communityprofile


Karen Carroll for Assembly by Julie Peterson


The 23rd Legislative District will be filling an assembly seat on November 8. The Democratic candidate, Karen Car- roll, feels it will be an interesting election because redistricting changed the voter make-up so significantly. The current distri- bution of registered voters for the 23rd dis- trict is 27% Democratic, 29% Republican, and 43% Other, which makes it a difficult race to project.


Carroll is running for office because she has significant concerns for women’s issues, education, health care, the environment, and senior citizens. “We have people in every community who are one paycheck away from hunger and homelessness; no health care and nowhere to turn. And we have people who have passed that point and are making daily decisions between paying the mortgage/rent, purchasing food or medicine, or paying their utility bills,” said Carroll. “This has always been a Republican legislative district,


but now, with the redistricting, the word is out that the sitting Republican legislators are too conservative for this district,” said Carroll. “I’d like the chance to pick up at least one of those Assembly seats and stand up for women and our most vulnerable citizens.”


In addition to supporting all funding for family planning services for New Jersey citizens and other bills relating to the wellbeing of women, Carroll is also a fervent supporter of environmental issues. She supports regional planning to protect water supplies, noting in particular the Highlands, the Pinelands, and the Meadowlands as key resource areas that supply drinking water to millions. In addition, Carroll is in favor of the Green Acres program to preserve open space for recreation and resource conservation, and Clean Energy funding so that more citizens could install renewable energy systems. She is opposed to the Environmental Rollback Bills, which would decrease environmental regulations, potentially allowing increased amounts of volatile organic compounds, ozone, and toxic air pollution into the environment. Carroll has had many leadership roles. In 1982, she was the founding member of the WIN (Women In Network). The following year, she was a founding member of the Somer- set County Commission on Women. From 1984-1988 she served as the president of the League of Women Voters in the Bridgewater-Branchburg area. Also in 1984, she worked for the Women’s Vote Project in NJ, which was responsible for registering 10,000 women to vote. She has also served as president of the Women’s Health & Counseling Center in Somerville, among many other community service positions. Currently, Carroll is endorsed by NOW-NJ, Women’s Po- litical Caucus, the Sierra Club, New Jersey Education Associa-


16 Somerset/Middlesex/Hunterdon Co Edition NJLiveHealthy.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48