The bipartisan spirit that was touted after Hurricane Sandy may now be a distant memory. The bickering among senate leaders has been quite vocal recently, most notably between Senate President Steve Sweeney and the Senate Republican leader Tom Kean (R-21). Kean told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that Sweeney has been abusing his power to block all bills sponsored by Republicans.
Kean said he’s been frustrated with the Senate President’s actions of late.
“To simply pull all bills from the agenda because they happen to be sponsored by the opposing party is ridiculous,” said Kean. “We should make sure that we have the right solutions for the people of the state of New Jersey and a good idea is a good idea regardless who sponsors it.”
Kean didn’t mince words to describe Sweeney’s actions, calling them abusive and unprecedented.
“It’s an absolute abuse in power that I don’t think has been seen anywhere in this state, much less this country, in the history of these chambers where you simply say, ‘because you happen to be Republican you will never ever get a bill passed in the legislature,’ is juvenile.”
In the process, Kean said issues that have a direct impact on New Jerseyans, like sick leave reform, balancing the budget, tax reduction and education reform, are being brushed aside.
“These [issues] are what they sent legislators to Trenton for, and these are the things the Senate President is standing in the way of.”
When asked about his own legislative action in blocking Democratic-sponsored bills like the one on gun control, Kean said he wasn’t given an opportunity to review the language of some of those bills.
“The Senate passed many gun control proposals that day and they’ll pass Sen. Sweeney’s bill 17 days after it was first sought passage, but I have a responsibility and every senator has a responsibility not to vote on bills in which they’ve not been allowed to see what the language in those bills is,” explained Kean. “Everybody on that floor should have had the opportunity to see what was in those bills because it’s changing many, many times both in committee and then approaching the floor.”
Kean added that the failure to pass the gun control bill in the first legislative round would in no way delay it’s implementation, should it get passed.
“This bill was only delayed 17 days on a bill that has three years towards implementation if it ever gets to the governor’s desk because the Assembly is miles apart on this bill,” he said.
Kean said he and other Republican senators sent a letter to Sweeney today, saying, “we don’t care if it’s a Republican bill or a Democratic bill, it’s a good idea to do these reforms, get the job done for the citizens of New Jersey.”