Dump Mike Ferguson (NJ7)

Yesterday Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned his seat in Congress over some e-mails he'd written to former pages and other young men, abusing his power and position in an effort to curry favor with the boys.

This is the fourth Republican member of Congress to give up their Congressional seat in the past year.

• Randy "Duke Cunningham (R-CA) resigned after taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from military contractors in return for government contracts;
• Tom DeLay (R-TX) resigned his seat under a cloud from the Jack Abramoff scandal and an indictment for campaign finance crimes;
• Bob Ney (R-OH) abandoned his reelection campaign and gave up his House leadership position and will leave Congress in January;
• And now Mark Foley (R-FL).

The connection to Mike Ferguson? Every single one of these disgraced, corrupt members of Congress have donated campaign cash to Mike Ferguson's campaign. Cunningham gave Ferguson $1,000 which Ferguson later donated to charity. Tom DeLay gave Ferguson $54,403 and directed hundreds of thousands more. Bob Ney gave Ferguson $7,500.

And Mark Foley, the latest Republican to resign for abusing the power of his office, contributed $2000 to Ferguson's campaign.

No matter what Republican corruption happens in Washington DC, Mike Ferguson is always in the middle with his hand out taking the corrupt Congressman's cash.

Wrong choices, wrong Congressman.

Posted by admin at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

OK, this falls into the area of silly polls that really don't mean a lot, but Linda Stender is kicking Mike Ferguson's Butt in the Facebook Election Pulse, with 58.97 percent of the NJ7 friends to Ferguson's 40.12 percent. Libertarian Darren Young has 0.91 percent of the friends.

You can get a Facebook account and become a friend of Linda's, too!

Posted by admin at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the committees Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NY) sits on is the House Subcommittee and Oversight and Investigations of the Energy and Commerce Committee, a powerful group that investigates both governmental and commercial wrongdoings. Frankly, like other investigative bodies under the Republicans, it doesn't do a whole lot lately.

But it did want to hear from Hewlett-Packard about it's recent corruption regarding internal investigations and the theft of personal records belonging to board members, employees and even independent journalists. This is a big deal, as identity theft and spying are major issues hanging over the heads of Americans.

So H-P hired a high-powered law firm named Akin-Gump to represent them, and hopefully keep them out of trouble.

According to the New York Post -- owned by the same folks as Fox TV News -- "This election cycle, Akin Gump's political action committee has donated thousands of dollars to members of the House Subcommittee and Oversight and Investigations of the Energy and Commerce Committee, including" Congressman Mike Ferguson.

Ferguson has received $6,000 from the Akin-Gump PAC and another $1,500 from high-level individuals employed by Akin-Gump.

That's $7,500 in campaign cash from the very people who represented H-P in front of Ferguson's committee yesterday.

Among the Akin Gump big shots advising Sonsini and Hewlett Packard are Mike Madigan, George W. Bush's lead counsel during the disputed 2000 election recount, and former Congressman Bill Paxon, one of the most powerful lobbyists in the country and a high-ranking GOP operative.

"It's a smart move on HP's part," said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics. "The treatment the company gets from the committee may be better because Paxon is on their side."

Wrong choices, wrong Congressman.

Posted by admin at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was published in the Courier News on Friday, September 29 2006.

Republicans sink in unethical mire

Yes, I am a Republican of long standing, and it is not easy to write this letter. I have had enough of the rape of this country by Washington and Big Business.

However, with unethical liberal Democrats and ethical conservative Republicans I am truly concerned. In my mind, ethics has to do with power, control, lying, cheating and stealing by individuals, government and business. The greatness of our country was the strong, honest, hard-working middle class. Yes, the economy is booming for the haves and the upper middle class. The rest of the country is faced with lower incomes, unreasonable prices, debt, usury, identity theft, taxation and health costs.

If we sit down and tally the money those unethical Democrats have gobbled up, we will find it is peanuts compared with that involving ethical Republicans. The Republicans, including Mike Ferguson and Tom Kean Jr., support business, the bigger the better, and favors for the haves. They will be asked to support President Bush's ill-conceived plan to return control of world oil to Houston as it was until the '70s. Yes, they may get us a piece of pork such as removing the mercury, which may never happen, or finish the Green Brook flood control, like New Orleans.

