Asm. Carroll Addresses Tone and Tenor of Political Discourse

Steve Adubato talks with Asm. Michael Patrick Carroll (R) – NJ, 25th Legislative District, about his decision to leave the legislature after 24 years and some of his biggest accomplishments during his time in office. Carroll also addresses the tone and tenor of the political discourse in our nation.

1/12/19 #232

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"State of Affairs welcomes State Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, who after 24 years in the State Legislature, is not running for re-election because Assemblyman? It gets old after a while, you know. It's time to let someone else carry the weights, you know. There's only a limited number and amount of time you can bang your head against the wall and not get anything done. What works, what doesn't work down there in the State House? Well again, if you're in the minority, nothing works. And you know, one of the problems with being in the minority is there's nothing so impotent in all of humankind as a legislative minority. So being a Republican in a Democratic legislature? Not a good thing. And even when you come up with a good idea, they always steal it. Which of course, at the end of the day, if you don't care about getting credit, you can get some things done. But what's interesting about it is that there's some degree of bipartisan cooperation down there, but I'm curious about this. The tone and tenor. You're a fascinating person, talk about this. The tone and tenor of politics in this nation. You've always been a gentleman. You've always been respectful and courteous. I don't like... Well no, it's true. It's true, Assemblyman. I'm asking you, are you concerned about the tone and tenor of political discourse in the nation? Moreso in your end of the field. On the media side? Media side. Talk about that. Well, because you see, when you go down there, I mean you served, you know, it's like you were always friendly... I served for half a minute! Yeah yeah. But... One term! Yeah, but you're fr... you know, you... everybody who was down there, they were always polite. Always. Always. And it's... they treat you like... I've never met a Speaker or a Senate President who was anything less than a gentleman, or what-have-you. The governors have always been perfect in terms of their tone and tenor. Or in Speaker Sheila Oliver's case, a perfectly classy woman. A great lady. And she and... Yes. ...I got along very well. I had some bills that I was working on with her. Nicely. That's what I'm saying about you! You can't like what's going on right now? Well, again... By the way, why are you putting it on us? [laughter] Oh that's... it's... you know, because you can... the old line, "if it bleeds, it leads" you know. It's... the idea is everything is the latest Twitter storm or what-have-you, and that's not what policy should be about. Policy should..."