
February 22,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett will be on the podium next month at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, joining the Republican presidential candidates and other prominent conservative officials.
Businessman Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are among the past and present GOP presidential candidates on the speakers’ list. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke at the conference in 2015.
The invitation comes as Garrett (R-5th Dist.) is precieved to be New Jersey’s most vulnerable congressional incumbent and will face a well-financed Democrat, former Clinton White House speechwriter Josh Gottheimer, this fall. Gottheimer raised $1.4 million last year, which was more than Garrett. Mr Gottheimer is another PR person like Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn given his disastrous tenure in Ridgewood residents may not share any enthusiasm for the media darling given the bad taste the Jim Mac Greevey mouth piece has left in Ridgewood.
Gottheimer is funded by Big Government donors,who are pro Wall Street bailouts, pro-corporate welfare , pro-crony capitalist types looking to remove the last impediment to getting their hands on more tax payer money.
“It’s not easy being a conservative from New Jersey but Scott Garrett has consistently led on conservative issues,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors the annual conference.
Garrett is a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans. He was criticized for reportedly telling his colleagues that he would not support the House Republicans’ fundraising arm because it backed gay candidates.
U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett says criticism of his stance on gay marriage is a distraction from his efforts to improve the economy.
“Hardworking families know that good jobs are still hard to come by and the American Dream is stifled by big government,” Garrett said in a statement announcing his appearance at CPAC. “Our complicated tax code is more punitive than fair, thousands of new regulations bog down innovators, and the nearly $20 trillion national debt is jeopardizing our future. But being a conservative is about solving problems, and that’s why I’m proud to join CPAC to discuss solutions that will jumpstart our economy and return our nation to prosperity.”