On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the current U.S. House Representative from New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District, Christopher Smith, who is currently serving in his 18th term in office, and who we gave praise for his work in stopping international child sex trafficking. That however, does not change the fact that Smith is one of the worst anti-abortion zealots in our entire government, and has been linked to “7 Mountains” Dominionist groups of Fundamentalists who believe Christians are destined to take over all of American life. He has compared abortion to the Holocaust, and referred to it as “child slaughter” and prior to the 2012 election as well as in 2015 said that Barack Obama is “the abortion president” who has promoted “radically pro-abortion” people to the government who are promoting “evil” with an “anti-child, anti-woman mentality.” Not surprisingly, whenever a controversial pro-life bill hits the floor of the House, Rep. Smith is usually a sponsor or co-sponsor, including Personhood legislation, and attempts to redefine the definition of “rape” by doing things like classifying if it’s “forcible” rape or not. When the Center for Medical Progress released their fraudulent video to frame Planned Parenthood (which Smith refers to PP as “Child Abuse, Inc”) in 2015, Smith still didn’t hesitate to fire off one of the most unhinged press releases when the story first hit, graphically describing “crushing babies” and accusing Planned Parenthood supposedly selling “baby body parts”. (Which were the exact things the mass shooter at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood was rambling about… so nice use of stochastic terror triggers there, Rep. Smith! As extreme as he is on the issue of abortion, he’s also rather appalling on the issue of LGBT rights, not just being opposed to gay marriage, but trying to argue that homosexual rights are not human rights, and going with Rep. Trent Franks to the United Nations to demand they not give recognition to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, siding with nations against them like Egypt, Angola, Burundi, China, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan. (In all those countries but China, LGBT people can be jailed, fined, or whipped.) Nothing like allying yourself with the world’s classiest countries to deny rights to gays, right?
Chris Smith won re-election in 2016 over Democrat Lorna Phillipson with 64% of the vote. As such, he’s been able to return to the House for a 19th term in office and participate in some of the most troubling legislation in any session of votes for HR Congress in decades:
- January 24th, 2017: Rep. Smith sponsors the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”, continuing his obsession with anti-abortion legislation at least once per session of Congress. It passes the House, but predictably stalls in the Senate.
- March 16th, 2017: Christopher Smith votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Smith votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
- June 8th, 2017: Christopher Smith votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
Again, we want to be clear. Congressman Chris Smith has done a great deal of good with the office he has held for 38 years. His work in preventing human trafficking is commendable. This past year, he did fight for a permanent renewal of the Zadroga Act. But when it comes to women’s rights and LGBT rights… well, those are a whole other story. He’s still been yelling his head off about Planned Parenthood and calling them “Child Abuse, INC” when he speaks in front of religious right groups. However, outside of “safe places” where he panders to his own element, Smith is currently hiding from his constituents in New Jersey’s 4th District like a coward rather than face them regarding a lot of his votes, and they were forced to host a town hall without him in February 2017. Of course, Rep. Smith hasn’t hosted a town hall in over a quarter century, so there’s that. This might be a sign that they should be in the market for a new Congressman. And apparently, people are less than thrilled, as protests took place at one of Smith’s fundraisers in March of 2017. So it’s okay to meet with your campaign donors, but not the actual people you represent. Got it.
And about two weeks ago, a challenger emerged in the Democratic primary in the form of Josh Welle, an Afghanistan war veteran and Harvard graduate with a background in both business and journalism that rounds him out very well as a candidate. New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District is the most conservative in the state, with a +8 Republican lean, but in 2018, with the strongest Democratic advantage in any election in decades, Welle could easily prevent Chris Smith from getting a 20th term in office.