Latino Action Network Announces Opposition to Opportunity Scholarship Act

For Immediate Release: December 5, 2011

Christian Estevez, Chair, Education Committee – 973-418-7012

Daniel Santo Pietro, Chair, Public Policy Committee – 732-496-9628

The Latino Action Network [LAN] today announced its opposition to the Opportunity Scholarship Act because it would drain money away from public education and give it to corporate interests so it could be doled out to private schools.

“The Opportunity Scholarship Act is a big gimmick that benefits corporate interests that would do nothing to help poor children stuck in failing school districts,” said Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President of the Latino Action Network and Chair of the Education Committee. “Not one penny of corporate money would fund the scholarships established by this misguided legislation. The state would take money from our public schools and hand it to the corporations, who would then claim corporate philanthropy with our tax dollars.”

Estevez concluded: “This is an educational gimmick of the worst sort. This legislation does nothing to address the core issues of housing and educational segregation. We pledge to work with legislators to address the real issues that hurt so many children of low and moderate-income families.”

Below is the official policy statement of the Latino Action Network with regards to the Opportunity Scholarship Act: 

LAN FYI: Star-Ledger: NJ Supreme Court judges should reflect state's diversity

"The state Supreme Court that returned to work this week holds a troubling distinction: For the first time in 20 years, there are no minority judges on the bench. And yet more than 40 percent of the state's population is black, Hispanic or Asian." 

-Star-Ledger Editorial Board

The Star-Ledger printed an editorial today where they joined in the call for the Governor to create a court that better reflects all of the state's residents. The Latino Action Network (LAN) issued a press release in conjunction with allied organizations in the African-American and Latino communities on September 12, 2011 announcing a letter sent by this coalition to Senator Sweeney and state leadership demanding that they only advance nominations to the New Jersey Supreme Court if they result in an independent court representative of all New Jerseyans. 

See Star-Ledger Editorial below:   

LAN FYI: Judge dismisses tea party's request for injunction on new legislative map | Politicker NJ

A Superior Court judge today rejected the Bayshore Tea party's motion to enjoin the current legislative map, saying the tea party had not demonstrated that their suit to invalidate the map would succeed in court.  [Note: The Latino Action Network was actively involved in the Legislative Redistricting process as a member of the New Jersey Redistricting Coalition which included the NJ NAACP, La Causa NJ, Black Issues Convention and other organizations.]

http://bit.ly/nkImPP

Judge dismisses tea party's request for injunction on new legislative map

By Darryl R. Isherwood | August 18th, 2011 - 2:59pm

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A Superior Court judge today rejected the Bayshore Tea party's motion to enjoin the current legislative map, saying the tea party had not demonstrated that their suit to invalidate the map would succeed in court.

Judge Linda Feinberg said she was inclined to dismiss the complaint entirely but will reserve judgment until the end of next week.

"We are obviously pleased with Judge Feinberg's decision today and are hopeful the entire complaint will be dismissed next week," said attorney Bill Castner, who is acting as counsel to the Democratic commissioners.

Had the tea party's request for injunction been granted all current legislative candidates would have been declared invalid.

The tea party is seeking to have the map thrown out on the grounds that it was gerrymandered and would give Democrats control of the Legislature for the next decade.

The map was chosen in April by the 11-member reapportionment commission made up of five Democrats,  five Republicans and a neutral tie-breaking member.  The tie-breaker, Rutgers Professor Alan Rosenthal, sided with the Democratic map, all but ensuring the party would maintain control of the Legislature.

The suit claims "the Commission Map in its current construction dilutes or nullifies the voice of the voters in the southern half of the state and in the state's two largest municipalities, Newark and Jersey City."

The lawsuit claims the Commission Map over-packed the southern half of the state, causing an unconstitutional 18 percent deviation, which is 8 percent higher than the 10 percent deviation permitted by U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Also alleged in this suit are illegal splits of Newark and Jersey City from three districts each to two.

"These splits dilute the representation of these urban municipalities by reducing the number of elected legislators from 9 representatives to 6 in violation of New Jersey Supreme Court precedent," according to a release issued by the Bayshore Tea Party.

The legislative map is redrawn once per decade to coincide with the release of new census numbers. 

Latino Action Network Calls on Governor Christie to Compromise with Legislature on Budget

The Latino Action Network [LAN] today called on Governor Christie to compromise with the State Legislature on the current budget after carefully analyzing its impact on the Latino community.

Latino Action Network Calls on Governor Christie to Compromise with Legislature on Budget

For Immediate Release: June 29, 2011

Frank Argote-Freyre, President – 908-670-0552

Daniel Santo Pietro, Chair, Public Policy Committee – 732-496-9628

            The Latino Action Network [LAN] today called on Governor Christie to compromise with the State Legislature on the current budget after carefully analyzing its impact on the Latino community.

