# NJ Dem Senator Lautenberg dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036 "2013-06-03T14:10:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/41 "2013-06-04T19:40:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Really Not All That Bright** : > > That’s… this thread. There were two threads, but the mods merged them. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/42 "2013-06-04T20:07:00Z")
I thought that might be why, but there are no mod notes indicating that happened. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/43 "2013-06-04T20:21:20Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I am afraid I didn’t see any attacks, unless you feel that making two statements about teaching that are found to be Mostly True by the source you yourself quoted is an attack. So they should be ashamed to say truthful things? I don’t agree. > > Regards, > Shodan Yeah implying that teachers are lazy and overpaid isn’t an attack at all. :rolleyes: It is, as **Loach** pointed out, the usual bullshit from Republicans. Get someone making 30k mad at someone making 70k. Strong public schools with motivated, respected and effective teachers are how you attract people to NJ. That is pretty much the only reason I moved here from Staten Island where my local elementary school sucked. You don’t do get people into the teaching profession by constantly insulting those who do it. He doesn’t care because his kids are attending private Catholic schools. NJ public schools are [very good](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/nj_dropout_rate_among_lowest_i.html) and I would like to keep them that way. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/44 "2013-06-04T21:04:21Z")
FWIW, Christie is ducking the entire appointment issue, and has called the special election for October 16. That’s even less than 5 months until Cory Booker takes over. Um, it _is_ going to be him, right? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/45 "2013-06-04T21:15:06Z")
Christie reveals his political aspirations and wastes over $20 million in the process. Shameless. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/46 "2013-06-04T21:27:46Z")
Wow, this guy lies with the best of them: > [@](#): > > “The costs associated with having the special election and primary, in my mind, cannot be measured against the value of having an elected member of the U.S. Senate,” he said. “I don’t know what the costs are and quite frankly I don’t care.” Champion of the people, right there. My God, can you imagine if the good people of New Jersey had to wait _three more weeks_ to vote in a new senator? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/47 "2013-06-04T22:27:34Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Champion of the people, right there. My God, can you imagine if the good people of New Jersey had to wait _three more weeks_ to vote in a new senator? [Clever, though.](http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/republicans-fuming-over-chris-christie-s-senate-decision-20130604) > [@](#): > > The governor’s decision, along with growing GOP expectations that his appointee will be a placeholder, means that the GOP’s chance at a pickup now looks like a long shot. But Christie protected his own interests by scheduling a separate 2013 election, ensuring that Booker wouldn’t usher a surge of Democratic voters that could hurt Christie’s November prospects. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/48 "2013-06-04T22:46:09Z")
He would have won anyway, just not as impressively. I’d like to see Buono drop out now and be replaced by Booker. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/49 "2013-06-04T22:46:57Z")
[Nate Silver’s analysis:](http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/special-election-timing-in-new-jersey-points-to-a-weak-g-o-p-field/) > [@](#): > > While some national Republicans are annoyed with Mr. Christie’s decision, they may not be privy to all the information he had about which Republican candidates might have been interested in Mr. Lautenberg’s seat. It’s plausible that Mr. Christie could have helped a reasonably good G.O.P. nominee to a narrow victory. But if none were interested in the race, it may have been a lost cause. > > It may be reasonable to infer, then, that Mr. Christie evaluated the Republican field and did not like what he saw — and that Mr. Booker is poised to win the Senate seat with relative ease. ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/50 "2013-06-04T22:52:42Z")
I didn’t expect an October special election. Thankfully, New Jersey now has absentee voting by email, which will save my county at least 30 dollars in postage between the two elections. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/51 "2013-06-04T23:00:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > He deserves a moment of remembrance. I remember him wiping his ass with the U.S. Constitution, especially the 2nd and 10th Amendments. And I remember the way he got on the ballot in '02 stunk to high hell IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/52 "2013-06-05T09:33:50Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > You’re right. You’re not a NJ resident and probably not as tuned in as someone like myself who lives here. Christie is not particularly self effacing nor is he a particularly nice guy. > > [Here](http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/01/09/chris_christie_responds_to_female_hecklers_with_offensive_oral_sex_joke_video_.html) he is standing by Mittens and making a crude oral sex joke about female protestors. > > He’s also just incompetent. He lost us [$400 million](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/nyregion/26njrace.html) in education funding. As for Sandy’s effects has that we should just mindlessly rebuild instead of thinking intelligently and finding better solutions. That isn’t an abstraction to me. While I was personally lucky and we actually had power during the storm, my daughter was out of school for a week and driving in the neighborhood was a nightmare. I want someone from either party who is willing