We had a famous middle-of-the-road Republican, Mrs. Whitman. We are assured that Tom Kean Jr. and Mike Ferguson will be of the same ilk. Mrs. Whitman reduced the income tax, a tax dedicated to education. The responsibility for education was transferred to the homeowners with questionable assessments. Education spending for status and parity has grown leaps and bounds to the point of taking small homes to increase tax receipts.

Utilities are billed in such a way as to make the poor, the elderly and those trying to conserve pay more per gallon of water, water that may not be fit to drink, than the haves pay. The interest on a small debt can be more than 60 percent APR, while large favored debts are about 20 percent or even less. There are discounts and rebates for some, but not all.

Now there is a big problem. For some time, all people were encouraged to register and vote, and register they did. How does the minority party solve the problem? Rig the ballot boxes, of course. Mind you, not by a lot, just enough to claim victory. It could easily happen here.

If I were you, I would keep my eye on the ethical Conservatives this go-round. Most likely, I will return to the party when it gives up carrying the Bible in one hand and death-dealing cluster bombs in the other while making large profits for big business on others' suffering.

CHARLES B. MOBUS
Warren

Posted by admin at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congressman Mike Ferguson (NJ-7) likes to talk about his record in cutting taxes, and to blame Linda Stender for voting to increase taxes during her two decades in public service. In fact, Ferguson claims he has never raised taxes and signed a pledge for Grover Norquist saying he would never vote to raise taxes.

Yet in May of this year Ferguson voted to increase taxes on teenagers who are saving money for college.

Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to 17 with investment income will now be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Long-term capital gains and dividends that had been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed at 15 percent. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.

The increases, which are retroactive to the first day of the year, are expected to generate nearly $2.2 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which issues the official estimates.

It makes you wonder what the heck Ferguson has against kids without trust funds going to college, especially given his status as an "educator." Here he is increasing taxes by $2.2 billion on college savings, making it harder for poor and middle class children to attend college.

And back in February Ferguson voted to cut $12 billion from student loan programs that are sometimes the difference between attending a four year college and taking a couple classes at night.

That's $14 billion dollars Ferguson voted to take away from kids who want to attend college, improve their futures and contribute to America.

Wrong choices. Wrong Congressman.

Posted by admin at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Congressman Mike Ferguson makes a big deal of his support for tax cuts slated to the richest members of our society. Often he – and many other Republicans -- claims that the Bush tax cuts make our economy stronger and more competitive. It turns out that, according to the Wall Street Journal, that is just not true.

To start, the impact of the Bush tax cuts mean more money in some folks' pockets. That is, on the face of it, a good thing. But the problem is that while cutting taxes reduces revenues, President Bush and Congressman Ferguson have been drastically increasing spending. And when you reduce revenues and increase spending you get deficits.

This chart is from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's August 2006 The Budget and Economic Outlook [PDF]:

When Ferguson and Bush took office there was no deficit, and we were paying down the national debt. Immediately after their first budget and the massive tax cuts the deficit started to grow. Keep in mind that this chart doesn’t include off-budget items like the $300 billion for the War in Iraq, which makes the deficit all the higher.

The Congressional Budget Office concurs with this simple bit of math, and in 2005 noted that:

The new numbers confirm what many analysts have predicted for some time: that budget deficits in the decade ahead will stem less from the lingering effects of the downturn and much more from rising government spending and progressively deeper tax cuts.

So what does all this have to do with the Wall Street Journal and the economic climate of America? Just this from today's edition:

The U.S.’s huge budget deficit threatens to make the country’s economy less competitive, according to a study by the World Economic Forum, a Switzerland-based institute. The Forum’s annual study of global competitiveness says the U.S. is only the sixth most competitive economy in the world, slipping from first place in last year’s ranking thanks to mediocre scores for its public finances.

The competitiveness study ranks countries around the world according to a range of criteria — including macroeconomic policies, market regulations, technological development, education systems and public institutions — which the Forum believes influence an economy’s level of productivity, and thereby its ability to sustain economic growth over many years. The ranking combines economic indicators with the findings from a survey of business executives.