Budget bill A-4200 softens the impact on the Latino community by doing the following:

• Adds $660 million in aid for non-Abbott school districts with “at-risk” low-income students. $447 million were already mandated by a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision for Abbott districts. 
• It softens the impact on Medicaid and FamilyCare eligibility, which Governor Christie has cruelly sought to reduce.
• Restores funding for some Latino community-based non-profits by providing additional funds for  the Hispanic Women’s Resource Centers, the Center for Hispanic Policy Research and Development and Division of Youth and Family Services community support services.

“For the last two years this Governor has endorsed measures that have disproportionately hurt the economically vulnerable, working families, and the middle class,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, President of the Latino Action Network. “Governor Christie has perpetuated the myth of shared sacrifice, but has asked nothing of the wealthiest citizens and the corporate interests. He has distinguished himself as a coddler of the wealthy and a miser to the poor.”

            An analysis by the Latino Action Network indicates that the Legislature’s budget softens cuts to FamilyCare and Medicaid advocated by Governor Christie. The Governor’s proposed budget looks to save $300 million by asking the federal government to approve a waiver freezing adults out of FamilyCare by lowering eligibility to families earning less than $5,000 a year, and  by restricting Medicaid eligibility. The LAN is urging the federal government to reject Governor’s Christie’s application seeking the new restrictions.

            The Legislature’s budget alternative also restores just over $2 million to the Center for Hispanic Policy Research and Development, an agency that was decimated last year as a result of a 75% percent reduction in funding. “Governor Christie has virtually dismantled the Center which has served as an important institution in the community for more than three decades,” noted Daniel Santo Pietro, Chair of the LAN’s Public Policy Committee. “LAN expects that all Latino legislators will take a leadership role in promoting Latino needs and pressure the Governor to compromise on these areas important to our community.”

            The Latino Action Network was founded in 2009 to fight for political empowerment and defend civil rights. It is the largest statewide advocacy organization dedicated to championing issues of concern to the Latino community.

Latino Action Network Critical of Governor Christie’s Choice to Dismantle FamilyCare

The Latino Action Network [LAN] today denounced the latest attack by Governor Chris Christie on New Jersey’s FamilyCare program. This service offers coverage to working families who are above the income levels permitted by Medicaid but whose family income does not allow them to buy health insurance on the open market. 

Latino Action Network Critical of

Governor Christie’s Choice to Dismantle FamilyCare

For Immediate Release: May 23, 2011

Frank Argote-Freyre, Chair – 908-670-0552

Daniel Santo Pietro, Chair, Public Policy Committee – 732-496-9628

            The Latino Action Network [LAN] today denounced the latest attack by Governor Chris Christie on New Jersey’s FamilyCare program. This service offers coverage to working families who are above the income levels permitted by Medicaid but whose family income does not allow them to buy health insurance on the open market.

            “The corporate coddling, low-income bashing policies of Governor Christie are obvious once again in this year’s proposed budget,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, President of the Latino Action Network.  “The latest Christie proposal all but eliminates FamilyCare for working parents. This is more of the same cruel social policy we have come to expect from this governor.”

Governor Christie started dismantling FamilyCare last year when he arbitrarily removed 13,000 adult immigrants from FamilyCare, and then lowered eligibility for a family of four from $36,000 to $25,000 annual income barring about 50,000 more parents.  Earlier this month, the Christie Administration announced that under the latest budget proposal for Medicaid only parents earning about five thousand dollars a year will be eligible thereby eliminating working parents.

“The Governor is following a pattern of refusing to invest state money that the federal government more than matches to extend health services to working people,” said Daniel Santo Pietro, chair of the LAN Public Policy Committee. “Latinos will be disproportionately affected.  In the past Latino social service agencies, whose funding the Governor also has cut dramatically, made a concerted effort to enroll families only to see them eliminated from the program.  Latinos have the highest rates of families living without coverage in New Jersey—about 40%.”

If the budget is not modified, over a hundred thousand parents will likely be cut from the program.  Thousands of children are sure to follow once their parents lose coverage. The result is that New Jersey will lose millions in federal funding, and these working families will likely resort to emergency rooms for healthcare putting greater pressure on local hospitals, who do not have sufficient Charity Care funds to attend to their current population.  The Governor’s moves also undermine the federal healthcare reform law that in 2014 expects to expand Medicaid and create insurance exchanges to provide vehicles for nearly everyone to get health coverage.

Earlier this year, the LAN joined a lawsuit against the Christie Administration challenging last year’s cuts to FamilyCare. The Latino Action Network was founded in 2009 to fight for political empowerment and defend civil rights.

A Plan for New Jersey Supreme Court Without Diversity An Injustice

The “deal” announced yesterday by Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney would turn back the clock and ensure that New Jersey’s Supreme Court lacks racial and ethnic diversity — even as New Jersey’s Latino, African-American, and Asian-American populations continue to grow and make up over 40 percent of the state’s population.

