Political hypocrisyby any other name

A lot of ink is being wasted on this, but it is worth commenting on.

Here’s the background:

Last week, the mayor and council of Bogota in Bergen County sent a letter to McDonald’s asking formally asking that the fast-food chain remove a Spanish-language billboard and replace it with an English version.

The mayor, Steve Lonegan, is an arch-conservative who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor and just maybe angling for another shot.

Into this little flap, which plays on the anti-immigrant anger that has been festering in American politics recently, steps the state’s attorney general, Zulima Farber. The AG’s Division of Civil Rights requested a copy of the letter, which led Lonegan to go public.

Farber, of course, is embroiled in a little flap of her own, having apparently intervened in a traffic stop involving her boyfriend. There have been calls for her to step down, even some calling for impeachment proceedings to begin.

The reality is that both sides are using the billboard for political purposes, wallowing in the kind of political hypocrisy that gives everyone in public life a bad name.

Here is what Lonegan said in The Star-Ledger, a quote that lays bare the absurdity involved:

“It seems to me that the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey … would have more important things to do than to involve herself in a debate about the marketing of iced coffee.”

I could ask the mayor the same thing. Doesn’t the mayor of a small Bergen County borough with a growing Hispanic population have anything to do than debate the marketing practices of a fast-food chain hawking iced coffee?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet