Washington Township

Theresa Lappé, Candidate for Mayor and Joseph Bowe, candidate for Council, today announced their campaign theme for the fall municipal race in Washington Township. The Theme, "Lean, Clean, and Green" has to do with how they will run Washington Township government when elected.

Republican mayoral candidate Theresa Lappé and council candidate Joe Bowe are wondering where the Democrat candidates have been during the budget hearings in Washington Township.

Madden Medical Transportation Bill Clears Assembly
Requires Health Insurers to cover Medical Transportation Services under Certain Circumstances

(Turnersville, NJ) The NJ Senate today passed S-439, legislation sponsored by Senator Fred Madden which will require health insurers to directly pay medical transportation service providers regardless of whether or not the service provider is under contract with the carrier.

"We want to ensure that if a covered person receives medical transportation services, the service is properly paid by the person's insurer in an appropriate and timely manner", said Madden (D-Gloucester/Camden). "Many people depend on the vital functions of companies providing medical transportation services and those companies should not end up at the mercy of the insurer. They should not have to worry the person they are transporting may have chosen a company that will not promptly pay for the services delivered."

Medical transportation services account for millions of dollars in costs to local municipalities across New Jersey. Many times insurance carriers do not reimburse the cost of ambulance or medical transportation services if the provider is not under contract with the insurance carrier. When EMS and ambulance squads are funded by taxpayer dollars, a lack of payment for services rendered can cause a significant financial problem for the governing body. In addition, private medical transportation providers should not be burdened with the unpaid cost of services provided to insured patients. This legislation ensures that payment for services rendered are directly paid to the services provider instead of the covered person.

The Legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 34 to 0. Similar legislation sponsored by Assemblymen Mayer and Moriarty has already cleared the Assembly, but the bill must go back for a vote with the amendments.

Mayer/Moriarty Bus Safety Bill heads to full Assembly
Bill will require driver checks of the bus at the end of their route

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assemblymen Dave Mayer and Paul Moriarty sponsored to require school bus drivers to inspect their buses at the end of their routes to determine that no pupils have been left on-board was released today by the Assembly Education Committee.

Similar Legislation (S-328) - sponsored by Senator Fred Madden - already has passed the Senate.

South Jersey Democratic leaders insist that State Senator Frederick Madden still plans to announce his candidacy for re-election on January 1, despite continued speculation that he will not. Rumors that Madden will not seek a second term and support Assemblyman/Washington Township Mayor Paul Moriarty for the Senate seat will likely increase following yesterday's announcement that Madden, a former Acting State Police Superintendent, is the new $76,128-a-year Dean of Public Safety and Security at Gloucester County College.

Republicans could be looking at a major candidate recruitment coup in the fourth district, where John Custodio says he is mulling a run for the State Senate or Assembly next year. Custodio, well known in Trenton from his years as a Vice President of Fleet Bank, also has a significant base in Gloucester Township, where he has been a strong votegetter in his races for the Black Horse Pike Regional School District.

Custodio says he has been asked to run by local and state Republicans, and wants to get a handle on how much money he can raise before he takes on the Camden County Democratic machine. He did indicate that he might need less money if the Democrats fail to deliver on their pledge to cut property taxes by 20%.

One local Republican leader called Custodio an "intriguing" candidate, suggesting that he is exactly the kind of candidate his party needs to unseat the Democratic incumbents -- State Senator Frederick Madden and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty and David Mayer. The Republican said that locally, Custodio has demonsrated an ability to remain above any partisan frays.

Other possible candidates include Gloucester Township Councilman Daniel Hutchison and Washington Township Councilman Stephen Altamuro. Gloucester Township (Population: 64,350) is the largest municipality in the fourth district, and Washington Township (Population: 47,114) is the second largest. Madden and Moriarty are from Washington (where Moriarty is Mayor) and Mayer was a Gloucester Township Councilman before his election to the Assembly in 2003.

Custodio is a former Vice President and Comptroller of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, served as a Trustee and Treasurer of the State Police Memorial Association, and spent fifteen years as Chairman of the Mercer County Employer Legislative Committee. He was a key fundraiser for Republican Cindy Rau-Hutton, who was elected Gloucester Township Mayor in a non-partisan contest last May.

