Homeschooling Threatened By Bill Being Rushed Through State Assembly

Legislation that would give the Division of Youth and Family Services broad powers to prevent families from homeschooling their children is being fast tracked through the State Assembly. 

The bill, A2881, was filed last Thursday and is scheduled for a hearing before the Assembly Women and Children Committee this morning.  The Committee Chair, Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt is sponsor of the bill.

Scott Woodruff, Senior Counsel of the Home School Legal Defense Association, says the legislation goes too far.  He has asked that Lampitt postpone the hearing so that homeschool representatives can meet with her to discuss whether a narrow, more targeted bill can be drafted that would address legitimate needs without hampering parents homeschool program is not even in question.  Lampitt has not responded.

Woodruff says that the bill gives DYFS “blank check power to prohibit homeschooling for any reason or no reason at all.”

DYFS has a history of making poor decisions about children in their
care. They should not be given blank-check authority to make
educational decisions about home schooled children.

Consider these situations which have nothing to do with education but
which might lead to a child coming under DYFS supervision:

–a child gets in a fight at the local park, and a judge gives DYFS
supervision of the child;
–a baby gets sick and a judge decides the family waited too long to
go to the emergency room, and places all the family’s other kids under
DYFS supervision;  
–a family is remodelling and the house is so messy that a judge gives
DYFS suervision of the kids;
–a family with 6 biological children adopts a 10-year old orphan from
Russia who starts makes up bizarre stories about maltreatment, and a
judge gives DYFS supervision over all kids as a result.  

This bill is probably unnecessary. If a judge ever actually takes
jurisdiction of a child, which usually happens in serious cases, the
judge probably already has the power to make decisions about the
child’s education.

This bill may make people afraid to accept services from DYFS.

The bill provides no definition of “care, custody or supervision,” so
we don’t even know for sure what situations would cause a family to
come under DYFS’ power to prohibit homeschooling. Nor does the bill
define “homeschool.” This could allow a judge power to define
homeschooling in a way that threatens the freedom of families.

The bill gives the Department of Education power to create regulations
to carry out the bill’s provisions. Regulations are created by the
will of bureacrats, not by a democratic process. Because of this, they
can be hostile to the rights of individuals.

The bill’s language starts by saying “notwithstanding any provision of
law to the contrary, …” This means that all other state laws must
give way to this new billl. Every other right you have under state law
will be below this bill.

The members of the Assembly Women and Children Committee are:

Chair: Pamela R. Lampitt (D) District 6 Voorhees 856.435.1247 

Vice Chair: Angel Fuentes (D) District 5 

(856) 547-4800 (Audubon)
(856) 541-1251 (Camden)
(856) 853-2960 (Woodbury)

Caroline Casagrande (R) District 11- Freehold     732.866.1695 

Betty Lou DeCroce (R) District 26 – Whippany 973.884.6190

Gabriela Mosquera (D) District 4

856) 232-6700 (Turnersville)
(856) 401-3073 (Blackwood)

Gary S. Schaer (D) – District 36 – Passaic 973.249.3665

Benjie E. Wimberly (D) District 35 – Paterson 973.247.1521

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School Days, School Daze

Thanks to the left stream media America is learning that while a student at an elite Michigan prep school, Mitt Romney was a prankster who sometimes went too far.  At least two of his pranks were cruel bullying incidents.  He lead a blind teacher to walk into a closed door and he traumatised an apparently gay classmate, who later came out, by forcefully cutting off his bleached blond hair, according to a poorly sourced exposé in the Washington Post.

Thanks to the right stream media, sourced in part by Barack Obama himself, we are learning, four years late, that while in high school the President was a heavy drinker, pot and cocaine user, who hung out with communist radicals.   He bullied a “plump, dark” Black girl.

In recent weeks we’ve also learned that Romney transported his dog to a family vacation on the roof of his car and that Obama ate dog.

We’re likely to be in for a lot more of these types of stories over the next six months.  We’ll also be in for disingenuous complaining from both the right and left about each others tactics.   All of this is a positive development for America.

