FOUR DAYS TO THE NOVEMBER 8 VOTE & OPPOSITION TO CASINO EXPANSION IS STRONG, STILL GROWING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 4, 2016
Trenton’s Bad Bet Will Continue To Work To Get Out The Vote Against Casino Expansion
Newark, NJ – Taking nothing for granted, Trenton’s Bad Bet continues to rally supporters to oppose Question One on Tuesday’s ballot. The first question voters will be faced with is the referendum to alter the state constitution in an effort to expand casino gaming into North Jersey.
“We will be working through Election Day to push our message and get out the vote against casino expansion,” said Bill Cortese, executive director of Trenton’s Bad Bet. “It’s true we have great supporters and polling indicates that the majority of New Jersey residents are on our side, but we will continue until every vote is counted.”
The referendum was proposed earlier this year by Trenton politicians and a small cadre of their special interest friends, including New York City developer Jeff Gural and business mogul Steve Fireman. Both Fireman and Gural prepared and submitted proposals for casinos in North Jersey, and Trenton politicians began working diligently to push the referendum through. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo even went as far as to create a “distribution plan” for potential casino revenues seemingly to disguise the fact that there was no tax rate to work from, no specific locations indicated, and no economic impact report to point to.
Polling data at the end of September indicated a full 68 percent of likely voters in New Jersey did not want to expand casino gaming, data so bleak that the proponent campaign ceased operations. The data and a subsequent melt down by Gural during a chamber meeting in October, where he called his own Trenton supporters “stupid,” did not deter politicians from continuing their push forward. New Jersey taxpayers have come out strong against the referendum, worried that they would be left to pick up the pieces after another failed special interest project.
“We have seen time and again how little Trenton thinks of its constituency. This is why New Jersey pays the highest property tax in the country, why our schools and first responder pensions are underfunded, and why we have billions of dollars of transportation projects sitting stagnant across the state,” said Cortese. “But New Jersey voters know a bad bet when they see one and next week they will be voting no on Question One.”
The list of leaders who have officially endorsed Trenton’s Bad Bet and continue to work against gaming expansion into North Jersey includes:
- No North Jersey Casinos Coalition
- Pastor Daniel Martinez
- Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce President Joe Kelly
- Rockaway Township Councilwoman Patty Abrahamsen
- Westampton Township Committeewoman Maureen Smith-Hartman
- Atlantic City Councilman Jesse O. Kurtz
- Palmyra Mayor Michelle Arnold
- Pemberton Councilman Jack Tompkins
- Camden County Chamber of Commerce President Art Campbell
- Oceanport Mayor Jay Coffey
- Oceanport Borough President Joe Irace
- NJ Citizens for Property Tax Reform
- Cape May Chamber of Commerce President Vicki Clark
- CivicJC President Esther Wintner
- Former State Senator and Judge Steven Perskie
- Haddonfield Mayor Jeff Kasko
- Egg Harbor Township Mayor Sonny McCullough
- Absecon Mayor John Armstrong
- NAACP Atlantic County Chapter President Betty Lewis
- Passaic County Spanish Clergy Organization (La Alianza Civica Ministerial)
- Associated Builders and Contractors
- Atlantic County Freeholder Amy Gatto
- Galloway Township Mayor Don Purdy
- Pleasantville Mayor Jesse Tweedle
For more information about the Trenton’s Bad Bet, or to follow the group’s social channels, make donations, and find other opportunities to get involved, visit the group’s website: www.TrentonsBadBet.org
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About Trenton’s Bad Bet:
Trenton’s Bad Bet is a diverse collection of concerned New Jersey community leaders, unions, businesses and residents that will work to oppose the New Jersey Casino Referendum that seeks to expand gaming into North Jersey.
Committee Contact:
Trenton’s Bad Bet
(201) 870-0548
[email protected]
www.TrentonsBadBet.org