Let's hear it for a trio of elected officials - Camden Mayor Dana Redd, and state Sens. Diane Allen and Jim Whalen - who are starting to take their final bows.
Some important South Jersey political figures are on the outs with voters as of today, figuratively speaking.
Monday afternoon was the deadline to file petitions to run in the June party primary elections for offices that will be filled in the November general election. Three big names that you won't see running to keep their current elected gigs are state Sens. Diane Allen and Jim Whelan, and Camden Mayor Dana Redd.
Redd's decision, announced just days ago, was the most surprising, because her beleaguered city is on a roll, and the two-term Democrat mayor deserves a lot of the credit.
It sometimes looked as if Redd was a bystander while bigger movers and shakers -- notably Gov. Chris Christie and political guru and Camden aficionado George Norcross III -- engineered key policy changes and nabbed tenants for new downtown offices. But for Camden, still mired in poverty, crime and business decline, not being an obstructionist can itself be an important catalyst for hope.
Redd likely has been more hands-on than outside appearances would indicate. Her non-combative style, though, ended decades of efforts to help the city being met with strong resistance from inside. The locals used to get livid when the state government tried to wrest control of city finances that were in shambles, and a school district that appeared to be unable to govern itself.
Camden County, with backing from Trenton, came in to reform a city police force that provided too little bang for the bucks. Redd could have just yelled "No!," but, in this instance and others, her correct calculation was that Camden required outside assistance.
Most of the waterfront building boom is still in the planning stages, but there's visible progress. Still elusive are improvements in other neighborhoods, where dilapidated buildings have been razed without concrete plans for replacing them.
At age 49, Redd would seem to have plenty of fight left to serve constituents, but she said at a press conference, "I gave everything I had to stand Camden up." If she chooses to leave public life, she's earned it.
The two state senators announced weeks ago that they would be leaving. Allen, a Burlington County Republican, is the rarer commodity as a trailblazing woman in politics, as well as a moderate who has stood up for family-friendly policies despite opposition from the larger GOP majority. Hers is a 22-year legislative career of achievement and energy that, almost remarkably, did not begin until after she had worked in TV news for more than two decades.
Whalen, 68, a former Atlantic City mayor with a decade as the region's state senator, has been a fighter in the Legislature for the city's unique composition of gaming playground surrounded by a core of urban decay. He has weathered its ups and downs -- mostly downs -- during his Senate stint. His expertise will be missed.
Whalen, Allen and Redd have demonstrated commitment and drive in serving their diverse constituencies. The only way for them to disappoint us now is to take cushy, high-salary appointed public posts in order to pad their government pensions. Presumably, none of that kind of nonsense is in the works.
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