For the past several years legislators like Nia Gill (in NJ) and Rush Holt (in Congress) have worked tirelessly to ensure voter integrity. Hopefully one day we can realize the fruit of those efforts. Today unfortunately is NOT the day.
We're not talking rocket science here, just an audit-able paper trail. So until then say a few Hail Marys on the way to the polls and if you're living right (and lucky) you just might feel comfortable about your vote actually counting.
Forgive me if committee reports this early in the session aren't terribly meaty, but the process is a long one and we have many babysteps to go before anything gets signed into law.
But this time of year provides a good chance to judge the tenor of these new committee lineups.
I'd hate to beat this drum too hard but the higher profile of women in the Statehouse continues to be on prominent display everywhere I look.
Not only are their numbers higher, but women have assumed more robust rolls on these various panels. Many as chair or co-chair.
Today's Judiciary action (with Adler at the helm) is largely uneventful thus far, but one incident is blogworthy.
Senator Nia Gill sponsored a bill to tighten enforcement of counterfeit goods. (And not just fake Chanel handbags, folks. Seems that anything can be knocked off these days: car parts, prescriptions meds, and other items that are a lot more ominous than fake Rolexes.)
Anyway, just before the vote came down to release Gill's measure to the full Senate -- it passed easily -- newly minted Senator Jen Beck (R-Girlpower Twp.) offered some sisterhood of her own, telling the sponsor that -- and I paraphrase -- "I have read your bill and it's solid and I would very much like to co-sponsor it with you."
In the grand scheme of things, it's a small gesture but in the tone-setting phase of the process it's symbolically very important.
After all, Senator Gill was the only woman on Judiciary last term and now there is the chance for women to show some bipartisan sisterhood to one another. It'll be interesting to see how these dynamics play out deeper into the session, but for now civility reigns.
Will Beck and Gill be BestFriendsForever?? Doubtful, but I predict there will be times when they join forces to rise above the androgenic fray.
Like Senator Nia Gill, I wonder "why do we adopt the position of subservience to the Executive branch?"
I'm kinda miffed but if I don't post while it still burns, I'll go soft. And sometimes going squishy is a lame response.
Take today's marathon Soviet-style Senate session on Trenton for instance. Honestly, I was like watching someone putting socks on a rooster. In slow motion.
I guess what's so upsetting is that it's hard to watch people you know and admire behave in a way that feels antithetical to the spirit of democracy.
(Note to all who voted this bill down our throats: you might be a teeny bit sore from all that arm twisting and parliamentary gymnastics. I know I would be.)
Some votes we win and some we lose. We're all big kids. But what makes this school funding snafu different is it kinda violates all sense of fairplay along the way.
If this is what sausage making looks like, then color me vegetarian.
(Alternate ending: if this is what sausage making is all about, then I've seen my last sausage party.)
Diversity has come slowly and painstakingly to the New Jersey state legislature, no doubt, a legislative body that often serves as a pipeline to NJ's congressional delegation. Some with little conscience for social justice might say "we" are post-race or post-gender and thus shouldn't even bother with a diary about this kind of thing, but we progressives know better, especially in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision that, for all practical purposes, overturns the 1954 Brown decision.
In the state senate, the new gender breakdown among the minority membership of the upper chamber will be radically altered, and not just the minimum 4-3 split. It could likely be an even more significant 5-2. It would be yet another sign of the turnover this election cycle, and points to one more way the dynamic in the Statehouse will be different come January '08.
When compiling their fascinating list of New Jersey's top 100 political power-brokers, PoliticsNJ intentionally leaves off elected officials - the very people whose power the folks on the list are supposed to be brokering.
Their rationale is that all electeds have power. And, of course, they all do.
