Ronald Chen

Senator Diane Allen praises Public Advocate Ronald Chen's efforts to reform laws governing the relocation and redevelopment assistance, and urges that bills she has advocated for three years are allowed to move forward in the Legislature.

A report issued by state Public Advocate Ronald Chen says that there have been fifteen New Jersey electoral contests in the last two years that were decided by just one vote, and that the margin of victory was less than one percent in 51 other elections over the last two years.

Page Six in today's New York Post details an incident between two reporters for The Record and a Manhattan billionaire on a beach in Bay Head last weekend. Pulitzer Prize nominee Jeff Pillets and his girlfriend, Elise Young, called local police after Patrick Denihan started "bullying" them when they set up an umbrella on a public beach near his home. Young has asked New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen to investigate. Click here to read the story.

Public Advocate Ronald Chen has filed a brief in state appeals court case challenging Attorney General Anne Milgram’s directive limiting the ability of nonpartisan groups to assist voters at the polls on Election Day.  The directive stops the distribution of printed information within 100 feet of the entrance to polling places on Election Day – the only exception is for exit polling, permitted if pollsters register with election officials at least two weeks before the election. 

ALLEN: ASKS CHEN TO SUPPORT RELEASE OF SECRET TURNPIKE REPORT
Letter Requests Public Advocate File Amicus Brief In Support Of Beck/ Kean Lawsuit
 

            Senator Diane Allen, (R-7), sent a letter today to New Jersey’s Public Advocate Ronald Chen asking that he reconsider his refusal to examine Governor Corzine’s secret plan to sell New Jersey’s toll roads.  In the letter Senator Allen asks the Public Advocate to file an Amicus brief in support of Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck’s and Assemblyman Sean Kean’s lawsuit in Mercer County superior court to release the Steer Davies and Gleave report. Copies of the letters are attached.

Stanley Van Ness, who died on Friday, served in the administrations of Governors Richard Hughes and Brendan ByrneStanley C. Van Ness, New Jersey's first Public Advocate, died on Friday. He was 73.

Van Ness, who lived in Brielle, also worked as a public defender and counsel to Gov. Richard J. Hughes. He was a partner at the law firm Herbert, Van Ness, Cayci & Goodell.

Public Advocate Ronald Chen issued a statement today praising Van Ness as the model of what a public advocate should be.

Public Advocate Ronald Chen today announced the appointment of Stefanie Brand as the new state Rate Counsel.  Brand replaces Seema Singh, who resigned earlier this year to seek the Democratic nomination for State Senator.

It was the perfect setting for an immigration related press conference: an old train terminal in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park, within view of the Statue of Liberty, where countless immigrants poured off ferries from nearby Ellis Island to board trains for points West.

It was here that Gov. Jon Corzine signed an executive order creating a new blue ribbon panel on immigration during a well-choreographed, well-attended event. But there was a less jubilant undertone as well -- it was clear that the Governor did not want the tension that characterized the recent Morristown anti-immigration rally to replicate across the state.

The panel will have 27 members – two state legislators chosen from the black and Hispanic caucus, seven commissioners from state agencies, and 18 members appointed by the Governor. It will be led by Public Advocate Ron Chen for a period of 15 months, with a mission to recommend how to integrate the state’s immigrant population – both legal and illegal – in matters ranging from civil rights, naturalization, healthcare, employment, job training, housing, education and language.

Calls on Chen to Investigate Secret Plan to Hike Tolls on Working Families

Senator Diane Allen (R-Burlington/Camden) called upon Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen to open an investigation into Governor Corzine’s plan to sell the State’s toll roads.  Senator Allen transmitted her request to the Public Advocate in a letter dated today.

Seema Singh's campaign for the New Jersey State Senate is not going well. A Trenton Times story details an ethics complaint against her -- seemingly at the suggestion of her former boss, Public Advocate Ronald Chen. Last week, a Gannett story revealed that she accepted campaign contributions from top utility company executives just weeks after leaving her job as state Ratepayer Advocate. And Gannett columnist Bob Ingle wrote about the potential conflict of Singh's decision to hire political consultant Steve DeMicco, the husband of Board of Public Utilities Commission President Jeanne Fox.

The ethics investigation lends credibility to comments from Corzine administration officials that Singh was on the verge of being asked to leave state government. Some Democrats say her willingness to challenge popular GOP State Senator Peter Inverso was a face-saving exits strategy.

But Singh has qualified for the first round of public financing -- the only one out of eighteen possible candidates to do that so far -- and her GOP opponent, Assemblyman Bill Baroni, hasn't said a word about Singh's bad press -- not exactly the uber aggressive campaign New Jersey watched in April when Inverso announced his retirement.