NJ Cops Jan18 | Page 4

The President ’ s Message

NEW JERSEY STATE POLICEMEN ’ S BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE BOARD

Remembering Bobby Smith and matters related to PFRS

PATRICK COLLIGAN State President
MARC KOVAR Executive Vice President
Peter Andreyev 1st Vice President Henry Werner 2nd Vice President Michael Pellegrino 3rd Vice President Mark Aurigemma 4th Vice President Eugene Dello 5th Vice President Richard Kott 6th Vice President Frederick Ludd , Sr . 7th Vice President Luke Sciallo 8th Vice President Frank P . Cipully 9th Vice President John Cernek 10th Vice President Ed Carattini , Jr . 11th Vice President Michael Freeman 12th Vice President
Michael Kaniuk Financial Secretary Margaret Hammond Recording Secretary John Monsees Treasurer
Bryan Flammia Trustee Robert Ormezzano Trustee Terrance Benson , Sr . Trustee Rodney Furby Trustee Charles Schwartz Trustee Patrick Moran Trustee Joseph A . Macones Trustee
Sean Plasket Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Tardio Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Heller Sergeant-at-Arms Keith Curry Sergeant-at-Arms Christopher Ricciotti Sergeant-at-Arms John Granahan Sergeant-at-Arms Andrew Pacucci Sergeant-at-Arms Joseph Nigro Sergeant-at-Arms
Patrick Colligan
You remember Snow White . The Evil Queen looks into her magic mirror . Every morning , the Evil Queen asked the Magic Mirror , “ Mirror , mirror on the wall , who is the fairest of them all ?” The mirror always replied , “ My queen , you are the fairest of them all .”
As I watched the governor make his farewell “ State of the State ” address on Jan . 9 , I realized that the magic mirror is not only real , it ’ s obviously hanging in the governor ’ s office !
Ninety minutes of spectacular news from the best damn governor to have ever served . He spoke about his great relationships with key Democrats . He told us about the state ’ s incredibly bright and rosy financial picture . He let us know that Camden is the greatest ( and safest ) city in the world . Apparently , Atlantic City ’ s incredible comeback is old news already . Oh , and the pension is safe and fiscally secure , thanks to him .
It was an incredibly successful eight years . In fact , it was 90 minutes of citing one huge success after another . Where would our state ever be without the guy ? Wait ! What ? No mention of the record-setting 11 credit downgrades ? No mention of Bridgegate ? No mention of nearly half a billion dollars lost in federal education dollars ? What about broken pension promises ? Or more than a half a billion dollars blown on the ARC tunnel , the second least reliable rail fleet in the entire nation ? Or the highest foreclosure rate in the country , the second worst unemployment rate in the country or the highest property taxes in the country ? And Beachgate ?
The list goes on , but I ’ m getting downright depressed . Was he even talking about New Jersey ? Was that the guy polling at a 13-percent approval rating ? Do you realize that 80 percent of the public hate dentists ? I ’ d say that gives dentists a 20-percent approval rating . Dentists !
So , back to that magic mirror . Since his term is over and he doesn ’ t need the mirror anymore , I ’ ve always wanted to be tall , dark and handsome with a full head of hair and six-pack abs . I ’ m swinging by to pick up that mirror . d
4 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ OCTOBER JANUARY 2016 2018