| It’s never good when a Jersey politician is mired in a transportation-related controversy with the suffix ‘-gate’ slapped on the end of it.
But that’s where Congressman Tom Kean Jr. finds himself this morning.
POLITICO New Jersey takes Kean Jr. to task for his refusal to stand up to Donald Trump as Gateway funding runs dry. They slam Kean Jr. for his word salad statement that “made no specific mention of the man who’s responsible for the funds being held up.”
PoliticoNJ writes in part:
“So who could this controversy I hereby dub Gatewaygate hurt besides New Jersey commuters, the thousands of workers on the project and the regional economy in general? The political career of U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who’s facing an electorate that quickly turned on Trump.
Kean’s district, especially its eastern portion, includes many towns with commuters who take the train across the Hudson daily.
[…] And Kean’s statement about the Gateway Tunnel on Monday made no specific mention of the man who’s responsible for the funds being held up.
[…] But does anyone really believe that someone other than Trump is responsible for blocking this money? And Trump has proven time and time again that loyalty to him is no guarantee of reciprocation. You can see it in his snub of Bill Spadea in favor of Jack Ciattarelli for governor despite years of Spadea’s near-sycophantic on-air support. And you could see it in saying the project was terminated with apparently no thought of how it would affect Ciattarelli in the campaign’s final stretch.
REMINDER: Kean Jr. has been with Donald Trump every step of the way. He’s voted with Trump 100% of the time this Congress – including for his so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that made the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, and to rubber-stamp his cost spiking tariffs. So now he’s falling in line again by refusing to call out his boss – even when it’s the right thing to do for NJ.
DCCC Spokesperson Eli Cousin:
“Tom Kean Jr. is a spineless career politician who can’t find the political courage to call out Trump by name even when the regional economy and New Jersey commuters are about to get screwed. If Kean Jr. won’t call on his boss to release Gateway funding, he should give Jack Ciatteralli a call and ask him how that move worked for his political career.”
|
