Tag: 2008 US House

In today’s Times of Trenton, Josh Zeitz published a powerful op-ed piece on the crisis of energy prices facing American families this summer. Josh is the Democratic candidate for the House in New Jersey’s 4th district, and is challenging long-time Republican incumbent Chris Smith.

Josh rightly calls out Rep. Smith for a series of votes that have contributed to ridiculously high gas prices, in particular his vote to create the Enron loophole in 2000 and, even worse, against closing the loophole earlier this year.

More after the jump.

Josh didn’t pull any punches in going after Smith’s voting record and his acceptance of money from big oil.

These votes illustrate a disappointing pattern: big business first, New Jersey second. I have made it a policy not to accept any corporate PAC (political action committee) money from big oil companies.

Rep. Smith, on the other hand, has accepted more than $57,000 in campaign contributions from big oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Getty, Amoco, Conoco, Texaco and Shell. If our congressman is beholden to big oil companies, how can he possibly lead the way to energy independence?

Josh also offered his own four-point plan for dealing with the energy crisis.

1) Crack down on price-gouging by the oil-companies and investigate price-fixing by OPEC.

2) Increase the tax credit for buying fuel-efficient hybrid cars so that all families can afford to do so.

3) Pass a “use it or lose it” law so that oil companies either commit to actually using the public land on which they hold leases (75% of which is not being utilized right now) or lose the leases

4) Invest in renewable energy sources so that we can not only increase fuel efficiency but also create jobs in the green economy that we all know is going to be a growth area in this new century.

Josh recognizes that we have to both address gas prices today and reduce consumption of fossil fuels in the long run. Doing so is crucial for our economy and our national security.

Please visit Josh’s website, consider making a contribution and becoming a volunteer. To volunteer please email ian_at_joshzeitz_dot_com.  

Cross-posted at Blue Jersey

According to a new report at NJ Politicker.com, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ-4) rarely visits his district. This bit of information is not widely known, but it soon will be, and provides another opening for Democrat Josh Zeitz to make his case.

The article speaks for itself:

When Rep. Chris Smith was first elected to the House, he was brand new to the Washington scene. But after 27 years of representing New Jersey in Congress, Smith has spent almost half of his life living in Virginia. [snip]

In 2000, Smith spent 73 days and 41 nights in his district, according to Congressional spending reports. That’s 20% of his days (including travel days) and 11.23% of his nights. Since then, records show the number of days Smith spent in New Jersey has decreased almost every year.

More details after the jump.  

Here are the raw numbers of Smith’s time in his home district:

2001- 59 days, 31 nights

2002 -56 days, 26 nights

2003- 47 days, 23 nights

2004 -43 days, 19 nights

2005 – 40 days, 15 nights

2006 – 29 days, 7 nights

2007 – 48 days, 22 nights

Over the last eight years, Smith has spent a total of 395 days and 184 nights in New Jersey while on official business.

Smith was interviewed for the piece and does not dispute the numbers. I’ll leave it to you all to decide what you think of this, but I don’t doubt that the residents of NJ-4 will be interested and that it can’t make them think more positively of their veteran Congressman.

On the more humorous side, the reporter interviewed Smith’s ‘neighbors’ (he has a small rental in Hamilton Township and is the only member of the NJ congressional delegation who does not own a home in New Jersey), and found the following:

Most of Smith’s neighbors in the quaint, middle-class townhouse complex that he lists as his New Jersey residence were surprised – and sometimes elated — to hear that their Congressman was also neighbor. PolitickerNJ.com knocked on all of the doors of the units that adjoin Smith’s apartment, and of the six neighbors who answered, only one had ever seen Smith. Only two had any idea that he lived there.

Chris Smith is ripe for defeat, and Josh Zeitz needs your help to make that happen. Smith, the House ‘pro-life’ caucus chair, is a radical on reproductive rights (and not in a good way) who, for example, sponsored a constitutional amendment to criminalize the birth control pill. Furthermore, he has stood with George Bush on Iraq down the line as a senior Republican on the House International Relations Committee.

Josh is a common sense progressive who will represent the values of Central Jersey. Furthermore, his victory will strengthen the Democratic majority in Congress. Please help him out check out his website and do what you can to support him. If you can volunteer, please email me at:

ian_at_joshzeitz_dot_com

I am a volunteer and Josh’s Netroots Outreach Coordinator