Giants, Jets, Devils, and Nets games. Going to the races. Springsteen, Bon Jovi, the Circus. We all have memories of fun times spent with family and friends at the Meadowlands Sports Complex and other sites developed by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.
This piece, by ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas, originally appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Promoted by Rosi Efthim, who in full disclosure should say she is proud that a member of her family is an ACLU-NJ board member. But that's not why we're posting this, we're doing that because Ed Barocas is right.
N.J. statute discriminates against couples, families.
In New Jersey's debate over marriage, legislators have suggested making businesses pay for discrimination that lawmakers themselves created with the 2006 civil union law. It seems that the legislature believes discrimination is only a problem when someone else practices it.
During last month's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on marriage equality, family after family testified about discrimination they experienced, ranging from bank tellers to hospital staff, who failed to recognize their civil unions.
But rather than enact the obvious remedy - legalizing gay marriage - five Republican state senators suggested flaws could be corrected by levying "strong penalties" against businesses that fail to recognize the rights of civil union couples and their families. But neither fines nor revisions will fix the discrimination written into this law.
Legislators fashioned a segregated system of rights for one group of citizens in 2006, hoping that somehow separate would be equal. But as history shows us, separate is never equal. Many New Jerseyans have no idea what civil unions are and therefore simply fail to recognize the rights they carry.
If the legislature were to massage the civil union law rather than reform it, businesses could face fines, as well as vast, untold costs to train employees and alter data systems (most business forms recognize people only as "married" or "single"). And taxpayers would foot the multimillion-dollar bill to educate businesses and the public about a law that still would be inherently discriminatory.
Laws don't exist in a vacuum, and the titles we give to our rights affect how those rights are treated in our state, in the country and around the globe. And children of civil union couples suffer most of all.
The most compelling testimony during the Senate hearing came from a student who had been mercilessly bullied at school and from other children who felt like outsiders when they couldn't make their classmates understand their parents' nonmarital status. How can kids on the playground be expected to understand civil unions when businesses and hospital personnel don't get it?
Justice Louis Brandeis said, "Our government is the potent, the omnipotent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example."
What is the legislature teaching by segregating one group from all others? That it's acceptable to have two classes of people with two sets of rights. When the state itself segregates people, it grants the rest of society permission to do the same. Through its example, the legislature excuses bigotry and emboldens bullies.
Senators, the time has come to right this wrong rather than heap the blame and cost of your own discriminatory decision upon others.
Ed Barocas (info@aclu-nj.org) is the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
There was a little bit of nutty happening over there in the hearing room yesterday. No worries, babies. Go for marriage equality. Because on that other thing? that free speech thing? I'm here to tell ya, ACLU-NJ's got your back. - - promoted by Rosi
The vast majority of those testifying at last nights Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on marriage equality told moving stories of love, family and justice. We heard from families who had overcome harrowing obstacles and given back to society in humbling ways, children holding out hope that their parents would be allowed to marry each other like their friends' families, and some 50 clergy who wanted to marry their congregants.
In testimony from the other side, although the topic was marriage equality, free speech seemed to play the part of star witness.
One Hasidic rabbi - of whom there were many - voiced particular concern that he would be legally barred from condemning same-sex marriage in his synagogue.
Huh? As an authority on the First Amendment, be assured that you can still slam same-sex marriage all you want at temple.
After the rabbis took the stage, John Tomicki of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage (which represents, as far as I can tell, no one) somehow wound his argument to say that allowing marriage equality infringed upon his religious freedom rights and therefore his right to religious expression. He then asked the senators if they would represent him if he preached his beliefs on the street corner.
Hey, over here, in the overflow room, the ACLU will represent you. Free speech in public places is one of our specialties. Just give us a call (no need to meet in person).
And finally, I spoke with a guy from Knights of Columbus (to his wife's terror) who was dead sure that marriage equality would result in dramatic free speech infringements. "Just look at what happened in Canada," he told me five or six times.
What happened in Canada? Nothing as far as I know. But anyway, we don't live in Canada.
And we have a really strong First Amendment; Canada doesn't.
The spirit of Rick Santorum hovered in the room as opponents let loose their far-fetched fears that marriage between gay couples would lead to polygamy, underage marriage and, if I heard right, bestiality.
Our country has seen steady progress over the past few decades in wiping out homophobia. We've learned that marriage in Massachusetts hasn't brought society to a halt. Our culture has become familiar with images of gay couples raising families and living ordinary lives. Our opponents have but one thing to cling to: scare tactics. It makes you realize how scared they must be, when they're swinging desperately in the committee hearing room. (Unfortunately, confronting those irrational fears will be an ongoing project for our side).