Especially at the presidential level, it is the duty of political opponents to do thorough opposition research and to pitch what they find to the media.  If the free media doesn’t run with the findings, it is the duty of political opponents to buy media to expose their opponent’s foibles.  Then the free media will investigate, report and opine on the veractity of the charges.   It is the duty of responsible journalists to verify or debunk opposition research pitched to them and the public and report accordingly.

The traditional media, which is leftist for the most part, took a break from its presidential vetting duty in 2008.  Likewise, Barack Obama’s political opposition, the Clintons and John McCain, took a pass on vetting Obama.  The Obama camp and the traditional leftist media brilliantly employed the race card to thwart Obama’s vetting.

Both Obama and Romney should be vetted, by each other’s campaign and by the media, over the next six months.  It is not unprecedented for the media to vette an incumbent President.  CBS’s Dan Rather famously got in wrong and lost his job over Memogate during George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign. 

As we enter the vetting season, one of the side benefits will be that the biases of the vetters will be revealed to a skeptical public.   As the Internet continues to transform how we get our information and plays a more significant role in political campaigns, the truth that there is no such thing as an unbiased media source will become more and more apparent.

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Assemblyman Sean Kean Weighs In On Judge Paul Escandon, Alimony and Child Support Reform

Assemblyman Sean Kean

Assemblyman Sean Kean says he and Judge Paul Escandon do not share a political agenda, that his proposed legislation to reform alimony and child support is not anti-women, and that he believes in the integrity, ethics and fairness of Escandon.

Kean was responding to Rachel Alintoff’s comment to Governor Chris Christie, “Judge Escandon is the former law partner of Assemblyman Sean Kean whose main platform is reducing Alimony for women. What will you do as Governor to make sure that Judges are kept from carrying out their own political agendas from the bench?”

“Alintoff has been having lots of people call my office about her case,” said Kean, “we tell them we are not familiar with the case and it would be inappropriate for a legislator to call a Judge about a case.”

Kean is the sponsor of two pieces of legislation regarding alimony and child support.  

A685, which is co-sponsored by Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon.  The companion bill in the Senate, S1388 is sponsored by Democratic Senator Nicholas Scutari, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Republican Senator Gerald Cardinale.   The bill provides for modification of child support and certain alimony cases due to changed circumstances.  Kean says this bill makes the Lepis decision, a 1980 NJ Supreme Court decision that defined “change of circumstances” for alimony cases legislated law rather than case law. “This bill puts the current case law into legislation,” said Kean.

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Former Long Branch Woman Appeals To Christie, Legislature, For Relief From Abusive Judge

Rachel Alintoff

A former Long Branch woman who appealed to Governor Chris Christie for help regarding unfair and illegal treatment by the Monmouth County Judge presiding over her divorce case says she has heard from the State Attorney General’s Criminal Division and the Governor’s office who have referred her case to the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.

Rachel Alintoff, 36, told Christie during his town hall meeting in Garfield last week that Judge Paul X. Escandon stripped her of her parental rights of her 2 year old son, Hayden, without the legally required hearing, as punishment for her seeking an order of protection in New York, where she lives now, against her estranged husband Bryan who failed to dispose of a handgun as Escandon had ordered as part of a custody order.

Alintoff also told Christie that Escandon, after his ruling on her parental rights was overturned by the Appeals Court, denied her access to her clothing, money for legal fees and granted her only $1,100 per month in child support from her husband who earns, she says, over $500K per year on Wall Street.

Here’s a link to video of Alintoff speaking to Christie and the Governor’s response.  The video will start with Christie recognising Alintoff.  At the 43:58 mark Christie moves on to Peter, the young student who became famous for asking the Governor for a note to excuse him for missing school.

Here’s the text of Alintoff’s remarks and questions to Christie:

I am going through a divorce in Monmouth County in front of Judge Paul X. Escandon.
In October 2011, Judge Escandon stripped me of all my parental rights to my 2 year old son without the legally required hearing.
I had only supervised visitation. This was a punishment for an order of protection I was seeking in NYC (where I am currently living) when my husband failed to dispose of his handgun as per a court order. My son had to endure a month of barely seeing his mother until Judge Escandon was Summarily reversed by the Appelate Court for his illegal ruling.