Madden, Mayer, Moriarty: Radioactive Waste Should be removed from Newfield
Legislators restate opposition to plan allowing nuclear waste to be capped on Site

(Turnersville) State Senator Fred Madden, along with representatives for Assemblymen Dave Mayer and Paul Moriarty attended the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearing to re-state their position that the NRC should deny Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation's request for a long term control license to cap radioactive waste in Newfield for 1000 years.

"We believe that low level radiation should not be kept in Newfield," said Senator Madden (D-Gloucester/Camden). "We will continue to work with local officials and the DEP to urge the NRC to deny Shieldalloy's request for a long term control license."

The Legislators have raised concerns regarding the thousand year time frame in terms of cost to maintain the site because there is no certainty as to the value of a dollar in 1000 years. They have also questioned the testing standards for safety regarding levels of exposure as current guidelines are written for adults, but do not take the effects on children into consideration. What is believed to be a safe level of exposure today may not be acceptable years from now. The NRC’s own regulations note that signs, caps and fences shouldn’t be relied upon for more than 100 years--Shieldalloy is asking to bury the waste for 1000 years.

David Fried, the Mayor of Washington Township (Mercer County) is reportedly mulling a challenge to State Senator Robert Singer in the 2007 Republican primary. Insiders say that Fried has the ability to self-fund his race; his company, which heped small businesses outsource employee benefits, was sold to Fidelity Investments. Singer is assured the organization line in Ocean and Burlington counties, but Fried is boasting to Republican leaders that he has already lined up the votes to beat Singer at a Monmouth GOP convention.

The chances of a contested Republican primary for State Assembly in the 39th district increased dramatically last night when Assemblyman John Rooney lost his bid for re-election as the Mayor of Northvale. Rooney, who has been Mayor for 21 of the last 27 years, lost to Democratic Councilman John Hogan by 65 votes -- a 52%-48% margin. Some Republicans have been threatening a primary against the 67-year-old Rooney and 69-year-old Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk since the spring, when the two backed Kathleen Donovan over Todd Caliguire in a bitter primary for County Executive.

In 2005, Rooney and Vandervalk held off primary challenges from Upper Saddle River Mayor Kenneth Gabbert and former Pascack Valley Board of Education member Jeffrey Hering, by a wide margin; after redistricting in 2001, they narrowly defeated another incumbent, Guy Talarico, now the Bergen County GOP Chairman. Rooney has been an Assemblyman since 1983 and Vandervalk has been in office since 1991.

Some Bergen GOP insiders list Washington Township Councilman (and former gubernatorial candidate) Robert Schroeder and former Waldwick Mayor James Toolen as possible Assembly candidates.

Camden County Democrats say that State Senator Frederick Madden will kick off his bid for re-election to a second term on New Year's Day at his campaign headquarters in Washington Township. There has been considerable speculation over the last six months that Madden would not run again and that Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, the Mayor of Washington Township, would replace him. Some activists, including Republicans and leaders of public employee unions, have been urging former GOP State Senator George Geist -- now a state Administrative Law Judge -- to enter the race. Madden beat Geist by only 63 votes in 2003, in perhaps the most expensive Legislative race in state history. Moriarty and two-term Assemblyman David Mayer will also kick off their own re-election campaigns on January 1. The incumbents have already begun airing cable television spots touting their constitutent service operation.

Insiders from both sides view a hotly contested race for three seats on the Washington Township Council -- a campaign that might be considered a referendum on Moriarty -- as a key component to the 2007 campaign in the fourth district. Republican Councilman Stephen Altamuro, who served briefly in the State Assembly before losing in 2003, heads a GOP ticket against Democratic Councilwoman Michelle Martin, Altamuro's former running mate who switched parties in 2004. A GOP win in Washington Township, combined with their victories last May in Gloucester Township (they elected a Mayor and won two of three Council seat) could give Republicans a reason to believe the fourth district Senate and Assembly seats might be in contention.