But, I think REAL power is what you make of it. So, I've compiled my own top 5 electeds who have used their power to show real leadership. This is what REAL power can mean:
Dick Codey
- his outlandish popularity aside, New Jersey's funniest sometimes-governor has grabbed the reins on what in other states has been a controversial issue - stem-cell research - and made New Jersey one of the top 5 centers for funding cutting edge medical research with stem-cells. While President Bush is busy vetoing federal funding, Codey continues to advocate for real dollars to find real cures for real diseases. Kudos.
Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts - it's easy to say you support marriage equality, or promise you will support it when the time rolls around. But, last week, Roberts went a step beyond when he acted on his own in sending letters to the NJ Chamber of Commerce and to private businesses urging them to follow the not just the letter, but the spirit of the civil unions law in treating all couples equally. Bravo.
Senator Nia Gill - say what you will about her temporary hold on the Chief Justice nomination, but Gill is a leader who didn't need permission (or support) from party leaders to hold onto her senate seat, and doesn't ask permission to continue to lead on a range of issues affecting her constituents, from civil rights to clean needle exchange. Power.
Mayor Meryl Frank - the reformers say she's too close to the machine, the machine says she's too much of a reformer. She must know something they don't know. Maybe that's what gives her the courage to push Highland Park out front on issues like banning dual officeholding and becoming NJ's first environmentally "cool city." Winner.
AssemblymanSenator-in-waiting Brian Stack - County Machine? I don't care about no stinkin' County machine! The uber-popular mayor of Union City uses genuine people-power to defy conventional wisdom, race, backroom politics and the old rules of the game, pushing aside the vaunted Hudson County power structure like they were tiny toy soldiers. Juggernaut.
The nine-day standoff between Sen. Nia Gill and Stuart Rabner is coming to a head as I sit here typing away.
The Judiciary Committee has been doing their thing for about 3 hours now and FINALLY it seems like we might be close to the proverbal money shot.
Nia Gill is speaking at the moment and here are a few snippets to perhaps shed some light on her Grata Garbo-esque behavior lately:
"At no time did i put a lock on this nomination."
"I take seriously the duty to advise and consent for a Justice who'll be on the Supreme Court for generations."
and finally...
"I would like to dispel the myth.... the newspapers say I wouldn't sign off at a time when (Rabner) hadn't (yet) been officially nominated."
Sen Gill cited her biggest concern as NJ's inability to bring the same level of quality of a Federal investigation to the state level, specificially regarding "corruption and gangs."
Gill also stated that this dustup all started (back on June 12th) with a call from the Star Ledger seeking comment on the possibility of Rabner making his move to the top court.
The "No comment" and short shrift she gave the press was not a blowoff or an attempt t be vague. Rather, the press calls started on a night when Sen. Gill was busy being a Grandma and looking after the littlest Gills.
The Big Story (tm) in Trenton today was Nia Gill's positively Garbo-esque behavior stemming from the "courtesy hold" she placed on AG Stu Rabner's State supreme Court Nomination. It culminated with her siccing the Sergaent at Arms on the presscorps, effectively extinguishing any hope for a scoop.
(Note to Sen. Gill: we're just doing our job.)
Sen. Ron Rice was also said to have some reservations about Rabner's nomination but he's by no mean as entrenched as Sen. Gill on this issue. And all that drama with no explanation. Unless you consider "NO COMMENT" an explanation, which I most certainly do not.
So why is Sen. Gill dragging her feet? Is Stu Rabner that unpopular in Essex county where Gill and Rice are from? Perhaps it's something to do with the anti-gang initiatives that didn't get much momentum on Rabner's watch? Maybe Gill doesn't like Rabner's replacement?
It could also be a diversity thing. I'll let that one linger.
One things for sure, until Nia Gill holds a presser to clear the air, the increasingly far-fetched theories to explain her behavior will persist.
Yesterday US Attorney for New Jersey Chris Christie got up and read in the newspaper that State Senator Nia Gill was placing a hold on the appointment of Attorney General Stu Rabner to the State Supreme Court. He was so incensed at this practice that he decided to hold the first press conference of his run for Governor in 2009.