A Plan for New Jersey Supreme Court Without Diversity An Injustice

For Immediate Release: May 3, 2011

Contacts:

Frank Argote-Freyre, President – 908-670-0552

Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President – 973-418-7012

The “deal” announced yesterday by Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney would turn back the clock and ensure that New Jersey’s Supreme Court lacks racial and ethnic diversity — even as New Jersey’s Latino, African-American, and Asian-American populations continue to grow and make up over 40 percent of the state’s population.

“New Jersey’s Supreme Court should represent all of the people. This so-called deal would create a Supreme Court that makes important decisions impacting communities of color — without any representation from any of those communities,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, President of the Latino Action Network. “It erases hard-fought victories by the Latino and African-American communities to ensure representation on the Court.”

New Jersey, according to the 2010 Census, has the twelfth-highest percentage of people of color of any state, with Latinos, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans making up 40.7 percent of the state's population. Latinos are the largest minority group in New Jersey and accounted for the vast majority of population growth in New Jersey over the last decade.

Of the eleven states with higher percentages of people of color than New Jersey, all except Arizona have at least one sitting African-American, Latino, or Asian-American Supreme Court justice, according to a review of judicial websites in those states.  Of the 21 other states that are less than 70 percent white, 17 have at least one sitting African-American, Latino, or Asian-American Supreme Court justice. 

"With this move, New Jersey would go to the bottom of the pack, along with notoriously racially divided states like Arizona, in judicial diversity," Argote-Freyre said. "We urge the Senate to reject this deal that turns back the clock on representation of all New Jerseyans and instead work with Gov. Christie to replace Justice Rivera-Soto with another Latino justice."

New Jersey’s seven person Supreme Court had an African-American justice from 1994-2010, first Justice James H. Coleman, Jr., and then Justice John E. Wallace, Jr. Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, who became the first Latino justice in 2004, would be replaced by Anne Patterson in the proposed deal.

The Latino Action Network is a broad, statewide coalition of Latino organizations devoted to civil rights and political empowerment.

LAN Supports Selection of New Legislative Map - Months of Negotiations Preceded the Final Result

The Latino Action Network [LAN], a broad, statewide coalition of Latino organizations, today congratulated the Apportionment Commission for choosing a final redistricting map that significantly increases the opportunity for Latino communities in New Jersey to elect candidates of choice. The Democratic map selected by the Commission, which the LAN favored as a member of the New Jersey Legislative Redistricting Coalition on Saturday, provided far stronger opportunities for the Latino community than the alternative Republican map rejected by the Commission.
 

LAN Supports Selection of New Legislative Map
Months of Negotiations Preceded the Final Result

For Immediate Release: April 5, 2011

Contacts:
Frank Argote-Freyre, President – 908-670-0552
Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President – 973-418-7012

The Latino Action Network [LAN], a broad, statewide coalition of Latino organizations, today congratulated the Apportionment Commission for choosing a final redistricting map that significantly increases the opportunity for Latino communities in New Jersey to elect candidates of choice. The Democratic map selected by the Commission, which the LAN favored as a member of the New Jersey Legislative Redistricting Coalition on Saturday, provided far stronger opportunities for the Latino community than the alternative Republican map rejected by the Commission.

"We congratulate the Commission for choosing the map that better represents the Latino community", said Frank Argote-Freyre, President of the LAN. "This map represents a significant step forward for the Latino community, while the alternative would have 'cracked' and 'packed' Latino communities to reduce representation. Now, the burden is on both parties to listen to the Latino community in the upcoming county endorsement process, and ensure that the opportunities presented by the new map are actually realized."

The LAN’s redistricting efforts were led by Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President of the Network.

Estevez highlighted the following areas in which the chosen map follows the recommendations of the Legislative Redistricting Coalition:

*** Adding Elmwood Park and its growing Latino community to the district of Assemblywoman Nellie Pou, chair of the New Jersey Legislative Latino Caucus.

*** Putting the Ironbound and North Ward areas of Newark and the growing Latino population of Belleville together in one district, instead of two as in the current map.

*** Redressing the splitting of the Latino community in Monmouth County in the current map by putting Red Bank, Freehold, Long Branch, and Asbury Park into one district.

*** A fairer division of Bergen County that unites key Latino communities and Asian-American communities, instead of the current map’s separation of those communities.

Estevez noted the LAN’s disappointment that changes recommended in Atlantic and Middlesex Counties — to connect Atlantic City and Vineland and New Brunswick and Perth Amboy — were in neither party’s final proposal. Estevez said that despite these problem areas, overall the map still represented a significant improvement.

In contrast, the Republican proposal rejected by the commission would have:

*** Put Fair Lawn into the district of Assemblywoman Pou, thus pushing sitting State
Senator Bob Gordon into representing a largely Latino district.