Sixth. In the world. The United States is no longer the number one economic force in the world and the blame falls primarily on huge deficits run up by this Republican Congress and Republican President.

If you want to vote your wallet, you need to reconsider voting Republican. That chart above clearly shows that the only two times in the past forty years we have been in a surplus were under Democratic Presidents. Lyndon Johnson did it during a war, and Bill Clinton did it during peace.

Mike Ferguson would have you believe that the tax cuts he voted for – and wants to make larger – are good for our wallets. The Wall Street Journal and the economic experts know differently.

Posted by admin at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was published in the Courier News on September 26, 2006.

Scandal surrounds Mike Ferguson

I usually just laugh at the misrepresentations that Congressman Mike Ferguson's supporters write to the Courier News. But, Mr. Hugh Brennan's letter of Sept. 17 was just too outrageous to take. Among his many distortions was this deluded comment -- "There is not a hint of scandal to be laid at Ferguson's door."

Not a hint of scandal? What on earth would Mr. Brennan call Ferguson's close relationship with disgraced former Republican leader Tom DeLay? Ferguson has accepted $42,403 from DeLay's various PACs in the past five years. That's more money than any other congressman has received from Delay. In return, Ferguson has voted for every one of the DeLay/Bush abhorrent policies.

DeLay resigned as Republican leader after being indicted in Texas for money laundering. He also is being investigated for accepting illegal trips from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramhof. Republican Congressman Bob Ney has pleaded guilty for accepting an illegal golf trip to Scotland from Abramhof and faces 27 months in prison. DeLay, Ferguson's No. 1 money donor, was on that same trip. The investigation continues.

As another writer noted, "I have yet to read a letter supporting Ferguson that has any facts or intelligent thinking." Sadly, that record is still intact.

A vote for Linda Stender is a vote for honesty.

DELORES MONTANARD
Bridgewater

Posted by admin at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(what follows is a cross-post of the diary that the Crashing the States project wrote on DailyKos about their visit with the Linda Stender campaign in NJ-07.)

Welcome to the fifth state of the Crashing the States project! Well--four states and one district, I guess.

Today's entry takes us away from Philadelphia and takes us to the 7th district of New Jersey, where we met and talked to Linda Stender, who is running for Congress against ultra-wingnut Bush supporter Mike Ferguson.

Even better, we happened to arrive on a day that war hero Max Cleland--who would most likely still be the sitting Senator from Georgia had it not been for the shenanigans pulled by Diebold in the '02 Senate race--was in town for a rally with Linda.

Below the fold, you'll find photos, as well as the latest updates from the ground on the Linda Stender campaign!

Right now, I'm sitting outside on Goldberry's back porch, talking with her and Rosi of Blue Jersey. We're staying with Goldberry tonight before leaving for NYC, where we will be attending Brian Keeler's Blograiser! Here are Goldberry (center) and Rosi (left), pictured below, talking with a vet at the rally with Max Cleland:

The rally with Stender and Cleland took place at a local American Legion post, with just about every seat filled in the audience:

There's something awfully inspiring about seeing a man with only one limb--a war hero, no less--wheel himself into an auditorium to a standing ovation:

And then, you get really angry when you think back to what the Republican Party--the party that likes to wrap itself up in the flag, the party that likes to claim unequivocal support from the military, the party that likes to claim it promotes democracy--did to this man. They took this war hero, and morphed him into Osama bin Laden in a TV ad. And then they secretly altered the code in the voting machines in the election in which he was defeated--with no state oversight.

It was the first time I had ever seen Senator Cleland in person, and seeing his personal strength, and the will of his personality, the smile on his face, made me all the more angry at the cabal of soulless people that could feel a sense of accomplishment at smearing and cheating an American hero.

Cleland came out on fire. He started with a hard-hitting joke on the administration:

You know, I didn't get injured in Vietnam. I actually went duckhunting with Dick Cheney.

The good part is that now, at least someone in this administration has some combat experience.

