Senator Madden Flip-Flops on Bill S1774
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Residents of South Jersey's 4th Legislative District should be aware of Democratic state Sen. Fred Madden's recent flip-flopping on S1774. He has shown that he does not stand behind his convictions and will buckle under pressure.
S1774 arbitrarily limits firearm purchases to one per month despite the fact that gun buyers are already vetted by police for every permit. The bill was a symbolic, meaningless gesture to attack the nonexistent problem of intrastate handgun trafficking. It stalled in the Senate in February, one vote shy of passage, when Sens. Madden, Jeff Van Drew and Stephen Sweeney were the only Democrats with the common sense to staunchly oppose a bill whose only use was to score cheap political points.
Then Gov. Jon Corzine, covertly, and with the support of state Senate President Richard Codey, put this bill on the agenda for the Legislature's final session. It was posted a day before voting and passed the next day by one vote. Inexplicably, Madden changed positions and provided that key vote. There is little doubt that Corzine strong-armed consideration of this bill only after he obtained a commitment from Madden to provide the key vote.
Madden's lip service that his gun-owning constituents "have rights also" is hollow in light of his vote; apparently, those rights are secondary to the privilege of Corzine and Codey to arbitrarily punish gun owners and destroy gun-owning rights. Voters should keep this in mind, lest they continue to be represented by someone who is apparently beholden to a governor who has been nothing but toxic for New Jersey.
ROBERT CAHALL, Deptford