COLLETTI FOR SENATE

38th District – Bergen County  

COLLETTI SUPPORTS I&R MEASURE ESPECIALLY TO END EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSES 

Elmwood Park - State Senate candidate Robert Colletti says he will back efforts to allow citizens of New Jersey to directly make laws through the process called Initiative and Referendum and says his Democrat opponent will not.  

Colletti – running in the 38th District (Central Bergen)  says the professional lawmakers in Trenton are afraid tot let citizens make laws and enact reforms because they “are too busy protecting their wallets and the special interests that keep them in office through campaign donations.”  

“The only way we are going to get lasting and real tax reform, real property rights protection and a real crackdown on corruption is with the help of the citizens through initiative and referendum,” says Colletti a former Elmwood Park Councilman  

Colletti, who is running against Assemblyman Robert Gordon who replaced Sen. Joseph Coniglio – the a target of  a federal investigation into improper use of state grant money --  says Gordon is opposed to initiative and referendum no matter what he says on the campaign trail. 

Colletti notes that in June Gordon had the opportunity to put a referendum on the ballot (AR-138) that would have allowed residents to vote directly in November on a question to reform eminent domain. Gordon and his running mate Joan Voss were two of the overwhelming majority of Democrats who voted against allowing voters have their say on eminent domain. 

“This tells us two things about Mr. Gordon; the first is that he is opposed to letting voters be part of the legislative process and secondly, that he opposes real eminent domain reform,” said Colletti 

The GOP candidate, said Gordon, like many Democrats is beholden  to developer interests who have been scheming with local officials to condemn private homes and business and tearing them down so the land can be transferred to developers who profit on other people‘s misery.  

“Mr. Gordon is an outright phony on the issue of eminent domain, which has hit the people of Lodi, and Cliffside Park especially hard,” said Colletti.         

“Mr. Gordon singed on to a weak eminent domain bill in the Assembly, but the bill never got out of the legislature. Then when he had a chance to let the people vote for real eminent domain reform, he failed to step up. That tells me he is not willing to protect people’s homes and businesses,” says Colletti, a business owner. 

Colletti says he will introduce and vote for legislation that prohibits government taking of private property for any private re-development project. 

“We cannot allow developers to use government power to take away people’s homes and businesses simply because they want to build more luxury condos or larger office space,” said Colletti. “Nearly 40 states have reformed eminent domain and protected property rights. It’s un-American to allow that to continue in New Jersey.”