Advocates and opponents struggle to shape final bill and get it in front of entire legislature
By John Mooney
Yesterday, it was a rally in opposition to the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act, although the sparse crowd in the Jersey City school auditorium made it more a polite gathering than a protest.
Today, advocates of the controversial tuition tax credit bill boast they will have 2,000 people on the Statehouse steps. But if history is any indication, the vast majority will be Catholic school students bused in for the day.
Either way, the people who really matter — the legislators who may act on the school voucher bill — are keeping notably quiet, even apparently among themselves.
“I haven’t heard a thing,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), the primary sponsor of the bill. “And you would think I would. One would hope, at least.”
But others say negotiations remain active as to the multitude of details in the proposal.
“All I can say is it is getting to a better and better place,” said state Sen. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-Union), the primary Republican sponsor, who has been involved in those talks.
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