to figure out how to solve this problem rather than just putting up infrastructure that may blow away again. > > I don’t give a damn about the guy’s weight. Frankly I find such comments inappropriate. I do care very much that my taxes have gone up while he’s been governor and that he’s attacked teachers repeatedly. I moved into this state from NYC primarily for one reason: good schools. That’s how to keep people here and I don’t think he gets that. You can’t do that by constantly insulting teachers as a basic method of discourse. > > That’s just such a fucking asshole thing for him to state. As a former teacher who left the profession because people think it is so easy when it is not, I am sick and fucking tired of attitudes like that one. He insults hard working public sector employees while lionizing shitty, greedy investment bankers who do nothing but literally steal from the public. > > It is typical Republican thinking and it sucks. So, did you want to say a few words about Lautenberg’s death? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/53 "2013-06-05T15:14:03Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I remember him wiping his ass with the U.S. Constitution, especially the 2nd and 10th Amendments. [Let’s see](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautenberg#Political_positions_and_votes) . . . > [@](#): > > **Political positions and votes** > > **Agriculture** > In 2007, Lautenberg voted for an amendment to the 2007 farm bill which would have limited the amount of subsidies that a married couple could receive to $250,000; the amendment failed.[28] However, he voted against eliminating farm price supports and eventually voted for the 2007 farm bill as well. He supported increasing the minimum wage.[citation needed] > > **Civil liberties** > Lautenberg was not in the Senate at the time of the original Patriot Act in 2001; when the 2005 reauthorization came to the Senate floor, Lautenberg voted against cloture, but voted in favor of accepting the conference report. In March 2011, he stated to an assembled group of constituents that Republicans “don’t deserve the freedoms that are in the Constitution … but we’ll give them to them anyway.”[29][30] > > **Environment and energy** > Senator Lautenberg, who had a pro-environment voting record, wrote a bill in 1986 that established the Toxics Release Inventory, which required companies to disclose the chemicals they released into the environment.[6] He also co-sponsored the Consumer First Energy Act of 2008, which would have repealed $17 billion in tax breaks for oil companies and reinvested the $17 billion in renewable energy development and energy efficiency technology.[31] However, the Senate rejected a cloture motion on the bill in June 2008.[32] One of his main priorities in his final term was a bill he authored with Republican Senator David Vitter that would overhaul chemical safety laws.[16] Lautenberg favored alternative energy sources and voted in favor of giving tax incentives to those who use them.[citation needed] > > **Foreign policy** > In 1996, Lautenberg voted against a bill that eliminated the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the United States Information Agency, the Agency for International Development, and the International Development Cooperation Agency and allowed the President to withhold 20% of funds appropriated to the United Nations if any agency of the organization does not implement consensus-based decision-making procedures on budgetary matters that assure that significant attention is given to the specific interests of the United States. He opposed capping foreign aid and voted to give billions of dollars to the International Monetary Fund. He voted against implementing both the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. He called for action to be taken at the World Trade Organization against members of the OPEC cartel which sets production quotas that raise prices for crude oil, and consequentially America’s gasoline.[33] Lautenberg was an opponent of the Iraq War, though he was not in office when it was voted on.[34] > > **Gun control > Lautenberg was a consistent supporter of gun control. He sponsored the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, more commonly known as the “Lautenberg Amendment.” This piece of legislation prohibits individuals (including law enforcement officers and military service members), accused of a crime of domestic violence, from possessing a firearm. One of his last speeches on the Senate floor was in support of a failed bipartisan measure for increased gun control.[6]** > > **Homeland security** > Lautenberg was a proponent of the Container Security Initiative which would screen cargo containers bound for the United States for radiological contents.[35] This policy is intended to identify threats before they arrive at U.S. ports. The Bush administration argued that the policy would be too expensive to implement, as U.S. inspection teams, with equipment, would need to be installed in 700 foreign ports.[citation needed] > > **Public health** > In 1984, Lautenberg wrote the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that set the national drinking age at 21.[16] In 2000, his legislation set 0.08 as the blood alcohol level threshold for drunk driving.[16] He also wrote legislation that banned smoking on airplanes, in federal buildings and federally funded buildings that serviced children.[36] > > **Social issues** > Lautenberg was pro-choice and had voted against banning partial-birth abortions in 1999.[37] He had voted in favor of expanding embryonic stem cell research.[38] The NAACP gave him a 100% rating, indicating his strong support for affirmative action.[39] > > Lautenberg was a strong supporter of same-sex marriage, and also voted to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation and to expand the federal definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation. He voted against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and expressed his support for equal marriage rights for LGBT couples in later years. Lautenberg did, however, vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. The Human Rights Campaign gave him a 100% rating, indicating his strong support for LGBT rights.