STALLING ON TWO SENSITIVE BILLS ANGERS CORZINE

Governor Vows To Push Lawmakers For Needle-Swap And Stem Cell Laws

Frustrated by a deadlock in the Legislature, Gov. Jon Corzine vowed
yesterday to use the bully pulpit of his office to push through
controversial measures to legalize needle exchanges for drug users
and to boost stem cell research.

Corzine said he had hoped both initiatives would be enacted by now
but that each has stalled because "the legislative process has the
ability to tie it up in knots."

The governor called it "unconscionable" that New Jersey leaders have
"sat on our hands," failing to establish a program to give
intravenous drug users access to clean needles to help prevent the
spread of the AIDS virus. Delaware is the only other state that
prohibits both the sale of syringes and their distribution through
needle exchanges.

Corzine also criticized inaction on legislation to invest up to $250
million in stem cell research. He said the delay would hurt New
Jersey's efforts to become a leader in the research as Maryland and
other states push forward.

He said legislative maneuvering has intertwined the stem cell bill's
fate with that of the needle exchange program.

"Stem cell needs to happen and needle exchange needs to happen for
substantive reasons," Corzine said in an interview yesterday. He said
he will seek to bring public pressure on the Legislature, controlled
by his fellow Democrats, to enact the needle exchange legislation in
order to jump-start both measures.

"This really needs to get moved up in the agenda. I'm going to start
talking about the issue over and over again," the governor said.

New Jersey has the fifth-highest rate of HIV infection in the
country, and more than half its cases can be linked to injection drug
use. Advocates have pushed to legalize needle exchanges for years,
but opponents, notably state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark), argue the
program would encourage addiction and perpetuate urban poverty. The
measure passed the Assembly in the last legislative session but
stalled in the Senate.

That has frustrated Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), one
of the measure's key proponents.

"The days of allowing one senator to block progress on this issue ...
needs to end," Roberts said yesterday.

Rice, who is running for mayor of Newark, did not return calls for comment.

According to two administration officials and another high-ranking
Democrat, Roberts has refused to allow further Assembly action on
stem cell research until the Senate moves on the needle exchange bill.

In response, Roberts would say only he is hopeful the Legislature
will approve both measures in voting sessions next month.

"I think it's important to address both of those issues. Stem cell
research is about the promise of saving lives tomorrow, and access to
clean needles is about saving lives today," Roberts said. "No one is
going to put this (needle exchange) bill in their campaign brochure
because this got passed, but there are times when you have to do the
right thing because it's the right thing."

In contrast, Democrats have used stem cell research as a campaign
issue, and Corzine made it a cornerstone of his platform in last
year's governor's race. Still, the matter has been controversial
because much of the research involves stem cells taken from human
embryos. The resulting destruction of embryos is immoral, say some
critics of the research. Others question the spending in tight budget times.

Plans call for the state to build a $150 million Stem Cell Research
Institute on the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick; a $50
million biomedical research facility at Rutgers in Camden as a joint
venture with the Coriell Institute for Medical Research; and a $50
million laboratory at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in
Newark. The money would come from the previously authorized sale of
bonds to be repaid from cigarette tax revenue. The Senate and
Assembly still would have to iron out differences in competing bills.

By tying the needle exchange bill to the stem cell funding, Roberts
also is hitching one of Senate President Richard Codey's (D-Essex)
biggest priorities.

Codey supports the needle exchange plan, although he hasn't picked a
fight with Rice over it.

Asked yesterday about Corzine's renewed effort on that issue, Codey
said: "There's nothing wrong with fighting for what you believe in.
It's fine with me."

The needle exchange controversy has stymied dozens of appointments of
Essex County residents to state boards and commissions since last
fall. Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) has invoked the unwritten rule of
"senatorial courtesy" to block all gubernatorial appointments of
Essex residents until there is a vote on the Senate floor to legalize
needle exchange.

"With Governor Corzine's leadership, we will be able to let it out of
committee and have a full and fair debate on it," Gill said. "This is
a fight that has continued for more than a decade."

John Tomicki, executive director of the League of American Families,
said yesterday there is "no good medical evidence to show that
(needle exchanges) will reduce in any way, shape or form drug
addiction or medical abuse." His organization also opposes embryonic
stem cell research.

Tomicki added of Corzine, "He's pursuing a ridiculous political
agenda and he is not following good health care that will lead to
saving lives."

Marie Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, said:
"All of these programs are being cut and the taxes are being raised
at the same time he is pursuing research that is immoral,
impractical, unproven and unethical."

Staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report. Jeff Whelan
and Josh Margolin cover state government and politics.