Table-setting
Atlantic/Cape May members help secure an important seat in the Senate
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Clicks and keystrokes created a chorus that echoed through the
Mainland Local 77 office in Egg Harbor Township on Election Day
morning. The bank to ring up voters in support of candidates the
NJ State PBA and Atlantic/Cape May County Conference endorsed
was not scheduled to open for another 15 minutes, but members
from more than a half-dozen Locals had their smartphones and
tablets racing.
The pre-game political action confirmed the mission: “Every
vote is going to count, especially in this election,” Local 77 State
Delegate and County Conference Chair Mike Palmentieri reiterat-
ed.
As the 10 a.m. start time for calling voters neared, Local 77 Pres-
ident Ray Theriault blasted out a final email to get out the people
to get out the vote. He hit up more than 900 active and retired PBA
members in the counties with a simple reminder: “Election Day is
here!”
Members then filed into a room where rows of tables would be
their beat for the rest of the day. They even bypassed a scrumptious
breakfast buffet that Palmentieri set out perhaps as a re-statement
of the goal State PBA Executive Vice President Marc Kovar asserted
for this election.
“Either we have a seat at the table, or we’re on the menu,” Theri-
ault reiterated.
The prime objective for Atlantic/Cape May County members
was to get a seat for Chris Brown, running to move up from the NJ
State Assembly to the Senate. PBA members in Atlantic and Cape
May counties had been making calls for Brown, an Iraqi war vet,
and other candidates in the 2nd District the past few weeks with a
defined method to their canvass.
“The past eight years have been nothing but a black cloud over
our heads,” Longport Local 363 State Delegate Chris Ricciotti,
the county conference co-chair, charged to fellow members like
a coach making a pre-game motivational speech. “We have orga-
nized our political action committee to have a voice at the table.”
A statement on the force Atlantic/Cape May county members
brought to Election Day might have been amplified with the pres-
ence of retired members Jim Costa of Margate Local 65 and Local
77’s Bill Cliver, who did 15 years with the Atlantic County Prosecu-
tor’s Office. This day was certainly an opportunity to get out the
vote for Brown, soon-to-elected-governor Phil Murphy and others
who might reinstate the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) retired
members so covet.
But Cliver was also encouraged when Brown sat down next to
him the week before to help with calling voters. He saw in Brown
what the PBA had set its sights on for this election.
“His word is his bond,” Cliver related. “I could be home cutting
the grass today, but what we’re doing is important to me and the
union.”
As the phone calls transpired, another seat at the table seemed
imminent. Most of those who answered had either voted or were
planning to vote for Brown. There was no real animosity from any-
body on the other end of the line, but these members were pre-
pared.
“If they ask a question, we’re ready with a valid answer,” ex-
plained Brigantine Local 204 State Delegate Joe Sweet. “As cliché as
it sounds, knowledge is power.”
The power of the purpose might have been best articulated
by Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office Local 401 State Delegate
Joe Berg, when considering that political action wasn’t just about
politics.
PBA Atlantic/Cape May County Conference Chair Mike Palmentieri joins
members in making calls to get out the vote in the 2nd District on Election
Day.
“It has a lot less to do with party and a lot more to do with ca-
reer,” he said.
When the last numbers were dialed, Atlantic/Cape May Coun-
ty members realized the objectives that the State PBA set for this
Election Day and ongoing political action. Members did not get
into this job to be political, but they have realized there are no oth-
er options. And they secured another seat at the table.
Brown ousted Democratic incumbent Colin Bell by slightly more
than 3,600 votes. Every vote truly did count. d
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