Linda Greenstein

GREENSTEIN ANTI-STALKING BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
Expands State's Anti-Stalking Statutes to Keep Pace With Changing Technology

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assemblywoman Linda R. Greenstein sponsored to strengthen the state's anti-stalking statutes was signed into law Saturday by Gov. Jon Corzine.

ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS ON PASSAGE OF ECONOMIC PROTECTION BILL PACKAGE

Measures Latest Steps to Help New Jersey Residents Emerge Strong from Economic Crisis

(TRENTON) - Assembly members John J. Burzichelli, Linda R. Greenstein, Wayne P. DeAngelo, Louis D. Greenwald and Joseph Cryan today issued a multimedia package on the Assembly passage of a five-bill package to further bolster the state's economy in the face of the ongoing global financial crisis.

GREENSTEIN/WATSON COLEMAN/LAMPITT BILL TO PROMOTE SOLAR ENERGY RECEIVES FINAL LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL

(TRENTON) – Legislation Assemblywomen Linda R. Greenstein, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Pamela R. Lampitt sponsored that would promote energy efficiency through the installation of solar energy panels in new homes has received final legislative approval.

The Assembly voted 72-5-2 Monday to approve the bill. The Senate voted 37-0. It now goes to the Governor.

“We can vastly improve the quality of life for all New Jersey families by encouraging investment in solar energy systems in all new houses,” said Greenstein (D-Middlesex-Mercer). “Sound public policy and environmentally responsible practices can come together to provide dividends for generations.”

If Governor Corzine's calls for concessions from state workers are a political liability this year for Democratic Assembly members Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), then Greenstein thinks former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie's comments about laying off state workers may have made the race much more difficult for whomever the Republicans run.

"It is true that Chris Christie seems to me, in a couple spots, to be taking a very anti-union approach, and I do believe the very people who will be running under him will be in a difficult position," said Greenstein.

Christie made the comments, subsequently reported by the Associated Press, on Friday morning's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.

Greenstein and DeAngelo, a freshman, sit in a district that is at the top of Republicans' target list this election cycle -- an area next to Trenton where state workers' unions and private sector organized labor members make up a large and extremely influential portion of the electorate.

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ASSEMBLY DEMS COMMENTARY ON SECOND COMMITTEE REVIEW OF OVERSIGHT FOR NJ PORTION OF FEDERAL STIMULUS

(TRENTON) – Chairs of seven Assembly committees today issued a multimedia package on the Assembly’s efforts to ensure legislative oversight and accountability of the money made available to New Jersey from the recently enacted federal stimulus package.

The committee hearings were the second of two days largely devoted to discussing the impact of the federal stimulus on the state. Assembly committees heard from a variety of state commissioners and department heads on their efforts to obtain and oversee distribution of federal stimulus dollars.

Former Republican Mercer County sheriff candidate Jim McSorley confirmed today that he will not run for state assembly in the 14th District.

“My DNA is in the law enforcement end, but I know that they’re going to win those two seats,” he said.  

McSorley, who ran a long shot campaign against incumbent Sheriff Kevin Larkin last year, was heavily recruited by state Republicans to run with Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede, meeting with Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) and Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) about the prospect.  Yaede could not be reached for comment, but is said to be undecided.  

The 14th is expected to be one of the few true battleground districts this year, with its two assembly seats held by freshman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) and long-time incumbent Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro).  

TRENTON – However subdued his variations on this year’s most infamous catch phrase, “tough economic times,” members of both parties are prepared to hear Gov. Jon Corzine’s budget address tomorrow as a starter’s gun blast in the 2009 gubernatorial and legislative races.

Already exhilarated by Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Chris Christie’s argument that Corzine and the Democrats must accept responsibility for the state budget (which swelled from $25 billion to $33 billion in nine years) and not hide within the folds of an international economic crisis, the GOP wants to capitalize on a dismal tide statewide, which last year buried John McCain at the national level in a narrative of poor fiscal management by the Bush administration.

“It’s too late,” confirmed Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) of Corzine. “You’ve been the governor. If the economy was doing great you would take credit for it. When it’s not doing well, you’re stuck with the hand you’ve been dealt. If the state ain’t getting better, end of story."

Presumably no longer able to rely on their most beloved if unwitting ally – President George W. Bush – to deepsix the Republican Party, New Jersey Democrats face a humbling nine point deficit in the gubernatorial contest, according to last week’s Fairleigh Dickinson Poll. 

Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo are Democrats who represent the 14th district in the State Assembly.

A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll showing Governor Jon Corzine with upside-down 31%-56% approval ratings among public employee households could be bad news for Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), who are seeking re-election to the State Assembly this year.  The fourteenth district is one of the most politically competitive areas of the state and has the highest number of public employees.   DeAngelo won an open Republican seat in 2007 by just 821 votes.

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan is confident he'll keep his matching funds as he pursues the Republican nomination for Governor.

Without commentary on the merits of an issue that threatens the public financing of Steve Lonegan's campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, one thing is an absolute certainty: if the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission were to rule that he was ineligible for matching funds - and if the courts were to back up the decision - it could mean the end of the Lonegan campaign.  Lonegan's strategy is dependent upon public financing that gives him $2 for every $1 he raises.

The ELEC investigation is the result of an Associated Press story that suggests the former Bogota Mayor was obligated to disclose the details of his relationship with Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax lobbying group for whom he served as New Jersey Director.  State law requires candidates to disclose their connection to issue advocacy groups to avoid a conflict, such as avoiding spending limits that come with the public financing of gubernatorial elections.

The Lonegan campaign maintains that the candidate could not disclose AFP contributions, since he did not have access to their donor list.  And they say that AFP was created and organized more than seven years ago, before Lonegan was involved.

There is good news and bad news for Lonegan when it comes to ELEC.  It's helpful that the commission traditionally lacks extraordinary testicular fortitude. But it's potentially hurtful that the panel is hard to predict.  In 2001, they allowed former U.S. Rep. Bob Franks to simply take over the campaign treasury of Gov. Donald DiFrancesco when he replaced him on the ballot, and then allowed Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler to change his mind and accept public financing.

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GREENSTEIN/SCALERA/SPENCER ON 10-BILL PACKAGE TO ENHANCE INTERNET SAFETY FOR MINORS

(TRENTON) – Assembly members Linda R. Greenstein, Frederick Scalera and L. Grace Spencer today released a multimedia package on a sweeping 10-bill initiative to better protect children from Internet and digital predators.

The 10-bill package, 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.