On Tuesday, January 11, 2021, business under the golden dome in Trenton went on like any other day. On this day, a bill was on the Senate floor for a vote. The bill in question was simple: A condemnation of the President and the rioters who stormed the capitol, looted the people’s house and left Capitol Police Officer Sicknick bludgeoned to death. A law enforcement officer lay dead on the capitol while the hordes of criminals spilled into the building, ransacking our Capitol building and our democracy.
The bill passed the Senate with 14 affirmative votes, two of which came from Republican Senators O’Scanlon and Brown, two known supporters of the President and his antics. These two senators stood up and voted to condemn these wholly un-American actions because they understand that the actions of those who raided the Capitol are truly un-American, in every possible way. Our nation’s democracy came before politics on this vote and these two Republican Senators along with their Democratic colleagues proved that.
Legislative District 24 is represented by Senator Steve Oroho in the Senate, a man who considers himself a patriot. How did this “patriot” vote in regards to condemnation of this horrific violence and insurrection? He abstained from voting. An abstention is usually reserved for when someone who is being asked to vote feel they do not have enough information to accurately make a decision on the topic. Well we know that this was not the Senators mindset due to his release of a statement immediately after the vote, claiming in part that he refused to support this bill because it was “political grandstanding” on the part of Democrats in the house. If this is how the Senator felt, that in very clear language, this was all “politics” why did he not just vote no?
The senator chose to abstain because he knows that his own personal opinion was wrong. Senator Oroho knew that his choice to not vote for the condemnation was the actual political grandstanding, choosing to support a President who has shown more respect to overseas dictators then to our own nation’s democracy. The Senator hid behind dog whistles and buzzwords in an attempt to re-shape the narrative of this issue in his press release, an issue of life and death for our democracy. This vote was in no way surprising, but the defense of the indefensible was
As a seasoned politician, or as the president’s supporters would label him, due to his decades in office, as a “Swamp” politician, Senator Oroho knows a thing or two about political grandstanding. Senator Oroho has made a career off of political grandstanding, playing off the emotions of his constituents to get elected and stay elected. In the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in March Senator Oroho was one of the loudest voices calling for the “re-opening” of the State, while millions were in lockdown trying to keep their loved ones and family safe from this deadly pandemic.
The two Legislative District 24 Assembly Members that Senator Oroho babysits, Parker Space and Hal Wirths, supported Senator Oroho’s abstention vote and took similar negative stances against the condemnation bill, claiming that this was not the time for political theater. They are correct, it is not the time of political theatre, A refrain often heard in the wake of a terrorist attack. This time they are actually correct, it is not the time for political theatre, which is why all three legislators should end the ACTUAL political grandstanding that they are undertaking and do their job of leading this county through these tumultuous times.
The Sussex County Democratic Committee suggests that the Senator and his Assembly henchmen review the definition of political grandstanding so they better understand the meaning of this phrase, because the only people guilty of this act, currently, are the three gentleman from Sussex County and they are, once again, embarrassing the patriotic, law abiding citizens of our community.
The Sussex County Democratic Committee