(NJ-08) House Congressional District 08 is home to Paterson, NJ, Passaic, and parts of Essex County (where Newark, NJ is). Dem Bill Pascrell Jr is considered far and away the front runner (there are a few Sandoval signs in the district), so it's considered a relatively safe seat for Democrats. Nevertheless, Pascrell sits on one of the Homeland Security subcommittees, and since 9-11-2001 happened just across the Hudson River from NJ, the issues on his committee assignments hit a real nerve with his local NJ constituents. A lot of us think that Congressman Pascrell's diligent attention to duty on homeland security will be a much-needed asset in Congress, particularly as the FBI has said that the stretch of NJ between Newark Airport and NYC ranks as the most dangerous (jump)
two miles in the US for potential terroristic attacks, with its shipping, rail, and chemical complexes.
So I was really curious why Pascrell was bringing in Jack Murtha to speak on "The War in Iraq," when it's pretty clear that Pascrell is probably going to win re-election handily on Nov. 7th on his own merits.
Pascrell's office (thankfully) sent out an e-mail notice about the meeting, as a "dialog" on the Iraq war in a public forum, this time in the student union building at Montclair State University (MSU). The school has about 15,000 students a year there now, and is actually one of the leading institutions for teacher education in the state. MSU president Susan Cole made the introductions, pointing out quickly a couple of issues regarding education funding that the school, and teachers statewide, have an interest in seeing addressed by legislation.
Murtha got a standing ovation as he entered the room, with about 150-200 people present. Pascrell noted that polls indicated the likelihood of big wins for the Democrats in the upcoming elections, and said he expected Jack Murtha to be the next House Leader. As I have been reading a book on the career of the late Tip O'Neill, I have been recently refreshed in just how important a job, and difficult a job, that can be.
After all joined in the pledge of allegiance, we settled in for the discussion. At the head of the room, Pascrell and Murtha sat at a table, with a microphone in front of each of them, and at the middle aisle of the audience, there was a microphone, for people to come up and address a question to one or both Congressmen.
Pascrell gave a little background on Murtha, and then Murtha gave a few points of his thinking on Iraq, and why some form of timely withdrawal is in order. Perhaps other D'Kos-ers have heard the points before, so I'll just tick off a few of the highlights.
1) You don't send troops to war understrength, underequipped, without a clear-cut mission, and without a plan for withdrawal.
2) It is clear by now that the Bush Administration deliberately misled Congress, especially to secure the Congressional OK to threaten armed force, if necessary.
3) Murtha drew on his personal experiences with the Vietnam War, advising Reagan (and being ignored) on Lebanon before the Marine Barracks was blown up, working on the committee that authorized funding for Gulf War I, and of course attempts to talk to the brick wall of a Bush Administration.
Murtha was especially personal when talking of the soldiers who were killed or injured. I will not spoil it for others who haven't heard the story, but he told a story about one Pennsylvania soldier who lost a limb in Iraq, and when the Congressman came to visit in the hospital, asked for a couple of minutes to get himself dressed properly before receiving Congressman Murtha in his hospital room. When Murtha was let in, the soldier received the Pennsylvania Congressman and former Marine, Murtha saw that the soldier had spent the time to get into a Pittsburgh Steelers football jersey, with matching workout shorts. The rest of the story is meant to highlight how the Administration is sending really tough and dedicated people over to Iraq to carry out an impossible mission.
Murtha added that the war in Iraq was costing the US about $8 billion a month (i.e. $11 million an hour), yet there is no forward progress. Murtha said that this spending means that an awful lot of worthy projects are not getting done at home, one of them being a sensible spending plan for homeland security (bringing us back to the work of NJ Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr on Homeland Security).
Pascrell and Murtha were both frank about how the Republican administration has virtually shut out the minority party (Dems) from any meaningful discussion, and surprised me by saying that this translated into Congressional sessions amounting to a 2-day week. Although I follow politics, I hadn't realized that things had gotten this bad. So both Pascrell and Murtha said they favored going back to longer workweeks, and making sure that the minority voice (hopefully Repubs) still has a chance to be heard. So the tone was very bi-partisan.
Twice the meeting was interrupted by hecklers. One woman interrupted Murtha early on when he was speaking of his vote on Iraq, shouting Liar! Liar! Liar! And maybe 20 minutes later someone in a red jacket that looked like a Marine Corps League member shouted to Murtha: "You're the Enemy from Within!" twice. There were a couple of NJ State Police officers in the room, and they tensed up a bit in case there was trouble, but there was no physical threat, so the police really did not move much from their original posts. (A little while later, a few more officers from the state police and MSU police entered the room, in case back up was needed, but there was no real trouble).
Both Congressmen then opened the floor to questions, and it was a real lesson in democracy. Some Lyndon Larouche supporters asked questions about nuclear policy, many people asked questions about various aspects of Iraq policy, and specifically the Democratic plans for it (I got the sense that independents were open to hearing a solution by the Democrats), some environmentalists asked pointed questions about some environmental bills involving alternative energy, and chances for that moving forward. Another woman asked both for their positions on stem cell research. A couple of young republicans asked questions that were basically hostile in nature, with one especially nasty question from an otherwise mild-mannered 20 something, asserting that Murtha had ethical problems of his own relating to some earlier scandal (I missed the name of the scandal, as his voice was pretty soft, even with the microphone). Some veterans got up and talked about how some veterans needs were not being met, and the president of NJ's Veterans for Peace was passionate about obtaining proper funding for the Veteran's Administration, especially for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depleted uranium (DU) radiation injuries. (For a moment, this Vietnam-era vet remembered the time when rolling the stone up the hill for Veterans benefits was a struggle over the issue of Agent Orange, and appreciated both the energy of the veterans-rights champion and the long-road ahead of resistance by reluctant administrations, unless voters decide to make these issues a priority. Next to me, an elderly vet of WWII, with a cane, was nodding his head as the Veterans for Peace President spoke his piece). In a word, attending to "sergeant's business." So fellow vets, there was someone out there today standing up for your cause.
A couple of students got up, a bit nervous, and maybe had their first experience talking directly to their Congressman, on a wide range of issues. It was a beautiful thing. They were being heard!
The final questioner at the microphone was very brief: She was with a local peace activist group, and just asked if she could present the Congressmen with a petition from thousands of local constituents for peace in Iraq, and a withdrawal of US troops.
At the end, Pascrell thanked everyone for coming, and when he thanked Murtha for coming too, the crowd again got up on their feet and gave Murtha a standing ovation. At the end, even though they were pressed for time, to go to their next appearance, the Congressmen took a little time to make sure they shook a few hands. One of them was mine, and that's how I got to shake Jack Murtha's hand today.