The Senator Responds

by: carolh

Fri Oct 12, 2007 at 10:50:36 PM EDT

http://politicsnj.co...

However, Senator Weinberg has an answer to that, and here is what she had to say to the Party Boss Joe Ferriero:

Dear Chairman Ferriero,

I too read with great interest the copy of your letter to Assemblyman/Councilman Johnson.

With all due respect to you, I'd like to bring you back to reality.  You mentioned the various health care pacs, lobbyists and big tobacco companies who have contributed to me which you must have researched over the 15 years I've been in the legislature.  Since I was the prime sponsor in the Assembly for many years which resulted in the Clean Indoor Air Act, signed by Governor Richard Codey, I'm assuming that the one small contribution I received many years ago from Philip Morris was not well spent on their part.  Please be aware that I returned the Enron check to that sorry corporation soon after receiving it with a note stating that their check should be re-deposited and given to their workers who were left "high and dry".  I guess the insurance companies who were forced to pay for 48 hour care for moms and their babies or for mammograms for women under 40, couldn't be too happy with me either.  I guess the restaurant lobby decided that .08 BAC was not so bad after all. 

Mr. Ferriero the reality of the situation is you can't have it both ways.  You can't criticize me for accepting so-called "special interest" money and then try to criticize me for not accepting special interest money and becoming a Clean Elections candidate.  Please don't try to be on both sides of this fence.

Let me clarify once again our position on dual office holding.  Our call is for a full-time legislature so that State Legislators, some of whom who hold six outside jobs which could present conflicts, would have to choose to give up those positions.  These are the kinds of excesses we hope to cure with a full-time legislature.

May I also point out that each of the seven points we put forth to help clean up the mess of which you are an integral part, covers all those law firms and individual lawyers, Republican and Democrat, who do business in the shadow governments in the state of New Jersey. My goodness with all the fuss you're making, do you have a problem with transparency and accountability?  That is all this program calls for.  We would hope that you  join us in calling for public service to again become a public mission rather than a profit-making machine at the expense of the hard working taxpayers we all represent.

Sincerely,

Loretta Weinberg, State Senator, District 37

Look at this photo again - up close:

It took your legislators MONTHS to find out where your money is going.  Who would attack efforts to make that transparent? The folks who want to keep you in the dark.  That is why the BCDO boys are trying to throw the Senator off-message.  They want to distract and obfuscate, the LD37 team wants to clean house.  But it's hard to do while the FOJ (Friends of Joe) are busy throwing mud.  Focus on this photo - it speaks literally VOLUMES.

And so who do you trust?  The 4 million dollar man Ferriero, or Senator Weinberg?  She isn't afraid to stand on her record.  Deeds speak louder than words.  She passes laws to help the helpless, he disenfranchises County Committee members like me and my fellow Councilmen.  She earns Clean Election Funds, and he holds $1,000 a plate fundraiser that yours truly can't even afford to attend.  She puts her phone number on signs around the county because she actually wants to hear from her constituents no matter how much money they have, while he plots with Dennis Oury in an underground bunker.  She passes laws about open government, while he wants to sue to keep pay to play which keeps the average voter OUT of the political process.  Go by what he actually does - Don't go by what he says. He has shown that what he says has about as much value as an expensive looking watch with nothing inside.