Campaign News

From Press staff reports
The Press of Atlantic City
Saturday, June 27th, 2009

A small amount of money, compared with past earmarks, moved forward Thursday for beach replenishment on Long Beach Island.

The Energy & Water appropriations bill, which funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was marked up in the Appropriations subcommittee Thursday, said a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Adler, D-3rd.

The bill included $600,000 for beach replenishment on Long Beach Island. Adler said this is a victory, since President Barack Obama did not include the project in his list of priority projects and beach replenishment funds are difficult to secure.

"Beach replenishment projects are critical for strengthening Ocean County's economy.? By securing these federal funds, shore communities and businesses will be protected from severe storms. This is a resounding win for Ocean County's residents and business owners," Adler said in a statement.

This is the first step toward securing the funding, but the fact that it is included in the first draft of the bill indicates a very high chance that the project will be funded once signed into law, said Jill Greco, Adler's chief of staff.

The multimillion-dollar project is at a standstill on the island as municipalities fight oceanfront homeowners for easements granting the corps and state Department of Environmental Protection access to complete the project.

By: MELISSA HAYES
Burlington County Times

PHILADELPHIA - The day after published reports detailed botched cancer treatments, U.S. Rep. John Adler was standing outside the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center calling for an investigation.

"I worry about what will happen next if we don't fully investigate the level of supervision at VA hospitals across the country," he said.

Adler, D-3rd of Cherry Hill, learned of the problems at the Woodland Avenue hospital through newspaper reports over the weekend, which said 92 of 116 devices implanted to treat prostate cancer administered the wrong doses of radiation.

The procedures took place over a six-year period. The errors represented 80 percent of the surgeries.

"Eight percent would be too high; 80 percent is unbelievable," Adler said. "The fact that they let it go on for about six years is outrageous."

Adler, a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is calling for an investigation.

He sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner, D-51st of San Diego, requesting hearings.

"It is unacceptable that the brave men and women who so selflessly served their country have been faced with poor treatment and neglect by the hospital created to protect them," Adler said in the letter.

"Today we are facing numerous federal agencies that have turned a blind eye toward the treatment of our American heroes. We must determine the responsible parties, hold them accountable, and fix our system to prevent this problem from happening in the future."

Adler is confident Filner would hold hearings.

"I'll be disappointed if a month from now we're not starting to have public hearings on this problem," he said. "It's frightening to me that this went on for six years."
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The hospital serves more than eight counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including military personnel from Burlington County.

The treatment problems stem from a procedure called brachytherapy, in which a device that emits radiation is implanted in the body. In this case, doctors were implanting large numbers of small "seeds" the size of rice kernels.

Of the problematic procedures, 57 patients did not receive enough radiation and 35 received too much. In some cases, patients did not receive enough radiation to the prostate but received too much to other parts of the body.

The program was suspended last year and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to investigate.

Dale Warman, a spokesman for the medical center, said the hospital would cooperate with the investigation.

"As we have done throughout this process, Philadelphia VA Medical Center staff are prepared to share whatever records and information are necessary to discover what happened, why it happened, and to take steps to prevent it from happening again," Warman told The Associated Press.

While one doctor, who no longer works at the hospitral, has been blamed for most of the errors, Adler said the mistakes passed several layers of oversight.

The hospital did not have a peer review system in which doctors examine one another's work, Adler said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

By: DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times
June 15, 2009

CHERRY HILL - These are stressful times for auto dealers.

Across the nation, Chrysler and General Motors are closing dealerships as part of their bankruptcy proceedings. And while the troubled automakers claim the closures are needed to save money and improve profitability, many dealerships are questioning the criteria used by the companies to select franchises for closure as well as the two manufacturers' desires to sign new binding agreements that provide little to no compensation in the event of additional closures.

Many other dealers complain their sales are suffering because banks are wary of granting auto loans to customers with anything less than stellar credit ratings.

Wading into the auto fray is freshman Congressman John Adler, D-3rd of Cherry Hill, who met with owners from 10 area auto dealerships plus the president of an auto dealers group on Sunday morning to discuss some of the issues affecting their dealerships.

