sweeney 
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Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 10:43:49 AM EST
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Senator Sweeney:
I write to you today as a member of the Democratic Party, as a proud resident of the state of New Jersey, and as someone who is deeply ashamed of your complete lack of leadership as shown by your failure to cast a vote on senate bill 1967. As you must surely know, that bill would have extended civil marriage rights to same-sex couples in New Jersey. The citizens of New Jersey expect their elected representatives to be men and women of action. That you could sit by and take no action at all on what may very well be one of the most important pieces of legislation to come to the floor of the state senate in a long time, a piece of legislation having a direct practical impact on the lives of scores of same-sex couples in our state, says a great deal about your lack of leadership. By your unwillingness to cast a vote, you have shown yourself utterly unworthy of the post - that of incoming president of the Senate - to which you have aspired. I would hope, out of a sense of shame and regret at so seriously defaulting on your responsibilities to the people of New Jersey and to your new position as senate president, that you would do the right thing: resign your leadership position. After all, you are a leader in name only.
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 02:13:25 PM EDT
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What's really sad about the battle for Senate President is how much it has revealed about how NJ's politicians operate. There are no principles at work in the election of Sen. Sweeney as Senate President. It is a bunch of local power bosses deciding who they want to be Senate President and then ordering their various senators to vote that way. It's just amazing to read that two Essex county senators are pawns of Joe D. and vote his way because they work for Essex county and he is their boss.
Everyone was "shocked" to hear about the corruption arrests a few months ago, but why should we be? New Jersey seems proud to engage in legal corruption and to publicly advertise it. State senators and representatives have part-time jobs that make them pawns of the power brokers who keep them employed in those jobs.
Doesn't NJ deserve better than this? Shouldn't the Democratic party demand more?
A few posters on this site have justified boss/machine politics because some of the leaders have put forward progressive policies in the past few years. While I commend the progressive policies, I don't think we can let the ends ("progressive policies") justify the means, as the means ("lack of independent politicians") corrupts the system of government this country is based on. As an example, the Taliban were (and are currently) supported by many local Afghans because they brought law and order ("the ends") to Afghanistan. But their assumption of power proved tragic to that country as their means of accomplishing their goals was so wrong. It is hard to see how boss politics in NJ will end any better here than it has in other states and how it did at the turn of the last century.
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Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 12:40:48 PM EDT
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As mentioned in today's News Roundup, the Assembly Budget Committee will likely approve a bill to protect volunteer first responders from being fired or suspended from their jobs. It may have already happened, but I'm not listening to the committee, so I don't know for sure.
Click Here for access to the legislature's website for the bill. Click Here for today's Courier Post/AP article on the topic.
For those of you not familiar, this legislation would protect the jobs of volunteers if they respond to an emergency incident (i.e. large house fire) BEFORE they go to work and are not able to make it to work on time. This bill does NOT mandate employers allow volunteers to leave in the middle of a work day. I suggest giving it a quick read for a better explanation.
I urge the Assembly to approve of this piece of legislation during Thursday's floor vote.
When that gets done, I strongly urge the Senate (I'm talking to you, Sweeney and Codey) to swiftly pass this legislation so the Governor can sign it into law.
Follow me below the fold (if I can get away with stealing that phrase)...
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Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 08:22:28 PM EDT
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Promoted by Jason: No distractions from a runningmate. As we all (hopefully) should know by now, New Jersey will be electing a Lieutenant Governor for the first time. There is a lot of commotion about who will be Gov. Corzine's LG candidate. Watson-Coleman, Buono, and Sweeney have all been mentioned as possible candidates. All would be great candidates and LG's once they are elected. I personally prefer a female to be the first LG.
No matter who is chosen to be the LG candidate, I just have one requirement: don't be distracting. Yes, you are an asset to the ticket. Yes, you are going to play a big role in the campaign and make lots of speeches. Yes, you will be scrutinized and prodded by the media. But please, don't be distracting. As much as you may disagree, you are playing second fiddle to Governor Corzine.
