Dump Mike Ferguson (NJ7)

Is NJ7 really in play for 2008? Congressional Quarterly seems to think that Mike Ferguson might be in trouble after Linda Stender's strong showing in 2006.

Most valiant effort: Democratic state Rep. Linda Stender held Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson of New Jersey’s 7th District to margins of just 3,200 votes and 2 percentage points, just two years after Ferguson won the GOP-leaning district by 15 points and more than 43,000 votes.

Stender attracted support from the feminist political action committee EMILY’s List in April and later gained assistance from the national Democratic Party. Stender’s strong showing, despite the fact she was about $1 million behind Ferguson in overall fundraising, may have pushed this seat into play again for 2008.

Posted by admin at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As we've noted before, Rep. Mike Ferguson claimed a lot of successes in the 2006 campaign that were either very minor or not true at all. The most egregious of these was the claim that he had moved mercury out of Hillsborough which is still there today and isn't going anywhere.

Repeatedly newspapers covered this claim, simply transcribing Ferguson's claim without every fact checking it or bothering to note that the mercury was still there. It is this kind of reporting that allows a do-nothing Congressman and back bencher to spin the facts and confuse voters.

Linda Stender only lost the election by 3,200 votes, and it is easily possible that had the Courier News been more critical in its reporting that people would have known of Ferguson's slight record on helping the district (for instance, noting that the funding for the Green Brook Flood Control Project was less than 2 percent of what is needed) that 1601 people might have changed their votes. That is why we must be strident in contacting editors and reporters over the next two years when they simply repeat Ferguson's words instead of reporting the facts.

And it is not as if the Courier News didn't know about the problems with Ferguson's mercury claim. They only decided to talk about it, though, a month after the election in this opinion piece from today:

Hillsborough officials remain confident that the mercury supplies at the GSA Depot will be shipped out of town in the near future. But some obstacles remain, primarily the opposition of the governor of the state where the mercury is headed.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn has vowed to fight plans to consolidate the Defense National Stockpile Center's mercury supplies now housed in three facilities -- Hillsborough, Warren, Ohio, and New Haven, Ind. -- to a U.S. Army depot in his state. Guinn has raised fears about potential contamination of nearby Walker Lake.

We can understand Hillsborough officials being a little troubled by the prospect of Nevada blocking the mercury removal. Mayor Carl Suraci said recently that he doesn't believe that Walker Lake is threatened and that objections from Nevada are unfounded.

Suraci may well be right. But if the situation were reversed and Suraci's community was on the receiving end of the mercury, it's a good bet he wouldn't be quite so cavalier about a potential threat -- regardless of how "unfounded" it might be.

The mercury needs to be moved from Hillsborough. But that doesn't mean that anyone else -- including Nevada -- particularly wants it, even if it's someplace "safer" than Hillsborough. It's one thing for Suraci to express confidence that the plans will go through. But he shouldn't be such a critic of the objections from the other side of the country. A miss for Suraci.

For the record, these elected officials from Hillsborough crying foul about the Mercury are all Republicans and all backed Ferguson's claims during the election. Had this information been reported by the Courier News back in October we might very well have a woman representing us in Congress.

We can't let it happen again in 2008.

Posted by admin at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Republican-led House and Senate took their election vacation without finishing their jobs, and left the federal budget -- which starts in July -- unfinished. This allowed Representatives like Mike Ferguson to come home to face the voters without having cast the tough votes needed to determine spending and taxes for the next fiscal year.

The idea was that after the election the lame duck Congress would come back to work and finish the job in November and December. That way government agencies would know how much to spend and what work they could do, and the IRS could prepare all the documents to collect taxes with. Many people, particularly those owed rebates, file their taxes in January to get their money back faster.

But the Republican-led Congress has decided to pass it's responsibility off to the Democratically controlled Congress in January, and as a result the Wall Street Journal is reporting the IRS sees trouble ahead.

IRS asks taxpayers to check legislative status before filing since “We have to be flexible.”

