What Can We Do About Marie Strumolo Burke? Here's What.

Speaking of local flooding in the area – that’s a little inside weather joke for you non-Jersey types – NutleyWatch has been flooded with messages about Marie Strumolo Burke, not only expressing outrage, but asking what can be done about it.

So far, my answer has been pretty short and to the point – “Don’t vote for her”.

Hey, I’m only wordy in my blog posts.

If you don’t agree with a public official making hateful racist remarks, then you probably shouldn’t elect her as the mayor of your town. This is the town’s Democratic Chair insulting her own constituents, the very people who elected her, to say nothing of the African-American community as a whole.

If you find that offensive, then don’t vote for her. Even better, spread the word, and do your best to make sure no one else votes for her.

Simple, right?

Turns out that answer hasn’t been good enough for most of you.

Good grief people, I run a community advocacy blog – not the Belleville Outrage Counseling Center!

Wait, isn’t she already finished?

This one I’m getting a lot:

“Now that Mayor Kimble and the Town Council have officially censured Burke and called for her removal, that should be enough….right? It’s a done deal now, right?”

Nope, not even close. Now somebody higher up in the Democratic Party needs to step in and actually do something about it. Clearly she won’t step down with whatever dignity she still has left, and remains defiant, so somebody needs to take action. Someone higher up in the Democratic Party needs to forcefully remove her from public office. Who will that be?

“They’re coming though, right?”

Who knows. There’s not much time left until this woman could conceivably be elected mayor, and I’m sure there are still people in this town who haven’t heard the story yet. There is not much time to sit here and wait to see who at the county, state, or national level will be the first to declare, on behalf of the people, that racial hatred will not be tolerated from our elected officials in Essex County, New Jersey.

Now that there’s confirmation from a forensics lab regarding the authenticity of her voice on that recording, what more are they waiting for?

Well, for all we know, the response from local Democratic leaders could be to try to sweep it under the rug, or try to ignore it altogether.

There is a problem, however. I’d say a rather big one.

Thank you, social media

The problem is, her offensive actions didn’t get swept under the rug locally. While Essex County Democrats have yet to take a stand on Burke’s self-imposed predicament, this has become national news.

Web, print, and TV coverage has been quite extensive. The comments section of practically every online article is filled with people calling for Burke’s resignation. And as is typical of the internet, often a far worse fate.

I’ll just randomly pick an article to show you what I mean.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/30/mayoral-candidate-allegedly-says-this-is-gonna-be-a-fin-n-town-but-her-party-affiliation-might-be-bigger-news/

The reaction seems to be even more outrage when people suddenly realize Burke is a Democrat. Wait, you mean someone from “The Party of the People” might be a racist?? When you think of it that way, I admit, the added hypocrisy makes a bad situation look even worse.

In addition, the original audio clip with Burke’s racist outburst already has over 52,000 hits on YouTube, and climbing rapidly.

To give you an idea of how fast the YouTube hits are climbing, I saved a first draft of this post 4 hours ago. When I came back to continue writing, the video had 3,000 more hits. Social media shares are also sky high.

Nothing spreads faster than public outrage.

Anyway, now that you have an updated look at the issue, let’s get to the point of my post.

What Can We Do About Marie Burke?

Simple – pester the heck out of Democratic leaders at the county, state, and national level.

Flood their offices with calls and complaints, using every communication medium available. We’ll gather contact info and provide what we find at the end of this article.

Ultimately, if they still do nothing, the Democrats will have given the Republican Party some very good ammunition to use against them in the days ahead. The Democrats allowing completely safe harbor for a Committee Chair accused of racism?

The Republicans will have a field day with that one, if they’re not already.

Democrats – your silence is deafening.

It’s time for you to restore faith in local government.

It’s time for you to join the people, whom you claim to champion, and declare in one unified voice that racism will never be tolerated in our elected officials.

~ Griff