volunteers come to door-knock this weekend! #NJGOP i
For Congress: Garrett
Posted: Nov 01, 2014 8:51 PM EDT Updated: Nov 01, 2014 8:51 PM EDT
Scott Garrett is routinely characterized as the most conservative member of New Jersey’s House delegation, and maybe of the entire House of Representatives. Voters in New Jersey’s 5th District, which includes most of Sussex County, have elected him to Congress six times. Clearly they feel comfortable with his positions.
Sussex County voters in particular respond to this Wantage resident’s calls to cut spending, reduce taxes, lessen regulation and scale back the federal government’s role in a variety of areas from education to health care, and his full protection of the Constitution.
And Garrett has been consistent in this stance since the beginning, long before much of the Republican Party came around to his way of thinking. He stands by his principles, a too rare trait among politicians.
Garrett’s opponent in Tuesday’s election, Roy Cho, is quite a different animal. His campaign pitch, with its emphasis on infrastructure spending and public-private partnerships, has the tone of a moderate Republican of perhaps a generation or two ago. He’s young, educated and enthusiastic, if inexperienced, and certainly does not have deep roots in our district, having recently moved into it. Cho’s message might have a stronger appeal for the more urban parts of the district, but it doesn’t play as well here in Sussex County.
But while the voters of Garrett’s district invariably come through for him, he could stand to do more for them. His seniority and top committee roles, increasing with each election, should be beneficial to his district.
He admits a preference to working behind the scenes where, without worry of who gets credit, he can accomplish goals over political grandstanding. Consequently, his successes are not clearly communicated to his constituency. In a meeting with the Herald’s editorial board he indicated openness to, if not enthusiasm for, a forum such as a town hall meeting.
Garrett is unlikely to modify his essential conservative approach to governing, and voters thank him for that at the ballot box.
Garrett represents the thinking of a lot of Sussex County residents. The Herald endorses him for a seventh term in Congress.
https://www.njherald.com/story/27184627/2014/11/01/for-congress-garrett-frelinghuysen