Wayne DeAngelo

DeANGELO & GREENSTEIN BILLS TO PRESERVE FARMLAND & OPEN SPACE ADVANCING IN ASSEMBLY

(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Wayne P. DeAngelo and Assemblywoman Linda R. Greenstein to help preserve farmland and open space throughout the 14th Legislative District has been approved by an Assembly panel.

“Preserving open space and farmland is a smart investment that will pay off for generations to come,” said DeAngelo (D-Mercer/Middlesex). “We’re staving off development, protecting water quality and conserving precious land that benefits all residents.”

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS WELCOME HOME THE 50TH INFANTRY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

(TRENTON) - Assembly members Jack Conners, Annette Quijano, Upendra J. Chivukula, Linda Stender, Wayne P. DeAngelo and Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman today issued a multimedia package expressing their warm welcome home to the New Jersey National Guard members of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (50th IBCT).

The nearly 3,000 soldiers who volunteered to serve in Iraq were honored today during ceremonies in Trenton.

The return of the 50th IBCT marks the end of a one-year deployment to Iraq - the largest New Jersey National Guard deployment since World War II.  While deployed, the unit played a pivotal role in transferring authority of Baghdad's "Green Zone" back to Iraqi forces and were responsible for the humane treatment of more than 20,000 detainees throughout Iraq.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

LAMPITT/DeANGELO COMMENTARY ON BILL ALLOWING TOWNS TO CREATE PEDOPHILE FREE ZONES

Measure Would Fill Legal Void Left by State Supreme Court Ruling

(TRENTON) - Assembly members Pamela R. Lampitt and Wayne P. DeAngelo today issued a multimedia package on their legislation to allow municipalities to create "pedophile free zones" - areas near schools, child-care centers and playgrounds where known sex-offenders would be prohibited from living.

The measure (A-641) would provide uniform standards for the creation of local ordinances that would prohibit a Megan's Law registrant over age 21 from making their home within 500 feet of schools, child-care centers or playgrounds.  The sponsors said the legislation responds to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that invalidated 118 local ordinances that created such zones, citing "a need for statewide uniformity."

ASSEMBLY PANEL OK'S LAMPITT/DEANGELO/GREENSTEIN BILL
ALLOWING TOWNS TO CREATE PEDOPHILE-FREE ZONES
Measure Would Fill Legal Void Created by Recent State Supreme Court Ruling

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assembly members Pamela R. Lampitt, Wayne DeAngelo and Linda Greenstein sponsored to allow municipalities to enact rules to prohibit known sex-offenders from living near schools, child-care centers and playgrounds was today released by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

***MULTIMEDIA PACKAGE***

BURZICHELLI/MORIARTY/DeANGELO COMMENTARY ON THE 'NJ FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT'

Measure Would Protect Consumers from Over Aggressive, Illegal Debt Collection Practices

(TRENTON) - Assemblymen John J. Burzichelli, Paul D. Moriarty and Wayne P. DeAngelo today released a multimedia package on their legislation to protect consumers from abusive debt collection practices.

The "New Jersey Fair Debt Collection Practices Act" (A-2493) would eliminate abusive debt collection practices in New Jersey while providing consumers with a vehicle to dispute and validate debt information.  The sponsors noted that the legislation would, in no way, relieve New Jersey consumers of their obligations to pay outstanding debts.

BURZICHELLI / MILAM / DeANGELO / MORIARTY BILL TARGETING ABUSIVE DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES RELEASED BY ASSEMBLY PANEL

(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assemblymen John J. Burzichelli, Matthew W. Milam, Wayne P. DeAngelo and Paul Moriarty to combat harassing consumer debt collection practices was released today by an Assembly committee.

The “New Jersey Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” would eliminate abusive debt collection practices and provide consumers a way to dispute and validate debt information to ensure that information's accuracy.

“We’re doing nothing here to relieve a consumer of a rightful debt, but this is a fairness bill that will ensure consumers are not harassed by unscrupulous debt collectors,” said Burzichelli (D-Gloucester).

