July 23, 2009

Ahead of November’s gubernatorial election pitting Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine against Republican challenger Chris Christie, NJ Jewish News is inviting community leaders and our readers to write short essays suggesting issues they regard as critical to the state and the state of the Jewish community.

This week: David Twersky on the national electoral picture, and Sharon Falkin on distressed women and families.

To offer your own ideas on “What’s at Stake,” send your thoughts (no longer than 300 words) to editorial@njjewishnews.com and write “Stake” in the subject line.

A former editor-in-chief of New Jersey Jewish News, David Twersky was a contributing editor for the New York Sun and was responsible for international affairs at the American Jewish Congress.

Local race, national repercussions

All politics may be local, as legendary House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said, but all local politics are also national.

Either major party candidate in the New Jersey gubernatorial race will respect the government’s partnership with the organized Jewish community in areas including social welfare, medical services, job training, elder care, and education. Neither candidate is more or less likely to cross the boundaries of the consensus governing religion and state, except at the margins; both candidates are, for whatever it’s worth, pro-Israel and sensitive to Holocaust remembrance.

If the above analysis is right, then the major significance of this off-off year election (New Jersey and Virginia are the only states holding gubernatorial elections) will be to suggest changes in the national political landscape and set the tone for the midterm elections in November 2010. Heading into this campaign, a key issue will be what message is transmitted as to the voters’ inclination. Will blue state New Jersey go for Christie? If so, it will signal that the moderate GOP is still alive and that to regain power on the national level, Republicans had best look to balance their image so that it looks less like, say, Sarah Palin and more like Christie, the former United States attorney and slayer of corrupt politicians. It will be taken to mean that Democrats are now incumbents who cannot blame President Bush for their misfortunes as chief executives of their state governments, but must take responsibility for what has happened on their watch. Fair or not, the election is, after all, less Christie’s to win than Gov. Corzine’s to lose. It will be a referendum on Corzine’s leadership.

President Obama may run out of time to complete his ambitious legislative agenda, the success of which depends on the current large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. To judge by history, that majority is likely to diminish when the new Congress is sworn in in January 2011. If Democrats win in New Jersey and Virginia, it will boost the efforts by Obama and the congressional Democrats to retain their majorities for the second half of his first term. If they split, it will be seen as just muddying the waters. But if Democrats lose both races, it will be read as a defection by independents back to the GOP.

American Jews have a vital stake in the outcome of the internal debates in both national parties. This has never been so true as now, when we have, as a community, become almost wholly aligned with the current governing party and as signs of Jewish life in the minority party continue to ebb, Eric Cantor notwithstanding. With the defection of Sen. Arlen Specter from the GOP and the victory by Al Franken in Minnesota, the Senate no longer has a single Jewish Republican. (Where have you gone, Jacob Javits? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.) By contrast, the Senate has 14 Democrats (including the two independents, Joe Lieberman and Bernard Sanders) or 15, depending on how you define Jews.

So next November, vote local and think national.

 

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Sharon Falkin is president of the National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section.

Empowering displaced homemakers

“Thank you for giving me the support, confidence, skills, and opportunity to enhance my life and the lives of my children.” — Displaced Homemaker Network client.

With budgets being slashed and the economy seemingly on a roller-coaster ride, programs vital to women and their families are feeling the squeeze.

Women who receive services and business skills though Displaced Homemakers Network of New Jersey centers are counting on state-supplemented programs in order to obtain employment and reduce their dependence on welfare. These 15 centers provide career assessments, job readiness training, interview skills, resume writing, and computer classes to widows, divorcees, and wives of disabled spouses. National Council of Jewish Women, Essex County Section, operates one of these DHN centers in Livingston. Through additional support services like job mentoring, a career closet, legal and financial workshops, and peer support groups, we enhance women’s ability to obtain employment. These services give displaced homemakers the extra push they need to work through life-changing events that have devastated them financially and emotionally. They also gain the self-esteem to market themselves so they are employable.

Today, when many New Jerseyans are unemployed, any cuts in funding for the DHN centers would be disastrous for the increasing numbers of women who require these services. If job training and support programs become unavailable or are drastically curtailed, instead of working to become taxpaying citizens of our state, displaced homemakers will be forced to go on the welfare rolls, costing New Jersey far more money than the current budget allocation for the Displaced Homemakers Network.

At the Linda and Rudy Slucker NCJW Center for Women in Livingston, we more than match the state funding provided and additionally provide 2,500-plus volunteer hours for supplemental services of importance to these women. This gives the state a double return on their investment. But we could not run the program without the state grant. Nor could the other DHN centers across the state.

Now, more than ever, we implore the governor and legislators to continue funding the Displaced Homemakers Network centers throughout New Jersey. The financial and emotional well-being of so many women depends on the support of our governor and legislators.

Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com

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