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Endorsement Meeting and Local Candidates’ Night Mar 21 2010 7:30 pm
Location: Suzanne Patterson Center, One Monument Drive (behind Boro Hall), Princeton, NJ Candidates for two Township Committee seats: Candidates for two Borough Council seats: ELIGIBLE PCDO MEMBERS MEETING SCHEDULE GUIDELINES UTILIZED for the ENDORSEMENT MEETING:
For more information see Elections and Endorsements. Borough and Township Reorganization Ceremonies Jan 3 2010 12:00 pm
The Borough and Township will hold ceremonies to swear in elected officials and appointed officers at noon at their respective municipal buildings. Afterward there will be a reception sponsored by the PCDO. All Princeton residents are invited to the reception, with a special invitation for PCDO members and friends or relatives of the elected officials to join us. The reception will begin approximately 1 pm at the firehouse on Witherspoon Street across from Community Park School. Refreshments will be provided, but additional donations of food or beverages are welcome. Resolutions Supporting Criminal Justice Reform Legislation in NJ and USNEW JERSEY SECOND CHANCE LEGISLATION: PROPOSED RESOLUTION
Approved by the membership on November 22.
WHEREAS, more than three decades of “get tough” policies have made the United States the world leader in incarceration but with no
demonstrable gains in public safety;
WHEREAS in New Jersey one out of every 35 adults is under correctional supervision (either in prison, in jail, or on probation or parole) at a cost of more than $45,000 per prisoner for a budgeted amount of more than $1.5 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009;
WHEREAS New Jersey now imprisons a higher percentage of non-violent drug offenders than any other state;
WHEREAS people of color make up 83% of New Jersey's prison population but only 28% of the general population;
WHEREAS the average New Jersey prisoner is a high school dropout with a 6th grade reading level and a 5th grade math level, but only 2% of the corrections budget is devoted to education and job training;
WHEREAS more than two-thirds of the 18,000 people released yearly from New Jersey’s prisons will be re-arrested within three years, reflecting prisons that do not rehabilitate, post-release penalties that impair job opportunities, and parole programs that fail to adequately support re-entry into society;
WHEREAS studies have shown that alternatives to incarceration, including drug courts and community-based programs, cost less, improve public safety by significantly reducing crime rates, and free up taxpayer funds for investment in education and infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, New Jersey lawmakers, under the leadership of Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, have introduced criminal justice reform measures designed to promote alternatives to incarceration, increase educational programs in prisons, eliminate barriers to re-entry, promote greater accountability in correctional practices, increase investment in community-based corrections, and create programs that strengthen families and respond to the specific needs of imprisoned women and mothers;
NOW, THEREFORE, the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, believing that this legislation represents a constructive and long overdue response to the inequities, inefficiencies, and human costs of our current correctional practices, hereby expresses its support for these reforms, encourages our lawmakers to work vigorously for their passage, and encourages our lawmakers to continue to seek ways to improve the fairness and effectiveness of our criminal justice system.
PROPOSED RESOLUTION: SUPPORTING NATIONAL CRIMINAL
JUSTICE COMMISSION ACT OF 2009, S. 714
WHEREAS the United States has 5% of the world's population but now houses 25% of the world's reported prisoners; imprisons
four times as many people with mental illness as are treated in psychiatric hospitals; has increased the imprisonment of drug offenders by 1200% since 1980; has reduced educational and rehabilitation programs available to prisoners; and has imposed restrictions and barriers on former prisoners that make it difficult them to find housing and employment so they can become productive members of society; and
WHEREAS most people we imprison return to our communities,but more than half will be re-arrested within three years of release, reflecting a system that fails victims, families, offenders,and communities, and compromises public safety; and
WHEREAS mass imprisonment of illegal drug users, in particular, has not curtailed drug use but has spawned transnational criminal activity, much of it directed by violent gangs and cartels; and
WHEREAS the irregularities and inequities in our criminal justice system fall disproportionately on people who are poor, mentally ill, or members of minority groups, thereby disserving our country's commitment to fairness and equality under the law; and
WHEREAS the current state of our criminal justice system cries out for careful study and re-examination; and
WHEREAS, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009, S.714 introduced by Senator Jim Webb in March 2009, will create a commission to undertake an 18-month searching review of the system with the goal of proposing reforms designed to responsibly reduce the overall incarceration rate; improve federal and local responses to international and domestic gang violence; restructure our approach to drug policy; improve the treatment of mental illness; improve prison administration; and establish a system to improve the re-integration of ex-offenders; and
WHEREAS, the Princeton Community Democratic Organization believes this legislation provides an overdue response to issues of high importance to our community, to the state of New Jersey, and to the nation and accordingly believes that S. 714 deserves support,
THEREFORE, the PCDO respectfully resolves and encourages Senator Frank Lautenberg and Senator Robert Menendez to add their names to the Senate sponsors of S. 714. and to work vigorously to secure its passage.
