Paying casino workers for not working

Assemblyman Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, proposed a bill today that would require the state -- i.e., taxpayers -- to reimburse all private-sector employees who were idled as a result of the state government shutdown. Apparently, it isn't enough that taxpayers have to pick up the tab for "non-essential" government workers who were given what amounted to paid vacations during the shutdown thanks to Whelan and his brethren in Trenton.
I feel bad for the casino workers and road construction workers who were idled. But I have no interest in paying them for work they did not do. Whelan instead should pass a bill that would treat the furloughing of state employees last week as unpaid leave.
"Yesterday afternoon Governor Corzine signed an executive order providing full payment and benefits for state employees who were furloughed during the state's shutdown last week," Whelan said. "While this order helps some innocent public-sector bystanders impacted by the shutdown, we need to guarantee parity with the tens of thousands of private-sector employees who suffered from this failed process and are not receiving any back pay. These private-sector workers were innocent victims in a governmental crisis and deserve to be treated as fairly as state workers."
What we need is to get Whelan and every other legislator who voted for the sales tax increase out of Trenton.