Meet the Candidates - Sussex County Tech - 10/12/06
This was a great event. I had the opportunity to speak for a max of 3 minutes to a group of very interested and interesting students, as well as other office seekers. I put my speech up on YouTube. I was asked great questions by the students about the economy, environment, and programs like theirs.
I was asked about the middle class families that are hurting in Sussex County right now. This is one of the things that really separate me from Scott. He sends out e-mail after e-mail and mailer after mailer touting the economy for the nation, but here it’s not good. As a matter of fact, the economy in North Jersey has been declining. In order to protect our working families, we need our Representative to admit there’s a problem. If every decision in Washington is not weighed as to the impact it is having at home we are receiving awful representation. You can read my thoughts on the economy here.
I was also asked about environmental protection education. I said, and do believe that the EPA treats New Jersey as second class citizens. We have more Superfund sites than any other state in the nation. We need our representative to work with the EPA to get the kind of educational programming into our communities to encourage protection. However, we also need someone greasing the wheels of cleanup. It’s awful how slow they have been to deal with the Superfund sites in our district.
When asked what I would do for vocational education, I said fund it. Scott had an opportunity to do just that and he voted no. I loved listening to the students explain their programs to me (as well as eating the culinary students’ work). These are motivated students learning real world skills in Scott’s backyard, and he didn’t support them on the House floor or by showing up to the event. We’re talking about Engineering, Computer Aided Design, and Welding just to name a few. This is a great program that deserves support. These students have my backing in spirit now, and they’ll have it in action if I’m elected.