Stinkers
Let's hear if for small government: 3 NJ Republicans don't want federal support in the war on stinkbugs
Three Republicans in the New Jersey Assembly have taken a valiant stand against a Big Government intrusion into the private lives of stinkbugs.
Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, former state GOP chair Jay Webber, and freshman Jack Ciatrelli were the sole nay votes on an Assembly resolution seeking federal help against the pests. The measure passed 76-3 on Monday.
"It's not that Jay favors stink bugs," Webber's spokesman explained, adding that the Morris County assemblyman tends to oppose this sort of non-binding resolution. "Besides, there are a lot more important issues the Assembly should be addressing."
New Jersey's farmers, for whom crop loss due to stink bugs could reach $40 million, might disagree.
The invasive and voracious little insect (official name, Halyomorpha halys ) can be "devastating" to orchards, according to the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station of Rutgers University.
The U.S Department of Agriculture is spending $5.7 million on an effort to control the critters in the mid-Atlantic region.