The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page A18

A18 www.phillyj THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Friday, May 23, 2008 Rob Rogers Letters AMIDST TSjEDRLEHH WWR ROB ROGERS The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tony Auth has the day off.) N.J. First District Primary Your name here South Jersey Democratic Party leaders have decided they prefer backroom politics to select a candidate to replace U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews. If they get their way, whomever voters choose in the June 3 Democratic primary will become a placeholder for the person that party officials actually put on the general election ballot.

That's atrocious, and voters ought to signal their unwillingness to go along with the scheme by refusing to vote for the party's designated placeholder, Camille Andrews, the congressman's wife. Unfortunately, the shaky qualifications of the two other candidates in the Democratic primary John Caramanna and Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad mean that the voters' best alternative is to write-in another candidate of their choice. But that's what they should do. Andrews threw party leaders into a tailspin with his last-minute decision to give up his First Congressional District seat to challenge U.S. Sen.

Frank Lautenberg. His announcement came only days before the filing deadline for the June 3 primary. That set into motion what party honchos are calling a "process" through which Camille Andrews would run and win the primary with the understanding that she will step aside and allow about 800 party committee members to ultimately decide who will be on the November ballot. The district includes 51 towns in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties. Camille Andrews says she truly wants to be elected but also wants to respond to the party's needs.

Democrats have named Rob Andrews' wife to fill his seat so party bosses will have the final say. Her husband says he supports the process, but has vowed not to become the party candidate for his House seat if he loses to Lautenberg in the primary. There's no way such obfuscation best serves voters or the party, which through this scheme will only further damage its already tarnished reputation for being manipulated by bosses. Voters want a candidate, not a process that disenfranchises them. Camille Andrews, 48, actually would make an ideal candidate.

An attorney, she has an impeccable resume as a commercial litigator, investment firm manager, and former associate dean at Rutgers-Camden Law School. But her willingness to be in this scam sullies that record. She says she supports a "fair process, so everybody has an opportunity that is meaningful." What's fair about having the party nominee decided by a chosen few? The committeemen are not unpledged national superdelegates given the power to subvert the wishes of the electorate. Party leaders are sifting through the names of about two dozen Democrats who want to be the ultimate nominee. Some on the list have impressive backgrounds.

But that doesn't make what they are participating in right. On the Republican side, DALE GLADING, a resident of Barrington who heads a national prison evangelism ministry, gives GOP voters in the district their most viable candidate in years. He is running against disabled veteran Fernando Powers of Blackwood. Glading, 48, makes cogent arguments for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq until the region is stable, favors school choice and vouchers, and would raise the eligibility age and increase payroll deductions to bail out Social Security.

IPfulaMpfua jhtqmrer BRIAN P. TJERNEY Publisher WILLIAM MARMOW Editor and Executive Vice President MKELEARY SANDRA D.LONG Managing Editors VERNON LOEB TOMMcNAMARA Deputy Managing Editors GABRIEL ESCOBAR Metropolitan Editor ACEL MOORE Associate Editor Emeritus HAROLD JACKSON Editorial Page Editor PAULDAVIES Deputy Editor of the Editorial Page Philadelphia Media Holdings BRIAN P. TJERNEY Chief Executive Officer BRUCE TOLL Chairman Saving marriage Rick Santorum believes we must move quickly to make same-sex marriage illegal or else face "the end of marriage, a decline of the family, more children being raised without dads, and a deep erosion of our freedom of religion" wake-up call on gay marriage after '03 alarm went unheeded," May 22). Haven't others demanded that Catholics not marry Protestants, Christians not marry Jews and vice versa, and blacks and whites not be permitted to marry each other? Despite these calls, marriages involving these diverse groups have expanded in number, and none has in any way adversely affected my marriage to a woman of my own faith. Just how and why would the marriage of two people of the same sex who love each other and who want to declare their intention to spend their lives together as a married couple adversely affect me or the lives of my children? And does such a broadside against homosexuals not seem extremely similar to those broadsides that in earlier years railed against interracial marriages? Ian Wachstein Collingswood Distract voters The real reason for urging anti-gay-marriage amendments to state constitutions is obvious: politics (Inquirer, May 22).

It's pretty much the only "wedge" issue left to the right wing now that President Bush has bankrupted all of the others. Getting such proposals on ballots in "blue" states will probably boost conservative turnout in November. It's a great way to distract voters from Iraq, Iran, nukes, crippling oil prices, the precipitous fall of the dollar, the economy, and the deficit. Joseph W. McGuire Mt.

Laurel Age and promises It's hard when your words come back to haunt you, isn't it, Mr. Andrews? U.S. Senate candidate Rob Andrews is running an ad referencing Frank Lautenberg's 1982 campaign, in which he argued that Millicent Fenwick, then 72, was too old to be in the Senate launches age-old attack on Lautenberg," May 22). The Andrews ad concludes: "It's hard when your words come back to haunt you, isn't it, Mr. Lautenberg?" Andrews had to go back 26 years to find words to use against Lautenberg, but we need only go back several months in the case of Andrews.

