Monmouth County links in Hillary’s emails

Wikileaks released 1258 of Hillary Clinton’s emails yesterday. The website obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Request on February 29, 2016.

There are several Monmouth County connections in the emails released.

Congressman Chris Smith was mentioned in 87 of Clinton’s emails on subjects ranging from Sean Goldman being reunited with his father David of Tinton Falls after being abducted to Brazil by his mother, to the congressman’s opposition to tax payer funded abortions and Planned Parenthood funding.  Emails that mentioned Smith revealed that the Secretary and other State Department officials were busy lobbying members of congress to pass the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) in late 2009 through its final passage in March in 2010.

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Congressman Smith To Host Military Academy Information Session

Congressman Chris Smith and Monmouth County Shaun Golden prepare to survey Hurricane Sandy damage. November, 2012

Congressman Chris Smith is holding a Service Academy Information night for high school and college students who are interested in attending one of the United States’ military academies.  Students, their parents, educators and counselors who reside in New Jersey’s Fourth Congressional District are welcome to attend.

The event will be held Thursday, April 21, 2016, from 5:30 to 7:30 in the lower level of the Wall Township Municipal Building, 2700 Allaire Road, Wall NJ.

“Throughout my tenure in Congress, I’ve had the honor and privilege of nominating many outstanding young men and women for acceptance into our nation’s military academies,” said Smith.  “With the United States’ continued fight against terrorism throughout the globe and its commitment to defending our homeland and protecting national security interests abroad, recruiting top-notch talent for our all-volunteer armed forces is critically important.”

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FEMA failed to properly oversee Sandy flood insurers, audit says

WASHINGTON — A government watchdog found that Federal Emergency Management Agency did not properly regulate the private companies who provide flood insurance, whose failure to adequate reimburse Hurricane Sandy victims for their losses led to the agency agreeing to reopen thousands of claims. The report by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general said FEMA did… Read the rest of this entry »

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Monmouth GOP endorses Brent Sonnek-Schmelz to challenge Pallone

Brent Sonnek-Schmelz

Freehold Township- The Monmouth County Republican Committee endorsed Brent Sonnek-Schmelz, a member of the Atlantic Highlands Board of Education, to challenge Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr in the November 8, 2016 election last night during their annual nominating convention at iPlay America.

Sonneck-Schmelz, 39, is an Eagle Scout, attorney, Wharton educated MBA and entrepreneur who announced to the world that he likes to wear short shorts in the summer when he won $100,000 as a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.  He currently works as the General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer of The Soccer Post, a family owned franchise system of soccer stores with 33 locations nationally, and as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of City Sports, a Boston based sports apparel retailer that he is working to relaunch.

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Is Christie or Obama to blame for N.J. getting so little Sandy aid?

WASHINGTON — New Jersey’s U.S. House delegation split along party lines in questioning whether Gov. Chris Christie or the Obama administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development was at fault for the state getting just $15 million of a $1 billion program carved out of funds originally earmarked for Hurricane Sandy aid. The six Democratic lawmakers… Read the rest of this entry »

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House of Representatives Passes International Megan’s Law, Bill Awaits Obama’s Signature

By Congressman Chris Smith

Eight years after I first introduced a bill to protect children in the U.S. and around the world from convicted pedophiles who travel in secret to or from the United States—currently below the radar of law enforcement officials—it is now on the verge of becoming law.

The House today passed, and sent to the President, my International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (HR 515)—named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from Hamilton, N.J. in our congressional district who was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994. Megan’s assailant was a convicted, repeat sex offender living across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood. Due to public outcry in response to the tragedy and to hard work by Megan’s loving parents, Richard and Maureen Kanka, the New Jersey State Legislature passed the original Megan’s Law (NJSA 2C: 7-1 through 7-II) in 1994 to require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community.

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N.J. delegation wants to know why state got so little Sandy aid

WASHINGTON — Members of the New Jersey delegation want to ask U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro why their state got just $15 million in disaster preparedness funds under a program funded in the Hurricane Sandy aid bill. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who arranged a meeting last March with Federal Emergency Management… Read the rest of this entry »

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WWII Vet Gets His Medals

Bob Williams, grandson of Alfred Caponigro, Caponigro and Congressman Chris Smith

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Alfred Caponigro of Ocean Township would not accept the medals he earned in combat during World War II because of all of the other Americans who didn’t make it back, or who lost limbs and other injuries.  Caponigro lost his hearing in the war and was discharged with a 100 percent disability rating by the Navy.

On Tuesday Caponigro, 90, joined by his family and friends, accepted his medals from Congressman Chris Smith, 73 years after he earned them.

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Smith, NJ Delegation Continue to Press for Transparency, Reform at NFIP

WASHINGTON, DC – At a Capitol Hill meeting hosted Oct. 7 by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Dean of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation, with Roy Wright, Deputy Associate Administrator for Insurance and Mitigation at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a bipartisan group of NJ Members of Congress continued to press for equitable relief for… Read the rest of this entry »

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Congressman Smith Announces Grant For Anti-Domestic Violence Program

Congressman Chris Smith announced today that the New Jersey Coalition For Battered Women has been awarded a $82,882 grant by the U.S. Justice Department.

Smith authored the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, the legislation that first authorized the federal program funding this grant.

“The New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women is a valuable resource for women and children across our state who have been victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and violence,” said Smith. “The NJCBW’s mission is to end violence against women and its work is critical to ensuring women and their families have the resources necessary—and readily available—to break the cycle of domestic violence.”

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