And he wasn't through. Oh no. Not by a long shot. You see, Mike Ferguson is the rare breed of wingnut who believes in a constitutional amendment to criminalize abortion--even in cases of rape or incest. And Max Cleland told him exactly where he could put it.

You see, Mike Ferguson wants to criminalize rape victims, but he won't do anything about the people that are raping and screwing this country.

Cleland also took the Bush administration to task for ignoring the counsel of Shinseki, Franks and Powell and invading with only 150,000 troops; for failing to fund the VA while spending $8 billion a month in Iraq; for failing to provide our troops the proper equipment; and for just about every other abuse of the military that this administration has systematically engaged in since it usurped the reins of power.

Linda Stender got up and gave a similar layout of the facts, specifically regarding Mike Ferguson's sellout policies of supporting the Bush Administration at nearly every turn.

Linda made points about how Mike "support the troops" Ferguson had voted with Bush 93% of the time during his tenure in Congress, but had only an 8% favorability rating from associations of disabled veterans after having agreed to every single cut in VA funding proposed by the Bush administration. About $1.5 billion a week for Iraq, but not enough money for the VA--and that that is completely misplaced priorities.

Linda also mentioned Mike Ferguson's opposition to stem cell research, and many other completely wingnut positions he has taken during his time in Congress.

After the speeches, Gary and I got the chance to meet the two featured speakers:

We asked Linda about the current state of the campaign against Mike Ferguson. She told us that they're finishing up an internal poll this week to be released next week, and that while she doesn't have any official numbers, she knows from her previous campaigns for state legislator that she's getting a higher percentage of favorable responses than she normally gets for her campaigns, which is a good sign. We'll have to wait until the actual poll is released, but it may well show Stender within striking distance.

And Ferguson hasn't been doing himself any favors. He's been going around with this silly "Stender is a spender" rhyme for his campaign. Which is stupid, because not only does it seem childish, but the American people--even under the current conditions--understand perfectly which party is wasting their money in Congress right now. Not to mention--as an incumbent candidate, why would you want to mention your opponent by name and give your opponent added name recognition? I have no comment on the stupidity of the Ferguson campaign. The campaign also gave us a little insight into their anticipated quarterly funding report. While they didn't release exact numbers, they said that they're right on track with their desires.

After the event wrapped up, I began to wonder what it must feel like to be a Republican--being wrapped in the flag, but with all the brass already having left the building. It must feel a little like this:

This race hasn't gotten some of the same national attention that other races have gotten, but I think--especially depending on the poll results--that the Democrats have a good pick-up opportunity here.

For one thing, the district is not heavily Republican--in 2004, it only went for Bush 53-47. And this is far from a Republican year. In addition, Mike Ferguson is one of the most scandal-plagued Congresscritters on the block: the largest FEC fine in history, connections with Abramoff and TRMPac, and even an incident where he apparently harassed some female students at a bar in Georgetown when he was drunk.

Furthermore, as I explained earlier, Ferguson's values are completely out of touch with a purple district. Ferguson opposed stem cell research, and favors a constitutional amendment to criminalize abortion. So not only is Mike Ferguson one of the most corrupt members of Congress, his views hardly represent the beliefs of his constituents anyway. So it seems like a good pickup opportunity.

That concludes things for NJ-07! Tomorrow evening Crashing the States will attend the Brian Keeler blograiser! See you there!

Posted by CrashingTheStates at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Congressman Mike Ferguson repeatedly stands up and defends the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind and other educational policies, standing on his history as an "educator" to demonstrate his patriotic and pure love of children.

But when the Bush administration is proven to fail in educating children, all you hear from Ferguson are the crickets in the background. Chirp, chirp, chirp.

For instance, you will hear nothing from his campaign or constituent office about this:

A scorching internal review of the Bush administration’s reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its review of how Reading First, a billion-dollar program each year, that it says has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.

It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people who shared the director’s views and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.

That's not a liberal blog attacking the administration, or a Democratic Congressman. That is the administration's own assessment of the program -- that is is run illegally, incompetently and corruptly.

That's our money -- our tax money -- being wasted on campaign supporters, and Mike Ferguson won't say a word.

Those are our children being shortchanged on their educations, and Mike Ferguson won't say a word.

