South Jersey’s road warrior heads to exit ramp | Editorial - nj.com

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In 2012, officials in mostly Republican Harrison Township named a road for state Sen. Stephen Sweeney, the Democratic president of the state Senate.

Almost needless to say, the GOP-majority township committee’s action was controversial. But, “Stephen M. Sweeney Way,” wasn’t just any road. It was the township portion of the (U.S.) Route 322 Bypass. Its completion ended a two-decade battle to divert heavy traffic from the highway, especially where it snaked narrowly through Harrison’s historic Mullica Hill business district.

Sweeney, then in the middle of his legislative career — and before that as director of the Gloucester County freeholder board — was the champion of the bypass, and the main “architect” of a routing that alleviated a good deal of the traffic bottlenecks with little disruption to the Mullica Hill corridor.

All of that aside, in New Jersey it’s best to wait until a politician is deceased or, at least retired, before naming stuff after him or her. You never know. For reference, see the rail station named for Sen. Harrison A. Williams. Actually, you can’t see it, because the Woodrbidge Amtrak stop was renamed simply “MetroPark Station,” after the U.S. senator was convicted of bribery.

That’s not to say the Harrison Township Committee should anticipate buyers’ remorse for Stephen M. Sweeney Way. But it does say that, after he was defeated for a new state Senate term, the newly retired Sweeney is at a crossroads. It’s unclear whether his time in elected office is over forever, but over-eager officials might want to hold off from any more monuments.

               

The Route 322 Bypass is the best example of when Sweeney shined in his political career. He guided a divisive project by obtaining long-sought compromise, then leveraged state and county funding to see it to fruition. The 2011 “pension deal” with then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, forever set the state on a course to dial back public-worker retirement and health benefits that had become a runaway train in the midst of a recession.

Yet, Sweeney is also known for being petty and vindictive, in past clashes with the powerful New Jersey Education Association, with regard to state appointments requiring confirmation by the Senate, and by holding up progressive measures on gun regulations, environmental safeguards and same-sex marriage (a view for which he later expressed regret).

He was a “double-dipper” when he initially refused to give up his freeholder seat upon election to the Legislature. And, as a close ally of South Jersey power broker George Norcross III, he’s been a collaborator in snuffing out political careers of renegade Democrats, and approving measures that seemingly benefit Norcross’ varied interests more than the public good.

On balance, Sweeney leaves the Legislature having been good for South Jersey’s overall interests, pushing a financial and administrative deal that upgraded Rowan University and Rutgers-Camden, and steadfastly defending John E. Wallace Jr., a state Supreme Court justice from Washington Township whom Christie refused to reappoint in 2010. Wallace, who was the only African American justice at the time, was forced from the bench, but remains so well regarded that he’s been picked as tie-breaker for the panel that is redistricting New Jersey’s congressional seats.

Edward Durr, the GOP furniture truck driver who sent Sweeney to unlikely defeat, said recently he’d like to have a beer with his predecessor as 3rd District senator. If that should happen, they’d probably like each other personally. Sweeney can be downright charming if he thinks it’s to his benefit. Also, both Durr and Sweeney share a belief that New Jersey’s working-and-middle classes are being punched in the gut by high taxes.

If Sweeney is prepared to throw policy stones from the outside looking in, the hope is that he’ll advocate for constructive reforms rather than just hurling pointed objects. His defeat makes it unlikely that he can make a credible case to be the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee in 2025. If he expects to have any shot at all, it rides on his ability to commiserate with the in-the-middle majority of New Jerseyans who feel they continue to be sandwiched between a rock and hard place.

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