Sussex County's senator should come from Sussex

To the editor: Does having a Sussex County resident as senator matter? I think it does. For a start, counties without a resident senator historically pay higher property taxes than those with a senator representing the county he or she lives in. Legislative districts come and go. By law they change every ten years. Counties exist for centuries. We pay our taxes to the county n not a legislative district. We go to the county courthouse to conduct business n for everything from filing a deed to getting married to applying for a passport. The drafters of New Jersey’s constitution understood this and originally assigned one senator to each county n 21 in all. Then federal law changed all that and New Jersey had 40 senators representing arbitrarily drawn legislative districts based on population n but still more than enough to ensure representation for each county. Unfortunately, the legislative redistricting process and the effect of political gerrymandering have often resulted in individual counties being left without a resident senator. How would we feel if the same federal law was applied to United States senators? Ask yourself how well New Jersey would be represented if one of our senators lived in New York and the other Pennsylvania? We all know the answer n not very well at all. We need a senator who pays his taxes here, sends his kids to school here, shops here, drives the same roads we do, and has the same everyday worries and concerns we face. Morris County is represented by five senators, Sussex County by one. Sussex County’s senator should live in Sussex County . Louis Crescitelli III Franklin