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Tuesday November 10th, 2009 Issue 21 |
The Home News Tribune, Courier-Post, Alternative Press.com, Daily Record, and many other papers featured this post-election op-ed piece
By Harry Pozycki,
Citizens' Campaign Chairman
This truly dispiriting gubernatorial campaign has finally come to an end.
I congratulate Chris Christie on his hard fought victory. But this campaign,
dominated by harsh negative attacks, provided no clear issue mandate for the
winner making it clearer than ever that we can not simply sit back and wait for
Trenton to fix our state's problems. It is up to us. With our highly educated citizens and our Jersey "attitude" we have huge
untapped potential. However, it is time to recognize that achieving that
potential requires that we change our political culture.
Research shows that New Jersey voters know less about their state's
politicians and issues than voters in most other states. This is in
large measure a result of a lack of a New Jersey broadcast television
station where we could have the benefit of shared Jersey news; where we
could develop a common understanding of our economic crisis; where we
could be motivated by new leaders. (finish reading the article)
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Dodge Foundation and Community Foundation Agree to Sponsor the Morris County Call to Service
The Citizen's Campaigns Morris County Chairs, Jay Hellstrom and David Gruol and Board Member Steve Balog (of Harding) recently held a meeting to organize the Morris County Call to Service, a component of the statewide Jersey Call to Service campaign. Gathered were significant leaders from Morris County. The Dodge Foundation and the Community Foundation, both active in Morris County, agreed to sponsor the Morris County Call to Service. The Morris County Call to Service will invite residents to open forums to learn about service opportunities in town and county
government, particularly on local government boards now that the new Citizen Service Act, developed by our legal team, is requiring all towns to post their board vacancies in a public directory.
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New Class on Citizen Journalism
to be Unveiled at Conference
On Wednesday, November 18th, the Citizens' Campaign and Monmouth University will be co-hosting an important conference on Citizen Journalism and our new class to teach regular citizens to report local news. Panelists include experts in communications  and news reporting (read more), such as Michael Delli Carpini, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania (and Board member of the Citizens' Campaign.)
 The afternoon will feature the unveiling of the Citizens' Campaigns new class, Certified Citizen Journalist, which
will train people how to write and submit their own local news stories
to online publications. The role of reporting is vital to the operation
of our democracy and as this role declines due to decreases in
newspaper budgets we must plan to continue this important means of
accountability and knowledge about the operations of government and our
leaders.
Register Now for the Citizen Journalism ConferenceWednesday November 18, 2009 11am-2pmMonmouth University, West Long Branch, NJTo register email Heather at Heather@jointhecampaign.com or call 732-548-9798 x1 or log on to the website and register online. The conference is free and open to the public.
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County Chairs Making News
The Citizens' Campaign's County Chairs are an important part of the campaign leadership and are doing their part to bring the Jersey Call to Service to life. They recruit citizens with proven leadership skills, organize
Citizen Leadership forums, facilitate town and county presentations of
model citizen empowerment laws, and serve as regional spokespeople. Our
County Chairs include top business executives, former elected officials
with records of distinction,and veteran grassroots organizers.
Dave Golush, Union County Chair, recently published a Jersey Call to Service op-ed piece in the Suburban News. Lee Burke, Cumberland County Chair, and Robert Shinn, Camden County Chair, have also been publishing articles educating residents about the opportunity to answer the Call to Service. Richard Codd, Monmouth County Chair, attended the Monmouth County Call to Service and was quoted in several newspaper articles covering this important event. |
Hometown Call to Service Summits Launched
 Nov. 17th 7pm Hoboken Call to Service- Our Lady of Grace Church
Sponsors: The Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition, People for Open Government, The
Hoboken Democratic Party and Hoboken Republican Organization, Our
Lady of Grace Church and the Citizens' Campaign.
Nov. 19th 7pm Jersey City Call to Service- City Hall
Sponsors: Civic JC, the Downtown Coalitionof Neighborhood Associations, the
Heights Coalition, and the Citizens' Campaign.
These Hometown Call to Service Summits are part of the Citizens' Campaign's "Jersey Call to
Service," a statewide public service initiative to inspire 5,000 citizens to
participate in the leadership of their communities and reverse the tide
of government waste and corruption. For the Jersey Call to Service to succeed, it must happen one citizen at a time, one town at a time. |
State and National Studies Conclude Pay to Play Reform Works
Two studies have concluded that pay to play restrictions are having an impact. The state Election Law Enforcement Commission "ELEC" recently reported that pay to play laws are significantly "depressing" government contracting campaign contributions. The second report, by the Public Citizen, analyzed competitiveness in NJ state highway contracting and showed that NJ contracts subject to pay-to-play laws enjoy more competition than contracts not subject to the law.
 In response to these reports findings, Chairman of the Citizens' Campaign, Harry Pozycki issued a statement. "This is further confirmation that the anti-pay-to-play government
contracting reforms are working" Pozycki said. What's more, a recent national report
confirmed that in New Jersey where the pay-to-play laws are operative,
there is more competition for state contracts. And as we all know,
competition drives down prices.
Since most of our tax dollars are spent at the local government level,
it is imperative that the state pay-to-play restrictions be expanded to
the municipal, county, and school board governments where property
taxes are soaring."
The Citizens' Campaigns Legal Task Force developed and won adoption of the strongest state level pay-to-play reform law in the nation. 65 municipalities in New Jersey have passed strong local pay to play legislation based on the Citizens' Campaigns model ordinance. |
Citizen Leader Profile
Joe Zaccardo Answered the Call to Service. He learned about the Citizens' Campaign from an email forwarded by a friend. He
was intrigued by the information he received, about the opportunity to
learn how to participate in the leadership of his community.
Its something he always wanted to do, but didn't really know how to begin. He visited the Citizens' Campaign on the web, and educated himself about how to pursue appointed office using the online class Path to Appointed Office Service.
When he was ready to apply for a board position, he called the Citizens' Campaign office
and got free support and guidance in how to effectively proceed. Today he is an appointed office holder in Monmouth County. |
 The important work of developing new leadership for New Jersey is made possible by your support! Thank you! |
Answer the Jersey Call to Service!
Start participating in the leadership of your community today |
| Spread the Word
Citizens' Campaign is on Facebook! |
| Caroline Pozycki, Citizens' Campaign Newsletter Editor
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