Pols and cop stops: What you shouldn't do when they come for you | Editorial

If you're the first Hispanic Republican assemblywoman in New Jersey, you belatedly choose not to run for re-election five months after an expletive-laden run-in with Mount Laurel Township police. At least, that's what Assemblywoman Maria Rodriguez-Gregg, R-Burlington, did a couple of weeks ago.

Long story made short: Another driver rear-ended the assemblywoman's Buick on Route 73, but the cops thought they smelled the odor of marijuana in HER car.

The incident turned into a "Do you know who I AM?" only after officers asked to search for marijuana. They ultimately found no evidence of same. It's understandable why she'd be upset, but that's no excuse for treating police who were just doing their jobs to a vulgar tirade followed by a menacing "I am a sitting assemblywoman" declaration.

"Harass a Latina female," she then added, throwing an extra mistreated minority claim into the mix.

Right or wrong -- and a video first released by the Trentonian doesn't show any harassment -- constituents do not like it when officeholders pull rank or a claim entitlement. Through the 12-minute video, the officers are seen as calm and initially polite, though they grew increasingly more firm verbally after Rodriguez-Gregg, 35, began mouthing off.

Even if you cut the assemblywoman some slack for thinking she was caught in a Kafkaesque nightmare over a crash that wasn't legally her fault, she should not have acted in such a foul way at the scene.

However, Rodriguez-Gregg is not even a close second compared with the recent poster child for inappropriate lawmaker-law enforcement interaction, former Assemblyman Nelson Albano, a Cumberland County Democrat.

Albano's disgusting behavior makes Rodiguez-Gregg look like a choir boy -- or a von Trapp family singer. Stopped in 2012 by a state trooper for allegedly driving 71 mph in a 55 mph zone, the Vineland lawmaker retaliated by contacting New Jersey State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes directly to have the trooper who stopped him investigated.

Among Albano's contortions to try to get out of a speeding ticket was to mention he was the Police Benevolent Association lawmaker of the year. He also claimed he was targeted because he was one of just 120 people in New Jersey with special "legislator" license plates.

Rodriguez-Gregg, too, announced herself as a big police supporter during the video. But her actions don't rise to the level of clear abuse of power, as Albano's did.

Albano forfeited his special license once voters defeated him in the 2013 general election. That December, he became the first lawmaker in 35 years to be fined by the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards.

Rodriguez-Gregg's smart decision to end her re-election bid spares her and the entire Republican Party from similar embarrassment. She's still fighting DUI and resisting arrest charges. But, the important question is: Why don't our legislators  behave properly in such situations?

Maybe a tip from pop culture can help. Us Weekly, the gossip magazine, has that candid-photo feature showing celebrities' everyday interactions: "Stars -- They're Just Like US! They stock the fridge. They take out the trash," etc.

Repeat after us, all 120 of you in the Assembly and Senate: "Lawmakers -- They're just like US! They take out the trash. They don't act like entitled brats when police stop their cars."

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