and the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce for what she called their “see no evil responses.” In fact, the same can be said of Senator Weinberg – and not just concerning what goes on at some annual event – but about what happens every day, day in, day out, in Trenton.
Senator Weinberg is part of the power structure in Trenton. So how many of those in that power structure sleep with staff members who they have the power to fire at will? How many of her colleagues have sexual dependents on their payrolls? Would the taxpayers approve of paying for this?
The military doesn’t allow such fraternization. Neither do enlightened corporations. What message does it send? What tone does it set – when powerful people are allowed to hire paramours or groom them at the workplace?
This is where the rot begins. Everyone knows what is going on, everyone sees it, people are rewarded, predators are lauded and further empowered – and nothing is said. And Senator Weinberg is somehow surprised when it goes outside the Trenton workplace and occurs at the social gatherings of such people? Don’t start at the fringes – clean it up at the source!
If Senator Weinberg is serious about what she put out in her press release, she might wish to start with her Democrat colleague in the nearby 32nd District…
This has been out in the public domain since 2011 – nearly a decade – and it happened just down the road from where Senator Weinberg lives! And she’s putting out press releases in 2019 suggesting that this kind of misogynistic behavior is news to her? We have to ask… are you for real?
And why haven’t the members of Congress who represent Bergen and Hudson Counties spoken up about this State Senator? Why haven’t we heard from Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Albio Sires (D-8), Bill Pascrell (D-9), or Donald Payne (D-10)? These men have all been quick to blame political opponents for indiscretions but are mute when it comes to their political allies. Don’t they understand that nothing will ever change that way?
There are many serious people in politics and public policy. You have people like Sue Altman on the Left and Regina Egea on the Right. But there are a lot more jumped-up, wannabe political celebrities. And like all celebrities, they think they are special. They think taxpayers’ money is their money. They think the voters are their subjects – to be bossed, mandated, manipulated, and ordered about. They think people are put on earth for them to consume.
The institutional misogyny that pervades the Trenton Establishment will never be adequately addressed by a pillar of that Establishment. Senator Weinberg has too many deals in place and, as a member of the legislative leadership, she’s part of the problem. One need only be reminded of how she single-handedly prevented the bi-partisan Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act from even getting a hearing in committee – in spite of this legislation having enough co-sponsors of both parties to ensure its passage.
It’s time for ordinary voters – women and men – to insist that their elected officials practice some humility and recognize that they are servants of the public, not masters.
