Delaware

U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION HIGHLIGHTS NEED
FOR UPDATED NJ/DELAWARE BORDER PACT

(Paulsboro) - Assemblyman John Burzichelli and Senator Stephen M. Sweeney today said the divided United States Supreme Court decision upholding Delaware's combination of a 1682 map-making decision with its own Coastal Zone Act to block an economic development project in New Jersey underscores the need for the two states to revisit the century-old compact that governs land-use along the Garden State side of the Delaware River.

BURZICHELLI STATEMENT ON SPECIAL MASTER'S RULING
IN BORDER DISPUTE WITH DELAWARE

(PAULSBORO) - Assemblyman John Burzichelli today issued the following statement regarding Special Master Ralph I. Lancaster's decision in the border dispute between New Jersey and Delaware:

"The Special Master's ruling is a body blow to New Jersey's right of sovereignty regarding the future of its own coast line."

McHOSE URGES SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION TO PREVENT FOREIGN OWNERSHIP/OPERATION
OF STATE ASSETS
DEM BILL TO SELL/LEASE NJ TURNPIKE, PARKWAY PROVIDES
NO SAFEGUARDS AGAINST FOREIGN INTERESTS

Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose today urged her colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support legislation she recently introduced that would prohibit the sale or lease of certain New Jersey transportation structures to foreign entities.

Assemblyman Eric Munoz told some attendees at a Summit GOP fundraiser on Sunday that the allegations against him by a Delaware Superior Court Judge are politically motivated and that Republicans should pay no attention to them. But the Judge, Peggy Ableman, is a career jurist who spent four years as an Assistant United States Attorney and seventeen years as a Family Court Judge before her appointment to the Superior Court in 2000. One Union County Republican suggested that Munoz's theory that a Judge in Delaware is somehow conspiring to damage his political career "is a testament to his massive ego."

A confident Munoz also told the Summit Republicans that "any press is good press."

It is rare for a Judge to openly and harshly rip apart a witness in a published court decision, as Delaware Superior Court Judge Peggy Ableman did in 2006 when she attacked the credibility and integrity of Eric Munoz, a UMDNJ trauma surgeon and a four-term Republican Assemblyman from Union County.

Ableman's comments that allegedly sham expert testimony, like the one offered by Munoz, is exactly why states like New Jersey have adopted laws to prevent frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits to keep insurance rates in check. Munoz, a Republican Assemblyman from Union County, has been an outspoken proponent of medical malpractice reform. A few years ago, while escorting the Governor for a speech on the Assembly floor, he wore a doctors gown to show the plights of his fellow physicians.

But at the same time, Munoz was allegedly helping plaintiffs less than credible lawsuits that he was, apparently, not qualified to pass judgment on. This is not something minor. The Delaware court opinion could open the door for other defendants in cases where Munoz acted as an expert, to re litigate. That puts some legitimate victims of medical malpractice in danger, as well as potentially innocent defendants in the medical community.

As a way of cracking down on frivolous lawsuits, a number of states, including New Jersey and Delaware, require plaintiffs in malpractice cases to produce an "affidavit of merit" within a short time period of the lawsuit being filed. The affidavit of merit statute requires the plaintiff to produce an expert professional to give his or her sworn opinion that the lawsuit is legitimate and that malpractice may have occurred. If the plaintiff cannot produce an affidavit of merit, the lawsuit is dismissed.

New Jersey's old affidavit of merit law was singled out for criticism during the recent medical malpractice crisis. The physician community pointed out that the N.J. affidavit of merit statute was too weak, and that many plaintiffs were shopping for "hired guns" around the country who would come in and give affidavits on areas of medicine for areas where they were no experts. For example, there was nothing under New Jersey law to prohibit a family practice physician from filing an affidavit of merit statute in a complicated case involving neurosurgery.

The New Jersey Medical Society and others suggested strongly suggested reforming the law to require that the affidavit of merit include expert testimony from the same specialty or subspecialty of the defendant physician. Under legislation signed into law during the last legislative session, New Jersey strengthened its affidavit of merit law on expert witness testimony. New Jersey -- like Delaware -- now requires the plaintiff's expert to be of the same specialty or subspecialty as the defendant physician. This is to help ensure that the affidavit is produced by a true expert in the field and not a hired gun.

In New Jersey, Munoz was a prime sponsor of legislation that would require experts to be board certified in the area of medicine they were addressing.

Allegations that GOP Assemblyman Eric Munoz may have perjured himself while providing expert testimony in a Delaware medical malpractice case could affect an upcoming Assembly leadership contest, and in his bid for re-election this fall.

Munoz had been considered a likely candidate for Minority Whip, if Frank Blee wins a Special Election Convention to replace Bill Gormley in the State Senate.

The 21st district is Republican-leaning, but challenges to Munoz's personal ethics -- he was among the GOP surrogates who criticized Bob Menendez in the recent U.S. Senate campaign -- could result in renewed interest by the Democrats. One potential candidate is Jordan Glatt, the Democratic Mayor of Summit and a favorite of Governor Jon Corzine. If Munoz does not seek re-election, or if Republicans seek to replace him on a ticket that will be headed by State Senator Thomas Kean, Jr., Union County GOP Chairman Philip Morin, a former Mayor of Cranford, could emerge as the leading candidate.

ASSEMBLY PANEL CLEARS ROBERTS
NEEDLE EXCHANGE MEASURE
Speaker Says Action Necessary to Combat Rising HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C Rates

(TRENTON) -- The Assembly Appropriations Committee today approved bipartisan legislation Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. sponsored to allow needle exchange pilot programs in six cities across New Jersey.

POU: NEEDLE EXCHANGE MEASURE MUST ADVANCE
Assemblywoman Makes World AIDS Day Vow
To Remove Last-in-Nation Status for New Jersey on Syringe Access Issue

(TRENTON) -- Using World AIDS Day to emphasize the need to change New Jersey's dubious status as the nation's laggard on syringe access policies, Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nellie Pou today said legislation authorizing a pilot needle exchange program in the state will be a priority consideration for her panel on Monday.

U.S. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, a likely candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, will be in New Jersey today to campaign for U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and for Assemblywoman Linda Stender, the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 7th district. U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois will stump for Menendez on Thursday, attending events in Camden, Trenton and Newark. Thomas Ridge, who served as Governor of Pennsylvania before becoming the first Secretary of Homeland Security, was in New Jersey on Tuesday to raise money for Tom Kean, Jr.

GOVERNOR CORZINE ANNOUNCES NEW FLOOD CONTROL RULES

TRENTON - Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced significant changes to the rules of the Flood Hazard Area Control Act, as recommended by New Jersey’s Flood Mitigation Task Force report. He also announced that the state will pay the local communities’ share of FEMA’s costs associated with the July 2006 floods.