Since then, Judge Escandon has gone on to make other illegal rulings against me such as denying me access to my clothing, granting no money for my legal fees and only issuing $1,100 in support a month to my son and me which puts us below the Federal Poverty Level. All while my husband makes on average over half a million dollars a year on Wall Street.

This is not an isolated incident. Judge Escandon has done similar things to other woman and has a habit of financiallly ruining women in his courtroom.

I have a 2-part question:

1) What will you do as Governor to ensure that Judges like Escandon follow the law or are taken off the bench?

2) Judge Escandon is the former law partner of Assemblyman Sean Kean whose main platform is reducing Alimony for women.
What will you do as Governor to make sure that Judges are kept from carrying out their own political agendas from the bench?

Alintoff, who first brought her situation to MMM’s attention as a comment in the post about the Garfield town hall meeting, says she’s heard from Jeanne Ashmore in the Governor’s Office and Detective Charles Crescenz in the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Office, both of whom told her the matter would be taken up by the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct.  Neither Crescenz nor Ashmore would comment to MMM.  John Tonelli, Executive Director of the ACJC also declined to comment.

Alintoff  emailed every member of the State Legislature today to inform them of her situation.  Her father, Merny Schwartz, Phd, wrote to Chief Justice Stuart Rabner about Escandon’s conduct last December.  Schwartz maintains a blog on his daughter’s case before Escandon, JudgePaulEscandon.blog.com.

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APP wants to know: Why no action on Lakewood?

Because The Asbury Park Press Is No Longer Relevant

The Asbury Park Press is outraged that Governor Chris Christie did not make the problems of the Lakewood school system a primary topic of his town hall meeting in Freehold yesterday.  The Neptune Nudniks are also upset that Congressman Chris Smith hasn’t returned their calls for comment or held a press conference about the Lakewood schools since the paper and pay site ran their series CHEATED about the problems in Lakewood schools last week.

Christie spent much, if not most, of his town hall meeting yesterday talking about education reform.  His focus was on tenure reform as a way to improve results in our failing urban schools and to stop paying “a Kings Ransom for failure” by flushing 15% of the state’s tax dollars into failing schools as New Jersey has done for decades.

If ever there was evidence that The Asbury Park Press has become irrelevant, it is their heavily promoted Cheated series, yesterday’s town hall meeting, combined with today’s rants by the Nudniks that Christie and Smith are not paying attention to them.

Why didn’t Christie talk about Lakewood yesterday to hundreds of residents in the APP’s coverage area?   Because no one asked him.  The governor was talking about education.  The APP had just finished a “special series” on the Lakewood schools.  Not one person in the audience of the town hall made the connection and asked the governor a question about Lakewood.

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Poll Dancing

Last month there was something of a controversy over the veracity of the Monmouth University vs the Quinnipiac University polls rating Governor Christie’s performance.  Within one week there was an 11 point swing in Christie’s approval ratings.  A Quinnipiac poll indicated a sky high 59%-36% approval rating for the Guv followed a week later by a down to earth 50%-38% rating produced by a Monmouth poll.  Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray explained the difference by criticising the order in which Quinnipiac asked their questions while acknowledging that his poll is weighted to favor Democrats.

This morning’s Fairleigh Dickinson’s Public Mind Poll  asked the Christie approval question three ways and got three different answers in the same survey.

When asked “How would you rate the job that Chris Christie is doing as governor?” 49% said excellent or good. 49% said only fair or poor and 2% were unsure.

When asked if they have a favorable or unfavorable view of Christie, 51% said very favorable or somewhat favorable, 11% said unsure or mixed and 37% said very or somewhat unfavorable.

When given only two choices, approve or disapprove, 56% approve of Christie and 33% disapprove.  Only 11% were confused, mixed or unsure after taking that survey.

45% of the respondents identified themselves and Democratic or leaning that way, 23% were Independent, unsure or wouldn’t say, and 32% said they were Republican or lean that way.

34% of New Jersey voters are registered Democrats, 22% Republican and 45% are not affiliated with a major party.

