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| Press Room |
| BECK, O’SCANLON, CASAGRANDE CONDEMN WATERED DOWN DUAL OFFICEHOLDING BILL 09/04/07 |
"Bumper sticker legislation" trumps common sense once again 12th District Republican candidates Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande called the signing of a bill today banning dual officeholding for some elected officials but not others, another example of failed leadership by bill sponsors Ellen Karcher and Mike Panter. |
| "Once again, Mike Panter and Ellen Karcher had an opportunity to stand up to the Trenton Democrat leadership and be the true voices of reform, and once again they ran up the white flag of surrender", said Casagrande. "For people who paint themselves as reformers who 'take on their party’, there is a troubling pattern of caving in on difficult isues which should concern every voter in the 12th District." Casagrande mentioned the pay to play ban passed by Democrats which doest totally ban the practice, a ban on wheeling political contributions which only applies from January to July and excludes the fall general election season, as other feel good but ineffective measures passed in Trenton in recent years. "This bill is nothing more than another election year, legislative half-measure", said O’Scanlon. " It’s designed to look good on a bumper sticker, but it fails the basic test of common sense: if something is wrong, how can it be wrong for some people, but not for others? When we go door to door and talk with people about this, they shake their heads and laugh at the absurdity of it. Voters clearly get it- why can’t Trenton Democrats?" Assemblywoman Beck, who attempted three times to amend the bill on the floor of the Assembly but was voted down on party lines, called it another example of Karcher’s inability to use her power as a Senator to provide true leadership on the issue. "This is a prime example of how a Senator in a closely divided Senate can use their power to enact change. Ellen Karcher had 18 Republican votes in the Senate for this bill, plus her own. If she had stood up and said 'I agree with the Governor, dual officeholding is wrong and it should end, now’ she could have gotten a complete ban on dual officeholding. But she didn’t. And once again we’re reduced to saying it’s better than nothing and signing legislation which does nothing to address the moral and ethical cesspool in Trenton. That failure of leadership is Ellen Karcher’s true legacy over the last 4 years." |
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