You should be a solid, all-around candidate who knows how to rally the troops. Make sure the skeletons in your closet are taken care of (aka, make sure your taxes are paid unlike a lot of Obama nominees). The campaign needs to be about Corzine's policies and Christie's shortcomings.
The recent presidential campaigns wrote the textbook on this pet peeve of mine, in my opinion.
Remember what happened to the McCain campaign? Sen. McCain chose Gov. Palin to be his running mate. As much as I admired him choosing a female as his running mate, she was the wrong choice. Forget the fact she is a Republican for a minute. I'd love to see the ratio of stories written about Palin's family, clothes, moose hunting expeditions compared to stories about McCain. Heck, I think I read more "Joe the Plumber" stories than McCain stories. McCain should have been the one being made fun of on SNL on a regular basis, not Palin (going off the theory of bad news is good news). The campaign shifted from McCain to Palin, and I think that was a mistake.
I was actually happy Obama did not choose Clinton to be his running mate. Had Clinton been the running mate, the campaign would have been all about her. Clinton's fame and popularity would have overshadowed, or at least competed with, Obama's fame and popularity. The media coverage would have been a huge debate over who should have been on top of the ticket, rather than over Obama's policies. (That debate was a reoccuring theme throughout the general election, but not as strong as it would have been if Clinton was on the same ticket). That being said, I hope Clinton runs for President in 2016 (if my math is right).
Like I said earlier, the campaign should be about Corzine's policies and Christie's shortcomings. You'll get your 15+ minutes of fame. Just don't take away from what the campaign should be about. The campaign will be all about you when you run for Governor.
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Sat Jan 03, 2009 at 02:23:10 AM EST
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Promoted by Jason Springer because the lack of a paper trail isn't going away. Once again, it takes the New York Times to blow the whistle on Trenton.
Shortchanging Voters
More than three years have gone by since the New Jersey Legislature required the state to install modern voting machines that provide printouts of each vote - the paper trail that experts regard as essential to fair and accurate elections. The machines are still nowhere in sight.
Deadlines have been imposed and proved meaningless. The latest deadline was New Year's Day, which of course has passed. Technically, the state is in violation of its own law, but nobody seems to care. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will do something without specifying what.
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Thu May 17, 2007 at 07:42:36 PM EDT
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Should the State be able to totally ignore the wishes of those who live in a community that might be effected by a State decision?
On Saturday a Rally will occur at South Woods State Prison. It is being organized by the Legislators who represent the people in the Cumberland County communities that are opposed to having a Civilly Committed Sex Offender Unit moved into their area.
It is a Unit that has been in existence for over 9 years in North Jersey. Now that it has reached its maximum occupancy the Department of Corrections Commissioner George Hayman, on his own, and with no consultation of the Bridgeton and Cumberland Community, has made South Woods State prison the " primary" destination for these Civilly Committed Sex Offenders. He said so himself at a Senate Budget Hearing.
No known " Plan B" , just move a North Jersey problem to South Jersey.
Both he and his boss , the Governor, apparently feel that this is perfectly fine.
Is it?
Just because you can do something does not mean that you should do it.
Governor Corzine should have demanded that his Commissioner of Corrections have open discussions with both the Community and the three Legislators who represent the 3rd District. State Senator Sweeney, and Assemblymen Burzichelli and Fisher cannot continue to be ignored by the Corrections Commissioner George Hayman.
The Department of Corrections leadership over the past few years has shown a strong tendency to arrogance, so their part in this backdoor manuever is not surprising. I however expected more from Corzine.
A successful Rally on Saturday will create a rift between the South Jersey Democratic Party and a Democratic governor.
Is this what Corzine wants? Is there no one in Corzines inner circle that can make George Hayman respect the good people of Cumberland County?
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Wed May 09, 2007 at 08:21:28 PM EDT
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'No sex offenders here!'
BRIDGETON NEWS
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
By SEAN C. McCULLEN
Staff Writer
BRIDGETON -- The city and Third District state legislators are organizing a rally for Saturday, May 19, to oppose the state Department of Corrections' potential relocation of 350-plus sex offenders to South Woods State Prison, Mayor Jim Begley announced on Tuesday.