The absurdity of the opposition's arguments in yesterday's committee room made me realize that even though this fight is far from over, it's fundamentally over. We win. It's only a matter of time before we have marriage equality in this country, in every state.
How soon it happens depends on how smart and strategic we can be. It's a question of whether we can put aside our differences to have honest conversations about our beliefs and our lives. How patient will we be in bringing people along? How impatient will we be to get equal rights? How committed are we to working together and keeping the flame alive? The country, as we've seen in a handful of different states this year, still hasn't figured out what the right answers to those questions are.
I recently heard the folk singer Ferron say something like, "Society can only move forward as fast as the slowest person, so you might as well get to the back of the line and try to help push it along."
Based on yesterday's testimony, which was delivered by overwhelmingly by smart, inspiring, amazing human beings standing for their rights, and which included some eloquent truths from Senators Weinberg, Gill and Baroni, the good news is that most people are up here with us. The bad news is too many others are straggling behind.
Douglas Palmer is expected to announce today that he won't seek re-election to a sixth term as Mayor of Trenton next year. The 58-year-old Palmer has served as mayor since 1990, when he ousted incumbent Carmen Armenti by less than 297 votes to become Trenton's first African American mayor. Armenti, who had been Mayor from 1966 to 1970, took office after the death of longtime incumbent Arthur Holland.
The report says that former Freeholder Tony Mack plans to announce his run for Mayor tomorrow.
There is little momentum behind the New Jersey marriage equality bill, The New York Times website's front page curiously suggested this evening. Somehow, however, they're not seeing what I'm seeing. In reality, we have plenty of reasons to be (cautiously) optimistic. The NYT's claim, I would therefore argue, is unsubstantiated. But unfortunately we're now seeing it being reported throughout the state.
I'm not quite sure how this media narrative first materialized -- but it's being widely propagated. And it needs to be stopped in its tracks, lest public opinion be damned.
Let's look at the facts:
Sen. Steve Sweeney, who was today elected senate president, made comments last week that were interpreted by one PolitickerNJ reporter to suggest that the senator wasn't in favor of bringing the marriage equality bill to a vote. But in the original PolitickerNJ article, Sweeney was never directly quoted as saying this, and quickly issued a statement affirming that same-sex marriage is "an important social issue" and would be on the lame-duck legislative agenda.
Sen. Loretta Weinberg intervened, calling on Sweeney to reaffirm his commitment to the bill's passage. After the initial dust had settled, though, it all seemed like much adieu about nothing. Again, from PolitickerNJ:
Update, 9:42pm -- Citing a miscommunication with Sweeney, Weinberg offered this revised statement:
"I think there has been a miscommunication between Steve Sweeney and myself. I look forward to talking to him personally. It really is up to Senate President Dick Codey to make a decision about pushing this bill forward, and the Judiciary Committee Chair [state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge) has informed me that he will post the bill."
This, along with just about every other development related to the prospects of winning marriage equality in New Jersey, is excellent news. The result of today's lobbying in Trenton was invigorating; we vastly outnumbered the opposition, who were out in full force. I was personally able to hand-deliver a letter from the TCNJ College Democrats in support of the bill to Sen. Sarlo. TV, radio, and internet ads are now going on the air. Public opinion polls show a plurality of support for same-sex marriage. Garden State Equality has spent an unbelievable amount of time and energy organizing the LGBT community and its allies for this very moment. Democratic legislators are aware that by reneging on their commitments, they will be upsetting a very large proportion of their progressive base.
Please come, and invite your friends and colleagues. Let me know if you'd like to become an admin on Facebook (so you can invite people). This rally will likely closely coincide with the time around when the bill will have hopefully been brought to a vote, so a visible presence at the State House is vitally important! The opposition is sure to be out in full-force again. By outnumbering them, we are achieving a valuable psychological victory. And remember, changing trends in public sentiment are often much more consequential than the timing of arcane procedural votes. Legislators, especially state legislators, are very sensitive to the demands of their constituents.
These are the facts, despite the alleged doom-and-gloom reported by certain media outlets. Things, I can say with confidence, are looking up. No doubt, we have to keep vigorously applying pressure to our legislators, many of whom are endlessly frustrating with their ambiguously tenuous statements of support -- if only there were more Loretta Weinbergs. But think of how far we've come, and how close to achieving our goal we now are.
This should be a very busy week in Trenton. The Senate has a regular schedule of committee meetings, but the Assembly only has the budget committee on tap.