Passing off their responsibilities to the future is really not unusual budgeting behavior for these guys, since they have repeatedly increased the federal spending without finding new revenues and pay for it by borrowing money. Future taxpayers will have to not only pay for the federal spending in future years, but also for the borrowing and debt that paid for current spending.

And now they aren't even willing to go that far. Mike Ferguson and his buddies are happy to pass off work they already should have completed first after the election and now after they are no longer in power.

Posted by admin at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So the election is over, and Mike Ferguson won with 49.5 percent of the vote. On this site and others we pointed out that the folks Mike Ferguson was connected to were pretty sleezy, including the mistess-abusing Rep. Don Sherwood who contributed to Ferguson's campaigns.

Another one of Ferguson's buddies is Jack Abramoff ally Grover Norquist, who gave Ferguson an award as you can see in the picture below. Here's what Ferguson's friend Norquist had to learn from the recent elections:

“Bob Sherwood’s seat [in Pennsylvania] would have been overwhelmingly ours, if his mistress hadn’t whined about being throttled,” said Mr Norquist. Any lessons from the campaign? “Yes. The lesson should be, don’t throttle mistresses.”

Not that you shouldn't have a mistress, mind you. Norquist just suggests that when you cheat on your wife don't choke the girl you cheat with. And Mike seems real happy to hang out with him.

Posted by admin at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Congressman Mike Ferguson (R-NJ7) opposes embryonic stem cell research, and repeatedly says that the scientists he talks to say that adult stem cell research is more promising. From the Courier News article on his debate with Linda Stender:

Ferguson said he supports funding adult -- not embryonic -- stem-cell research. He said he opposes using public funding for embryonic stem-cell research because of ethical concerns and also because scientists he's spoken to have said adult stem cells hold greater promise for finding cures.

Now we find out that embryonic stem cell research has restored the sight of three blind mice (OK, I made up the number) and that this research may translate to restored sight for humans. It could change the lives of millions who are blind or legally blind due to injury, illness or age.

Now that the Democrats have won a significant majority in the House and a slim majority in the Senate we can expect that federal funding for embryonic stem cell research will be passed again. It was under the Republican Congress, and many of the most serious opponents lost their seats yesterday.

We can also assume that Bush will, once again, veto the bill and a 2/3 majority will be required to override the veto.

I don't expect that we will be able to change Ferguson's vote since he is absolutely opposed to this avenue to cures for diabetes, spinal cord injuries, leukemia and other diseases/injuries. But we can hold his feet to the fire and continue to show the mendacity of his opposition. If he wants to oppose this life-saving work, that's his choice. But he should not be allowed to lie and say that there has been no success with embryonic stem cells, or that most scientists think that adult stem cells hold more promise.

In short, we need to point out when he is either purposefully obtuse or intentionally lying.

Posted by admin at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Friend,

Well, Linda Stender came really close last night to pulling off a huge upset but in the end the gerrymandered district was just too much to overcome. I am sure everyone is disappointed at the results, but we should know that we made a huge difference. Mike Ferguson won in 2004 with 58 percent of the vote, and he didn't even get to 50 percent this time.

That's right. Ferguson doesn't even have the support of half the voters in NJ7 anymore.

You should also be very proud of yourselves, and what we did together as Blue 7th over the past 20 months. We collected our energy, our money, our intelligence and our effort into one big pot and made a huge unexpected change in NJ7. It was an honor to help direct that effort.

I wanted to share with you some of the results we accomplished, so you can see what happens when we each contribute something instead of expecting someone else to do everything.

Blue 7th spent 20 months of consistent, honest and aggressive work in telling the voters who their Congressman was and how he voted when in DC. We used the Internet, mailings, personal contact, historical research, letters-to-the-editor, road signs, voter registration, street fairs, GOTV and freeway blogging to get the message out. We contributed $5000 to Linda Stender and we raised another $6000, including $3000 in less than 48 hours this week when she made an emergency appeal. We spent more than $5000 on direct mailings and signs and other means of educating voters.

We were sponsors in fundraisers that brought in more than $10,000 more. And our blog – Dump Mike – was cited along with the excellent Blue Jersey as the reason why Stender received the "Netroots Candidates" endorsement which raised another $50,000.

