Activist Thrown Out Of NJ Hearing Finds Support In Essex County – Caldwells, NJ Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A New Jersey activist is picking up support in Essex County after she was thrown out of a State Senate hearing on New Jersey’s Tax Incentive Program earlier this week.

Sue Altman, executive director of New Jersey Working Families Alliance, said she was cited for disorderly conduct after Monday’s hearing in Trenton, during which she was forcibly removed from the building by state police. Dozens of other protesters at the hearing were also told to leave the building.

Since Monday, several Essex County activists and politicians have offered support for Altman, including Sen. Richard Codey, Caldwell Councilman Jonathan Lace, former Assembly candidate Christine Clarke and local activist groups Our Revolution Essex County and NJ 11th For Change (read their statements below).

The hearing was the latest salvo in a long-running saga involving billions of dollars of corporate tax incentives awarded by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). Critics are alleging the agency handed out massive tax breaks to companies to stay in or relocate to New Jersey, without verifying if they really planned to move or create the jobs they promised as part of the deal.

The companies that benefited from the NJEDA’s tax breaks include several that have been connected to South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross, who was at Monday’s hearing.

After Sen. Bob Smith (D-17) ordered the removal of the group, Altman issued a statement about the incident, charging that Norcross and his political allies “resorted to thuggery and violence” to silence the voices of Camden residents and advocates.

Norcross, who does not hold any elected office, denied any involvement with the decision to remove Altman or the other protesters.

During the hearing, he testified that “nothing would have occurred in Camden without these tax incentive programs” and that they did exactly as intended.

SUPPORT FOR ALTMAN IN ESSEX COUNTY

Support for Altman – as well as condemnation for Norcross and the NJEDA tax breaks – has come from several sources in Essex County.

Advocacy group Our Revolution Essex County, which has been a vocal critic of the NJEDA tax breaks, said Monday’s incident “demonstrates the stranglehold on our democracy by powerful special interests.”

The group wrote:

“The senate hearing was a mockery of democracy from the get go – with the senate committee refusing to ask certain questions desired by the New Jersey governor, to the 358-person occupancy count being ignored, to the denial of entry to dozens of interested taxpayers with ample room in the chambers, to the questions asked about drugs and crime (not the topic of the day) and more.”

The group continued:

“Several officers physically removed Sue Altman from the room, dragging her out, for doing nothing wrong other than exercising her constitutional right to participate in our democracy. We are seeing the rise of fascism across the globe. [On Monday], we saw it in Trenton, as elected leaders allowed innocent people to be forcibly removed and stopped from participating in their own systems of government.”

NJ 11th For Change, which is based in the state’s 11th District (Essex, Morris, Passaic and Sussex counties), said that Altman’s removal from the hearing was a “watershed moment in the battle to wrest control of our state government from Norcross and his minions.”

The group said Monday’s incident was uncomfortably similar to what happened when former Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen allegedly targeted Saily Avelenda, their executive director, as a local progressive “ringleader” to her employers.

“I know what it’s like to be targeted by those in power,” Avelenda said after Monday’s hearing. “I also remember all the legislators who proudly invoked my name and stood in solidarity with me and NJ 11th For Change during that time. I would hope they will also stand with Sue Altman.”

Former governor Richard Codey, who represents the state’s 27th District in the Senate, said that he was “upset about the very unfortunate situation” at the State House.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in all of my years in Trenton,” Codey wrote on social media. “I’ve always known Senator Smith to be a gentleman. I hope we can get back to a civil discourse where all voices are heard and respected.”

Caldwell Councilman Jonathan Lace also questioned the removal of Altman, writing that “public trust is weakened” when elected representatives allow praise but prohibit criticism.

Christine Clarke, who recently ran for the state Assembly in the 26th District, also decried Monday’s incident.

“If I had not run for office and had chosen another path, it could have been me, so I take this personally and am thankful for those speaking up about it,” Clarke wrote. “As an ACLU sign my little girl once carried in a cold January march said, ‘Dissent is patriotic.'”

Other politicians and groups in New Jersey have also expressed support for Altman.

Gov. Phil Murphy, who appointed the task force that’s investigating the tax breaks, condemned Altman’s removal Monday afternoon.

“The forceful removal of Sue Altman from today’s tax incentives hearing is completely outrageous and unacceptable,” Murphy said. “Every senator on that committee owes her a direct apology. Dissent will always be part of our American fabric.”

The League of Women Voters of New Jersey said the incident was “horrendous and chilling.”

“Altman was not being disruptive, and there are better ways to calmly de-escalate a contentious meeting,” its members wrote on social media. “What happened in that hearing flies in the face of everything the League, and the hundreds of advocates working in Trenton, stands for. This is not what democracy looks like.”

Monday’s incident even gained the ears of 2020 presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who tweeted her support of Altman.

New Jersey 101.5 posted the below video taken at Monday’s hearing.

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