"We're all trying to extract ourselves from this historic crisis," James B. Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Dealers, said at the outset of the meeting at the Clarion Hotel on Route 70. "There's so much uncertainty out there. For a lot of dealers, it's difficult to know what to wish for more: a letter from the manufacturer winding your franchise down or the one offering the opportunity to go forward."

Appleton was referring to the tactics being employed by Chrysler and GM both on dealerships the companies intend to close as well as those the two manufacturers have informed will remain open.

Chrysler ended franchise dealerships with 789 dealers this week, amounting to roughly 25 percent of its more than 3,150 dealerships nationwide. In Burlington County, franchise agreements between Chrysler and Mall Chrysler on Route 38 in Maple Shade and Lenihan Jeep on Route 73 in Evesham ended.

GM has announced plans to cut ties with more than 1,100 of its 6,000 dealerships by the end of 2010, including 33 in New Jersey. The company has not made public which dealerships it intends to close.

Dealerships that lose their franchise agreements are forced to sell off their remaining inventories and parts, often at a loss. They can remain open as a used car dealership but are not permitted to sell new cars unless they obtain a franchise with another automaker.

Among the dealers that met with Adler, several said they were having their agreements terminated due to the bankruptcy proceedings. The Burlington County Times agreed not to disclose the identities of the dealers because GM has made no public announcement on specific closures and because many of the dealers have confidentiality agreements with the manufacturers.

Those facing closure said the impact has been "devastating" both to their families and employees as well as many of their longtime customers.

"We've literally had people crying in our showrooms," said a dealer in attendance.

Several others questioned the selection criteria, noting that many high performing dealerships were axed.

"There was no rhyme or reason..." said another dealer. "My guys keep asking me how this happened. I don't have an answer."

Appleton and other dealers complained that New Jersey's franchise protection law was ignored, particularly by GM, which they claimed has insisted that its remaining dealers sign new franchise agreements that waive many of their rights and protections against arbitrary closings.

"It was like having a gun to your head. You had to sign it, and the agreements are almost impossible," said a dealer.

The dealers urged Adler to support legislation known as Auto Dealers Economic Rights Restoration Act, which would stop the forced closing of Chrysler and GM dealerships and mandate that the state franchise laws be honored. The bill was introduced last week and already enjoys bipartisan support from numerous lawmakers, Appleton said.

Adler, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, agreed to sign on as co-sponsor of the bill. The congressman also has supported the Cash for Clunkers legislation, which offers government rebates to consumers who trade in older, inefficient vehicles for qualifying newer models with high fuel efficiency, and has written a letter to President Barack Obama urging his administration to allow the free market to dictate auto dealership closures rather than manufacturers.

"A free market naturally eliminates underperforming entities in a fair and equitable manner," Adler wrote in a letter sent to the White House on Friday.

After the meeting, Adler said he would continue to fight to assist New Jersey's auto dealers, whom he called "the essence of Main Street business."

"It makes no sense that manufacturers are shutting profitable dealers that employ people and donate to causes in their communities," Adler said.

By: MELISSA HAYES
June 12, 2009
Burlington County Times

Rep. John Adler wants workers at county bases to be on same pay scale as those at Lakehurst.

Civilians working at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base have been earning less than their counterparts at Lakehurst Naval Engineering Station.

"It's not fair," said Wrightstown Councilman Jim Severns, who worked at Fort Dix from 1978 to 2004. "It really, really impacted a lot of people and cost me a lot of money during the years I worked at Fort Dix, but we didn't have a choice."

While employees long have known of the discrepancy, the federal government recently learned of it while working to merge the three bases into the nation's only tri-service installation, Joint Base McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst.

U.S. Rep. John Adler, D-3rd of Cherry Hill, released a report Thursday detailing the difference in pay and has introduced legislation that would bring civilian salaries at Fort Dix and McGuire to the same level as Lakehurst.

"I think it's a very necessary step to take to make the tri-service base work," Adler said.

The issue comes down to location and federal pay scale. Lakehurst, which is in Ocean County, is in the New York pay area. Fort Dix and McGuire, which are in Burlington County, are in the Philadelphia pay area.

Because of this, an employee earning $52,398 at Lakehurst would earn $49,651 for the same job at Fort Dix or McGuire, a difference of nearly $3,000.

Civilian employees hold a variety of jobs, including maintenance, grounds, firefighters, mechanics, nurses, engineers and clerical.

