This was posted last Friday, but just before two big pieces of news broke, Sen. Lautenberg's cancer diagnosis and Bill Baroni's impending exit from the state senate. But it's absolutely worth time up on the frontpage. Cross posted at Daily Kos where it got more than 100 comments, and 222 hits for the Tip Jar. - promoted by Rosi
On Wednesday I headed over to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick to take part in a discussion with doctors, hospital administrators, and consumer groups about repealing the McCarran-Ferguson Act - a law giving health insurers anti-trust exemptions.
My position has always been that insurance companies shouldn't be left to their own rules - nor their own devices. For the past 65 years, the health insurance industry has been operating with special immunity from anti-trust laws. While this exemption may contribute to their profit margins, it's the patients and doctors who are ultimately forced to pay the price. Enough is enough. In Congress, I'm proud to say that Democrats will soon introduce the Health Insurance Industry Anti-Trust Enforcement Act - to finally ban price fixing, bid rigging and market collusion, once and for all.
Right now, insurance companies continue to rake in record profits, while consumer costs are skyrocketing. Most states remain dominated by a small number of competing insurance firms. Here in New Jersey, just two companies control 60% of the market. Even when states pass laws preventing the exemption, most insurance companies still simply continue to ignore them by citing federal law. We must stop this double-standard and give patients a fair choice. By creating more competition, we will lower prices and increase access to medical treatments that are often denied because they are not profitable for insurance companies to cover.
Healthcare should be about putting people first, not profits. We must promote a fair playing field in the insurance industry and make certain they operate under the same rules as every other sector. The sentiment I heard from leading voices in the medical profession was that we need to shine a light on the practices used to set rates. Currently, federal regulators do not have the power to investigate anti-competitive tactics used by the industry to control the market, leaving patients and consumers vulnerable to exploitation at the hands of insurance companies and big business.
As President Obama's health care summit with Congressional leaders approaches, we must not forget the reasons why we began the process of reforming health care in the first place. We must give a voice to those patients being denied much-needed care due to an obsession with profits on the part of fat cat insurance executives.
The profit driven mindset has severe consequences, such as private practitioners refusing to provide general care procedures like vaccinations just because insurance companies don't cover them. This is unacceptable and needs to stop. I will continue to work with leaders and medical experts to give patients the care they need and deserve.
Fair competition in the marketplace will keep the industry honest. Even more importantly, it will cut down on medical costs for patients and their families. Such reform all begins with breaking up the insurance monopolies by repealing McCarran-Ferguson.
Today marks the first day of Heart Disease Awareness Month. Often those who serve in elected office mark such events with proclamations or press releases. But for me, this isn't just a simple policy issue. To me, this is personal, as both of my parents suffered from cardiovascular disease.
My father passed away from a heart attack when he was only 51 years old. I was a 19-year old freshman at Montclair State University at the time. The suddenness and timing of his death forced me to grow up very quickly and defined who I became as an adult. Then, a decade ago, my mother suffered a stroke. This inspired me to write New Jersey's Stroke Centers Law requiring designation of hospitals as primary or comprehensive stroke centers.
Here in the United States, heart disease is the number one killer of women. The statistics are simply staggering, and we need to take every level of precaution. The American Heart Association is working to change the perception that heart disease primarily affects men and has set a near-term goal of reducing incidents by 25% in women over the course this year.
There are a number of ways to pitch-in during the AHA's Go Red for Women campaign. This Friday, February 5th, I hope you'll join me - and thousands of others all across the country - by wearing the color red. Together, we can raise awareness of heart disease and show solidarity with the millions of families who have been affected.
In the legislature, I will continue doing my part to combat heart disease. I was a proud sponsor of laws extending a business tax credit to provide employees with benefits promoting physical fitness and well-being. However, in addition to a public policy agenda that promotes awareness and prevention, each of us can make healthier lifestyle choices that reduce the risk of heart disease - lowering health care costs and, even more importantly, saving lives in the process.
