Autism Prevalence Worsens: 1-in-88 in U.S., 1-in-49 in NJ

WASHINGTON, DC – New alarming data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows 1 in every 88 American children and 1 in every 49 New Jersey children has a form of autism.

            “The national numbers, including and especially in my home state of New Jersey, are shocking,” said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), author of Combating Autism Reauthorization Act, Public Law 112-32.  “Each one of these statistics represents real children and real families who struggle and need our help and assistance.”

            The study also found a continuing higher prevalence of ASDs in boys than girls (1-in-252 girls and 1-in-54 boys). However, in New Jersey, of the 1 in 49 children with a form of autism, Smith noted a staggering 1 in 29 boys with the disability.

“We as a nation must do much more, especially to determine causation and ensure early diagnosis, so interventional care can begin as early as possible. The stakes are so high: the quality of life of so many children is at risk. We need research, new treatments and a path to a cure.” said Smith, who also authored the provision in Title I of the Children’s Health Act (PL 106-310) which created the Centers of Excellence in Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology that carried out this study.

“Prevention, treatment and ultimately a cure for this developmental disability must be our highest priority.  We need to bring a ‘Manhattan Project’ type focus to this essential life saving work.  Delay is not an option,” Smith said. 

Smith’s landmark legislation enacted in 2000—the Autism Statistics, Surveillance, Research and Epidemiology Act (Title I, P.L. 106-310) created the first comprehensive federal program to combat autism. In 2011, another piece of legislation he authored The Combating Autism Reauthorization Act(CARA)”— (now Public Law 112-32) was enacted and will provide $693 million over the next three years to continue the program.

            “The new CDC data shows a sharp increase from the appalling 2006 data that documented 1-in-110 children with an autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)—a 23 percent increase,” Smith said.

            This morning, Smith , the Co-Chairman of the Congressional Coalition on Autism Research and Education (C.A.R.E.), spoke to Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the CDC, about the new data. The information was set to be released at a CDC briefing for Congress Thursday afternoon.

The CDC study, entitled Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders – Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, provides autism prevalence estimates from 14 states, including New Jersey. It was published today in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Smith’s law, CARA, signed September 30, 2011 authorized for each of the next three fiscal years: $22 million for the Developmental Disabilities Surveillance and Research Program; $48 million for Autism Education, Early Detection, and Intervention, and; $161 million for hundreds of Research Grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee.

In May 2011, Smith chaired a hearing on U.S. and global autism. He also has written two other bills in the current 112th Congress: 1) H.R. 2006, “The National Autism Spectrum Disorders Initiative Act”; and (2) H.R. 2007, “The Autism Spectrum Disorders Services Act.”  Smith’s H.R. 2006 designates the Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services Department to head the national autism effort, and authorizes the Secretary to approve a strategic plan developed by the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), in consultation with the National Institute for Health.  H.R. 2007 establishes a planning and demonstration grant program for services to children, transitioning youth, adults, and individuals of any age who may be at risk of injury, authorizes grants for protection and advocacy systems, and creates a national training initiative to better equip teachers and autism services providers. 

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Monmouth Democratic Nominating Convention Preview

The Monmouth County Democrats are holding their nominating convention on Thursday, March 22 at the Bayshore Senior Center, 6:30 PM.

Michael Steinhorn of Rumson is the only candidate who has filed to run for County Clerk.  He is expected to be nominated to run against Republican incumbent M.Claire French. Steinhorn was the nominee for County Surrogate last year.

Former State Trooper Bill Shea, a candidate last year, and former Hazlet Mayor Kevin Lavan, a candidate for Assembly last year from the 13th district , will be freeholder candidates. 

There are two freeholder seats up this year;  a full term that is being defended by incumbent Republican Freeholder Director John Curley and an unexpired term that will be defended by Freeholder Serena DiMaso.  DiMaso was elected by the Monmouth Republican Committee to fill the vacancy created by Rob Clifton’s election to the State Assembly.

The Democrats have yet to determine which seats Shea and Lavan will challenge.

Former Freeholder Amy Mallet has not ruled out re-seeking the office that she lost last November.  Asked repeatedly by MMM if she was going to make an run for freeholder either at the convention or in the primary, Mallet said, “no, not at this time,” and “I am not running as of now.”   Asked to give a definitive answer, she declined.

Two candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the nomination to take on Congressman Chris Smith in the 4th congressional district. Former Monmouth County Surrogate Patricia Bennett, now an elder law attorney in Red Bank and Spring Lake businessman Brian Froelich will compete for the Democratic endorsement on Thrusday night.  