Submitted by the Criminal Justice Committee, Virginia Kerr, chair; Beth Healey, Scotia MacRae, Mary Ellen Marino, Dan Preston, Jenny Crumiller and Mary Stevens
PCDO Resolution Supporting Marriage EqualityThe following resolution was endorsed by the PCDO at its May 17 general membership meeting. WHEREAS the PCDO is committed to equality and justice for all people; WHEREAS the freedom to marry is currently denied same-sex couples under New Jersey state law; WHEREAS New Jersey’s civil union law has failed to provide the equality to same-sex couples that marriage would provide; WHEREAS the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, formally appointed by the Governor, identified over 800 inequities that exist towards civil union couples that are accorded to married couples. WHEREAS a number of hospitals in New Jersey have refused to let civil union partners visit each other in emergency situations because they’re not married; WHEREAS a number of employers in New Jersey have denied health care coverage to the civil union partners of employees because they’re not married; WHEREAS New Jersey’s struggling economy needs the $248 million in revenue that an independent UCLA study says marriage equality would provide New Jersey; and WHEREAS Vermont found that its nine-year-old civil union law did not provide equality to same-sex couples, and never would, and has replaced its civil union law with marriage equality; WHEREAS a clear majority of New Jerseysians recently surveyed say it’s okay for our public officials to change the civil union law to marriage equality* THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the PCDO supports legislation to enact marriage equality in the State of New Jersey, and calls on our elected representatives, Senator Shirley Turner, Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, to vote for the marriage equality bill and to be at the forefront of the campaign for its passage. *59% of New Jerseyians said it was okay for our public officials to change the civil union law to marriage, while 36% said it wasn’t okay. Zogby took the poll of 803 likely New Jersey voters from August 7 through August 11, 2008. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percent. Though Garden State Equality commissioned the poll, Zogby collected the data independently. Submitted by Walter Bliss, Connie Camner, James Camner, Darlyne Crum, Jenny Crumiller, Jon Crumiller, Hendricks Davis, Piper Harris, Beth Healey, Jim Healey, Virginia Kerr, Shelley Krause, Liz Lempert, Sue Nemeth, Ann Neumann, Eve Niedergang, Dan Preston, Maggie Rose and Scott Weingart. To add your name as a signer use this contact form to send your name. Why Princeton University Should Pay its Fair Share of Property Taxes Apr 26 2009 4:00 pm
The public is invited to attend a presentation on "Why Princeton University Should Pay its Fair Share of Property Taxes." on Sunday, April 26, from 4:00-6:00 pm, at the Suzanne Patterson Center, One Monument Place (behind Princeton Borough Hall). See attached PDF flyer to help publicize this event. The presentation will be hosted by Princeton Citizens for Tax Fairness, a nonpartisan group supported by the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO) and the Borough & Township Republican Committee Chairs. Princeton Citizens for Tax Fairness was formed to expand a campaign for property tax relief spearheaded by the Local Issues Committee of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization (PCDO). PCDO Endorses Jenny Crumiller; Kevin Wilkes wins recommendation for column placementCongratulations to all the candidates! The results of the PCDO endorsement vote for Princeton Borough Council:
According to PCDO Bylaws, the PCDO has communicated our recommendation to the County Chair to put Crumiller in the official Democratic column on the primary ballot with the official party slogan, and Wilkes in the column without the official party slogan. Acording to state law all ballot placement is up to the county chair. Chad Goerner and Liz Lempert, both incumbents, were endorsed for Township Committee by a vote of acclamation. |
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