Call 911! Morgan Stanley Needs Tax Breaks

Apparently, taking away the right of voters is a state emergency.  Yesterday, the New Jersey State Senate approved an emergency resolution to push through a bill that takes away the right of referendum for voters in the state.  What’s the big emergency?  The Democrats and Republicans are extremely concerned that Morgan Stanley gets a $300 million taxpayer bailout for their casino in Atlantic City, and they don’t want the voters to have a say on the project.  Why?  According to Senator Whelan, the casino is a “spectacular beacon of hope.”  New Jersey voters can’t be trusted to vote on the project because the “beacon of hope” is so blindingly bright.   It’s simply not safe.

The vote was 36-0 in favor of the “emergency” resolution, which kind of reminds us of those “elections” they held in the old Soviet Union or Communist China.  Oh wait, the Peoples Republic of China has reached a tentative agreement to build and finance Morgan Stanley’s casino, so it kinda makes sense.  We don’t want any democracy to inconvenience the Peoples Republic of China.

Meanwhile, Paul Mulshine of the Newark Star Ledger has a scathing editorial against the project.  Mulshine wrote that “[t]his deal is great for the developers, but there’s nothing in it for the taxpayers.”