Donations Arrive at Salvation Army Warehouse in Trenton En Route to Shore Areas
Trenton, NJ, Nov 11 – Two packed trucks—loaded with donations for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy— arrived in Trenton today and were unloaded by a group of volunteers, including Congressman Chris Smith (Robbinsville, NJ), whose district was pummeled by the hurricane.
“This is a wonderful act of goodwill and charity on the part of many who want to help New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy,” Smith said. “It is truly heart-felt. On behalf of the people of the Fourth Congressional District and all the hard hits areas of New Jersey, I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. LaTourette of Ohio, the Chesterbrook Elementary School, Gentle Giant Moving Company and the American Trucking Association and all those who made contributions for collecting and shipping these donations to New Jersey. I am extremely appreciative to Maj. Phil Davis of the Salvation Army and his workers who helped unload the trucks and will help make these items available to the victims of Sandy.” Smith, who represents Trenton as well as large Jersey Shore areas in Monmouth and Ocean counties, helped unload two trucks alongside the drivers, Salvation Army workers and other volunteers at the Salvation Army’s warehouse on Enterprise Avenue in Trenton.
U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette (OH-14), who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, and his wife Jennifer and their two children, helped coordinate the effort through their school, sending a total of three trucks. Cong. LaTourette’s Washington office is down the hall from Cong. Smith’s office. After viewing some of the carnage at the Jersey Shore, they decided to offer to collect goods for the victims.
The first truck arrived Wednesday night at a Monmouth County staging area in Lincroft, N.J. Drivers braved the heavy snowfall that totaled over a foot of snow in some areas of Smith’s district from the powerful Nor’easter that followed a week after Hurricane Sandy. The snow storm hampered hurricane relief efforts, including causing a power outage at the Lincroft site that left the drivers out in the cold to sleep overnight in a Lincroft parking lot. The following morning, the drivers were assisted by hard-working county employees from the parks and recreation departments to unload the donations.
The Salvation Army, which runs a relief operation in Monmouth County, sorts through donated items at its Trenton warehouse for redistribution at the Jersey Shore. Donations included bottled water, blankets, winter coats and cleaning supplies (such as new brooms, mops and cleaning chemicals) and other goods.
Congressman Chris Smith and Monmouth County Shaun Golden prepared to survey Hurricane Sandy damage
Congressman Chris Smith easily defeated his Democratic challenger, Brian Froelich of Spring Lake, to earn his 17th term in the House of Representative. Smith new 4th district includes most of Monmouth County and parts of Ocean and Mercer County.
With 68% of the vote, Smith is the only Republican in the New Jersey delegation to break 60%.
By popular demand (from Matt Rooney and a Democratic operative who doesn’t want people to know he/she talks to me) your favorite blogger is shifting his focus away from the Sandy Aftermath and back to politics on this election eve.
Rooney said, “Let’s hear your projection, Gallagher.” My response: “The power will be off at my house for the rest of the week.”
Has high praise for Congressmen Chris Smith and Rush Holt.
Angry with Congressman Pallone and JCP&L
Middletown Mayor Tony Fiore has set up a charitable fund to assist residents of the storm battered bayshore sections of the township. The Middletown Disaster Relief Fund is accepting tax deductible donations to help residents of Leonardo, Belford, Port Monmouth and North Middletown.
Donations can be sent to:
Middletown Disaster Relief Fund
c/o Mayor’s Office
1 Kings Highway
Middletown, NJ 07748
Praise for Smith and Holt
“Congressman Chris Smith has been an absolute godsend, he’s the hero of the bayshore,” Fiore exclaimed during an interview on Friday. “The north side of the township is a disaster area. Smith was here for hours. He’s getting us added security and federal assistance. That part of town is not even in his district.”
“Rush Holt has been great. Middletown is not part of his district anymore, yet he called and offered his help for which I am very grateful.”
Where’s Frank?
Fiore is not happy with Congressman Frank Pallone.
“I haven’t heard from him since August of 2011. Someone should tell him that his constituents on the bayshore are hurting. He’s off surveying a fishing pier in Middlesex County that no one fishes from and that is far from where anyone lives.” Fiore said that a “low level staffer” from Pallone’s office called his Mayor’s office. The mayor’s assistant called back and asked that the congressman call the mayor directly on his cell. Fiore said he hasn’t heard from him.
“JCPL was better after Irene”
“I’m tired of hearing about how this is the worst storm ever and how they’ve never encountered anything like this. Take the excuses back to Ohio,” a frustrated Fiore said of electric utility JCPL, a subsidiary of Ohio based First Energy Corp.
“PSE&G and Atantic City Electric are restoring power much faster than JCP&L is, I’m really tired of the excuses. They should have been better prepared.”
