On Sunday I canvassed for 3 and half hours in the warm sun in a pretty red town in Morris County.
We canvassed for Barack Obama, Tom Wyka, Ellen Greenberg and the local cadidates.
Tom Wyka is running to retire Rodnery Ferlinghuysen.
Below I'll talk about the district the people running, my experience and how you can help.
The district is in northern New Jersey and covers several counties.
Essex County:
Caldwell, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston (part; also 8), Millburn (part; also 10), North Caldwell, Roseland, West Caldwell
Morris County:
All 39 municipalities
Passaic County:
Bloomingdale (part; also 5)
Somerset County:
Bernards Township, Bridgewater Township (part; also 7), Raritan, Somerville
Sussex County:
Byram Township, Hopatcong, Sparta Township, Stanhope
The District is highly suburban with some rural and a few cities. The main employers are the Picitany arsenal and pharmaceutical companies. There is a growing immigrant population in the cities but it is still significantly white upper middle class.
The district is very republican, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen has been representing the district since 1994 and the district has a long history of electing Republicans, and Frelinghuysen. Rodney is just the latest in a long line of Frelinghuysen's who have represented the area. A Frelinghuysen has been representing the area for over 170 years in some form of another. One Frelinghuysen even ran with Henry Clay for President in 1838.
Two of the largest public works projects in the district have Rodney's family name on them. The Frelinghuysen have made major donations to all the colleges in the district.
Rodney signed the Contract for America, which has term limits but he said he didn't agree with that part. He has been known for having no real power in DC, although he does have some seniority. He is on the appropriations committee. He hasn't been caught in the scandals linked to that committee but he has taken lots of money from companies that have benefited from his appropriations. Its not exactly paid to play, but he is not perfect.
Rodney claims to be a moderate, pro-choice, anti-tax Republican working for what's best for the district except he is just another rubber stamp on the Bush agenda.
Its time to Retire Rodney and Tom is exactly the man to do it.
Tom was one of the founding members of the Morris County DFA/PDA and is a true progressive.
From his website:
I was born in New Jersey and grew up in Clifton, the youngest of 4 children. My father, a veteran of the Air Force and a retired technical writer for ITT, is the son of a Polish immigrant, who came to this country and worked as a machinist, saving money to bring his three sisters here as well. My mother worked as a school nurse in the Passaic School System for many years.
I attended Clifton High School and became an honor student, athlete, and musician. It was there that I also met my wonderful wife. I became a business major at Bucknell University, with a minor in Philosophy. The business and philosophy programs at Bucknell had a strong ethical component, where I learned that the corporation’s responsibility to the community was equal to its responsibility to its shareholders.
My wife and I eventually settled into a home in the Troy Hills section of Parsippany, raising two beautiful children. I received my MBA from Seton Hall University in 1993 and have worked in the information technology industry as a certified project manager for over 17 years.
My "calling" into politics has evolved over the past several years with the gradual realization that too many of us have placed our democracy on auto-pilot, expecting someone else to pay attention to the issues, or go to the voting booth, or to get involved. The survival of our democracy is dependent on more people getting off the sidelines and taking control of our destiny. It’s not just our privilege as citizens in a free society, but should be seen even more so as our responsibility to ourselves, our community, and future generations. We need to fight the cynicism that discourages us from that pursuit and I intend to continue to invite the public into that process as a lifelong goal, as a mentor to anyone that wants to take action, and to lead through my candidacy to make the House of Representatives - "the People’s House" - live up to its name again.
The Morris County Democrats have been doing well in recent years, including a victory in a special election in the district 2007.
They have a big hill to climb but they can do it!