Atlantic County's Bertino Shows Conservatives How To Fight Back

Seth Grossman

Jim Bertino, a Republican, is the District County Commissioner (formerly Freeholder) who represents all Atlantic County towns west of Egg Harbor and Galloway Townships.

Atlantic County government is run by ten elected officials. All departments are supervised by Republican "County Executive”, Dennis Levinson.  Nine “County Commissioners (previously called “Freeholders”) are the legislative body. They make budgets, award contracts, and review appointments to county boards.  The have no power over national or state matters. There are currently 6 Republicans and 2 Democrats on the Atlantic County Board. 

At the January 19 meeting four weeks ago, the two Democrat Commissioners introduced a resolution condemning "President Trump and his extremist supporters" for the riots at the Capitol on January 6.  They demanded that the six Republican County Commissioners put it up for a “yes” or “no” vote. 

The six Republican Commissioners voted to “table” or delay the matter to a later meeting.

The Republicans were technically correct. They explained that: (1) County officials can’t decide national matters, (2) Trump is already out of office, (3) It is still unclear how many of the rioters of January 6 were “Trump supporters”, and (4) It is still unclear as to whether any of them were “incited” by anything said or done by Trump.

However, the Republicans came across as weak and ineffective from a political point of view. Democrats are obviously not against political violence when it benefits them. The purpose of the resolution was to divide, weaken, and embarrass Republicans. 

These Democrats know that sensational, biased, and inflammatory media coverage of the January 6 riots turned President Trump and the Capitol "insurrectionists" into political kryptonite in the minds of most NJ voters.  Democrats now want to use that kryptonite to destroy every Republican candidate in every future election.

The resolution proposed by Atlantic County Democrats last month is textbook perfect. If Republicans “table” or delay acting on the resolution, Democrats will pack every meeting with supporters and bring up the resolution week after week. If Republicans vote on the resolution, they are hurt whether they vote "yes" or "no". If Republicans vote “yes” to condemn Trump, they will lose Trump supporters they need to win the next election. If they vote “no”, Democrats will claim Republicans are on the side of lawlessness and violence.

Two weeks later, the matter came up at the next County Commissioner meeting on February 5. Once again, the two Democrats and their supporters demanded a vote. Once again, the six Republicans "tabled" or delayed action. The matter is scheduled to come up again today, Tuesday, February 16.

Fortunately, Commissioner Jim Bertino has a plan to deal with this.
Instead of dealing with a one sided resolution that targets only Republicans, Bertino drafted a new resolution. Bertino's Republican resolution condemns all "violent actors, hate groups, riotous mobs and persons inciting crime as a means to harm, threaten, or intimidate others".

In short, Bertino's resolution demands that Democrats also condemn the political violence and destruction done by Democrat mobs during the past ten years.

That violence began with the storming by Democrats and members of government employee unions of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building in 2011 when they lost an election. It includes the "Hands Up Don't Shoot" riots in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 and the anti-police riots in New York City and Baltimore of 2015. It includes the countless Democrat anti-Trump, anti-police, and anti-Dakota Pipeline riots in Milwaukee, Charlotte, Portland and South Dakota in 2016. In includes the riots at Trump's inauguration in 2017, and later that year in Washington State, and St. Louis. It includes the riots, looting and burning by Antifa and Black Lives Matter Democrat mobs in Portland, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and, of course, Atlantic City.

Both the Democrat resolution condemning only Republican violence and Bertino's Republican resolution condemning all political violence during the past ten years will be brought up at the online meeting of the County Commissioners at 4pm today, Tuesday, February 16. You can attend by clicking the link at Board of County Commissioners - Atlantic County Government (atlantic-county.org) .

For more information on the pattern of political violence that began with the storming of the Wisconsin State Capitol by Democrats after losing an election in 2011, visit our January 10, 2021 post: This All Started With Democrat Riots, Takeover of Wisconsin Capitol In 2011. – Liberty and Prosperity.

Please also visit our post about last year's May 31 political riot in Atlantic City. Click here for link: Will Atlantic City, County, & NJ Law Enforcement Use Videos, Offer Rewards To Identify, Arrest & Prosecute Rioters Like Him? – Liberty and Prosperity