These are the true colors of Mike Ferguson, a pure Bush-supporter who stands up for his leader and not for his constituents.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Posted by admin at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The following letter was published in the Thursday, September 21, 2006 Cranford Chronicle.

Stender is the right choice for Congress

To The Chronicle:

One should agree with John Cantilli and Andrew Bucko about their negative views of our present Congressman. A common-sense change for the better is surely Linda Stender.

Linda Stender is running for Congress in this upcoming election. Linda is the former mayor of Fanwood, and she is currently serving her third term in the State Assembly.

She believes in bringing the troops home from Iraq safely within a year and focusing the government's policy on real homeland security. Linda wants to enact a bold energy policy to make us energy-independent and wants to put an end to the billions of dollars in tax breaks given to the big oil companies. She strongly supports stem cell research, a woman's right to choose, and allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies for low cost prescription drugs for senior citizens.

Linda Stender deserves our vote if we want a person who is not out of step and is not a rubber stamp for the Bush Administration's failed policies. She is the one who we should support on Tuesday, Nov. 7 for a seat in Congress.

MADELINE SPITZ
Cranford

Posted by admin at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's been a bit of silliness over at the Tom Kean Jr. campaign this past week. Xpatriated Texan of Blue Jersey discovered that a Kean Jr. attack on Senator Bob Menendez was patently untrue by unearthing a Jersey Journal article from 1996. Turns out that Menendez did get ethics committee approval for renting his property to a non-profit group he championed in Congress. Turns out that Menendez even rented it to them at less than market rate, costing him money.

The Kean Jr. folks were not happy about the truth coming out. To combat the evidence they started posting comments on Blue Jersey under made up names pretending to be former Democrats and liberals. Juan Melli -- the founder of Blue Jersey -- caught them by matching the IP address of the commenters to the IP address of Kean Jr. press secreatary Jill Hazelbaker's e-mail account.

That's been a front page newspaper, TV and radio story for a few days. Ooops.

But Hazelbaker wasn't done making mistakes. She also tried to paint Ellen Weintraub -- the ethics officer named in the Jersey Journal article as the one who cleared the rental -- as a partisan nut whose word could not be trusted. Unfortunately, Herb Jackson of the Bergen Record learned that in Weintraub's new job as a Federal Election Commissioner she had backed Kean Jr. in his complaint against Mike Ferguson based on cheating in the 2000 primary election for NJ7's Congressional seat.

For campaign finance geeks who want to read the FEC docs on that dispute (MUR 5024 and 5024R), here's a rundown:

• Weintraub and two other commissioners take Kean's side in 2003.
• Three other FEC commissioners take the opposite position a month later, creating a deadlock that means Kean loses.
• Kean sues, and U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denies the FEC's motion to dismiss the suit. Among the reasons cited are a recent Supreme Court ruling uphold the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform.
• The court gives the FEC 60 days to take another look at the case, and commission lawyers recommend a finding there was a violation. The Council for Responsible Government, which paid for the borchures, is fined $5,500 and must disclose where it got its money. It turns out it was the group US Term Limits.

And so, Mike Ferguson's own corruption and campaign cheating comes up once again thanks to the incompetence of the Kean Jr. press secretary. So sad.

Posted by admin at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is just silly, but it's also funny. Check out Blue Jersey for more information.

Posted by admin at 04:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the past week we have seen two powerful politicians knows for getting things done plead guilty and prepare to go to jail. One is local Democratic boss John Lynch of Middlesex County who plead guilty to corruption charges for taking money as a consultant in return for taking action as a State Senator. The other is Republican Congressman Bob Ney (OH), who also plead guilty to corruption charges for taking money as a consultant in return for taking action as a United States Congressman.

Both men chose to betray their constituents and their parties by misusing their power, and both were always ready to spread money around to keep their positions and garner favor with other politicians.

So what does that have to do with New Jersey's 7th Congressional District? A lot, because how Lynch and Ney spread their cash around says a lot about the two people who are running for this seat.

