| And the Senate is still passing bills. Another day in Trenton is about to begin. Bills will be before us about the tourism district in Atlantic City, revising casino industry regulations and abolishing COAH. I will be speaking and lobbying for two bills - the first amending our State medicaid plan to cover more folks for family planning services. Let's see if we can get a few Republican votes for this in the Senate. I'm counting on a few thinking "R" colleagues to join in putting forth this "no brainer" since the state gets $9 for every $1 of match it allocates.
Since the Governor vetoed the last family planning money, two sites in Browns Mills and Mt. Holley in Burlington have stopped seeing family planning patients. In the past year these health centers saw over 2300 patients. The Dover Health Center will close at the end of this month and in the past year this center saw over 3900 patients. The Planned Parenthood of Northern New Jersey in Elizabeth will probably see more than 800 fewer patients due to reductions and restructuring. Mercer, Ocean and Somerset County centers will also be affected. Each of those numbers represents a real person in need of services. This is just the tip of the coming iceberg in poor women's access to health services. What is the Governor and some of his party stalwarts proving with these cuts? Come on guys and gals, time to set "right" at least a few of these "wrongs"!
And speaking of setting things right, Governor Corzine signed a bill into law literally his last moments in office. A bill that came out of a Middlesex community where a bunch of "upstarts" (read: reformers) attempted to change the form of government in one of their communities. After hard work, they got the government change on the ballot and came within a few votes of winning. Leaders of the party (read: my own party) got a little nervous. So what was there to do? Oh we can change the law and require that a government change referendum (even after a loss) cannot be brought up again for ten years rather than the three years in the then current law! That will teach those citizens. By the time 10 years pass, most of them will either be gone or they'll have given up. Not very (read: small d) democratic! We will be considering my bill today which returns the law to the 2009 version: three years in between referendum after a loss and five years if there was a win and the government actually changed. Keep your fingers crossed that Senator Vitale and I have enough votes in our Democratic caucus to get this passed. Watch the vote tally on this one.
It was a good day Saturday with the repeal of DADT. It is sad though to see what's happened to the really brave war hero, Sen. John McCain. First Sarah Palin, then a prediction that our military will fall apart with this repeal. And Arizona doesn't need counseling for veterans facing mental health problems as a result of their service to our country - but maybe New Jersey does? We should all be as angry as Congressman Holt is. Years of cruel imprisonment couldn't vanquish John McCain, but the pressure of partisan politics seems to have done the job on him. There's not much more to say about that. The repeal of DADT is a giant step forward for our country and for granting full civil rights to the gay community. We all know what's still missing. Looking forward to the courts doing the "right thing" (read: marriage) here too.
And let's hope the Governor did something right by selecting Christopher Cerf of Montclair as the next Education Commissioner. Don't know that much about him yet, but others have said he is smart and knows how to build consensus. I just hope Mr. Christie will not throw him out if he manages to attract the NJEA to join him in a grant application or to build agreement on a program to improve our schools.
And so today, we in the Senate have a chance to "right" a few "wrongs". 'Tis the season to be kind to one another. Let's hope that "spirit" will pervade the Senate chambers today.
Merry Christmas. Thank you Blue Jersey for helping to build a community of progressives. Thank you to our bloggers, commenters, and readers for giving voice to many good ideas.
Keep your voices heard!
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