Assembly candidate Brian Hackett

MONROE TOWNSHIP -- State Assembly candidate Brian Hackett's youth has worked as a double edged sword over the last two months.

At just 21, the relative novelty of Hackett's 14th District candidacy attracted more media attention than it likely would have otherwise.  It also earned him some praise by Republicans anxious to see youth more involved in the party.

"That kind of attention is very positive because it's showing that perhaps it's a bit unusual that a youth has taken this kind of perspective on life and society," he said.

But Hackett's age also caused Republicans in neighboring Mercer County to balk at how a Middlesex County resident barely out of his teenage years, one who lives with his parents and has never paid property taxes, would play in blue collar towns like Hamilton.  Rather than go with the traditional arrangement of recruiting one Assembly candidate from Mercer and one from Middlesex, the Mercer GOP drafted a 30-something attorney named Bill Harvey to join a slate with Hamilton restaurateur Rob Calabro.  That left Hackett on the Middlesex line, but off the line in Mercer.

"It's some of the attention on the youth by people who don't know me at all and subsequent negative judgments that come from that which are not justified," he said.  "Everybody in politics, in both parties, speaks a very good game about youth... But it seems too often -- it happens in both parties -- that we just want the youth to be interns and campaign volunteers but not take that extra step up."

Hackett decided to take the extra step after hearing that Middlesex Republicans didn't have any candidates to run in the 14th District, even though it was supposed to be one of the most competitive in the state.  He got unanimous consent at the party's convention in March before meeting resistance in Mercer.

In a couple months will enter his senior year as a Political Science major at The College of New Jersey, but Hackett said that his involvement in politics over the last year  -- and especially the last two months -- has taught him more than his three years in college.

Assembly Republicans are spending money in the 14th district in a clear bid to stop 21-year-old college student Brian Hackett from winning the GOP primary.  At least five mailings have been sent out on behalf of restaurant owner Rob Calabro and attorney Bill Harvey, who are running on the Mercer County organization line.  Hackett is running alone on the line in Middlesex.

The campaign to oust incumbents Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) fell apart a week before the filing deadline when the two candidates recruited by Republicans, Hamilton Councilwoman Kelly Yaede and former Cranbury Councilman Wayne Wittman, unexpectedly changed their minds about running.  Mercer Republicans convinced Calabro, a former Freeholder candidate, to run.  But when Middlesex couldn't find a candidate and Hackett showed up at the convention and won, Mercer refused to accept him.  Middlesex has stuck with Hackett, the winner of their convention. 

In 2005, about 600 more Republicans voted in Mercer than in Middlesex.  In 2001, the Mercer edge was about 500.

JOHNSON / DeANGELO / EVANS / CONAWAY / COUTINHO BILL CREATING CHECK-OFF FOR FOOD PANTRY DONATIONS CONTINUES ADVANCING

(TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assembly members Gordon Johnson, Wayne DeAngelo, Elease Evans, Albert Coutinho and Herb Conaway to address recent shortages and closings at food pantries continues to advance.

The legislation would establish the “Community Food Pantry Fund” in the Department of the Treasury and allow taxpayers to voluntarily donate a portion of their income tax refund to it.

In two Mercer County races where gubernatorial candidates took sides, there was a split.  West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who had the backing of Gov. Jon Corzine, decimated rival Charles Morgan, a Republican Councilman.  Hsueh won 70% of the vote.  In Robbinsville, Mayor David Fried was re-elected with 64% of the vote over Corzine's choice, Councilwoman Sonja Walter.  Morgan and Fried had the backing of Republican Christopher Christie.

Hsueh's landslide was helped with his new alliance with the local Democratic Party.  Sources say that Hsueh, an independent, has agreed not to endorse Republican candidates outside of local politics in exchange for Democratic support of his re-election campaign.

Hsueh has annoyed Democrats in recent years with his support of Republican Bill Baroni in races for the Senate and Assembly.  He has reportedly agreed to support Democratic incumbents Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo in their Assembly bid this year, and not to endorse Baroni in 2011.  Four years ago, Baroni backed Hsueh's re-election bid, while Greenstein helped then-Councilwoman Allison Miller.