Issues Statement: The removal of marijuana from the idiotic "war on Drugs." For the past 62 years our governmet has unconstitutionally tried to regulate the personal intake of a citizens bodies. It has tried in total failure to prohibt the use of marijuana, a natural herb with many, many benifits. It has greatly exxergerated the dangers of marijuana while outright lying about it's many, many benifits. In much the same way the tobacco industry lied about the tobacco's dangers.

If I were elected I would use my position to openly advocate  Jury Nullification  as a citizen weapon in this war on us. Citizen Jurors would be encouraged to acquit citizens of marijuana offenses regardless of what evidence prosecutors present.

By Carrie Budoff

INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

 The Eighth District race offers voters a choice among two Republican incumbents, two Democratic newcomers, and one "NJ Weedman." 

Two political veterans are pitted against two Democrats who say it is time for a change, and one independent candidate whose main issue is marijuana legalization. 

Republicans Francis L. Bodine of Moorestown and Larry Chatzidakis of Mount Laurel are defending their seats, which have been occupied by their party since the 1970s.

Democrats George Fallon of Waterford and Marie Hall of Medford Lakes, along with independent Edward Forchion, the self-proclaimed "NJWeedman," of Chesilhurst, are challenging the incumbents. 

Like other Assembly races in South Jersey, the Eighth District contest has been quiet, even though two candidates have managed to make their own headlines. 

Federal agents investigating alleged corruption in Camden City subpoenaed Fallon, the Camden County supervisor of roads, earlier this month to appear before a federal grand jury next Tuesday, which is Election Day. 

 Fallon said the FBI told him that it wanted information on conversations he had had with mob associate Daniel Daidone during which he was asked how to bid for county trash contracts. Fallon said he referred Daidone to another county agency because he had no knowledge of the trash business.

         "That was the last I heard of it until two weeks ago," he said.

Forchion, who has had his own run-ins with law-enforcement officials because of his pro-marijuana stance, spent two nights in jail this month after police charged him with speeding. They discovered that four municipalities had warrants out for his arrest for not appearing in municipal court over the last year on charges of possessing small amounts of marijuana, resisting arrest, and trespassing.

  And he defines his entire run for public office as a First Amendment protest. When asked why he would want to join the government, which his Web site describes as an institution he fears, Forchion said:

"The best change is from the inside anyways. I do not expect to win, but if I start something. . ." 

Meanwhile, the Republicans and Democrats have attended events and walked the district, which spans nine Burlington County municipalities and stretches into three towns in Camden County and two in Atlantic County.

Fallon is looking to jump to the Assembly from his seat on the Waterford Township Committee. He landed that position in 1997, though his activity with the Camden County Democrats extends back to 1973, when he moved to South Jersey to be a canine officer with the Camden Police Department.

After leaving law enforcement in the late 1980s, he held several jobs in Camden County government, including deputy superintendent of elections, director of central services, and now supervisor of roads.

Fallon said his top issues included securing decent wages for the working poor and more government assistance for veterans. He said he would work to reform the HMO system so that "the patients' issues are more important than money."

 Hall, a member of the Medford Lakes Board of Education, is trying to establish herself as "the voice of Burlington County." She said that even though she is on the same ticket as Fallon, "we represent two different philosophies. We are two different individuals."

She has placed three issues before voters as her priorities: gun control, Pinelands preservation, and property-tax reform.

 On gun control, Hall said she would work to strengthen the assault-weapons ban and prohibit the manufacture, sale or possession of so-called "Saturday night specials."

From her position as an assemblywoman, Hall said, she would continue her fight against any further efforts to develop the Pinelands.

From Chatzidakis' vantage point, the NJ Saver program, along with special programs for seniors and the disabled, provides residents with "direct property-tax relief" while the Legislature works to carve out a more equitable way to fund public schools. 

Chatzidakis, who works at his family-owned car dealership in Cinnaminson, has served as Mount Laurel mayor and a Burlington County freeholder. He still sits on the Township Council and is seeking his second term as an assemblyman. 

Like Chatzidakis, Bodine has been active in local, county and state government. Since entering politics in 1976, Bodine has never lost a race, serving multiple terms on the Moorestown Township Council and Burlington County freeholder board. A victory would give him his third full term in the Assembly.

Bodine, who is vice chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, sponsored a bill this year placing a $500 million bond on the statewide Election Day ballot for road and bridge repairs.