Also, while cigarettes are legal and adults have the right choose whether they want to smoke, I firmly believe they don't have a right to impose their unhealthy habit upon the non-smoking public. In 2005, I sponsored the law banning smoking in college and university dormitories. Some of you might already know that I am now pushing for legislation banning smoking in New Jersey parks and beaches. These public areas are paid for by taxpayer dollars and should be available everyone to safely enjoy without worrying about the effects of secondhand smoke. Even slight exposure has been found to pose a serious health risk.
I was never much of a pot-smoker. For one thing, I'm a relentlessly straight-arrow (sad, true), and for another the smoke just makes my eyes itch to the degree of zero-mellow, trust me. But I think most laws governing the use of marijuana are absurdly over-reactive, and driven by prudish fears of "unspeakable scourge" like the movie that ties for my all-time favorite midnight cult show, Reefer Madness. (You know what my other favorite is, right? Speculation encouraged in Comments). For your weekend enjoyment, 68 minutes of Reefer Madness is below.
Right now, there are volunteers from NORML - National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law - out gathering petition signatures in New Brunswick for a ballot initiative that seeks less aggressive arrest and prosecution policies for adult personal use. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I went to school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where NORML - with heavy support from University of Michigan students - was successful in reducing most marijuana arrests to a $5 fine (now $25), a misdemeanor ticket in your mailbox. The provision's actually written right into the city charter. Ann Arbor's now one of 30 cities with "Low-Priority" ordinances. Seattle's resulted in a 75% reduction in simple marijuana possession arrests after 2 years. New Brunswick would be the first such ordinance in NJ.
NORML activists are always concerned with decriminalizing marijuana use in large part to free up personal enjoyment, but they're wise - and correct - to highlight the issue from an economic perspective. They make the point that passing this initiative would increase public safety in the city by freeing up police resources for more serious threats to public safety. You know, violent crimes, white collar misdeeds, stuff like that. Not Reefer Madness mayhem destroying the youth of America.
According to NORML-NJ's figures, last year nearly 30,000 were arrested in NJ for marijuana possession, costing taxpayers an estimated $3,000-$10,000 per case. Criminal penalties in NJ, regarded as some of the nation's harshest, can include up to 6 months in jail, fines and suspension of driving privileges - even if no motor vehicle was involved in the crime. Conviction can also result in a criminal record reflecting a drug crime and can pose difficulties in finding a job or accessing student financial aid. An obvious concern to college students, who comprise much of NB's population. NORML-NJ is chaired by criminal attorney Frederic DiMaria, Jr.
The court sided this morning with the 20 New Brunswick challengers for committee seats against the municipal clerk and attorney/campaign manager that wanted to disqualify them. There is no 1 year residency requirement for party committee seats, so the slate of 50 challengers will stand. The Star Ledger slips up and calls them "county community" seats. That's what they may turn out to be. Now hopefully with the courtroom fight over, the Democrats4Change just have to go out and win their seats. Unfortunately, the city attorney isn't saying it's over:
T.K. Shamy, campaign manager for the incumbents who sought to have 20 of the 50 candidates from Democrats for Change disqualified, said he didn't know if he would file an appeal of Hurley's decision.
If you thought they wouldn't be challenged, Home News:
The race for 56 Middlesex County Democratic Committee seats landed in court Wednesday after 20 candidates running on an opposition slate were disqualified based on residency questions.
It's a question of whether there is a 1 yr. residency requirement for committee seats:
The plaintiffs, Democrats for Change, were represented pro bono by attorney Patricia Bombelyn. Bombelyn argued that the state statute which the city used to disqualify the 20 candidates does not apply to county committee candidates.
The AG's office agrees:
But Deputy Attorney General Thu Lam, who participated in the hearing via telephone and was representing the state attorney general and secretary of state, said she disagreed with Hamilton and Aronowitz and agreed with Bombelyn that the one-year requirement only applied to public office candidates.
All kinds of other stuff about timelines and notification in the Home News article, and presumably there will be more info at: Democrats4change.com.
But with a freeholder challenge: Jusleine Daniel for Freeholder and Jun Choi running off line in Edison, there are going to be some interesting primaries and challenges here in Middlesex
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ? Launching a bold grassroots electoral campaign of a magnitude not seen in decades, a diverse coalition of 50 New Brunswick residents hailing from all corners of the city filed petitions yesterday afternoon (Monday 4/6) to run for seats on the Middlesex County Democratic Committee in the upcoming June 2 election.