Not bad for a group of grassroots folks in a Republican Congressional district just trying to make a difference. And we did. Linda came within two points of defeating a three term Congressman in a hard district. The national Republicans had to send resources to NJ7 instead of taking them out, which helped Democrats win in other areas.

Our efforts also brought many new voters to the Democratic line, and that helped local tickets win. I can personally say that our efforts at GOTV likely put our fourth Council candidate over the top in North Plainfield and gave use a 100 percent Democratic borough. Other towns like Flemington, South Bound Brook and Roselle Park benefited from our efforts as well.

Together we proved that ordinary people working together, pooling their resources and contributing just a little bit can make a huge difference in a hard race.

You proved that.

In the coming weeks there will be conversations about the directions Blue 7th will take in the future as we assess the new political climate and the best way to achieve our goals.

But today is a day to reflect on what we accomplished together in the past 20 months, and to be proud of that effort.

Thank you,

Nathan Rudy
Chair, Blue 7th PAC
Council President, North Plainfield, NJ

Posted by admin at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, I just cast my vote for Linda Stender and Bob Menendez and my local ticket. Maureen, Kendy and I went down to East End School in North Plainfield where voters from at least six of our voting districts cast their ballots.

So imagine my surprise when at 8:30 a.m. there was not a single parking space, and a few cars were parked illegally. "This is great," I said to Maureen. "Big turnout in North Plainfield is a great sign."

Maureen didn't see it this way. "I thought school wasn't in session." She's always been smarter than me, realizing that these were not voters but teachers taking up all the spaces.

It turns out that while school is not in session, the North Plainfield School System decided to hold teachers' meetings on election day. The teachers took up every single space and voters will be unable to find a spot until the meetings are over in the afternoon.

My worry is that, in a Democratic area of a Democratic town people will get frustrated trying to park and just go home. Or back to work if they were voting on their lunch hour.

So what did I do? I called the Stender campaign office at 908-322-1996 to report the irregularity to see if they could fix it. Hopefully they will.

It's very important that if you see any impediment to voting that you do the same thing. We need our folks to have access to the polls if we are going to win.

Here's a picture of Kendy and Maureen at the polls. Kendy is really making a happy face, though it looks like she is screaming. :-)

Posted by admin at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mike Ferguson, the three term Congressman from NJ7, appears to have little real support in the 7th district. He set up a bus tour for the weekend and advertised it to supporters, asking them to come to the "rallies" and show the incredible support he has. His Saturday "rallies" included a stop in Roselle Park with four supporters, three in Cranford and rolling right past the supporters – including kids standing in a six lane highway with Ferguson signs -- in Scotch Plains.

Remember -- Linda Stender needs to raise $12,000 to complete their expanded Get Out The Vote program for election day. Help out by contributing today!

Ferguson must have hoped that Sunday in mostly Republican Somerset County would be an improvement, but our friend Goldberry from Hillsborough shows that it was just as bad. Ferguson's "supporters" included two people, while there were at least 15 people supporting local Democrats and Linda Stender. Ferguson's bus stopped, but no one got off, and then it just kept going. Hillsborough is, by the way, a town with only one Democrat on the town Council so it should be Ferguson territory – except that he has no real support anywhere. Here are the pics:

Here are the two (2) Ferguson supporters waiting for the bus and a chance to see their Congressman. They were disappointed since he wouldn't even get off the bus.

Here are the 15 or so supporters of local Democrat Karen Gaffney's campaign for Council, and Linda Stender's battle against Ferguson. Ferguson's reaction to seeing this must have been visceral.

The bus rolled up, and a couple of the stalwart Democrats wandered up to get their picture taken with their signs. The signs are largely about the fact that Ferguson is bragging about moving mercury out of the Hillsborough Depot – even though the mercury is still there.

This is the bus leaving the Shop-Rite center, ignoring the two supporters and moving on to the next stop. No one – including Rep. Ferguson – got off the bus.

And they chased him as he ran away in his bus.