The big talk will be over the budget. The official Senate and Assembly bills became available on Saturday afternoon. They are scheduled for consideration in both the Senate and Assembly Budget committees today. The Assembly committee will take public testimony on the FY2010 appropriations bill at 9am and the committee will consider it. The Senate Committee will follow with a meeting at 2pm. They have all of the individual appropriations bills on the agenda for consideration along with the budget bill.
The Senate Labor Committee will discuss a bill that would address the suspension and revocation of employer licensees for repeated violations of wage, benefit and tax laws. They will also have a bill up for discussion only that would extend prevailing wage requirements to food service contracts and state authorities.
Among the bills up for consideration in the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee are two that would memorialize Congress and the President to enact legislation to provide universal health insurance coverage.
The Law and Public safety committee has a few bills up including one that would require all wireless cell phones issued by public entities to receive Amber Alerts and another that would another that would require telecommunications companies to provide caller location information to law enforcement in emergency situations
Although they started returning on Memorial day, a parade and ceremonies were held in Trenton yesterday to honor the service of our National Guard troops. The largest deployment since World War II returned with the same number they left to serve. Here is video from the Assembly:And here is some video from the Governor's office where he said:
"Today, we are proud to welcome home our heroes one and all," Governor Corzine said. "You have served our state and our nation with dignity, with honor, and with courage. We can only imagine the adversity you faced and the conditions that made your jobs even more difficult. On behalf of all New Jersey's citizens, we thank you for your patriotism and service and we honor the sacrifices of your families. We are fortunate that you have all returned home safely."
I'll put more comments from elected officials, video and photos from the day below the fold. We're glad to have them all back safe and sound, but just because they've returned safely doesn't mean that everything goes back to normal. Let's hope that our elected officials are as interested in caring for them now that they have returned as they were celebrating their arrival.
The Senate and Assembly have committee meetings in Trenton today as they begin the home stretch toward adopting a budget. Lets start on the Senate side.
A bill in the Senate State Government Committee would establish electoral and campaign finance requirements for candidates for Lieutenant Governor. Another bill would establish standards for the sale of State surplus real property. They will also consider eliminating the requirement to mail sample ballots to inactive voters.
A bill in the Senate Environment Committee would require parental notification of contaminated soil found on school property. Another measure would approve the FY 2010 plan for the Environmental Infrastructure trust. Still anotehr bill would prohibit the DEP from mandating public access to tidal waterfront areas adjacent to critical infrastructure unless they purchase or improve off-site locations.
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee will consider everything from limited licenses for general barbering to the "New Homebuyers Bill of Rights Act." They will discuss increasing penalities for medical waste and also establish a "Silver Alert System." The Senate Commerce Committee has the "New Jersey Foreclosure Fairness Acit," which imposes additional foreclosure notice requirements and amends the Mortgage Stabilization relief act. They may also ban novelty lighters.
Over on the Assembly side, the Appropriations committee, pending introduction and referral, has the "NJ Economic Stimulus Act of 2009" posted. The Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee will consider legislation to require increased public participation and independent analysis when a health insurer seeks to convert to a for-profit company. The bill proposes more public hearings and an independent study examining the health impact of the proposed conversion.
With nothing on the Senate side, the Assembly has 8 committees holding meetings today.
The Education Committee will conduct a roundtable discussion with invited participants on the Statewide assessment program. In addition, a bill to require school districts to ensure high school juniors and seniors are aware they could be in line for a NJ STARS full-tuition scholarship will be considered.
The Judiciary Committee has a few bills to discuss including legislation allowing municipalities to enact rules to prohibit known sex-offenders from living near schools, parks and playgrounds. The measure (A-641) responds to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that invalidated 118 local ordinances that created such exclusionary zones, citing "a need for statewide uniformity." The panel will vote on the "Jessica Lunsford Act", which would increase sentences for sex offenders and people who harbor them. Another bill up for a vote would make ignition interlocks mandatory for all drunk driving offenses in New Jersey. The committee will also consider legislation to require county political parties to adopt constitutions and bylaws and file committee membership lists with county clerks.
The Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will receive testimony concerning emerging bio-fuels technology that may benefit New Jersey agriculture. They will vote on a bill that designates "Made With Jersey Fresh" baked goods and other food products.
The Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will consider legislation that would allow taxpayers to voluntarily contribute money to help New Jersey military personnel and families in need of assistance with a voluntary contribution on gross income tax returns to charitable organizations that support active duty members of the New Jersey National Guard and Reserve and their families. The veterans panel will also hear testimony on the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitality North American Volunteers and their work with veterans and retired U.S. military.