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Monmouth GOP Chair Race: Bennett vs Hanlon

State Committee Members Set To Face Off 

John Bennett

Former Senate President John O. Bennett, III, a present State Committee Member and Christine G. Hanlon, Bennett’s colleague in representing Monmouth County in the State Republican Party are readying for what is likely to be a heated race for the Monmouth County GOP chairmanship.

With Chairman Joe Oxley’s nomination to the Superior Court all but official, both would be chairs are busy lining up support from elected officials and municipal chairs, both with the caveat that they would support Oxley for another term should Governor Chris Christie’s “intent to nominate” notification to the State Senate not become an actual nomination.  There is typically a 10 day period before the Governor notifies the Senate of his intent to nominate a judge and the actual nomination being received by the Senate.  Christie’s Notice of Intention regarding Oxley was filed on May 3.

By statute, the Chair must be elected on June 12, the first Tuesday after the June 5 primary.  County Committee members elected in the primary will cast their votes at a convention.

Former MA Governor Mitt Romney, Christine Hanlon, NJ Governor Chris Christie

Bennett vs Hanlon will be a battle of the sexes and a battle of generations.  Bennett, 63, represents the senior generation of the Monmouth GOP’s good and bad “old days”. Hanlon, 44 and a mother of four, who has served as Oxley’s unofficial assistant chairperson for the last four years, represents the recent success of the Monmouth GOP.  Both candidates expect a bright future.

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What is Anna Little running for?

She’s on the GOP primary ballot as a candidate for congress from the 6th district, but as far as the Federal Election Commission knows, she’s still a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Hundreds of Little for Congress lawn highway signs showed up on Route 36 on Friday night.  “Paid for by Anna C. Little for Congress Inc.”

The “paid for”  disclosure sparked my curiosity and prompted a visit to the FEC website.  Little’s website is paid for by “Friend of Anna Little.”  It seemed odd that Anna C. Little for Congress was paying for signs.

Oddly, the campaign committee “Anna C. Little for Congress Inc” was terminated.  The campaign filed a termination report on April 2 and the FEC issued a approval of termination letter on April 12. 

The letter from the FEC says:

If your committee again becomes active in federal elections, it will be required to re-register with the Commission in accordance with the Federal Election Campaign Act and applicable Regulations. Your committee will be treated as a new entity by the Commission and should register as a new committee on FEC FORM 1, pursuant to 2 U.S.C. §§ 432(g) and 433(a).

But, a thorough search showed no reinstatement of the campaign committee.   Little has no congressional campaign committee or congressional account registered with the FEC.

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Joseph T. Oxley: Rest In Peace

Joseph T. Oxley

Joseph T. Oxley, father of Monmouth County Republican Chairman Joseph W. Oxley, passed away last evening at 10:18 after a long battle with cancer. He was born on July 31, 1930.

Oxley, with his beloved wife of 57 years, Ruth, who passed on February 20th, contributed to the lives of countless Monmouth County children over a 52 year span as the owners of the Monmouth Day Camp in Middletown.

Joseph was an educator. A Long Branch High School graduate,  he received his B.S. degree in Education from Lebanon Valley College and his M.Ed from Rutgers.  He was a teacher and a coach at Fort Lee High School and at Raritan High School.  He started the football program at Raritan and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.

He was a graduate of the aquatic school at Camp Mahopac, New York and was a Red Cross instructor in swimming, life saving and first aid.

Joseph was inducted into the Lebanon Valley College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.  He was also enshrined in the Long Branch High School Hall of Fame.

He is survived by his 5 children, 4 sons and a daughter, their spouses, and 12 grandchildren.

UPDATE

Vistation will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 2PM-4pm, 7PM -9PM and on Weds, May 9, 2PM-4PM and 7PM-9PM at the John F. Pfleger Funeral Home, 115 Tindal Ave, Middletown.

A Funeral Liturgy will be offered on Thursday, May 10, 10:30 am at St. Mary’s Chapel, 26 Leonardville Rd, Middletown.  Burial will follow at Mt. Olive Cemetery, Middletown.

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