Froelich has a website and says he’s filed with the FEC to be a candidate. He would not rule out a primary challenge should he lose to Bennett on Thursday, saying, “I intend to win at the convention and have not thought beyond that.”

Bennett could not be reach for comment.

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Congressional Voting Ratings

Pallone and Payne, 17 others are tied for #1 most liberal members of congress

Republicans Smith and LoBiondo have higher liberal rankings than conservative rankings

National Journal has released its annual Congressional Voting Ratings and New Jersey has two congressman tied for the #1 most liberal member of congress based upon how they voted throughout 2011.

Frank Pallone, NJ-6, Long Branch, after being ranked the 70th most liberal member of congress in 2009, the 33rd most liberal in 2010, surged to the top of the list to earn a number 1 ranking in 2011.

Donald Payne of Newark, NJ-10, shares the #1 liberal ranking with Pallone and 17 other members throughout the country.  Payne’s liberal ranking was 46 in 2009 and 113 in 2010.

Rush Holt, NJ-12 joins Pallone and Payne among the top 50 liberals, coming in at #43, a drop from his 14th place showing in 2010.  Holt was #1 in 2009.

The most conservative member of New Jersey’s delegation?  That would be Scott Garrett, NJ-5, which is really no surprise.  What is surprising is that Garrett, who is often portrayed in the New Jersey media as a right wing fringe lunatic and the most conservative member of congress, is in the middle of the pack, ranked # 143 on the conservative scale.

NJ-3 freshman Jon Runyan’s #181 conservative ranking makes him the #2 conservative in the New Jersey delegation.

Leonard Lance, NJ-7 is ranked #191 on the conservative list.  Rodney Frelinghuysen, NJ-11 is #206.

Republicans Chris Smith, NJ-4, and Frank LoBiondo, NJ-2, have higher liberal rankings than conservative rankings.  Smith is #195 on the liberal list and #235 on the conservative list.  LoBiondo is #205 on the liberal list and #225 on the conservative list.

In the Senate, Frank Lautenberg is #14 on the liberal list.  Bob Menendez is #31 on the liberal list.

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Bayshore Tea Party Leaders Walkout On Guadagno Speech

Bayshore Tea Party Group Leaders, Frank Gonzalez, Barbara Gonzalez, Lynn Gordon and Bob Gordon at the Monmouth County Lincoln Day Dinner. Photo Credit: Rhoda Chodosh

There were at least unhappy four people of the approximately 500 Republicans celebrating Lincoln Day in Monmouth County last night.

Bayshore Tea Party Group Co-founders, Barbara Gonzalez and Bob Gordon, along with their opposite sex spouses, Frank Gonzalez and Lynn Gordon stood up during Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno’s speech and quietly walked out of the Shore Casino in Atantic Highlands.

The Tea Partiers were upset about the support of Mitt Romney expressed by Guadagno and other speakers.

In an email to BTPG members sent after the event, Gonzalez said,

Some of us attended the Lincoln Dinner this evening, which is a republican event, held at the Shore Casino.

Four of us walked out during Lt Governor’s speech.     Why?

 

Well, first, one speaker got up and told us how no other candidate is worth a crap and how Romney is the only one we should support.   Then, the Lt Governor got up and spewed the same garbage.  

 

The four of us that walked out were appalled.  This was a disgraceful way for the republican party to act.  There are three other candidates running on the republican ticket.  How dare they. 

 

That being said, what are you going to do about it?   Are you going to let them dictate who we should be voting for?  Whether you support Gingrich, Santorum or Paul, you should hopefully be working your  butt off for them. 

 

We are actively doing some work for Santorum from the office if anyone is interested.  Helene is the county leader, so contact her or reply to me if you want to help.  I can tell you this….my passion to have Santorum win has just been increased by what I saw this evening.  

 

Hell hath no fury like a woman being told who to vote for!

Other speakers who spoke in support of Romney were New Jersey National Republican Committeeman Bill Palatucci and Congressman Chris Smith.

On her facebook page, Gonzalez posted:

I HAVE NEWS FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF NEW JERSEY: ROMNEY IS NOT THE ONLY CANDIDATE IN THIS RACE AND IT WAS DISGRACEFUL TONIGHT AT THE LINCOLN DINNER. I AM ASHAMED TO BE A REPUBLICAN. THEY SAID WE ALL HAD TO VOTE FOR ROMNEY AND THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN WIN. WELL, HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS!!! YOU JUST GAVE THE TEA PARTY A SHOT OF ADRENALINE! AGAIN, THAT WAS TOTALLY DISGRACEFUL.

