Hey Kossacks,
Long time no see, huh? I've been gone for a while because I've needed to get my grades up, so studying (and college touring) have been my priorities. Now that a favorable report card has come in the mail, I can return to the site I love and the writing I enjoy. With that in mind, I'd like to introduce a dear friend of mine, a candidate for Congress in 2004 and once again this cycle, running against a Congressman with a worse record on the issues than Tom DeLay (I kid you not). Her name is Anne Wolfe, and her opponent is GOP Congressman Scott Garrett.
(see flip side for rest of article)
http://actblue.com/list/annewolfe
First, let me talk about Anne. She's a 51-year old banker who served until recently as Chairwoman of the Bergen County Utilities Authority, serving over 825,000 residents with electricity, water and sewage cleanup-ironically, more people than Scott Garrett has ever represented. A resident of Mahwah, she has served as Bergen County President of the League of Women Voters, as well as being active in domestic violence and medical causes throughout New Jersey. Most importantly to me is that she's a great person as well-sharp, honest and kind. In fact, when I first met her at a Howard Dean event for Kerry last spring, she took me under her wing as a friend, not just as a volunteer. Now I'm working for as her online guru, and I couldn't be happier to do so.
Anne decided to run for Congress in 2004 against Congressman Scott Garrett, then a freshman, in the 5th Congressional District in New Jersey. Garrett had crushed his 2002 opponent despite being outspent by her by a 60-38 margin. With a third of her cash, and without national attention that had been on the 2002 open seat, Anne held Garrett to a 57-41 margin. This was even as President Bush was winning the district with over 60%, meaning that Anne outpolled Kerry-not a bad feat for a little-known candidate.
You may be asking why Scott Garrett is worth defeating, especially with such a GOP-leaning district. Just take a look at the following ratings he has received:
0% from the Sierra Club (every other NJ Congressman, Democrat and Republican, received at least 50%), in a district with hefty environmental credentials:
0% from the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence (every other NJ Congressman had at least a 40% rating):
25% from the NAACP (again, the worst in NJ), 29% from BWPAC (worst again), 17% from the NEA (lowest again), 11% from the Humane Society (with 67% being the next lowest in the delegation-see a pattern?), and-oh, yeah,
75% from the John Birch Society.
Even Tom DeLay has (slightly) better ratings than our dear Mr. Garrett. While Garrett may not be as corrupt, he certainly makes up for it in just plain extremism. For example, Garrett votes with President Bush "only" 85-90% of the time. Why? Because he's voted against certain GOP legislation that was TOO LIBERAL FOR HIM!!! And forget about compassion, too- he was the only member of the delegation to vote against extending unemployment benefits to Jersey workers in 2004.
So how does an extremist like Garrett get into office? He won the 2002 GOP primary because two moderates (trying to succeed liberal GOPer Marge Roukema) split the anti-Garrett vote, and he won in November due to some "good" opposition research (his opponent voted for Nader in 2000 and had traveled to Afghanistan as a teenager, apparently making HER the extremist). Anne's lack of funding in 2004 allowed Garrett to win, but his time may be running out. Already a wealthy GOP moderate is considering a primary challenge to Garrett, and Emily's List is seriously considering endorsing Anne, giving her the cash needed to win.
So why does Anne need our help? Simply put, Emily's List (and other big guns) demands a show of strength before jumping in themselves. In addition, Anne has a primary challenger-Jim McGreevey's press secretary, which would make DOA should he win the primary (not to mention that he's also not a resident of the district!). Anne needs to raise $200,000 by the end of the summer to prove her viability. She can raise nearly all of that herself (she has strong ties to Jon Corzine and to the NJ Democratic delegation, for example), but she wants to get momentum started for her online. With that in mind, she's set up an account at Act Blue (http:///www.actblue.com), specifically for the blogosphere to donate. Her site is http://actblue.com/list/annewolfe for those who are already interested.
But here's the thing-what I want to hear from all of you is not the cash register (although that's always nice). I want to hear what you have to say about not only Anne, but your candidates as well. Because we're all in this together now-striving to ensure that our nation will not suffer for much longer under the oppressive atmosphere of hate and lies that we face nowadays. We're all looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, and our candidates-no matter where they're from-will open the doors to a new, more promising world. Anne shares that vision, and I'm sure that all of you do, too. So let me know what you think in this diary. Thanks!
(Note: We're currently redesigning our website, which will be done sometime later this week. We'll be having a blog as well, which I'll be in charge of.)