Adler said the disparity is discouraging to civilians at Fort Dix and McGuire who do the same work but are earning less. At the same time, he said employees at Lakehurst are concerned their salaries will be frozen until their counterparts catch up.

Equalizing the salaries would maintain morale and encourage civilians losing their jobs at Fort Monmouth, who were on the same pay scale as Lakehurst, to seek work at the joint installation, Adler said.

Fort Monmouth is closing and about 5,400 jobs are being relocated to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, he said.

"We need to keep jobs in New Jersey," Adler said. "Civilian employees on the joint base live in our communities, shop at our local businesses and deserve the same pay as their colleagues."

Adler said about 2,600 civilians are employed at McGuire and Fort Dix. In order to increase their salaries, Congress needs to find $3 million within the $663 billion federal defense budget.

"It's a relatively small percentage of the federal defense budget in order to make the only tri-service base in the country succeed going forward," he said.

Adler said his bill has bipartisan support and he hopes to see funding included in the defense budget in the coming weeks.

"I'm optimistic that we can get this accomplished," he said. "I really think it's critical."

Severns said the legislation would help a lot of people.

"That would be great if they could do something," he said. "It's about time the government started treating everyone equally."

As of Oct. 1, all three bases are coming under unified administrative control of the Air Force's 87th Air Base Wing, a new command headed by Col. Gina Grosso that will take care of all the physical plant operations at the joint base, from policing the gates to fixing the plumbing.

The Army Reserve, Navy and Air Force will retain direct control over their commands on the base, but support workers such as civil engineers will become Air Force employees.

The Department of Defense could make base pay levels conform through its own administrative processes but that would take years, compared to doing it through the Congressional appropriations process, Adler said. If the bill, HR-2714 is approved, Department of Defense officials would offset the estimated $3 million payroll increase through savings elsewhere in the defense budget, he said.

The measure is co-sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., whose district includes Lakehurst; Reps. Rob Andrews and Rush Holt, D-N.J.; and Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J.

By: Matthew Spolar
Philadelphia Inquirer - June 12, 2009

For years, civilian employees at the Navy base in Lakehurst, N.J., have earned more than their counterparts at nearby Army and Air Force installations.

With federal officials planning to merge the three bases, Rep. John H. Adler (D., N.J.) has introduced legislation that would equalize pay across the combined, 42,000-acre facility.

Yesterday, he released a report detailing the discrepancy in the "locality pay areas" that cover Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst. Locality pay areas are cost-of-living zones that determine salary adjustments for federal employees across the country.

The Burlington County bases of McGuire and Fort Dix are in a Philadelphia-area zone; their civilian employees are paid 7 percent less than those at Lakehurst, in Ocean County and a New York-area zone.

In Adler's report, he calculates that Lakehurst civilian employees make $2,747 more per year than their Dix and McGuire counterparts.

As part of a nationwide realignment initiated by the Department of Defense in 2005, the adjacent bases are to become a joint base by Oct. 1.

"For the first time you have people working for the same boss . . . but they're getting paid at different rates," said Col. Gina Grosso, the joint-base commander.

Adler said that civilian employees - administrative assistants, mechanics, nurses, and engineers - working at the joint base but earning different wages could create a "morale" problem. The bases have a combined 4,000 civilian workers.

In the past, Grosso said, the different pay rates typically meant that employees from Dix and McGuire quickly filled any openings at Lakehurst.

"If you could do the same thing and only drive 20 minutes but make 7 percent more, wouldn't you do it?" Grosso said.

Additionally, Adler pointed out, the Defense Department has called for closing Fort Monmouth, which is also in the New York-area locality pay zone.

Though Fort Monmouth employees are being moved to Aberdeen, Md., federal civilian employees can work wherever they prefer, Adler spokeswoman Kathryn Prael said. If the salaries at the Burlington County bases are raised to make them more attractive to the Monmouth employees, Adler said, his legislation could help save jobs in New Jersey.

"We'd like as many of those folks that want to work with us as possible because we have a lot of vacant jobs," Grosso said.

Adler said his bill would cost about $3 million, which would come from the existing defense budget.

He added that the bill had support from Rep. Ike Skelton (D., Mo.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

"I'm very optimistic we'll get this done in the next few weeks," Adler said.