Spring 2003 Edition       

Assemblyman Ahearn Is Speaking Out     1.  Since you left the Democratic Party, have you been treated differently by other legislators and local officials?   Yes, I'm treated better. I am treated like a Minority Party Leader.  The Democrats may not like what I did, but most appreciate my sincerity.  Officials in both the other parties still respect the office I hold regardless of party affiliation.  I still wield a key vote in the Assembly and now have a unique ability to be a go-between for the two major parties.  I still share my ideas of how to get what little state aid there is for local towns into targeted districts (like ours) with the key Democrats on the budget committee.    2.  What can you say now that you couldn't say before?   Anything I want to say without fear of party censorship or political reprisal.  I can even answer questions from the media in writing without partisan staff review.  Moreover, no one tells me I should stay out of the discussion "rooms" at this site anymore.   3.  What's your opinion on the doctor's efforts to limit liability?    It is a publicity stunt for political purposes to polarize voters by party.  It gives Ds and Rs [Democrats and Republicans] an issue to run on when no legislation can solve the crisis.   It's the economy, silly. This debate comes up in cycles anytime the economy tanks.  Insurance company payouts do not come directly from premiums they take in. They invest in the market, and just like those who have personal portfolios and 401K plans that are now 101K plans, the insurance industry returns are down [thanks to modern day Robber Barons at Enron and others] and so now the insurance companies raise rates to cover short term gaps in present payouts.  Poor planning, poor performance, poor customers all around, not just the doctors.   Independent non-partisan experts tell us that all versions of the proposed legislation will only have a few percentage points impact on future rates even with caps, and present rates for doctors won't go down no matter what we do in the legislature.   The provisions that strip a child's right to sue once they reach adulthood if their parents did not do it for them while they were still a child are absurd, unfair, and will never pass court review.   The only proposed reform that makes sense is the proposal to modernize a judge's ability to reduce absurd and unreasonable jury awards, like the vaunted McDonald's coffee case.  Caps?  Tell it to the parents of the negligent transplant victim in North Carolina.     4.  What do you hope to accomplish this year?   I want to continue pushing my initiatives that have yet to become law.  Although six bills passed as a prime sponsor in 14 months is not bad for a "frosh," not to mention the many bills I co-sponsored that are now law, I want to keep up the success rate.  I will keep up my efforts to reform election and campaign finance laws, and keep staying ahead of both parties with new concepts which will one day be adopted by the major parties as their own by what insiders call "bill stealing."    I want to build a real alternative party and pave the way for other alternative parties to grow notwithstanding the unconstitutional provisions of NJ Title 19,(Election Law) that have yet to be repealed or challenged in court.  The basis of NJ election law (the Werts Act) was written in the 1890's after the Republicans killed off the Whigs and both present major parties wanted to close the door to future competition.    That duopolistic law haunts everything our government does and fails to do to this day.  I want to change that, if not this year, then the next year, and the next year, and the next year ... whatever it takes to get the job done.  Now that I have been in the belly of the beast and smelled its foul odor, I feel I owe this to all those veterans we honor each year on Memorial Day, and all those who will come after them.    5.  What do you think about the state budget?   If you are asking about the Governor's proposed budget, which we in the legislature must yet enact by passing specific bills to make it happen, well, I think it stinks.  Like a dead skunk in the middle of the road.  It is bad for small businesses (again), it cuts incentives to high-tech R&R, it gives too much in corporate welfare (like the custom loopholes for Continental Airlines last year so they would give Port Authority more in rent, which in turn went to Newark, which Newark then plans to spend on the arena that the legislature would not pass openly to begin with... )   It guts state higher education and the arts, it is very bad for seniors as proposed (it kills PAAD and "Senior Gold" programs) and other wise is a top-down approach and ignores opportunities to eliminate waste fraud and abuse in state contracts.  That is just a sample of the proposed budget's shortfalls.   6.  Did you consider joining the Republican Party?   No point in that.  There is not enough difference between the two major parties.  They act in concert as a duopoly. The standing joke among lobbyists in the halls of the statehouse is "what's the difference between the two parties? One is in power, the other is not.   7.  Why do you think a Democratic Governor gave Nick Felice a one year job with the State to boost his pension?   I would not hazard a guess.  See the answer to question number 4, then ask Nick and Jim (excuse me, its "James" now isn't it?).   8.  Do you plan on running for office in November? Yes.     Click on Search, below, to see all the references to Matt Ahearn in Fair Lawn News.