O'Scanlon makes 2nd bid to run for Assembly
LS councilman: State Legislature has gotten worse since 2005
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

"The residents of District 12 are still seen as a collective ATMmachine for the rest of the state by the people in Trenton, and that has to stop." - Declan O'Scanlon

LITTLE SILVER - - Borough Councilman Declan O'Scanlon is set to make a second run for the state Assembly only one year after his first unsuccessful bid.

O'Scanlon, a Republican, ran for the Assembly seat representing the 12th District in 2005 with fellow Republican and former Red Bank Councilwoman Jennifer Beck.

Beck was easily elected to the Assembly, but O'Scanlon lost by 65 votes after a recount to Democrat Assemblyman Michael Panter.

O'Scanlon said in an interview last week that feels his chances for the GOP nomination are good.

"I think I've got a really good shot," he said. "I've received a lot of encouragement and support, and people who didn't even know my name last time and who probably didn't vote for me because of that, are now some of my biggest supporters."

O'Scanlon said that the issues he campaigned on in 2005, including property tax reform and government ethics, will remain his platform if he wins the party's nomination to run.

"Things at the state level are as bad, if not worse, than they were in 2005," he said. "The residents of District 12 are still seen as a collective ATM machine for the rest of the state by the people in Trenton and that has to stop."

O'Scanlon also criticized the state Senate and Assembly for failing to pass legislation during the past year to ban pay-to-play or dual office holding.

"They haven't even been able to get the no-brainers done," he said. "Talk about ineffectiveness."

O'Scanlon said that although he recognizes the 2006 mid-term elections showed a national trend toward ousting Republicans from office, he feels that it was more of a mandate against ineffectiveness, over-spending and hypocrisy.

"The legislative leadership in New Jersey is just as guilty, if not more guilty, of all these things than the national legislative leadership," he said. "I think that's what the backlash is about. The Democrats leading the state of New Jersey are arguably, in a lot of ways worse than the Republicans leading the national government."

O'Scanlon said that the views he espoused in the 2005 campaign remain the same, and that although Beck has brought to the floor bills that were in line with GOP campaign promises, the state Legislature has yet to act on them.

"There is only one way to lower property taxes," he said, "and that is by capping state spending. You have to cut the waste from the state's $32 billion budget, and the school funding formula has to be reformed. There is enough money in reformulating school funding to make a significant difference in people's property taxes."

O'Scanlon said the GOP screening committee for the 12th District candidates will meet sometime this month, but a date has not yet been chosen for the nominating convention.