OK, he didn't actually make the announcement but I can't see how this can be interpreted any other way.
According to Dave Rebovich on PoliticsNJ, Christie not only was incensed, but sent out word to the media that he was going to make a major announcement at a pre-scheduled speech at the 200 Club of Mercer.
Was he arresting someone there for public corruption? Was he taking down some wannabe terrorists? Was he resigning to pursue a career as a ballet dancer?
None of the above. In his own words, "When I read in THE STAR LEDGER that nobody was standing up for him (Rabner), I turned to my wife and said, 'I'm doing it today.'"
But he didn't just stand up for Rabner, who was appointed to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Governor Jon Corzine and was supported by Senate President Dick Codey. No, Christie decided to go after Corzine and Codey for accepting the age-old tradition of senatorial courtesy and to work within accepted norms to secure the nomination.
Never mind that if they had ignored the tradition it would have started a political war that would have destroyed the budget agreement, shut down the government and caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and many others to be denied needed services. Never mind that if Rabner is confirmed, which everyone knows he will be, he will be able to sit on the bench for three decades plus and that a hold of a few weeks in light of that is no big deal. None of that entered into Christie's head as he went off the deep end.
Nah, Corzine and Codey have something else in common besides supporting Stu Rabner for Chief Justice in a quiet and effective way that will get him the job. They are also the two leading Democrats who could run for Governor in 2009, a campaign where Christie is often mentioned as the likely Republican opponent.
Corzine has the lead for the Democratic nomination, obviously, since he is the sitting Governor. But if he should decide that he wants to retire due to the accident, or if some innuendo from an overzealous prosecutor should make him unelectable then Codey is the next logical choice.
All the people Christie went after -- Corzine, Codey, Gill and Senate Judiciary Chairman Jon Adler -- are Democrats. That could be explained away by saying that Democrats are in power, a common explanation for why Christie goes after them more. But Senatorial courtesy is a power wielded by any Senator, whether in the majority or not. Just in the past few months the Republicans have been all over this tradition, and Christie was silent.
Republican Senator Anthony Bucco repeatedly used his Senatorial Courtesy to block the nomination of Robert Bianchi to be Morris County Prosecutor earlier this year. Christie never complained. In April Guy Talarico, the chair of the Bergen County Republicans, sent a letter warning his committee members to vote for a Senatorial candidate from his county in the primary or lose the "power of senatorial courtesy." Christie was silent.
When Republicans block appointments and no one speaks up, Christie doesn't speak up either. But when Democrats do it, Christie calls the media to listen to him rant and rave.
And Christie didn't stop at just slamming the Governor and Senate President. After attacking Corzine and Codey for not speaking up on Christie's timetable for a nominee they have praised and supported many times, "Christie called on the people of the state to '...let the leadership in Trenton know that you're appalled'".
That's not a US Attorney talking. US Attorney's don't rally the public to make political calls to the opposing party's offices and elected officials in support of a nominations. In fact, US Attorney's are supposed to be non-partisan. They aren't supposed to talk like that at all.
Candidates talk like that.
Yesterday Chris Christie didn't announce he was entering the 2009 campaign for New Jersey Governor, but he certainly held his first press conference of the campaign.
[for more information on Chris Christie's unethical use of his office on speaking engagements, read this and this and this piece.]
[To learn more about how Chris Christie appears to have purchased his job as US Attorney with more than a half million dollars in contributions to the GOP and George Bush, read this piece.
To read more about how Christie's investigations have trended toward only Democrats in the past two years, read this piece.]
I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance, but some people may be getting a raw deal according to NJ Citizen Action and Assemblyman Neil Cohen:
"As Citizen Action's report shows, the insurance industry practice of using educational level and occupation as a proxy for income level and race is discriminatory and unconstitutional. "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits using race as a factor in providing insurance. New Jersey insurance statutes similarly states: `No underwriting rule shall be based on the lawful occupation or profession of an insured individual.' "This practice needs to be halted before more auto insurers begin using it or are forced to use it to stay competitive. I urge my colleagues in both houses to take swift action on legislation Senator Nia Gill and I have introduced to that effect."