Fiore was highly critical of the utility during and after the August 2011 Hurricane Irene. His frustrations with them are worse this time.
“They are avoiding being held accountable, said the mayor ,”during Irene they gave me frequent updates and promises with which I could keep Middletown residents informed. Now they are informing directly with the public. There is no elected official holding them to account. My government affairs representative is doing as well as he can, but he and I can get the same information from the company’s web site.”
The following is a release from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal on behalf of Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (Monmouth-6) and Brian Froelich (Monmouth-4) – Democratic Candidates for US Congress in Monmouth County:
TO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES ANNA LITTLE AND CHRIS SMITH…
WHERE DO YOU STAND ON JOE KYRILLOS’ FLIP-FLOPS?
“This week, Joe Kyrillos broke from the Republican Party’s stalwart position against raising any taxes, even on the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America. However, when the GOP establishment attacked his stance, Joe Kyrillos quickly backtracked. This incident does raise an important question that effects all NJ voters – where does our the Republican Senate Candidate stand on the issue of tax fairness and where do the Republican Members of Congress and candidates stand on this issue. New Jersey Democrats have consistently been leaders on this issue, pushing for a millionaires tax that would ask everyone to pay their fair share.
Now is the time to ask these Republicans where they stand – do they stand with the Joe Kyrillos who has spent over 2 decades in Trenton protecting the wealthy at the expense of New Jersey’s working families and opposed the Millionaires tax? Or do they stand with the Joe Kyrillos who seems to only have existed only for one newspaper report and realized that he was on the wrong side of NJ families in his repeatedly demonstrated opposition to a millionaires tax.”
Patricia Smith of Wall Township testified before Congressman Chris Smith’s committee
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Capitol Hill was the frontline in the battle against Lyme disease at a congressional hearing held Tuesday by Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the House congressional panel that oversees international global health issues.
“As I have met scores of patients suffering the devastating effects of Chronic Lyme—who only got well after aggressive treatment by a Lyme-literate physician—I have been dismayed and angered by the unwillingness of some to take a fresh, comprehensive look at this insidious disease,” said Smith, who co-chairs the House Lyme Disease Caucus. “It will be necessary for the physicians, scientists, government leaders, and media to be discerning – to evaluate the evidence to see if it is based on the best science and to scrutinize the studies and the critiques of those studies to determine whether they are of high quality. We need scientists to speak out in an unfettered way. We need government agencies to show leadership and to forcefully say what we know and what we don’t know based on the best available evidence.” Click here to read Chairman Smith’s opening remarks.
Smith is the sponsor of the federal legislation H.R. 2557 to expand federal efforts on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases through the establishment of a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee.
Patricia Smith of Wall, President of the Lyme Disease Association, testifying before a congressional committee
One of the witnesses, Patricia Smith of Monmouth County, N.J., the president of the Lyme Disease Association, said many doctors refuse to diagnose outside certain limited federal criteria and subsequently insurance companies can refuse to pay for care.
“Thirty-seven years after Lyme was recognized, sick patients cannot get diagnosed and not be treated because of antiquated, unsubstantiated tests which may pick up 50 percent of cases,” Patricia Smith said. Click here to read Patricia Smith’s testimony.
Other witnesses, including researchers and Lyme disease advocates and patients, were:
Stephen W. Barthold, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Dept. of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology Center of Comparative Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine at the Univ. of California;
Raphael Stricker, M.D., Vice President of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society;
Mark Eshoo, Ph.D. Director, New Technology Development, Abbott Laboratories;
Will Serve Veterans & Their Families in Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington, Middlesex Counties Who Are at Risk of Homelessness
Washington, Jul 17 – A $1 million federal grant has been awarded to a non-profit organization to assist low income veterans in Central New Jersey who are at risk of losing their homes, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) announced today.
“This funding will provide much needed housing assistance and stability to veterans in Central New Jersey so that they can remain in their homes even when times are difficult,” said Smith, who worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in support of the grant application.
The grant was awarded this morning to Soldier On, a leader for community-based homeless and at-risk veterans’ housing and services. Soldier On has 15 years of experience developing transitional and permanent housing and successfully creating innovative homeownership opportunities in underserved areas—addressing both the urban and rural needs of local communities. The funding will be provided by through the VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grant program.
“Unfortunately, right now, the concentration of veterans and their families in Central New Jersey are without access to prevention and rapid re-housing resources,” said Smith. “With the VA’s green light, Soldier On will now be able to provide very specialized services to address the needs of a very specific population in Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Burlington Counties thereby enabling a federal-private partnership that will truly help our veterans.”