The Homeland Security has invited representatives from the FealGood Foundation, which is dedicated to assisting first responders who have suffered adverse heath effects after responding to the September 11 attacks,
Glad to hear Rep. Pallone talk about a public option in our health care system. Also, don't miss the fact that the congressman's now twittering (read through to the end). So are we. -- promoted by Rosi
We're working hard in our drive to "Make Health Care Work For New Jersey." Last Thursday, I was in Trenton with my good friend, AFL-CIO President Charlie Wowkanech, where we heard from working families confronted with America's broken health care system. Their stories really hammered home how, now more than ever, we need comprehensive health reform.
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.
Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer is described as "Nixonian" by Trenton residents for using the city funded emergency robo-call system to sell residents on the $80 million sell off of the city's water works.
TRENTON -- Mayor Douglas Palmer's use of an automated calling system to urge residents to oppose a citizen petition came in for more criticism yesterday, while city officials continued to defend his action as proper.
At a lively City Council meeting last night, several residents addressed the council on the petition, the water utility sale that the petition aimed to block, and the city's larger budget problems.
Among them was Mill Hill resident and petition signer Kevin Williams, who described Palmer's robocalls last Saturday via the city's Connect-CTY system as "disgusting" and "Nixonian." He said the city shouldn't use the system for non-emergency purposes.
"We signed up to hear about emergencies, not to hear about jazz festivals and to be politically pressured," he said. "It's unbelievable they would do that."
"It is bad enough when the city uses the emergency notification system to tell me that my trash won't be picked up, but this latest is a purely political use and should be condemned," resident Ellen Casey wrote in a letter published in yesterday's Times.
Reflecting the economic realities and challenges facing our leaders in Trenton as the attempt to craft the budget, Speaker Roberts offered this comment:
"This may be the most dire budget situation that I have seen in all my years in the Legislature," Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden) said after a late morning meeting with Gov. Corzine and other legislative leaders. "There are bad choices and there are worse choices."
It looks like the question will not be if people are going to be effected by the budget cuts, but by how much they are going to feel the pain. And there is still no sign that things are turning around, meaning revenues will most likely continue to fall. Meanwhile, in an election year, Republicans will continue to take pot shots at every turn. It's all going to make for a very difficult climate to have these Legislators and the Governor face the voters in November.
Committees meeting, people testifying. It's a jam packed day with testimony and legislation up for consideration in both Senate and Assembly committees.
The Assembly education committee will have a round table discussion about shared services regarding the executive superintendents created last year. The Assembly Human Services committee will hear testimony from New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition to discuss combating hunger and programs available to help feed families during these difficult economic conditions. The Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee will hear an update on the status of the State's Reserve and National Guard units serving overseas.
The Senate Environment Committee and the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee will meet jointly to hear testimony on the proposed Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1897 and Assembly Bill No. 2962. This bill creates "licensed site professionals" to help with the remediation of the over 18,000 contaminated sites around the state. It seems that the DEP, the Governor and the chairs of both committees are in favor of the legislation, but many changes have been made to deal with objections from the environmental community.
The Senate State Government Committee will discuss modernizing State functions and making the information produced by the State more accessible to the public which sounds encouraging, if not long overdue. The Senate Law and Public Safety committee will hear testimony about the impact of the current recession on New Jersey workers and businesses and the effectiveness of State, Federal and Local programs to assist workers and their families (including unemployment insurance (UI), job training and job placement programs). Senate Law and Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs committee will hear updates on homeland security and the NJ Data exchange initiative.
The Assembly Judiciary Committee will consider 10 bills sponsored by Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein and 13 other Assembly Democratic lawmakers that they say would give law enforcement enhanced abilities to crackdown on child Internet crimes. The measures, among other things, would upgrade penalties and crimes for offenders who communicate in a harassing, sexually offensive or abusive manner with minors on Web sites and through electronic communication. The Assembly State Government Committee will hear a bill that requires state departments to prepare a cost analysis when hiring private entities for work typically performed by state workers. According to the sponsors, no contract or agreement that decreases the amount of work assigned to state employees could be entered into unless the analysis found the contract would bring substantial savings to the state. The State Government committee will also hear legislation requiring the state to generate compensation guidelines for county and municipal government positions. In addition, they'll consider a bill to make a new housing assistance and recovery program effective immediately. The Assembly Education Committee will consider a bill that revises the criminal history record check process undergone by public and nonpublic school employees and bus drivers. In the Assembly Transportation Committee, we're talking license plates. First they'll hear a bill to create a decal system to create specialized license plates, then they'll discuss the creation of 22 new special license plates.