 

 

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MMM Year in Review – February

Governor Chris Christie signed legislation to designed to revitalize Atlantic City.   The Oceanport Task Force on Monmouth Park stepped up its efforts to save New Jersey’s horse racing industry.

Live Action Video released a tape of a Perth Amboy Planned Parenthood office manager coaching an actor posing as a pimp how to “beat the system” set up to protect underage sex trafficking victims.  Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog, called the video a hoax and defended Planned Parenthood for alerting the FBI about a potential multistate sex trafficking ring.  Amy Woodruff, the Planned Parenthood office manager, was fired.  Frank Pallone was silent on the matter.  The Asbury Park Press issued an inaccurate editorial defending Planned Parenthood.

The U.S. Census Bureau released the results of the 2010 census.  New Jersey lost a congressional district.  Hispanics became the state’s largest minority group. New Jersey’s population shifted from the north to the southern and central regions of the state.

New Jersey’s newpaper industry appealed to Trenton Democrats to maintain their corporate welfare in the form of “legal advertising.”

Congressman Christopher Lee, (R-Buffalo, NY) resigned three hours after gawker.com published shirtless photos of him that he had sent to a woman seeking a date via craigslist.

By-laws, and the lack thereof, for the Monmouth GOP became a hot topic for a week or two.

Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich likened Congressman Chris Smith and American Catholics opposed to abortion to the Arizona shooter.

Freeholder Deputy Director John Curley called for a public review of Brookdale Community College’s budget and spending after learning of expensive country club memberships and a housing allowance for college President Dr. Peter Burnham.  Burnham had drafted a budget that called for a 8.2% tuition increase and blamed the need for the increase on the Freeholder Board reducing the county subsidy for the college.

Red Bank Councilman Michael Dupont and Shrewsbury attorney Brian Nelson  fought over the Sayreville Borough Attorney’s job.

The Republican Association of Princeton was reconstituted as The Lincoln Club of New Jersey under the leadership of Scott Sipprelle.

Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas, Wall Committeeman George Newberry and Spring Lake Councilman Gary Rich launched their campaigns for the GOP nomination for Freeholder.

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Correction: Middletown is still split

Middletown remains divided between two congressional districts under the new map. 

South of Route 35 is in the 4th district, represented by Republican Chris Smith.  North of Route 35 remains part of Frank Pallone’s 6th district.  Under the old map, the portion of Middletown south of Route 35 was in Democratic Congressman Rush Holt’s district.

At our first look at the map, we incorrectly concluded that Middletown had been combined entirely into the 6th.

Our apologies to Larry Cirignamo.

With this correct information, it would seem that district 6th remains safe for Frank Pallone.

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Gooch “has a decision to make”

Diane Gooch, Chairwoman of Strong New Jersey, Vice Chair of the Monmouth GOP, and a primary candidate for the GOP nomination in the 6th congressional district in 2010 is not ready to jump into another race for congress, according to a source familiar with her thinking.

Gooch, of Rumson, now resides in Republican Chris Smith’s 4th district.  In 2010 her residence was part of Democrat Rush Holt’s district but she chose to compete in the 6th. 

Former Highlands Mayor Anna Little, the 6th district GOP nominee in 2010 didn’t stop running against Pallone until recently.  She now appears to be focused on competing for the nomination to challenge U.S. Senator Robert Menendez.

A Democratic strategist close to Pallone feels the new 6th is slightly safer for the incumbent.  The Democrat thinks that Perth Amboy, Carteret and all of Woodbridge off set the loss of Plainfield.

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The New Congressional Map

The new congressional map can be viewed here.

Give it a minute to download.  It’s a large file.
A few local observations:

Republican Chris Smith will represent most of Monmouth County in the 4th district.

Democrat Rush Holt, 12th district, will no longer represent any of Monmouth County.

Democrat Frank Pallone’s 6thdistrict includes all of coastal Monmouth and Marlboro.  Middletown and Marlboro appear to be entirely in Pallone’s district.  Under the old map it was split between Pallone and Holt.

At first glance, the new 6th district looks to be more competive than the last.  Holt took all or part of Plainfield, a strongly Democratic town where Pallone dominated in 2010 by a huge margin.  Middletown is a large Republican strong hold. Marlboro usually votes Republican except on the municipal level where they have voted in the “LaHornicca” Democrats.

