Rutgers

A new Quinnipiac University poll gives President George W. Bush has an upside-down 26%-70% disapproval rating among New Jersey voters, who say (62%-34%) that going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak doesn’t have as much trouble with a deal to keep Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano as he does with the “secrecy and lack of transparency” that surrounds the deal.  “Rutgers University, as the state's flagship higher education university, has an obligation to be accessible and accountable not only to the students attending the school but to the taxpaying public that subsidizes most of its operations,” Lesniak wrote in an op-ed that appeared in The Star-Ledger.  “In the case of Schiano's contract, not only should the terms have been disclosed, but they should have been touted by an administration seeking to find cost-effective ways to increase the national profile of Rutgers football. “  Click here to read Lesniak’s Op-Ed.

Eighteen women have served in the New Jersey State Senate: Mildred Barry Hughes (D-Union) in 1966, Jerry English (D-Union) in 1971, Wynona Lipman (D-Essex) in 1972, Anne Martindell (D-Mercer) and Alene Ammond (D-Camden) in 1974, Leanna Brown (R-Morris) and Catherine Costa (D-Burlington) in 1984, and Martha Bark (R-Burlington) in 1997. Diane Allen and Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) took office in January 1998, Barbara Buono and Nia Gill in 2001, and Teresa Ruiz, Dana Redd, and Sandra Cunningham in 2007.

Ellen Karcher in January 2004, and Loretta Weinberg the following November. Jennifer Beck defeated Karcher last November – the first time one woman unseated another.

Freedom of speech is one our most cherished rights ­ one our troops fight every day to defend.  The right to free speech makes us the great country we are.  Unfortunately, it also means that people can say ignorant, hurtful and demeaning things as Don Imus did about the Rutgers Lady Scarlet Knights.  As we¹ve seen time and again, the right to speech is no guarantee of “wise speech.