Doherty: Bedminster Taxpayers Will Be Reimbursed for Trump’s Visits to Golf Club
| Senator Michael Doherty (R-Somerset, Warren, Hunterdon) today reaffirmed his support for a provision within the spending bill passed by Congress earlier this week that would allow Bedminster to seek reimbursements for costs associated with protecting President Donald Trump when he visits his golf club within the municipality.
Sen. Mike Doherty reaffirmed his support for Bedminster’s efforts to seek reimbursement for costs associated with protecting President Trump. He added that commonsense would indicate that he would never state otherwise. (SenateNJ) “As I told Star-Ledger reporter Claude Brodesser-Akner on the phone yesterday, I strongly support Bedminster’s efforts to seek reimbursement for these security costs,” Senator Doherty said. “Families in Bedminster and across New Jersey already pay the highest property taxes in the nation. It is completely unjust to ask them to pay millions of dollars in added costs that should be covered by the administration. “I want to make it clear to my constituents and their local leaders that I strongly believe that the people of Bedminster, or any community for that matter, deserve to be reimbursed for the substantial cost of protecting President Trump when he comes into town. Thankfully, as I very specifically informed this reporter yesterday, this is no longer an issue. Congressman Lance put a resolution in the budget to eliminate this taxpayer burden.” “I am very proud to represent the people of Bedminster. Commonsense would indicate that I would never make such a callous statement dismissing what could have been a very serious problem. I wasn’t going to give into Mr. Brodesser-Akner’s attempts to bully me into stating otherwise – or to criticize other elected officials,” Doherty added. Senator Doherty noted that he immediately reached out to the reporter regarding this error. Hours later, an additional quote that more accurately represented his point of view was added to the story. Unfortunately, the reporter failed to practice transparency by making a note that a correction had been made. Making sure readers know a correction has been made is a fairly common practice among respectable news organizations, the Senator stated. “Reporters should be careful not to repackage the facts to fit into their own preconceived narrative. While I am grateful that a correction was made, I was still very disappointed to see my own statements twisted in the original version of the article in today’s Star-Ledger,” Doherty said. “Why do you think people are so concerned about fake news? For the sake of the public’s trust in the press, I hope that these types of distortions do not become a pattern.” Original quote: “Meanwhile, state Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Warren), who represents Bedminster, dismissed concerns about timely reimbursement by Congress as ‘creating controversy where there is none.’” “Meanwhile, state Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Warren), who represents Bedminster, said while it was important for the federal government to reimburse the locality, he was inclined to oppose any new special levy until he heard what Bedminster’s local town council and mayor would had to say about the special Trump-only tax district Ciattarelli is mulling. Citing the recently approved funds for reimbursement by Congress, he dismissed concerns about payments beyond those as “‘creating controversy where there is none.’” Related Facebook Post: Related Tweet: Website Post: |
