ELECTION 2006

The Race For Senate

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By Norman Smith
New Jersey’s race for the U.S. Senate between Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Tom Kean Jr. (RDist. 21) has been rough, heated and has covered many issues.
But the candidates’ views on key disability issues were hard to discern for voters interested in those views. While both campaigns maintained informative websites containing positions on many issues, neither had posted positions on disability-specific issues for voters to consider.
Senate race continued

The Race for N.Y.Governor

SPITZER-PATERSON(D,I,WF) New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is running for governor of New York, together with Sen. David Paterson (DDist. 30) for the position of lieutenant governor.
When Spitzer indicates how attitudes toward people with disabilities have changed, he emphasizes “the way we should care for and support people with disabilities (PWD)…[choosing] integrated employment over sheltered workshops, communitybased homes over institutional facilities, life planning over adhoc case management.”
Mentioning the high rates of autism in society today, Spitzer said he believes in early intervention and diagnosis as well as good choices in education for those with special needs. Spitzer suggested that the state should involve one-stop career centers in the creation of a database to connect PWD with employers. He feels it might lower unemployment for them, which is at about 66 percent – a figure he called “unacceptable.”
SPITZER-PATERSON Continued

FASO-VANDERHOEF(R,C)
John Faso, an attorney with experience in the reforma-tion of government spending practices, is running for governor of New York state, with running mate Scott Vanderhoef seeking to become lieutenant governor.
Faso, with a reputation as a fiscal conservative, is running with The Faso Plan, a platform that calls for reforms in government spending.
“Health care policy must be driven by patient needs and not status quo institutions,” said Faso. He seeks to reform the Medicaid system through the implementation of computerized tracking to detect and eliminate fraud from Medicaid. He wants to transform the current mental health system to “better serve people with mental illnesses, substance abuse problems and health issues” and consolidate the current fragmentation of services to better serve individuals who have both “serious mental illness and a substance abuse problem.”
FASO-VANDERHOEF Continued