*** Split the Ironbound and North Ward areas of Newark and Belleville into three
districts, even more than the two in the current map.

*** Continued the splitting of the Latino community in Monmouth County in the
current map by once again splitting Red Bank, Freehold, Long Branch, and
Asbury Park into two districts.

*** Diluted Latino strength by creating a bizarrely shaped district packing two very
different Latino communities, Passaic and North Bergen, into a single district.

*** Cracked the growing Latino population in Plainfield from other strong Latino
communities in Union County.

"The Republican Commissioners refused to show LAN and other Redistricting Coalition members their final map, and now we see why," Estevez said. "The map would have been a disaster for the Latino community."

The LAN emphasized that maps alone did not guarantee representation, and said it would now turn its efforts to ensuring that both parties ran more candidates of choice of the Latino community.

Argote-Freyre concluded: "Both the Democrats and the Republicans have key opportunities under this map to run more candidates that have a strong base of support in New Jersey’s Latino communities. In order for this map to realize this promise, they need to seize those opportunities — beginning with this year’s legislative elections."

¡DESPIERTA LATINO! INSRIBETE Y VOTA! - Wake Up Latino! Register and Vote!

The Latino Action Network [LAN] today announced its participation in a statewide coalition to register Latino voters and foster political empowerment in a community that has been traditionally underrepresented. The LAN took part in a press conference at the State House in Trenton this afternoon kicking off the campaign.

 ¡DESPIERTA LATINO! INSRIBETE Y VOTA!

Wake Up Latino! Register and Vote!

Latino Action Network (LAN) joins Coalition of Organizations to mobilize Latino Vote

For Immediate Release: February 10, 2011

Contacts:

Jose Perez, Vice President – 919-389-0178

The Latino Action Network [LAN] today announced its participation in a statewide coalition to register Latino voters and foster political empowerment in a community that has been traditionally underrepresented. The LAN took part in a press conference at the State House in Trenton this afternoon kicking off the campaign.

             “Today we are joining this coalition so that we can alert our community that it’s time for us to wake up and vote. LAN has joined this community collaborative so we can do our part, to ensure that Latino voter participation in New Jersey increases” said Jose Perez, LAN Vice President for Central New Jersey.

            New Jersey's Latino population has grown significantly since 2000 – from 13.3 percent, to, according to the recently released US Census data, nearly 18 percent. However, over 39% of Latinos who are eligible to vote have not registered. LAN will work within the coalition to identify and target communities for the voter mobilization campaign.  According to the 2010 US Census data, Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Toms River, Trenton, Clifton, Camden, Passaic, Freehold and Union City are New Jersey municipalities with significant Latino populations with Union City having the largest Latino population at 85%.

Additionally, we are calling for a more aggressive implementation by the State of New Jersey of The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) or Motor Voter law that became effective on January 1, 1995.  “An effective implementation of the requirements of the Motor Voter Law by the state would go a long way towards increasing voter registration in our community” Perez concluded.

The Latino Action Network is a broad, statewide coalition of Latino organizations dedicated to political empowerment, the promotion of civil rights, and the elimination of disparities in the areas of education, health, and employment. It was founded in 2009.

Latino Action Network Urges Latinos to Get Involved in Redistricting Process

The Latino Action Network today urged Latinos across New Jersey to actively participate in the redistricting process that formally begins tomorrow with two hearings. The New Jersey State Apportionment Commission will hold hearings tomorrow in Camden and Toms River to consider how to redraw state legislative districts in light of demographic changes over the last decade. [Read full Press Release below]

 

Latino Action Network Urges Latinos to Get Involved in Redistricting Process

Latino Political Voice at Stake

Leaders to Testify Before Commission

For Immediate Release: January 28, 2011

Contacts:

Frank Argote-Freyre, President – 908-670-0552

Christian Estevez, Executive Vice President – 973-418-7012

            The Latino Action Network today urged Latinos across New Jersey to actively participate in the redistricting process that formally begins tomorrow with two hearings. The New Jersey State Apportionment Commission will hold hearings tomorrow in Camden and Toms River to consider how to redraw state legislative districts in light of demographic changes over the last decade.

“We want to ensure that the Latino community is fairly represented in whatever legislative map is developed,” said Frank Argote-Freyre, President of the Latino Action Network. “Our numbers are growing and we expect that our representation will follow the same upward trajectory. New Jersey's Latino population has grown significantly since 2000 – from 13.3 percent, to, according to the latest available data, 16.7 percent.”

Argote-Freyre continued: “Currently there are only seven Assembly members and one State Senator from the Latino community which is evidence of  under-representation on the state level. We expect the Commission to address those issues in redrawing the state’s  legislative districts.”

The LAN was founded in 2009 as a vehicle to mobilize the Latino community to seek greater social and economic justice.