Primary Election Date: 06/07/2011
General Election Date: 11/08/2011

Who Am I?

I was grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y. and attended the excellent NYC public schools, which prepared me to attend Vassar College (full scholarship), graduate school at Johns Hopkins, and law school at Georgetown University. I have always had a penchant for public service and public interest law, having worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, a Deputy Attorney General in the Division of Criminal Justice (Medicaid Fraud)in Trenton, a legal services/disability attorney at the Community Health Law Project, and a Clinical Associate Professor at Seton Hall Law School. My elective experience includes a term on the West Windsor-Plainsboro School Board, two terms on the Plainsboro Township Committee, and 11 years in the State Legislature (10 Assembly, 1 Senate). My husband works at Polytechnic University of NYU and my son is an attorney with American Federation of Government Employees.

Why Am I Running?

I am running to serve my constituents, and to provide leadership on the many issues that have an impact on their lives. I want to see fair and just treatment for all members of the public as well as clean and ethical government. I want to help pass laws that serve the public interest, not special interests. As a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, I would like to see our state budget reflect my own priorities, which include caring for the most vulnerable in our society and helping the middle class weather the economic storm we are experiencing. A major priority now is jobs and the economy; we are always working on ways to lower our state's high property taxes. My legislative priorities include seniors, child protection, consumer protection, the environment, ethics and education.

Hold Me Accountable!

The top 3 issues facing my constituents today are:

1. Jobs and the economy--Many of my constituents are out of work and their houses have been foreclosed upon. Democrats have passed several packages of bills to help, including some to help small businesses, to improve the unemployment insurance system, and others. The Governor has signed a few of our bills, but has vetoed many others. I feel that he has been short-sighted in that some of these bills may cost money, but can reap important benefits in lowering our high unemployment rate.

2. Property taxes--Our state has high property taxes in part because we fund our schools almost totally through these taxes, and I think we need to look more closely at this issue. In the meantime, we have been providing rebates to our citizens, although our Governor has cut or eliminated these over the last few years. We also need to look more closely at regionalization of schools, consolidation of towns and shared services.

3. Need to increase our reliance on renewable energy sources

My DFA values:

As I described in an earlier question, we always empower and engage the grassroots in our campaigns by employing a strong volunteer effort and relying on years of meeting and helping our constituents on a personal basis. We have one of the most competitive districts in the state, and one which has elected members of both parties. I believe that if more districts were competitive as a result of redistricting, it would be easier to reform our party from the bottom up because I find that legislators in competitive districts tend to be more responsive to our constituents and less dependent on top-down party hierarchy.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

In the 14th legislative district, we always run a people-powered campaign. We depend heavily on volunteers, who are recruited from the community and local schools and colleges. Local supporters have coffees and events for us. Our campaigns are always grassroots, especially in 2007 when we successfully ran a Fair and Clean Elections campaign; I hope we'll be able to do so again in the future. We are supported by many public interest groups, such as Sierra Club and Environmental Federation, as well as many unions, whose members live in our district. Although we use mail, TV and radio, the centerpiece of our campaign is the years of personal contact we have had with our constituents.