The candidates, running under the common slogan ?Democrats for Change," represent the full range of city neighborhoods in all five New Brunswick wards and include such notable residents as Thomas Peoples, leader of the Fourth Ward Crime Watch and Angela Salazar, 2002 New Brunswick High School valedictorian.
?Democrats for Change? candidates want each neighborhood to have representatives that will put the real-life concerns of their neighbors first on the city?s agenda.
Noting that current city leaders have grown aloof to the needs of residents and are unknown to most of the city, Thomas Peoples, candidate for committeeman in Ward 4, District 5 said: "There is no communication with the Councilpeople. They never come to the neighborhoods. The only way we can have change is if real people step up to represent that actually LIVE in all neighborhoods.?
Adam Gold, a Rutgers graduate and candidate for committeeman in Ward 6, District 6 added: ?I just want people to be able to answer a simple question: Who is representing you??
?Democrats for Change? slate plan to address citywide issues that impact all residents such as the lack of representation for many constituencies in the city (by supporting ward-based elections) and the need to improve the city?s schools and to make them more accountable (with an elected school board). Additionally, candidates plan to tackle specific issues impacting their neighborhoods such as improving street cleaning, alleviating parking and transportation problems, offering greater access to affordable and safe housing, expanding and improving city parks, and providing activities and programs for local youth.
Last week I stood on the steps of the Statehouse in Trenton to launch a state-focused initiative to give the people of New Jersey an active role in the Congressional efforts to reform our nation's broken health care system. I want to Make Health Care Work For New Jersey, and I want to get everyone involved in the reform process.
The petition asks residents two questions: if the council should be divided into six wards represented by one council member per ward and three at-large council members, and if the five member at-large council should be increased to a nine member at-large council.
Because two questions were on the petition, Willis Currier ruled that EON must write an interpretative statement for the ballot so people would understand what they were voting on.
The city also feels the judge should have required EON to submit an ordinance with the petition, because that's what state law requires.
The Mayor talked about a lack of clarity as the need for another lock:
"The court recognized the lack of clarity and ambiguity of the questions when they were posed with each other," he said. "The court said we can clear that up with the interpretive statement. But that misses the point. The point isn't if you can clear it up on Election Day. There must be clear intent when they signed the petition."
He also talked about the "dozens" of complaints he says the city received, but organizers slammed the tactics of the city:
Charles Kratovil, EON's co-campaign manager, said today the city "strong armed" these residents into saying they didn't know what they were signing.
"They had six weeks to find people who said they didn't understand what they signed, and they got 10 people to step forward," he said. "They're doing this because they have no shot in November. They're backtracking. They're between a rock and a hard place."
Yesterday Judge Heidi W. Currier ruled in favor of ward residents seeking a petition on the November 4th ballot that would designate a new zoning system for ward residents. This is a great victory for democracy against an in-cahoots New Brunswick City Council and mayor.
Over the past year, a group of New Brunswick residents have organized a campaign to advocate for a change in the city's government. Even though the city is divided into six wards, New Brunswick currently elects its mayor and five council members at-large. The group, Empower Our Neighborhoods, wants the city to return to a system where some of the councilmembers are elected by ward, like they are in Trenton, Newark, and most of the state's other major cities.
Supporters of the ward system argue that their proposal, which provides for six ward and three at-large councilmembers, would make the city's government more representative and accountable. The ward system will increase the political influence of New Brunswick's minority constituencies, including African-Americans (23% of the population), Hispanics (39%) and students (about 30%). Because they would represent fewer people on the council, ward councilmembers can more effectively respond to their constituents' concerns and more ably represent them in city hall.
On Monday, June 30, the group filed a petition to put the ward question on the ballot. Supporters of a ward system collected 1,116 signatures, far more than the 357 required for a ballot initiative, to ensure that the petition could withstand intense signature-by-signature scrutiny from the measure's opponents in city hall.