He promised to support Lautenberg's reelection. Before announcing his own candidacy, Andrews openly supported Lautenberg, only to attack him from behind at the last minute. We need politicians we can trust. It's hard when your words come back to haunt you, isn't it, Mr. Andrews? John Leon Haddon Township johnleonverizon.net Tickets for students I admire Todd B.

Hilsee's suggestion to have Mayor Nutter reward a student with box tickets for sporting events (Letters, May 22), but take exception to two parts of his idea. One, why only public school students? Why not include home-schooled, parochial and private school students? Two, why only students who make the honor roll? Isn't there value in rewarding a student whose behavior has improved, whose community service makes a difference, whose leadership skills inspire others? Rewards should be received not just for achieving certain academic goals, but for working equally hard with the abilities and skills you are given. Hannah Dougherty Campbell Havertown Tasteless gun joke It is unbelievable that a potential vice presidential candidate would joke that someone had aimed a gun at Barack Obama remark at NRA misfires," May 17). A significant number of African Americans already express fears for Obama's safety on the campaign trail, given our country's history of violence against high-profile African American men. The irony of all this is how some Republican sympathizers intend to use Michelle Obama's comment about not being proud of her country in the fall campaign, should Obama win the nomination.

But how can any American be proud of her country when a political elite such as former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee tells such a tasteless and stupid joke? Junius Solomon Willingboro New NAACP President Old and young in a common cause Incoming NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous is getting lots of good wishes. But he knows that he has a mighty tall order to fill. Only three years ago, similar tidings were sent to Bruce Gordon, the Camden native whose business acumen was supposed to resurrect the NAACP's stature as the nation's premier civil rights organization. Instead, after 19 months at the helm, Gordon and the NAACP declared irreconcilable differences and divorced. Gordon and NAACP board chairman Julian Bond, who also has roots in the Philadelphia area, never agreed on what should be the organization's focus going forward.

Bond also said Gordon didn't fulfill fund-raising goals. Conceivably, Jealous and Bond will be more in tune since Bond practically ushered the new leader's appointment. Bond also believes Jealous' experience working with foundations will help him raise money for the NAACP. The organization says it no with the younger generation the NAACP needs to stay viable. But Jealous also must mend fences with an older generation that questions his civil rights chops.

The native Californian's parents black mother, white father were NAACP members in Baltimore. After Columbia and Oxford, Jealous worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Harlem. He was a reporter and editor in Mississippi, executive director of the National Newspaper Publisher's Association, a program director for Amnesty International, and lastly president of the Rosenberg Foundation, a supporter of human-rights causes. Many among the NAACP's 64-member board wanted their 17th president to be out of the same civil rightschurch mold that produced previous leaders. Some are angry that Jealous was the only applicant Bond brought before them for a vote.

Reconciliation is possible if all involved stay focused on the common goal to attack racism. LAWRENCE JACKSON Associated Press Benjamin Jealous, 35, may be able to connect with a younger generation. longer has the $3 million debt it reported last year. But that's after reducing its paid employees from 119 to 60 and closing seven regional offices. And staring Jealous and Bond in the face is the NAACP's 100th anniversary celebration in February, for which they hope to raise $100 million.

But money may be the least of Jealous' challenges. He was also tapped because, at age 35, he may have more success connecting Tell us what you think: The Inquirer wants to hear your views. Letters to the Editor are published daily on the Editorial Page and on two zoned Commentary Pages in the local section. Letters to the Editor: Please limit letters to 200 words. Submissions must include a home address and day and evening phone numbers.

Authors' e-mail addresses are published only with their consent. Letters may be edited for clarity, length and accuracy. Preference for publication goes to letters sent exclusively to The Inquirer. Because of volume, we cannot confirm receipt of each letter. Letters become the property of The Inquirer and may be republished in any medium.

For Letters comments or more information, call 215-854-4543. By Mail: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Box 41705, Philadelphia 19101 By E-mail: inquirer.letters phillynews.com By Fax: 215-854-4483 Information on submitting letters to local Commentary Pages can be found daily on Page B2. Summer The season of memories Summer is the season you remember. Who remembers winter, really? Unless there was a blizzard, and you got into a fight over the legality of whether two wobbly kitchen chairs and a broom constitute a reserved parking space, in which case you'd rather forget winter anyway. Spring is fine, especially when you catch an unexpected whiff of lilac on a soft breeze.

And autumn is spectacular, until those golden maple leaves lose their brilliance and clog your gutters. But summer is the season that creates warm memories. And that season begins tonight, unofficially. Summer provides the memory of chasing fireflies with your cousins, at an hour so late that were it a school night you'd be in bed. It provides the memory of languishing for hours in the family station wagon until finally, you traveled over a rise and glimpsed the ocean sparkling on the horizon.

First kisses happen in summer, and don't think your parents don't know it. Unfortunately, the first cigarette lurks in summer, too. Summer gives us bounty, and asks only that we enjoy. Fresh tomatoes and peaches, corn on the cob, steamed clams summer's menu makes the rest of the year seem like it took place inside a black-and-white television. Summer is here.

Go off-line and go outdoors. Dip your bare feet in a cool fountain. Watch a movie, under the stars, on the banks of the Schuylkill. Walk, and think about that $4 gasoline you're not buying. Let the crickets be louder than you.

Get caught in the rain. Summer is here. Get busy remembering..