GREENWALD/BARONI: TIME OF THE ESSENCE FOR
2007 CLEAN ELECTIONS REAUTHORIZATION
(TRENTON) -- Assemblymen Louis Greenwald and Bill Baroni today urged swift Senate passage of bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the state's Clean Elections pilot program for the 2007 legislative cycle after some members of a key Senate committee attempted to derail the measure.The measure (A-100) was released this morning by the Senate's budget panel, but "without recommendation" after critics attempted to slow down its progress.
"Time cannot be wasted when state elections officials still have so much groundwork to cover," said Greenwald (D-Camden). "No one has suggested that this bill is perfect, but it is counterproductive to attempt to derail months of bipartisan effort with eleventh-hour concerns."
Greenwald and Baroni noted the bill was drafted by a bipartisan panel they sat on throughout the fall to examine the state's 2005 pilot program and subsequent report of the New Jersey Citizens' Clean Elections Commission. The two lawmakers are joined by Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D-Camden) and the other Assembly working group members -- Assemblywomen Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex) and Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth) -- in sponsoring the bill.
Citizen Action, the League of Women Voters, and the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), among others, have all voiced support for the Assembly bill.
The lawmakers noted that in order to put the 2007 program in effect, ELEC will have to begin laying the system's final groundwork in early March.
"This measure passed by an overwhelming 67-11 vote in the Assembly, and I suspect that when put to the full Senate it will enjoy a similar fate," said Baroni (R-Mercer). "These reforms were debated at length by the task force and again on the floor of the Assembly. Now is the time for ELEC to gearing up for Clean Elections this year, not for the Legislature to be heading back to the drawing board."
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FOR RELEASE:
February 8, 2007
CONTACT:
Assemblyman Greenwald
(856) 435-1247
Assemblyman Baroni
(609) 631-9988
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