Needless to say, the City Council doesn't much like the idea of responsive, representative government. Yesterday, they voted unanimously to put another question on the ballot which would ask voters to approve establishing a commission to study the city's form of government. New Jersey law prohibits two competing questions from appearing on the ballot in the same election, so if the council manages to get its referendum on the November ballot, the ward question will be left off. However, because the residents filed their petiton two days before the city council passed their resolution, the petition should take precedence:
"I'm pretty sure that the filing of the petitions is the critical point," said Ernest Reock, professor emeritus at the Center for Government Services at Rutgers' Bloustein School of Planning and Policy. "The law says you cannot start action for a charter study commission while some action under the direct petition method is pending. I think that's pretty conclusive and I'm pretty sure that's the way it's always been interpreted."
Council President Elizabeth Garlatti told the Home News Tribune that she offered the ordinance not to undermine the ward initiative, but to encourage a more "deliberative" process. That's nonsense. If the ordinance isn't part of an effort to push the question off of the November ballot, then why try to pass it now, after the petition has been filed but before the city clerk can validate it? Why not ask the city attorney to interpret the statute and decide whether the residents' petition or the ordinance would take precedence before passing the (potentially illegal) ordinance?
The Council simply wants to keep the question off the ballot during a high-turnout presidential election year when the political machine has a much weaker grip on the city electorate. Shame on them. Their brazen attempt to subvert the will of city residents only underscores the need for a ward system in the city.
The walkout started with a rally on the College Ave Campus and then a march along College Ave to George St, with a pause in front of Old Queens, where the students announced their intention to start a divestment campaign. The university endowment is invested in Halliburton and other military contractors. I'm sure we'll hear more about this in the coming months.
The Star Ledger has photos here, and there will be more press coverage in the morning. The students' press release is on Michael Moore's must read.
And here are some photos taken by Paul Sauers.
Sitting down for 5 minutes at the intersection of George & Albany Sts, a minute for each year of the war:
There were some words with some pro-war guys in front of the Marines Recruiting Station (technically called the "Marines officers program"), which they were bizarrely insisting wasn't a recruiting station. I know from earlier reporting on protests we've held there, that from that very office they rented the helicopters that were brought onto campus offering free helicopter rides to let students know they could be pilots in the Marines. So there's definitely attempts at recruiting from that office.
The march proceeded to Douglass Campus on George St. and then the marchers were ready to go out onto Rte 18:
It's a sign of the times that, when one hears a line like the title of this piece, it is natural to brace for the casualty count. We have become all too accustomed to hearing how humans are all too willing to use the flesh of anyone who seems different as a marking post for their political agenda. Nothing ever justifies terrorism. Nothing.
But it is false to think that terrorism is only measured in pounds of flesh and pints of blood. It is also measured in the dropping of a broken-hearted tear, the silent shock of victimization, and the unspeakable horror over the desecration of everything sacred. Kristallnacht was terrorism, pure and simple. And it makes little difference if it is stone that is broken rather than glass.
And it was broken stones and memories that mark our latest example of the perfidy of humans against each other. At this point, it is not being investigated as a hate crime, insisting it was just "criminal mischief". But a similar crime was discovered on Thursday. Twice in less than a week is a lot of mischief not to be driven by hatred.
Covering the above the fold front page of today's Home News was this picture from our Monday night vigil for the 4th anniversary.
Next to it, was a story about her uncle's friend who died Saturday. The DOD announced it yesterday. So we will be adding him to our Central Jersey Coalition memorial for the NJ fallen, which was displayed at the protest yesterday, motivating a few people to stop and join us:
We had a captive audience, since snow removal equipment was parked on the Albany St. bridge, snarling traffic through New Brunswick.
Today the students did a great job with their walkout, rally and march through downtown New Brunswick and onto Route 18, creating traffic jams that the Home News covered. The walkout and rally will be covered by the Star Ledger, Home News, Targum, local abc, and an AP photographer was there! A photo is up under breaking news at nj.com now. There will be plenty more tomorrow. Here's yesterday's front page Targum story anticipating the demonstration.