We all know that politicians at every level need to raise money to run their campaigns, and the higher you go the more you need. Every candidate knows and loathes the phone calls, fundraiser and face time it takes to raise that money. Some candidates don't care where the money comes from, and are happy to take it even if it means giving up their independence and consorting with people who are of questionable ethics.

Or corrupt to the point of going to federal prison for years at a time.

Lynch was known as the undisputed leader of the Democrats in Middlesex County. If you wanted a job, a run for office, or anything else you had to go to Lynch at some point. Linda Stender is a three term Assemblywoman representing part of Middlesex County in NJ's 22nd legislative district. Even though she was serving in Lynch's territory Linda Stender never took a penny from him for her campaigns.

Ney was a powerbroker in the house, in charge of the Committee on Administration that passes our offices on the Hill, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee which doles out money for things like highways. Mike Ferguson (NJ7) is a Republican Congressman who likes having a good office (and the $750,000 payroll which we'll talk about in the coming days) and brags on bringing highway funds back to New Jersey.

Ferguson has accepted $7,500 in the past three years from Ney, and has so far refused to say whether he will return the money or if he intends to keep it.

Stender didn't take the money. Ferguson did.

If this were a one-time issue for Ferguson this could be understood. But this isn't the only questionable money Ferguson has. There's also the $54,000 from indicted and resigned Congressman Tom DeLay, $3,000 from convicted briber and lobbyist Tony Rudy, $132,000 from programs run by indicted fundraiser and lobbyist Jim Ellis, $1,000 from convicted Rep. Randy Cunningham bribers Mr. and Mrs. Kontogiannis, etc., etc., etc.

And, who can forget that Ferguson was found guilty of illegally using $500,000 to win the seat for the first time in 2000, and for illegally colluding with an outside group that spent money to help him defeat Tom Kean, jr. in the 2000 primary election.

If we want good government and honest representation, the answer has to be Stender for Congress.

Posted by admin at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The following letter was published in the September 13 2006 Independent Press, Mike Ferugson's hometown paper.

Ferguson Campaign mailings are a turnoff

To the editor:

We have recently been the unhappy, incredulous and increasingly disgusted recipients of nearly daily mailings from the campaign of Mike Ferguson, the incumbent candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.

Each oversized full-color postcard repeats a stunningly stupid alliterative slogan attacking his opponent, Linda Stender. You guessed it, she's a "spender."

So here, in supposed contrast, is Ferguson, flinging a lavish string of slurs devoid of content and contemptuous of constituents' ability to recognize puerile name-calling when it lands in their mailboxes day after day after day.

Ferguson's normal mailings, if memory serves, feature the government spending he boasts of delivering to his district. Not that he appears conscious of the irony.

We have met Linda Stender. She is a genuine, rational, experienced public servant - a welcome alternative to our current embarrassing representative. Please take the time to inform yourself and compare the candidates. Linda Stender has our vote.

Paul and Laura Dillon
Summit

Posted by admin at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is Linda Stender's new television advertisement. It's pretty tough, and should remind all the independent pro-choice voters in the district why a vote for Mike Ferguson is a vote against freedom.

Why, Mike? Why?

Posted by admin at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Like hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans, Congressman Mike Ferguson participated in an event commemorating the horrible attacks of 9-11. It was a time of togetherness and rememberance of a terrible day.

There's one difference between how Ferguson commemorated the event and how the rest of us did it, though. Mike sent out an e-mail newsletter to supporters with a full color picture of him at the event and used it as a fundraiser for his Congressional campaign.

Here's a screenshot of the e-mail, where you can clearly see the buttons looking for volunteers and campaign cash directly to the left of the article on the 9-11 ceremony.

Wrong choices, wrong Congressman.

Please write letters to the editor on this and other issues related to Mike Ferguson. The Courier News is at letters@c-n.com, the Home News Tribune at letters@thnt.com, the Star Ledger at eletters@starledger.com, or the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com. More local sites can be found at Dump Mike Letters.

Posted by admin at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was published in the September 9, 2006 Courier News:

Stender attacks not based on facts

During the past few weeks, my mailbox has been inundated with condescending ads from Mike Ferguson's campaign with the childish slogan: "Stender is a spender." This distortion of Assemblywoman Linda Stender's record insults the intelligence of 7th District voters.

