Wildwood Democrat Mayor Pete Byron is Playing Partisan Politics
Truth is always stranger than fiction. We are living in very weird times. A distinguished and well known Cape May County resident reached out to me earlier today. The resident was extremely upset by the recent behavior of Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron.
Imagine this. During a global pandemic (the coronavirus), the Democrat mayor of Wildwood somehow has the time to talk about billing President Donald Trump $34,000 from the spectacular rally that took place on January 28, 2020, in Wildwood.
Geez, we’re operating in a state of emergency. What Byron should have done instead was to send President Trump a sincere letter of thanks.
No accurate profit and loss statement has ever been compiled regarding the velocity of money and how many hotel room nights, meal covers and significant other revenue items were purchased.
However, it’s obvious to many that I have spoken with that the President Trump and United States Congressman Jeff Van Drew rally generated a substantial seven (7) figures for Wildwood and the surrounding communities.
January 28th of any given year is a ghost town in Wildwood and most of Cape May.
Many visitors stayed for more than one night. Businesses that are always closed on January 28th had two to three great days of business.
President Trump’s rally in Wildwood was historical in nature. It is one of the most exciting and rare events in Wildwood/Cape May history.
A presidential visit is an extremely rare opportunity. More than 175,000 people requested tickets to the rally. Lara Trump confirmed to me that this was a record in the entire Trump history of their highly attended events.
Tens of thousands of people came out for the Wildwood rally. Others lined the motorcade route to try and catch a glimpse of The President.
Pete Byron is practicing typical backwards progressivism. Our resort towns and counties spend a lot of time and money all designed to draw people to these places to participate in special events.
Again by design, these events help sustain the resort economy by bringing the most precious commodity, people, to local businesses.
President Trump’s visit was no doubt a dream come true for hundreds of local small business owners and their employees.
Hotels, Motels, bars, restaurants, retail, package goods, and many others suddenly had a Fourth of July level crowd in the dead of winter. And now, thank God they did.
A quick look at the Wildwoods event calendar shows no less than fifteen major events cancelled through the second week of May. Unfortunately, more will likely follow.
The resident of Cape May County was concerned about potential political retaliation should his/her identity be revealed.
However, the anonymous whistle blower wanted their story to get out to the public and gave me permission to share his/her remarks without attribution.
“In the midst of this national coronavirus crisis it is difficult to imagine a local elected official dedicating his time and his city's resources to finding a way to score political points with his Democratic base by sticking a $34,000 bill in the face of President Trump.
As businesses in his community are trying to figure out how to survive, no doubt many of them are thankful that they got a small infusion of capital as the result of President Trump’s rally,” said the whistle blower.
Just consider this. Do you think Byron would be sending out a $34,000 bill to Barack Obama, had he come to Wildwood?
In conclusion, Only petty shortsightedness can explain why the Mayor (Byron) of the host community would be driven to the point of distraction by an unhealthy obsession with hurting President Trump instead of saying, “Thank you, Mr. President, for helping our small town.”