Show me your friends……..

My mom always used to say, “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you what you are!” So by that logic, I guess that if you have friends that are “schmucks”, chances are you’re probably a schmuck yourself!...with all due respect, of course.

The reason this comes to mind is the endorsement that the Reverend Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, recently made to reelect Jon Corzine as Governor of New Jersey. That probably wouldn’t be much of a surprise if it weren’t for the amount of face time he’d received in the movie, “The Cartel”.

By now you’re probable aware that “The Cartel” is an independently produced movie documenting the failure of the public school system in New Jersey, about how it wastes millions of dollars of taxpayer money to support an administration who’s only concern is to continue feeding at the trough…leaving children out in the cold! It’s an indictment of, among others, the powerful teacher’s union in propping up a system that rewards incompetence. All at your expense, dear taxpayer.

There are quite a number of public officials given face time in the movie…voicing concerns as to how broken the system is, and whether or not it can be fixed…most notable among them is the aforementioned Reverend Jackson. In the movie, he looks every bit the caring pastor, ministering to his flock, and showing much concern for the children of his congregation…and by extension, all the state’s children!

Well then, if he truly were a man of his word, and believed that to fix the system would be to promote competition within the educational establishment, i.e. charter schools, why would he then endorse the gubernatorial candidate who was already endorsed by the NJEA…the very organization that encourages maintaining the status quo.

Here’s his quote from the website, www.politickernj.com regarding the Corzine endorsement.

"I have not in the past and am not today making this endorsement lightly. This endorsement is made after much wrestling and soul searching. But it is an endorsement that I strongly make," Jackson said yesterday. "It's hard to be popular in tough economic times, but to his credit Jon Corzine has made the tough calls."

I know, it’s a rhetorical question And I’m not the only one asking that question. So too is Herbert Glenn, a Republican State Assembly candidate from Newark. Check out his take on the situation from politickernj.com.

http://www.politickernj.com/editor/34160/assembly-candidate-say-rev-jackson-will-gain-financially-endorsing-corzine

Especially the quote:

“"I am deeply concerned to investigate the understanding how religious leaders can compromise their spiritual convictions for their own personal political empowerment. This is a typical scenario of the pulpit pimp v. Christian crusader syndrome. Money talks."

So if money does the talking, there’s probably not a lot of “soul searching” and “wrestling” involved in deciding who should govern our state for the next 4 years, is there now?

And even though my mom never said it in biblical terms, saying “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you what you are!” got the message across.