By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
This split transcends the usual Yankees versus Phillies, 7-Eleven versus Wawa, sub versus hoagie North-South cliche. We’re talking brand new casinos — jobs, money, power — sparking a political frenzy.
“It’s like Oprah Winfrey has taken over the Legislature. You get a casino, you get a casino. Everybody gets a casino,” said Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray.
It’s like a high stakes Monopoly game between North Jersey and South Jersey where Atlantic City currently has all of the casinos. But now North Jersey politicians are saying, ‘Well maybe we’ll put a casino in the Meadowlands, maybe one in Jersey City — possibly even one in Newark.’ South Jersey politicians are saying, ‘No, that’s our monopoly, and the casinos have to stay here.’
“They have their interests up north, I have my interest down south, and that’s the way I’m standing on it,” said Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo.
Southern lawmakers see the North preparing to feast on what’s left of their wounded casino industry.
“We don’t have a lot of momentum behind us right now and you’re actually going to dilute the market where we have something going on? I think that’s a very reasonable expectation to hear folks who represent Atlantic City say that,” said The Backgrounder podcast host Paul Brubaker.
“What you do see in the Legislature is that South Jersey lawmakers bond together and they form a regional bloc — and that affects what you can and cannot do in the Legislature,” said Rider University political analyst Ben Dworkin.
That’s a hurdle for northerners who want to move super-fast, put a casino question on this November’s ballot and — with voter approval — get a gaming hall up and running at the Meadowlands Racetrack by next summer.
“This is not about North Jersey. This is about the economic future of New Jersey,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle.
But Senate President and Gloucester County man Steve Sweeney won’t commit.
“I think one of things the people in North Jersey hope that they can do is that they can put Steve Sweeney in a corner. Steve Sweeney definitely has gubernatorial aspirations, and in order to get the Democratic nomination he’s gonna need the support of party leaders in North Jersey. And here’s a way to put him in the ropes — to turn his back on some of his South Jersey compatriots,” Murray said.
If angry southerners turn out to vote against northern casinos this November, they might also target Sweeney’s political allies — Assembly candidates who will be on the same ballot. A backlash could cost Sweeney’s bloc the First and Second Legislative Districts, intensify both the turf war and the coming governor’s race.
“If that bloc fractures down in South Jersey, that’s an opening for folks in North Jersey to form their own bloc and push Steve Sweeney out of power,” Murray said.
“We see the machinations of campaigns already forming. So this could be part of the debate or part of the tug of war,” Brubaker said.
With Jersey City Mayor and North Jersey casino supporter Steve Fulop possibly harboring gubernatorial hopes as well, this casino struggle becomes only the latest skirmish in the long-simmering cultural clash between North and South Jersey.