Menendez is independent voice for New Jersey

When George Bush won the presidency in 2000 without a plurality of the popular vote, many hoped he would see his razor-thin electoral victory as an opportunity to reach out to those with opposing views and, thereby, unite the country. He was, after all, "a uniter, not a divider." Instead, he and his key advisers, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Carl Rove, determined to govern as if he had a mandate. For six years, Mr. Bush has consistently ignored -- and often disparaged -- dissenting views, even within his own party. This has led to a disastrous and worsening war in Iraq with no end in sight, a huge federal deficit, and an unrelenting attack on environmental safeguards. As a former CEO of a major nonprofit agency that fights for the environment, I particularly see these attacks on the environment as a significant threat to public health and conservation of our natural resources. For example, under this administration, we have seen (1) higher allowable maximums for arsenic in water, (2) eased restrictions on air pollution from coal-burning electric power plants -- including mercury, one of the most toxic substances on earth, and (3) dramatically increased logging in our national forests. At least four high-ranking EPA officials have resigned in protest over the agency's increasingly lax enforcement of its own regulations. How and why has this kind of behavior gone unchecked for so long? Because the Republican-controlled Senate has made no attempt to stop it. This nation does not need a New Jersey senator marching lock step with Mr. Bush. We need to keep New Jersey's independent voice in the Senate. We need to elect Bob Menendez. John Garrison, Hopewell Township - Daily Journal, November 4, 2006