Assembly Speaker Roberts has introduced a bill in the Assembly (and Sen. Nia Gill intro'ed the one in the Senate) to cease the selling off of municipalities' affordable housing responsibilities. He called the deals, called Regional Contribution Agreements, "veiled racism." Mayors who need the cash praise the program; the New Jersey State League of Municipalities also opposed the bill.
Today is the last day for occasional drivers on the Atlantic City Expressway to see a toll discount on their EZ Pass bills. Frequent users (35 or more trips a month) will continue to see their discount but less frequent users will have to pay the full fare as of tomorrow. The South Jersey Transportation Authority plans to use the increased revenue for widening projects and EZ Pass express lanes.
Everyone's reporting that it's goingto becoldtoday. The pathetic thing is that it's actually news that it's cold in January. There might even be a few snow flurries tonight!
**Update!! Bill passes decisively!!** I am not sure if this is the official tally (I was counting on my fingers) but I am thinking the vote was 23 yeah to 16 nays. It passed earlier in assembly and is the new law of the land!!
It's nice when our legislators can strip away their judgements and make good public policy. This new law means fewer people in NJ will get HIV, which makes the win over blowhards like Ron Rice especially sweet. Bravo to Sen Nia Gill for her leadership and political courage on this issue! ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
The needle exchange debate is streaming live on the state senate website.
It's good stuff. Sen Ron Rice lost his mind earlier and then Sen Nia Gill stepped up and tore him a new one. Rice's rabid opposition seems to be the minority view on the day, thus far. Not sure if Junior weighed in yet. That would have been interesting to hear.
Anyway the end of the day, New Jersey may have a new tool to curb the spread of HIV. I'll update here as soon as the vote goes down, so stay tuned.
When Rice said, "You're very cute," Gill replied, "I am a 58-year-old senator and I will not be referred to as cute. I will not permit that." This is fine in the legislature, where she, as an elected official, cannot be thrown out by him. But what happens to women in the workplace in New Jersey? New Jersey has "at will" employment. An employee can be let go at any time without a reason. A woman talks back like that, is declared to be committing insubordination or not a team player, and let go. Then she can wait for a few months unemployed for the civil rights commission to investigate her case, and the company will find some technicality with which to get off the hook. Of course, some men in the workplace are more subtle than that. They will find something to say that's similarly demeaning but not blatant sexual harassment. We still need better labor law to reach the time where women in the workplace can defend themselves against disrespectful comments.
Given that:
1. Bob Menendez is assured the nomination for Corzine's senate seat,
2. NJ has never sent a woman to the senate,
3. according to jennypenny women elected Corzine by 20 points (and men Forrester by 3 pts), and
4. all the buzz on this site and some in the MSM around the possibility of Corzine appointing Nia Gill if he could figure a way to not appoint Menendez,
I call on Dem women and progressive Dems to make a point with the party leadership by writing in Nia Gill on June 6th!
Happy World AIDS Day everybody. Every minute of every day 5 people die from AIDS/HIV. There is no cure but there are rather expensive drugs for treating the disease. As a result, prevention continues to be the preferred method of combating the disease.
Where do NJ AIDS statistics stand?:
In NJ nearly half of all new HIV cases in the state are related to injection drug use, nearly twice the national average, New Jersey is one of only five states that require a prescription to purchase a syringe and, along with neighboring Delaware, one of only two states that have not passed laws explicitly allowing needle exchange programs (NEPs).
CONGRATULATIONS! We are in the minority and presumably some really "red states" are included in the 45 and 48 other states that have agreed that statistics on Needle Exchange are pretty solid.
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