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| Press Room |
| DAY 3: WHEN WILL “REFORMERS” ELLEN KARCHER AND MIKE PANTER JOIN THE CALL FOR A SPECIAL SESSION ON ETHICS? 09/12/07 |
| Democrats who claim to take on their own party curiously silent on latest call for reform 12th District Republican Legislative candidates Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, Declan O’Scanlon and Caroline Casagrande again today called on their opponents to join their call for the Legislature to convene in a special session to address pending ethics legislation, in light of last weeks arrest of two sitting Assemblymen and the news that State Senator Joseph Coniglio, who is under criminal federal investigation, had dropped his bid for re-election. |
| “We hear it all the time from Ellen and Mike”, said O’Scanlon. “'We took on our party on this, we took on our party on that '. Well here is their big chance to put their words into actions for once. We have four indicted Democrats legislators and one under criminal federal investigation. If ever there was a time to push for stronger ethics legislation, its now. If they’re the reformers they claim to be, they should’ve been asking US to join THEM in calling for the special session. But, as in the past, all we get is silence on the most pressing issue facing state government today.” Casagrande echoed O’Scanlons thoughts, saying it was important to address these issues before Election Day. “The idea that the Trenton Democrat leadership thinks these ethics issues, as they do with the sale of the toll roads, should be addressed after the election is mind boggling to me. These are exactly the issues we have elections about in the first place. Anyone who is a real reformer should be glad to have the opportunity to go back and pass a true pay to play ban, or a true dual officeholding ban.” Beck, who fought to strengthen several of the watered down ethics bills ultimately passed by the legislature, said Karcher and Panters claims that their watered down ethics bills would be strengthened later flew in the face of reason. “Look at the pay to play law passed in 2005. We heard all the same excuses back then as we’ve heard recently- we know it’s a flawed bill, we’ll go back and fix it, this is the best we could get. In April of this year, Ellen published an op-ed piece that promised total pay to play reform was ‘just over the horizon’. Yet here we are 3 years later, and the idea of revisiting pay to play has never even been discussed. Based on the actions of the Trenton Democrat leadership over the last 6 years, why would anyone believe for a second that they intended to make these laws stronger down the road? ” Beck concluded by saying “in Trenton the solution to every problem is ‘just over the horizon’ which usually means just past Election Day. We have the opportunity to do something now. The horizon is here, today. Declan, Caroline and I reiterate our call for Ellen Karcher and Mike Panter to join us in calling for a special session of the Legislature to address these ethics issues and begin to restore people’s faith in their state government. |
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