Also, the NJ Occupation Project launch yesterday in Newark was covered in the Star Ledger by their military reporter:
Barbara Webster protested the Vietnam War as a teenager and, now, as a senior citizen, the war in Iraq. So Webster, 64, of Montclair marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion yesterday by joining a dozen other peace activists in asking New Jersey's Democratic U.S. senators, Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, to sign a pledge to end the war by voting against an upcoming spending bill that will pay for it.
After dropping off the pledge forms at the senators' Newark offices without receiving a commitment, the activists left the Gateway Center and walked into the blustery air with their anti-war placards in tow. They vowed to return next week, prepared to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience if the senators don't sign the pledge...
Some of the people strongly opposed to the Iraq war are willing to face jail to bring back one tactic of the Vietnam era -- civil disobedience. In the past month, war protesters have held sit-ins in offices of Democratic politicians ranging from Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Several were arrested. The activists who left the petitions with Lautenberg and Menendez said they will do the same thing next week if the lawmakers haven't signed the pledge to vote against additional money for the war.
"I'm willing to be arrested," said Michael Paris, 46, a Montclair resident who teaches political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "I have two children. Cutting off funding for the war is our only hope."
Staff members for Menendez and Lautenberg said the senators have not decided how they will vote on the upcoming spending bill...
The US attorney is also going after New Brunswick officials. From last weekend's Home News:
Hours after being informed by New Brunswick mayor and two city officials that he had been named in a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the director of the city's water utilities plant apparently took his own life Friday with a handgun. Shawn Maloney, a lifelong city resident and utilities director since 1993...
At a press conference Friday in City Hall, Cahill said city attorney Bill Hamilton had received two subpoenas from the Attorney General's office late Thursday.
Cahill said the first subpoena requested general information on the utilities department over a specific period of time which Cahill chose not to disclose.
The second subpoena, Cahill said, requested information concerning Maloney...
Maloney had been an employee of the city of New Brunswick since 1983.
"He was only 42 years old which means he was here since he was 18 years of age," said Cahill...
Three New Brunswick employees under investigation during a federal probe into the city's housing rehabilitation program have either resigned or been fired in the last three weeks, officials announced yesterday.
Richard Kaplan, William Walker and Maria Torres were placed on administrative leave, with pay, from their jobs at New Brunswick's Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development in early October after city officials launched an investigation.
Since then, the U.S. Attorney's Office has seized bidding contracts from the department and started its own probe, though a spokesman for the office in Newark declined to comment about the investigation.
Kaplan, a rehabilitation construction official and assistant zon ing officer, resigned effective Nov. 10, said New Brunswick spokesman Bill Bray. Walker, who oversaw the city's Homeowner Affordable Rehabilitation Program and HOME program, resigned Friday. And Maria Torres, a field representative for neighborhood preservation, was dismissed effective Friday for "failure to meet certain civil service standards," Bray said.
Bray said Torres told city officials that she was contacted by Civil Service authorities and informed that she did not meet the qualifications for her position. Torres had been working for the city for about 23 months. Bray said it is not unusual for Civil Service to take that long to verify an employee's qualifications.
Bray said Kaplan and Walker were not forced to resign by city officials, but he declined to identify the reasons they quit...
"I can't say anything further be cause both the city and police department's investigations are ongoing," Bray said.
The Department of Planning, Community and Economic Development, where the three employees worked, runs several programs that provide grants and deferred loans to low- and moderate-income homeowners to repair their homes. One is the HOME program, which provides up to $20,000 to fix problems. Another is the Homeowner Affordable Rehabilitation Program, which provides deferred loans of up to $20,000 to repair substandard conditions.
Bray said the programs have been suspended since the investigation was launched, though about 12 projects that had started were allowed to finish.
City officials have been tight-lipped about the investigation since it began in October, but New Brunswick officials have said they turned over bidding contracts from the housing department to the U.S. Attorney's Office...
The article also lists the individual contractors for 10 of the 75 contracts.
Celebrate Labor Day by supporting labor! 1300 nurses and health professionals are on strike at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. There's a candlelight vigil/picket line/rally this evening outside the hospital on Somerset Street off Easton Avenue. Senator Menendez will be there at 6:30 for a press conference; the rally starts at 7:30.