[40] > > **Tax policy** > Lautenberg voted against repealing and restricting the Alternative Minimum Tax and estate tax. Lautenberg voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which contained $280 billion in tax breaks by expanding the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, home energy credit, and college credit, introducing a homebuyer credit and a credit for workers earning less than $75,000, along with an increased ceiling for the AMT and extended tax credits to companies for renewable energy production, along with a new policy making more companies eligible for a certain tax refund. In 2008 he voted to raise taxes on those earning more than $1 million per year. In 2006 he voted in favor of repealing the Bush-era tax cut on capital gains. He was a proponent of progressive taxation.[citation needed] > > **Transportation** > Lautenberg supported federal funding of public transportation, such as Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. Lautenberg was primary sponsor of the S.294 [110th] “Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007” (Full Text), which would fund Amtrak for the next five years and provide opportunity for expansion. With the dramatic rise of gasoline prices from 2007 to 2008, Amtrak ridership has reached record levels.[41] The bill passed the House, but Senate and House differences were never resolved. He was also a strong supporter of the commuter rail project Access to the Region’s Core. When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie cancelled the project, Lautenberg called his move “one of the biggest public-policy blunders in New Jersey history” and said that “all he knows how to do is blow hot air.”[6] The railroad terminal in Secaucus, New Jersey is named for him, because he helped allocate federal funds to build it.[42] > > **Miscellaneous** > Since the advent of the late 2000s recession, Lautenberg supported a number of Democratic bills designed to deal with the resulting problems plaguing Americans. In 2009, he voted in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, popularly dubbed the stimulus bill. He later voted for the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights and the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.[citation needed] OK, I know why you mentioned the 2nd Amendment, but why the 10th? > [@pkbites](#): > > And I remember the way he got on the ballot in '02 stunk to high hell IMHO. > [@](#): > > Almost immediately, the New Jersey Republican Party challenged the replacing of Torricelli with Lautenberg, citing that the timing was too close to the election and, per New Jersey law, the change could not be allowed. The ballot name change was unanimously upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court,[15] who cited that the law did not provide for a situation like Torricelli’s and said that leaving Torricelli on the ballot would be an unfair advantage for Forrester.[13] The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. Lautenberg defeated Forrester in the general election, 54% to 44%, and took office for his fourth term in January 2003. So, why was the Supreme Court of New Jersey wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/54 "2013-06-05T15:34:34Z")
> [@](#): > > So, why was the Supreme Court of New Jersey wrong? Because the federal government was supposed to swoop in and override them, of course. Can’t have the states having any power, after all. Wait, that’s not what the Tenth Amendment says? Never mind, then. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/55 "2013-06-05T18:45:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Let’s see](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautenberg#Political_positions_and_votes) . . . > OK, I know why you mentioned the 2nd Amendment, but why the 10th? Lautenberg consistently supported and fought for things like the national speed limit, national drinking age, national seat belt laws, national BAC, national smoking bans, national domestic violence laws, national open container laws, etc, etc, etc. All are state issues and none of the feds damned business. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/56 "2013-06-05T20:35:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > All are state issues and none of the feds damned business. By what reasoning? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/57 "2013-06-05T21:33:13Z")
Because freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/58 "2013-06-05T22:07:08Z")
> [@kenner116](#): > > It’s not clear, since there are conflicting clauses in the law. > [URL=“[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/06/03/christie-faces-key-decision-over-appointment-to-lautenberg-seat/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/06/03/christie-faces-key-decision-over-appointment-to-lautenberg-seat/)”] > My guess is that it will be this November. If it goes to the State Supreme Court, they would likely favor the earlier election date. We were both wrong. The election will be in October and not November. I figured he would try to hold off the election till 2014. But this way he doesn’t have to share the ballot with a strong democratic senate candidate. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/59 "2013-06-05T23:17:27Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > By what reasoning? Enumerated powers. Most Congressmen don’t concern themselves with such limits, yet they seem to take limits on Executive and Judicial branch power quite seriously. But if Congress’ power is not limited, why should the other two branches be, given that they are all co-equal? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036/60 "2013-06-05T23:44:31Z")
Congress’s power is limited, which is why the only way they can pass things like national speed limits is by tying it to the funding that their limited power allows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nj-dem-senator-lautenberg-dead/660036.md?page=4)