Yesterday the Neptune Nudniks ran an editorial lamenting the lack of competition in the primaries.
This morning The Star Ledger reported that there are five candidates seeking the two major party nominations for U.S. Senate, 44 candidates for 13 congressional seats (they should have said 12 seats or 24 nominations) and 8 candidates for three special election primaries for State Assembly.
There are two GOP primary races in The Asbury Park Press’s coverage area. The CD-6 race between Monmouth GOP candidate Ernesto Cullari and Middlesex GOP candidate Anna Little, and the CD-4 race between incumbent Congressman Chris Smith and Terrence McGowan of Howell.
A search for “Anna Little” reveals that the former Highlands mayor’s name has not appeared on the site since February. “Ernesto Cullari” produced no results in a search of the site. On May 14 a letter to the editor in support of McGowan in CD-4 was published. Nothing else. Congressman Smith has made international headlines recently for his work to secure Chen Guangcheng’s release from China. Yet the APP is interested only in what Smith is doing for Lakewood’s schools, an issue that Smith’s office has no authority over. APP.com also reported that a 71 year old Manchester woman drove her car into the side of Smith’s Whiting office last November.
This is not to say that the press should cover every candidate that collects signatures to get on a primary ballot. Earned media should indeed be earned and so-called “fringe” candidates should be challenged to earn their coverage. MMM is aware that it could have made the CD-4 race more competitive than the rout it will be with Smith getting over 80% of the vote. However, McGowan did nothing to earn coverage on MMM. The first we heard from anybody in the McGowan campaign was last week when we were invited by a reader to a meet and greet a couple of hours before it started.
But there is no excuse for the APP’s lack of coverage of the CD-6 race where the competing candidates each earned the endorsement of a county Republican organization. That is a story.
One could argue, and the Nudniks do as an excuse for their lack of coverage in their editorial, that the gerrymandered congressional districts make the CD-4 and CD-6 races uncompetitive and the end result of each election is a fait accompli.
Where were they during the redistricting process? They ran an editorial lamenting the gerrymandering after fact, but provided little coverage that would have increased public awareness before or during the process.
How do the Nudniks think that voters will get their information about the electorial process? They are very supportive of pay to play restrictions that make it more difficult for candidates and parties to get their messages out, yet the APP does little to pick up the slack or provide coverage to to the electoral process.
Because The Asbury Park Press Is No Longer Relevant
The Asbury Park Press is outraged that Governor Chris Christie did not make the problems of the Lakewood school system a primary topic of his town hall meeting in Freehold yesterday. The Neptune Nudniks are also upset that Congressman Chris Smith hasn’t returned their calls for comment or held a press conference about the Lakewood schools since the paper and pay site ran their series CHEATED about the problems in Lakewood schools last week.
Christie spent much, if not most, of his town hall meeting yesterday talking about education reform. His focus was on tenure reform as a way to improve results in our failing urban schools and to stop paying “a Kings Ransom for failure” by flushing 15% of the state’s tax dollars into failing schools as New Jersey has done for decades.
If ever there was evidence that The Asbury Park Press has become irrelevant, it is their heavily promoted Cheated series, yesterday’s town hall meeting, combined with today’s rants by the Nudniks that Christie and Smith are not paying attention to them.
Why didn’t Christie talk about Lakewood yesterday to hundreds of residents in the APP’s coverage area? Because no one asked him. The governor was talking about education. The APP had just finished a “special series” on the Lakewood schools. Not one person in the audience of the town hall made the connection and asked the governor a question about Lakewood.
The Republican Party will have primaries in both congressional districts that include Monmouth County on June 5.
Anna Little, the 2010 nominee in the 6th congressional district, will have the party line in Middlesex County. Little filed petitions with the Secretary of State with 594 signatures. Ernesto Cullari has the party line in Monmouth County. He filed petitions with 319 signatures. The winner of their primary will face Congressman Frank Pallone in the general election.
In the 4th congressional district, Congressman Chris Smith is being challenged by Terrence McGowan. Smith filed with 1,064 signatures to McGowan’s 311. 200 signatures are required.
Brian Froelich of Spring Lake is the only Democrat who filed in the 4th district.
In the 7th district, Congressman Leonard Lance is being challenged by David Larsen in a head to head rematch of the 2010 primary that included two additional challengers. Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula is the Democratic nominee. He filed with 430 signatures.
The statewide list of congressional primary candidates can be found here.
Trenton, NJ, Nov 11 – Two packed trucks—loaded with donations for New Jersey victims of Hurricane Sandy— arrived in Trenton today and were unloaded by a group of volunteers, including Congressman Chris Smith (Robbinsville, NJ), whose district was pummeled by the hurricane.