The trick Mr. Ferguson uses in his ads is a common one during political season: Municipal officials get blamed for rising property taxes when the culprit is usually the school board (in a state with a flawed system for funding public education). So, unless Mr. Ferguson gives me the facts, I'm not buying what he's selling.

Mr. Ferguson should have no credibility with voters in fiscal matters, anyway. Since he was elected in 2000, he has voted for budgets in Washington that turned the federal government's surplus into record budget deficits. The deficit for the budget year ending Sept. 30 is projected to be about $300 billion. In the midst of all this spending, Mr. Ferguson has voted for billions in tax breaks for gas and oil companies during a period of record-breaking profits and sky-high prices at the pump.

I think about Mr. Ferguson's votes every time I pull out my wallet to buy gas. And he thinks I should be worried about tax-and-spend politicians? The ones who scare me right now are those, like Mike Ferguson, who spend ... and spend and spend and spend, leaving a fiscal mess for my kids to mop up. It's time for voters in the 7th District to clean house and elect Linda Stender for Congress on Nov. 7.

SUE REPKO
Skillman

Posted by admin at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was published on September 10, 2006 in the Courier News\:

Ferguson willfully distorts record

John Gurley writes that Mike Ferguson should be re-elected to Congress because of the fact of "Ferguson's success in persuading the Defense Logistics Agency to move tons of mercury out of Hillsborough."

Okay. There's only one problem with this fraudulent claim. Not one drum of mercury has been moved from Hillsborough, nor is there any indication that the mercury will ever be moved.

Gurley dishonestly infers that the mercury removal is a finished accomplishment. Also, Ferguson continues to run many campaign ads claiming this as a major accomplishment, misleading voters again.

Dishonest political tactics like this are why I will vote for Linda Stender in November. Linda knows the meaning of the words integrity and honesty. Also, Linda Stender won't be a rubber stamp for Bush and his disastrous policies, like Ferguson has been.

GAIL RODGERS
Hillsborough

Posted by admin at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was published in the Cranford Chronicle on Thursday, September 7 2006.

Congressman's policies hurt voters To The Chronicle:

Mike Ferguson has been flooding the airwaves and mailboxes trying to paint his opponent a spender. But who is the big spender? Maybe Mike should look at himself.

While in Congress, Mike supported policies that turned a budget surplus into a record budget deficit, borrowing from our kids and stealing their financial future. He voted for the energy plan that gave big benefits to the oil companies and none to us. You can thank Mike each time you fill up at the pump.

He even helped push though the Medicare prescription drug plan that has been a disaster. Instead of helping seniors with their prescription costs, it confused seniors and forced them to buy into plans that ultimately cost them more just as the drug companies wanted.

Mike is trying to run away from his own record and distort his opponent's. He took campaign money from his corrupt friend Tom DeLay and has since refused to give it back. He even spent your tax dollars to send out literature that amounts to campaign mailers.

Who is Mike Ferguson really representing? It certainly is not us. On Election Day, let's tell Mike that we want someone who represents us, not big-money special interests.

ANDREW BUCKO
Cranford

Posted by admin at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For all the talk of Mike Ferguson being beholden to Tom DeLay's crowd, Jack Abramoff, President Bush and the lobbyists who fill his campaign accounts, we often miss the fact that his votes usually benefit himself as the son of rich parents who have already given him a million dollars and will give him more as inheritance.

The recent House vote on the minimum wage is a perfect example. Ferguson had the opportunity to do good for the working poor of our nation, and instead tried to do well for himself.

The original idea was fairly simple: raise the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over the next two years. This means a person working 40 hours a week with no vacations or days off would get a raise from $10,775 to $15,175 (approximately).

It's not a lot, but an extra $4,500 or so is nothing to sneeze at for someone making $50,000. For someone making $10K it's a huge increase. It would also be the first increase in the national minimum wage since 1997.

Just for reference, 2006 federal poverty guidelines put the poverty level for a single person at $14,700. Even with the increase (and assuming the poverty level doesn’t rise) this increase would mean a person working full time with no breaks would make less than $500 more than poverty in 2009.

