Following Senator Sweeney Dirty Tricks: Polistina Finally Gets Office

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy played fair regarding Senator Vince Polistina, while outgoing New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney did not.

After two months of political dirty tricks, we can finally report some positive news. Senator Vince Polistina, R-2 finally has been given the keys to the Atlantic County District 2 Senator’s legislative office.

For purely political reasons, in order to try and help Democrat Vince Mazzeo during the recent past election, Sweeney and the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services kept the Senator (Polistina) and this office away from the citizens of Atlantic County.

Their political shenanigans failed, as Polistina defeated Mazzeo by a wide margin to win the State Senate seat for the next two years.

There were good actors who did act in good faith … Governor Phil Murphy and the New Jersey Secretary of State’s office.

They promptly provided Senator Polistina with the official certification, confirming his selection as the Atlantic County District 2 Senator.

This should have been more than enough. A short while later, Polistina took the oath of office before a retired Atlantic County Superior Court Judge.

Polistina simply wanted to go right to work for the residents of Atlantic County.

Partisan politicians with bad intentions had other ideas.

Outgoing, defeated State Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-3 behaved worse then I’ve ever seen him. I’ve known Sweeney for decades. He’s a good guy. He almost always did the right thing while in office.

But, he didn’t do the right thing this time. He refused to recognize the perfectly legitimate oath of office ceremony that Polistina did.

On top of this bad act, Sweeney refused to swear Polistina in himself. Sweeney decided that giving political cover and aid to his fellow Democrat Vince Mazzeo was more important then giving Atlantic County their State Senator.

It was a despicable act.

As if this writing, Polistina is scheduled to be officially sworn-in this Monday, November 8, 2021.

Sweeney will leave office in less than two months, after losing to an unknown political newcomer, Edward Durr.

The New Jersey Office of legislative Services is supposed to be non-partisan. Not this time. They gave Polistina the runaround since the moment he was selected as Senator.

An office such as this should never act in a partisan manner.

Once Polistina won the General Election this past Tuesday, November 2, 2021, the OLS did step up and have now given Polistina access to the office that they denied him for 2 months.

For no good reason, the OLS previously turned off the District 2 office phones, took away the constituent files and locked the office and refused to give Polistina the keys.

Polistina actually had to set-up a temporary phone line, so that he could effectively communicate with constituents who needed help.

Today, the Office of Legislative Services finally gave Polistina the keys to the district office. The phone lines will be back in service.

For your ready reference, here is the address and phone number for Senator Polistina’s newly reopened Atlantic County District 2 Office.

2021 New Road, Suite 24,

Linwood, New Jersey 08221

(609) 677-8266 office

(609) 677-8853 fax

It’s rather ironic that Sweeney’s political bags will soon be packed and it’s Polistina who is now a minted Senator, while Sweeney will no longer be a Senator and Senate President.

Perhaps if Sweeney hadn’t been focused on political games and running for Governor in 2025, he might have been able to save his own seat.

There’s a valuable lesson here. Do the right thing. Serve the people. Don’t deny an entire County the right to have their representative promptly installed into office.