The rally would be staged on Burlington Road, across the street from South Woods, and is slated to begin at 11 a.m.
The South Jersey Democratic Legislators led by State Senator Sweeney have drawn a line in the sand with the Department of Corrections and Corzine's Comissioner George Hayman.
They are tired of having no South Jersey representation inside the higher echelon of DOC and they feel they were being backdoored on this move of the Civilly Committed Sex Offenders.
The anger will be directed at DOC and Hayman , but it will be Corzine who will feel the political pressure. The South Jersey Democrats found out that $8 million was put aside in the Billion dollar Corrections budget to have inmates moved and clear space for the Civilly Committed Sex Offenders.
The South Jersey Democrats will do everything they can to have that money taken out of the budget, even if it means a budget fight.
Corzine better put this fire out quick before it spreads to Trenton and the budget talks.
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Tue May 01, 2007 at 06:07:58 PM EDT
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The Department of Corrections tried to pull a " fast one" but got caught. This will be a huge political issue in both the First and Third Legislative Districts.
Worst sex offenders here soon?
By TIM ZATZARINY Jr.
Staff Writer
tzatzariny@thedailyjournal.com
TRENTON -- State Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney on Monday blasted the state Department of Corrections for a plan that could bring hundreds of the state's worst sex offenders to Cumberland County.
South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton is among the sites the DOC is considering for a facility that would house civilly committed sex offenders, who have served their sentences but are considered too dangerous to be released.
The 358 offenders currently are held in segregated units at prisons in Rahway and Kearny, both in northern New Jersey. But the expanding population has outgrown those facilities, said DOC spokeswoman Deirdre Fedkenheuer.
The issue surfaced Monday during state budget hearings in Trenton.
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Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:31:18 PM EDT
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OK, so this is not really live blogging the convention since I am back in my hotel room after attending the Labor reception. But there's no wireless in Bally's convention area and I wasn't about to lug my laptop over there and back to the hotel anyway.
Pretty much this started like any other convention, meeting up with folks I've seen and haven't seen over the year and a couple months since the last one. Glad-handing, smiling, telling dumb stories, sharing potty-training secrets (really!) and finding out about some of the campaigns out there.
Mitch Manzella was working the crowd for Carol Gay, and though I didn't see her someone told me she was there. Governor Jim Florio held court in a few places, telling stories that made folks laugh and since he's out of office that means they were funny. Joe Cryan, our chairman, moved around everywhere very well and spread his charm throughout the crowd. Essentially, a schmooze-fest like the first night of a convention should be.
The most notable thing that happened (besides dipping rice crispy treats in a chocolate fountain) was during the presentation part of the Labor reception. First, all the speakers -- there were five -- were brief and to the point. That's remarkable in and of itself.
But the best part was when Charlie Wowkanech from the AFL-CIO gave a proud and happy shout-out to Senator Steve Sweeney, who is an Ironworker union leader.
Sweeney, most Blue Jersey readers should recall, is the leader of a legislative effort to take wages and benefits away from state workers. He maintains that private sector workers are making less and have lower benefits, so he as a leader of the working man and woman wants to reduce state worker benefits.
Needless to say, the AFL-CIO was not amused and put out a press release that said, in part:
Most troublesome about Senator Sweeney and Assemblymen Green and Moriarty's announcement yesterday is that it undermines the collective bargaining process by bypassing negotiations and simply imposing their will upon thousands of middle class public employees. We are deeply disappointed with this action and respectfully urge these Legislators to retract this proposal and instead raise these concerns at the bargaining table.
In June the AFL-CIO was "deeply disappointed" and troubled by Sweeney's efforts, efforts which have not let up since then. But today, in the gladhanding atmosphere of a party convention, all is forgiven.
That's all for tonight, as I need to get a good night's sleep to be ready for tomorrow. Could someone call the casinos for me and see if they can bring back $5 minimum blackjack?
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