WILL GAY MARRIAGE AND MEDICAL POT SQUEEZE IN BEFORE CHRISTIE TAKES OVER?

TRENTON -- Liberal New Jersey lawmakers are pushing for quick
approval of same-sex marriage and medical marijuana so Gov. Jon
Corzine can sign them into law before he leaves office on Jan. 19.

Less than three weeks into 2010, New Jersey will have a new governor,
Republican Chris Christie, who has promised to veto same-sex marriage
and rejects the rest of the liberal agenda being promoted by
lawmakers like Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) and ex-con
advocate Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), the Assembly majority leader.

Gusciora, Jersey's only openly gay legislator, said the "lame duck"
period between the old and new governors and legislative bodies is
the time "to take care of unfinished business." With no election
pending, he said, the political atmosphere is better for a
"reasonable" discussion of same-sex marriage.

A bill to legalize marriages between same-sex couples has been
introduced to the Legislature and remanded to the Judiciary
Committee. Gusciora sponsored the law in the state Assembly, and
failed lieutenant governor hopeful Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck)
sponsored it in the upper house.

Gusciora's bill faces opposition from a bill sponsored by Assemblyman
Mike Doherty (R-Washington) that would declare same-sex marriages
illegal in New Jersey, as well as exempt Jersey from recognizing the
same-sex marriages from "other jurisdictions."

Gusciora thinks his law has a chance of passage: "By and large, New
Jersey is a progressive state," he said, "but it's also a swing
state" in presidential elections.

"There's broad acceptance for the state to swing back and forth,"
Gusciora said. Jersey now recognizes "civil unions" between gay men
and lesbian women.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Massachusetts, Iowa,
Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. New York and the District of
Columbus recognize same-sex marriages from other states. California
allowed same-sex marriages for a brief period in 2008.

Gusciora said that the possibility of national legislation
legitimizing same-sex marriage legislation was in the works, but that
"convincing 435 congressmen and 100 U.S. senators is more difficult
than 80 assemblymen and 40 state senators."

In its current incarnation, the bill is before the Assembly as bill
A818 and the Senate as S112, and is titled the "Civil Marriage and
Religious Protection Act."

The other controversial bill being fast-tracked so Corzine can sign
it into law before Christie takes office is medical marijuana, which
has some Republican support in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

The medical marijuana bill passed in a Senate committee but has been
stymied by forces who contend it's really a way to get around the
laws against the hallucinogenic weed.

Meanwhile, though it's unlikely to reach Corzine's desk before he
leaves office, Watson Coleman is pushing a proposal aimed at reducing
repeat offenses by paroled convicts by making it easier for them to get jobs.

Under her proposal, employers would not be allowed to ask job
applicants if they have a criminal record. In addition, the law would
permit freed felons to get driver's licenses for use only to get to
work and would remove the current bans on ex-cons working as limo
drivers or bartenders.

Watson Coleman's ideas came under fire in and out of state government
as soon as they were made public. Among other complaints, some
critics suggested the law could clear the way for ex-cons to make a
living by suing employers who don't hire them with allegations they
discriminate against criminals.