Mike Ferguson voted against this bill, refusing to bring it to the floor for an up or down vote.

Why? Because the Republican leadership wanted to tack on an Estate Tax Cut to the bill, which would give the children of rich parents a massive tax break when they inherit the family wealth. Ferguson voted for that bill, tying a minimum wage hike allowing the working poor to exceed poverty by less than $500 so he could get a tax break on the family wealth.

Remember, this is a guy who has voted repeatedly to accept raises himself. He made $141,300 in 2001 when he first took office, and in 2007 will make $168,500. That's a pay increase of $27,2300 -- more than twice what a full-time minimum wage worker makes today.

Even worse, New Jersey raised its minimum wage to $7.15 as of this October so by blocking a national minimum wage increase he is allowing employers in surrounding states to pay lower wages, taking jobs out of New Jersey at a time when employment is hard to get.

He accepted his own raises, but refused to give the working poor a raise unless he also got a massive tax break on his inheritance.

Wrong choices, wrong Congressman. Mike Ferguson.

Posted by admin at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The following letter was printed in the September 1, 2006 Courier News:

Ferguson sinks along with the Republican ship

Congressman Ferguson, these are the actions of your party and you.

The Republican president, George W. Bush, has issued more "signing statements" than all previous Presidents combined -- more than 750. Conservative and liberal scholars of the Constitution say this arrogant practice is wrong and not supported by any mainstream interpretations of the Constitution. No president has the right to pick and choose what parts of the law he will enforce.

What say you, Congressman Ferguson? He is the president and your Republican Party leader. Is Congress not an equal branch of the government? Did not the Republican president take an oath to uphold all the laws of the nation, not just those he favors? Has your Republican president made your job as a congressman irrelevant? Did I miss something? Did the Constitution get changed while the American people were being weaned away from Afghanistan to the war in Iraq?

Your Republican Party-appointed administrators in the Environmental Protection Agency have announced plans to roll back reporting requirements for facilities that release toxic chemicals. What say you, Congressman Ferguson? Agree?

Republican Congressman Ferguson, you extolled the help to Hillsborough to remove the mercury in the government storehouse. Well, the mercury is not going anywhere. It appears, Congressman, you failed to persuade anyone in your Republican administration to remove the mercury.

How about the September oil and gas lease sale for the Teshekpuk Lake region of the Western Arctic Reserve?

Do you, Congressman Ferguson, stand with your Republican Party leadership, which will allow these leases? Will drilling off the shores of New Jersey or Florida be next, as is being proposed?

The Republican-dominated government passed and signed the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act -- a bill that benefits the 1 percent of the wealthiest of the country and placed a further strain on the large federal deficit. Congressman Ferguson, was not your vote in favor of this bill, which gave this special benefit to the wealthiest 1 percent of the country?

Congressman Ferguson, Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act: Did you not vote against this act?

Where do you stand, Congressman Ferguson, on abortion for women who have been raped or are in danger of dying if the pregnancy is carried to term?

It is being repeated in Washington that Iran was the big winner in Lebanon and that if we are not careful, Iran will also score in Iraq, and then with nuclear weapons, you know the story, we'd face mushroom clouds over American cities if we didn't attack Iraq. The Republican neo-cons are priming the pump for Iran as the next imminent threat. Do you, Congressman Ferguson, believe bombing or invading Iran (part of the evil empire as defined by the Republican president) will be the next push of the Republican Party chicken hawks? Would you support a new war?

Sen. McCain, speaking of the war in Iraq, said, "I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required." Will the same mistake be made for Iran if the neo-cons win the day? Do you agree with Sen. McCain, Congressman Ferguson?

Congressman Ferguson, you have been sending out fliers to the voters in the 7th District extolling the pork you have gotten for the district. That pork is more like a very lean pork chop when compared with dollars sent to other Republican districts.

I find it rather interesting that during the crisis in the Muslim-dominated Middle East, that Congressman Ferguson's focus is on domestic pork.

Congressman Ferguson, you must be held equally responsible with your party for the failures in international policy as well as domestic.

Bruno Ripp
Warren

Posted by admin at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)