The Senate Budget committee will consider a moratorium on the 2.5% developers fee for affordable housing. The state would have to refund all monies collected from the fee since July. The Senate State Government committee will take up the Transparency in Government Act which provides for establishment of State public finance website. Another bill requires the State Treasurer to organize and publish certain contract and grant data and information on State expenditure Internet website.
It'll be a jam packed day in Trenton with both houses holding committee meetings. You will be able to listen to the proceedings live when the appropriate committee is meeting. Here's the Senate schedule:
Senate Quorum
12:00 PM
Senate Community & Urban Affairs
10:00 AM
Senate Education
10:00 AM
Senate Judiciary
10:00 AM
Senate Health, Human Services & Senior Citizens
01:00 PM
Senate Labor
01:00 PM
Senate Law and Public Safety & Veterans' Affairs
01:00 PM
Senate Economic Growth
02:00 PM
Some highlights on the Senate side include Commissioner Doria giving an update on COAH before the Community and Urban affairs committee. On the same subject, the Economic Growth Committee will hear a bill that modifies laws concerning affordable housing and makes an appropriation to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. In Education, they will hear anti-nepotism legislation and a bill that would establish the Higher Education underage drinking task force. The Health committee has a bill that would establish a check off on your tax returns for the community food pantry fund.
The Labor committee has a bill concerning court actions against uninsured employers for non-payment of workers' compensation along with the Jobs, Trade and Democracy Act. They will also consider legislation that would allow Casino Control Commission employees to drop their "confidential employee" designation and unionize. The Law, Public Safety and Veterans committee will hear legislation that would require the MVC to provide information concerning Selective Service registration requirements to persons obtaining or renewing drivers licenses and identification cards. They will also discuss a bill to create a silver alert system to find missing elderly.
Follow me below the fold for the Assembly agenda, which has some big issues up for consideration.
Promoted by Jason Springer: It'd be good if we could turn this negative into a positive. Jay's goal is ambitious, but if you have an extra cell phone around the house, please consider helping.
Ok so by now you all know the Scrooge tale of a burglar who ransacked the office of Reed Gusciora and Bonnie Watson and stole dozens of gently used mobile phones destined for US Troops in Iraq.
When I asked Assemblyman Gusciora what can the blogger community do to help his advice was simple: "make lemonade."
Sadly, according to Gusciora, this phone drive "was a staff project and they tried to do something good for holidays." And now the generous staff is in no position to make said lemonade as they are orphaned from their office which is now a crime scene!!
I think this incident is a great opportunity for the Blogosphere to step up. And with tools like blogs and other social networking sites, replacing the 40 or so phones should be pretty easy. In theory, anyway.
Wanna help? Got a cell phone to give to a soldier abroad? You can pitch in by going to to www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.
Got another idea how to help? Leave it in the comments. Got a friend who can help with this drive? Pass this on or post it on your Facebook profile.
Let's aim high: 100 99 phones by Christmas EVE!!!!
Re-promoted for a Merry Christmas. If you're reading today, maybe you have 10 minutes to reflect on the year in NJ politics. Enjoy and don't forget to take the poll! -JG
What better way to celebrate a memorable year than with a top 10 list? As a blogger, activist and campaign worker, this was my perspective as seen (entirely) thorugh the lens of my wecam or iPhone.
Hopefully something for everyone. Take the poll and share what would make your top ten list!
The Drum Major Institute just posted an interview with Trenton mayor Doug Palmer, their latest from the MayorTV series -- an effort to draw attention to urban issues during the presidential election. Palmer specifically touts the "Live Where You Work" program which provides low-interest mortgages as incentive for people to buy homes in urban areas (for now, Trenton and Jersey City) where they work. I won't make the obvious quip about his police director Joseph Santiago not living where he works.
A judge ruled this week that Trenton's police chief Joseph Santiago is in violation of the city's residency requirement since he does not live in Trenton. Trenton mayor Doug Palmer has for years used that residency rule to go after political opponents, but he recently claimed it was no longer valid and the police chief should be allowed to stay.
Greg Forester - who was the lead litigant against the city - calls Palmer out on his inconsistency on his blog The Ruins of Trenton:
It should not be forgotten that in defense of this single city department director, Mayor Palmer committed what should be an unforgivable sin by reversing decades of residency-related policy.
The result of that policy cannot be forgotten: the wanton destruction of the livelihood of dozens of city employees.
His argument that the residency ordinance that he had so faithfully utilized to fire employees and go after opponents was invalid paints Mayor Palmer as nothing more than a two-faced, lying politician who doesn?t deserve to be the mayor of the smallest hamlet in New Jersey, let alone one of its most important cities.