Reports are starting to come in about today's protests, marches and general strike. We hear that several hundred showed up outside Mike Ferguson's office to protest his sponsorship of HR4437. We'll have more details and photos on that later.
In Camden, most bodegas were shuttered. In Bound Brook, the traffic was noticeably down and in Trenton, protesters waved U.S. flags during the day of planned work stoppages, boycotts and rallies.
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In heavily Hispanic Perth Amboy, a normally bustling business district was quiet and still. Block after block of restaurants, record shops, cafes and produce stores were shuttered, and parking spaces abounded on the usually traffic-choked street.
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In Camden, two cab companies and almost all of the 280 independent grocery stores — most of them owned by Dominicans — were closed for the day, said Jose Bello, president of the county's Independent Grocery Store Owners.
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One of New Jersey's biggest rallies was in Trenton, where several hundred people gathered, many wearing white shirts and carrying American flags.
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In Bound Brook, a row of businesses including temporary employment agency, a diner, a taxi company and a hair salon were all closed.
"People are already feeling the impact. There are no cars in the street and no one is buying anything," said Jerry Toribio, the owner of P&P Temps, Inc.
Chanting "Si se puede" and "El pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido, " over 400 immigrant workers, families and supporters marched through downtown New Brunswick, NJ for May Day this morning as many shops across town closed due to the general strike.
Nearly all shops in the Latino neighborhoods were closed for business, while many other shops and businesses across town that rely on immigrant labor also closed. There was widespread support for the general strike; perhaps one third of New Brunswick's residents are Latino, many from Oaxaca, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. On the door of Tido's Junkyard Dogs, a hot dog place popular with students near Rutgers University, a sign read simply, "We are closed for business May 1, 2006. We will reopen 11 am, May 2, 2006."
At New Brunswick High School, there was a mass walkout at 9 am and many local high school students attended the day's events, singing and chanting.
The 10 am rally and 11 am march, organized by immigrants rights' group Lazos, called for immediate amnesty for all undocumented immigrants and full rights for immigrants and workers. While the vast majority of participants were Latino, organizers especially thanked African-Americans and other non-Latinos for participating.
At the rally, a speaker from the IWW gave a brief history of May Day and its origins, followed by speeches in Spanish and English by members of Lazos, Mexicanos Sin Frontieras, Latino fraternity Para Siempre and Iraq Veterans Against the War. The march proceeded without incident, stretching several blocks down the primarily Latino neighborhood along Suydam Street to Commercial Avenue, ending at the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
At the church, vans and cars left in a caravan for the office of Representative Mike Ferguson (R) in Warren, NJ, a sponsor of HR4437. The ACLU also held a workshop on immigrant rights at the church, sponsored by New Labor. The fourth annual IWW May Day picnic is also planned for later in the day at Feaster Park.
For a relatively small city, seeing such an energetic turnout for May Day is inspiring, proving once more that when people want something and are united, they will have it.
The Princeton Drinking Liberally group meets at 7pm tonight, and they've got a new location:
The Annex Restaurant where we used to meet is undergoing renovations. Effective this week, we'll be meeting at the Yankee Doodle Tap Room in the Nassau Inn, which is in Nassau Park in Princeton.
We've got some tables reserved for us in the back left corner of the bar area. If you come in through the stairs in the back entrance on Palmer Square, just turn left once you walk in and head towards the back left corner.
The address is Ten Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ, and you can find a map and directions on their website.
The newest chapter of Drinking Liberally starts up tomorrow in New Brunswick.
Drinking Liberally is (believe it or not) a national organization that began with one chapter in New York in 2003. It has grown to more than 110 chapters across the country, but this is only the third in New Jersey - the other two are in Hoboken and Princeton.
The NB chapter will meet on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 PM at Doll's Place, which is located at 101 Paterson St - just three short blocks from George St. Click here for a map of the location.
If you're interested in joining the New Brunswick group, just drop by tomorrow night, or send an email to Emily asking to be put on their email list to get reminders of meetings.
To learn more about Drinking Liberally, or to find a chapter near you, visit DrinkingLiberally.org.
The newest chapter of Drinking Liberally starts up tomorrow in New Brunswick. 
