September 25, 2008 - 3:53pm
News
Garrett won't suspend campaign, but stays in Washington
By Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com ReporterU.S. Rep.Scott Garrett isn’t following John McCain’s example and formally suspending his campaign, but his staff insist that he’s spending most of his time in Washington right now.
”Congressman Garrett is in Washington working diligently to help find a solution to the current economic crisis. He has always put the needs of the district before political campaigning, and this is no exception,” said Garrett Campaign Manager Amanda Gasperino. “Taking leadership on the need for sensible legislation, Garrett has introduced a bipartisan bill to form a Select Committee to investigate the financial bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and Bear Stearns. Additionally, the Congressman has demanded that President Bush provide transparency in the 700 billion dollar bailout plan to protect the interests of taxpayers."
Garrett’s Democratic opponent, Dennis Shulman, thinks that the Congressman’s time would be better spent in New Jersey.
"Scott Garrett should not cease campaigning, because the more time he spends actually talking to new jersey taxpayers rather than undermining them in Washington, the better,” said Shulman Campaign Manager Jeff Hauser. “Garrett, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, is a big part of the reason we are in this mess. He has consistently voted against regulating the corrupt predatory lenders, like Countrywide Financial, that run his office, fund his campaign, and bear enormous culpability for this crisis.
We would all be safer if he actually spent his time as a farmer, not a corrupt politician."
Gasperino, however, said that Garrett was at least doing something.
“Sadly, even as Congressman Garrett has put principal before politics, the same cannot be said of our opponent who continues to campaign without any real solution to this emergency or other pressing issues facing the nation,” she said.
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Quote of the Day
November 20, 2008
"(Dennis) Shulman, a blind rabbi and psychologist, acted as if articles about him and his candidacy in Time magazine and the New Yorker, as well as an endorsement from the mayor of New York City, made him a celebrity and a serious threat to incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Garrett. They didn’t. Most people in his district don’t read those magazines or care what Michael Bloomberg thinks. Garrett’s district strongly leans Republican, and Bush won it with 57 percent in 2004, running more than 11 points ahead of his statewide total. Credible Republican statewide candidates always carry the district even if they are getting pounded statewide. Despite all the self-generated hype and over-the-top campaign rhetoric, Shulman drew 42 percent against Garrett — almost 2 points worse than Paul Aronsohn (D) did two years earlier and only 1,300 votes more than 2004 Democratic nominee Anne Wolfe did."- Stuart Rothenberg, the editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan political newsletter covering U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial campaigns, Presidential politics and political developments.
-Rothenberg Political Report, 11/19/08
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kvetch kvetch kvetch That's
kvetch kvetch kvetch
That's all Shulman does.
NEW DRINKING GAME:
Drink when Shulman mentions Countrywide
I'd say drink when Shulman actually shows a plan
But that won't happen
EVER
Scott Garrett is the right
Scott Garrett is the right guy we want in Washington - this scandal/crisis isn't a Republican/Democrat issue as much as Dennis wants to make it one. Chris Dodd and Obama BOTH took campaign contributions from failed investment banks.
Garrett has always put his duty before politics. We need more politicians who care about the issues rather than the politics of being right/wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EnlIs0q7fo
#dontgo
#nobailout
he's voting No
Garrett comes from the Ron Paul system of economics.
Whether one believes that's a good thing or not..that's how he votes. He won't back the bailout plan no matter what deal is struck (if so). And his right wing base will love him for it...
Shulman
Cant see the problem let alone fix it.
Its Bye Bye Rabbi
Dennis Shulman
I am glad that CONGRESSMAN Scott Garrett is doing his job....IN CONGRESS, while Rabbi Shulman is complaining that Scott doesn't work for the people of the district. Scott is LITERALLY in Washington D.C. at the moment to work on a solution to help not only the people of NJ-5 but the country. What a whiner. Scott is a great member of congress because he actually spends his time doing his job.
Yes. Scott Garrett is the FAR, FAR right!
To review Scott Garrett's extremist voting record
(See)
http://www.ontheissues.org/NJ/Scott_Garrett.htm
is all one needs to do to recognize that a vote for Shulman is the right vote. Shulman's extraordinary intelligence and abilities have been demonstrated elsewhere but are thus far untested in the political arena. But Garrett has been tested and, most critics of his record will agree, has FAILED.
"Untested"
kennyboy, with all respect, don't you kind of contradict yourself - and your candidate - in your statement?
I get the fact that you're for Shulman, and applaud your passion.
However, even if Shulman is an incredibly intelligent man, you plainly state that he is "untested in the political arena." I know that people come from all walks of life to throw their hat into political ring - and I think that's fantastic - but does "intelligence" in pyschology or Rabbinical studies automatically mean that one is "intelligent" enough to deal with the fiscal crisis we are in?
I don't mean that as a flame or a rebuke, but as an honest question.
Dennis Shulman may be a wonderful Rabbi and a gifted pyschologist - but does his accomplishments in these areas make give him the faculties to make sound financial decisions, understand the securities market, or see the long-term results of how his votes will impact the market down the road?
Being a decent and hardworking man may not translate into being a decent and effective Congresman. If it were, then I'd be one by now :-)
If we are to assume that Shulman agrees with everything his campaign manager puts out to the press, then the attack linking Garrett's record to Countrywide flies wide of the mark. Predatory lending is when lenders force or coerce borrowers into accepting unfair loan terms. This isn't really what happend with today's crisis. Today's idiocy stemmed from folks with good credit maxing out their loans to get the most house they could for the money. They over-extended themselves thinking that the housing market would grow at 15%-20% a year indefinitely. They could buy an expensive house today at 100% financing, sit on it for two years, refinance at a lower rate/lower Loan-to-Value, and get a nice profit. They were wrong - and it had nothing to do with predatory lending and everything to do with folks taking on too much risk!
But, even IF Garrett were to have NOT supported any kind of restriction on predatory lenders, it still doesn't address the core of today's problem: Political pressure to put people into homes they couldn't comfortably afford combined with the wrong kind of market regulation. It was this kind of behavior that encouraged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to run wild, with Johnson and Raines creating a culture of political cronyism that lead to the current fiasco. It has NOTHING to do with "predatory lending" and everything to do with government failing to do their jobs effectively.
And even IF Garrett were guilty of this (which he is not) then one would almost have to ask why Shulman isn't calling for the heads of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and others. Is not principle more important than party?
As for Garrett's record, folks can jab him all they want on some of his stances, but he has always been very plain on his fiscal record: He doesn't like taxes, doesn't like the government mucking in the market, and he is against all kinds of bailouts. And he has gone on TV to condemn GSEs for being too big for some time.
I have no idea of how he will vote on this latest package Bush, Pelosi, and Reid have cobbled together, but if it puts taxpayers at risk, you can bet he will vote it down.
Just my two cents, kennyboy - for whatever it is worth.
Veritas vos Liberabit
"Collecting more taxes than absolutely necessary is legalized robbery." - Calvin Coolidge
kennyboy
where have they been demonstrated elsewhere?
Everybody says how great Shulman must be, but nobody will ever say what he has ever done before, except for the time he told the New York Times about listening to the news from a talking computer.
I had other ideas too besides that one, but none of them ever returned my phone calls after the one conversation I had with his staffer.
One of these guys looks like Frazier and the other one looks like Ali, in the early rounds. Will Garrett slip through and slide right in to his seat again, or will there be a real contest?
Warm Regards,
Erik B. Anderson
5th district Voter, Independence, NJ