Stephen M. Sweeney

Encyclopedia : S : ST : STE : Stephen M. Sweeney

Sen. Stephen Sweeney

Stephen M. Sweeney (born June 11, 1959) is an American Democratic Party politician, who has served in the New Jersey State Senate since 2002, where he represents the 3rd Legislative District. Sweeney also serves on the Gloucester County Board of Chosen Freeholders, a post he has held since 1997, and has been the Freeholder Director since January 6, 2006.

Senator Sweeney serves in the Senate as Chairman of the Labor Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Environment Committee. He also serves on the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

In 2001, Senator Sweeney defeated 9-term incumbent State Senator Raymond Zane, a former Democrat turned Republican. The race was the most expensive in New Jersey history at the time, totalling to $2.4 million dollars, until $4 million was spent in Fred H. Madden's successful race to unseat George Geist in 2003.

Senator Sweeney sponsored the new law allowing municipalities and other public entities to enter into project labor agreements (PLAs) when beginning a construction project. PLAs are agreements that have been adopted by private industry which allow the contractor and the employer to enter into a contract prior to the beginning of construction which establishes the terms and conditions of employment and prohibits the use of strikes and lockouts. PLAs save money in the long run because they lessen the chance of cost overruns and work stoppages, and contribute to decreased labor unrest, which can sometimes cause shoddy workmanship on a project.

Senator Sweeney also sponsored a law authorizing the Delaware River and Bay Authority to establish an ethanol plant in Southern New Jersey, the first of its kind in any of the Mid-Atlantic States. Ethanol, a gasoline additive, is the product of the distillation of corn and other plant material. The plant is expected to generate jobs for South Jersey and supply a new market for farmers in the region.

In response to heightened security warnings around potential targets such as nuclear plants since the September 11, 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, Senator Sweeney pushed to allow security guards at these plants to carry assault weapons and high-powered ammunition to better protect the security of New Jersey residents. The bill, which was signed into law in September 2003, also requires guards to undergo mandated training in the use of the firearms before getting access to the weapons.

The Senator has worked to make sure that family members of police, firefighters and emergency response workers killed in the line of duty are fairly compensated for their loss. He sponsored the law which provides state pensions to surviving family members of volunteer firefighters and emergency services workers who die in the line of duty, as well as the law that removes the remarriage prohibition to receive death benefits for spouses of police officers and firefighters killed while serving the public good. Senator Sweeney also sponsored the law providing health benefits to New Jersey National Guard members who serve for 30 days or more on state active duty.

Senator Sweeney received national attention for his sponsorship of "Maggie's Law," which establishes driving while seriously fatigued as a form of driver recklessness[Senate, Bill No. 1644, State of New Jersey, 210th Legislature], introduced June 13, 2002. The first law of its kind in the United States, "Maggie's Law" was signed by Governor of New Jersey Jim McGreevey in August of 2003. It requires sleep-deprived drivers, who have been up for 24 hours or more, face up to 20 years in jail and fines up to $150,000 if they get into fatal car accidents caused by their lack of sleep. Senator Sweeney first pursued the legislation when he was contacted by the mother of Maggie McDonnell, a Washington Township resident who was killed in a car accident by a driver who had been up for over 30 hours without sleeping.[Maggie's Law Becomes Official], press release dated August 5, 2003

On June 1, 2006, Senator Sweeney and two Assembly Democrats, Paul Moriarty (D., Gloucester) and Jerry Green (D., Union), held a press conference to announce their support for significant cuts (on the order of 15%) to New Jersey state worker salaries and benefits. This effort appears to have been put forth to avoid a one-point increase in the state's sales tax designed to partially cover pension obligations avoided by the state for over ten years, which has resulted in serious underfunding of the state's public pension systems. Significant negative reaction from the state's labor unions resulted primarily because of Sweeney's position as an Ironworkers business agent and treasurer from Gloucester County for Ironworker's Local 399, and also due to his position as the chairman of the Senate Labor committee, which controls most labor-related bills.[Sweeney to N.J. workers: Cut pay: The senator, a labor leader, said he was angered by union support for an N.J. sales-tax increase. Reaction was swift.], The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2, 2006

State unions have pointed out that Sweeney's multiple public and private sector jobs add up to much more than the salaries of the vast majority of their members. Sweeney makes $123,000 at Local 399, according to its federal disclosure form, as well as $49,000 as a state senator. Sweeney told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he donates his $18,000 salary as Freeholder Director of Gloucester County to charity and would like to take only one public pension, but can't. All told, Sweeney's income from these multiple sources appears to place him at an almost 4 to 1 advantage over the typical state worker's compensation (amounting to about $50,000) which he seeks to cut.

District 3

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 3rd Legislative District are:

Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli, and
Assemblyman Douglas H. Fisher

References

External links

New Jersey Senate

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.