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Republicans Win The Congressional Map Battle

The New Jersey congressional delegation will likely be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, 6 of each, after the next election, thanks to John Farmer, Dean of Rutgers Law School and the tie breaking member of the redistricting commission.  Farmer told the partisan members of the commission that he would vote for the Republicans’ map when the commission meets in at the Statehouse this morning, according to reports on Politickernj and NJ.com.

The new map will combine portions of the current 5th, 8th and 9th districts and pit incumbent congressmen Scott Garrett (R) and Steve Rothman (D) in a district that gives Republicans a 4% advantage based upon historical voting patterns.

According to the Politickernj story, the new map gives Congressman Chris Smith a larger portion of Monmouth County than his previous 4th district.  The district remains safely Republican for Smith, New Jersey’s longest serving congressman.

The 6th and 12th districts, represented by Frank Pallone and Rush Holt, respectively, remain safe for the Democratic incumbents, according to Politickernj.

The 7th district, represented by Republican Leonard Lance will now be a safer district for the incumbent.

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Does Congressional Seniority Matter? Should It Trump Competitiveness?

In a piece published at Politickernj and on his Real Numbers blog, Monmouth University Polling Director Patrick Murray argues that district competitiveness should be less of a consideration in drawing the new congressional map than he argued it should have been in the state legislative map.

Murray says that no other state uses competitiveness as a criteria for drawing their maps and that New Jersey would be at a disadvantage if it did so.

“If you were expecting me to argue the same for the Congressional redistricting process, though, you would be wrong.  The influence of any state’s delegation is based largely on their influence with the upper echelons of Congressional leadership.  Absolute seniority in itself is not important, but some degree of longevity is necessary for members of our delegation to establish those important relationships.

Since few other states use competitiveness to guide their redistricting process, New Jersey would be put at a disadvantage if it did.  Even if it made a concerted effort, our commission could probably only create 3 to 5 truly competitive districts – out of 435 nationwide.  While that might boost voter turnout in those districts, it would do little to increase the influence of New Jersey as a whole. Influence that we sorely need, considering how little we get back in federal spending for every tax dollar we send to Washington.”
 

While this argument is consistent with conventional thinking about congress, I’m not sure that it matches up with the current reality in Washington. 

It certainly does not match up with the current reality of the New Jersey congressional delegation, by Murray’s own words in the last sentence.  If we are getting so little back from Washington with our current delegation, most of whom have significant longevity, what good is their seniority doing us?  Would be do much worse, or any worse, with a bunch of freshmen?

In the current congress, the freshmen are running the show, much to the chagrin of the left wing media, the White House and everyone else who thinks congressmen should go to Washington to compromise rather than to do what they promised their constituents they would do during the campaigns.

New Jersey congressmen have an inauspicious history of leadership and influence.  Donald Payne and Frank Pallone are the most senior Democrats in the New Jersey delegation.  Neither have ever been leaders of note in Washington. Neither has an impressive record of getting legislation passed.

Republican Chris Smith is the longest serving member of the New Jersey delegation.  No one can deny that Smith is a leader.  He has had more legislation passed that any other member of congress.  His influence as a human rights advocate and champion of the unborn is global.  However, he is not a congressional leader.  Even with his 30 years on the hill and Republicans back in power, he is not a committee chairman or even a sub-committee chairman.

Robert Menendez has been an exception to New Jersey’s lack of congressional leadership.  He catapulted over Pallone, Payne and many other Democrats throughout the country in establishing himself as a congressional leader, eventually becoming the third highest ranking Democrat in congress before moving up to the Senate.

Worse for New Jersey residents than the lack of influence in congress that our representatives have, is some members’ lack of concern for the will of their constituents.  As Murray said during his appearance on the Real Jersey Guys Radio show on August 2, New Jersey members of congress vote however they want, regardless of how constituents feel about an issue, because gerrymandering has made their jobs so safe.

This is clearly the case in Monmouth County, the majority of which is divided between Frank Pallone’s 6th district and Rush Holt’s 12th.  Murray accurately portrays the 6th and 12th as among the most gerrymandered districts.  As a result of how these districts have been drawn in the past, much of Monmouth County is essentially disenfranchised from congressional representation.  One could easily make an argument that the suburban areas of Pallone and Holt’s districts do not have a congressman, while the urban areas have two.

Murray and I agree that congressmen need incentive to serve and represent their constituents.  There is no incentive like competition.   The congressional redistricting commission should make competiveness a prime consideration in drawing the new map.  Without competition, seniority is not all that is cracked up to be, as New Jersey’s congressional delegation has clearly demonstrated.

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