Ferguson obviously won't win this race because the district loves him or even supports him at all. If he wins it will solely be on the basis of party affiliation, as NJ7 is overwhelmingly Republican thanks to the 2001 redistricting.

But he is a three term Congressman who can't get a half dozen people to show up to announced events the weekend before an election. It's really just kind of sad – for him. For we Democrats in NJ7 it is absolutely great!

Here's the rest of his bus tour. Document the pathetic turnout for all of us who can't be there ourselves!

Monday, November 6, 2006:

10 a.m.     Woodbridge               
Wegmans - 15 Woodbridge Drive

11:30 a.m. Edison
Edison Family Diner - Oak Tree Road

12:30 p.m. South Plainfield
Oak Tree Mall PARKING LOT

1:30 p.m. Manville
Midtown Deli - 115 Main St.

 

Tuesday, November 7, Election Day:

12 p.m.     Flemington
Walk Main Street (Meet  @ Democratic Office)

12:30 p.m. Flemington
Country Griddle Restaurant
289 Route 202/31

1:30 p.m.   Clinton Town
Wal-Mart Shopping Center - Route 513 - I 78

2 p.m.      Clinton
Walk Main Street - Historic Clinton

Posted by admin at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

UPDATE 3:45 p.m.: Blue 7th PAC member have raised $1823.04 and the Stender campaign is getting closer to it's goal of $12000. If you haven't contributed, please consider doing so today.

UPDATE: As of 1:40 p.m. we've raised $1470.03 through Blue 7th PAC, and the campaign is halfway to it's goal of $12000. If you haven't contributed, please consider doing so today.

We just got an emergency request from Linda Stender's campaign office for more money. They're putting together a huge GOTV and voter contact push through election day, and have had so much success that they blew through their budget! This is GREAT news.

They need to raise at least $12,000 TODAY, so please contribute whatever you can online!

The more we raise, the more volunteers they can get in the field contacting Linda's supporters and getting them to the polls. Anything extra they raise will be used to buy more air time for the very effective radio and TV ads they've been running.

Your $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1000 could mean the difference between a victory or a loss on Tuesday! Please contribute whatever you can right now!

In 2000, Rush Holt won reelection by fewer than 500 votes. This election could be that close. Every dollar means more voter contact, more people on our side, and more people actually going to the polls and voting for Linda.

If everyone on this list gives $25 we will double what they need to get their voter contact and GOTV efforts done, so please be generous! Please contribute whatever you can right now!

PLEASE don't feel bad if you don't have the money to give, however. Many of us are unable to give at this time and that is OK. We all have different ways we can work to make a difference! Forward this request to your friends, family no matter where they live.

And, remember, volunteers are still wanted and needed. Call 908-322-1996.

Thank you so much for everything all of you have done this past two years of Blue 7th PAC. We are in the last few days of a two year project to turn the 7th District Blue after years of languishing in Red territory. I've been honored and privileged to work with all of you.

Posted by admin at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday we had some fun showing what a pathetic bus tour Mike Ferguson (R-NJ7) is having as he tries to rally support for his campaign. With fewer than a half dozen people showing up to his events, we had a good time posting pictures here and on other sites. The following pictures are not as much fun, as it shows the lack of thought in Ferguson's campaign towards kids.

When their rallies started fizzling yesterday, apparently the Ferguson campaign started sending people to scheduled locations ahead of the bus so that there would be no more bad pictures. At the Scotchwood Diner in Scotch Plains, NJ, a crowd of adults and children showed up to wave Ferguson for Congress signs at the passing cars on Route 22.. The diner is right next to Linda Stender's office, and they got the following pictures of kids on the edge of the six lane highway and one even in the road.

The owner of the diner actually had to come out and tell them to move back to a safe position, because the parents and other adults didn't have the sense to do it themselves. Interestingly, Ferguson's bus just drove by and didn't stop at the Scotchwood at all. Here are the pics:

You can see a few adults and a lot of kids here in the sidewalk just past the on-ramp to Route 22 from an overpass. The kids are the closest to the highway, while the adults are hanging back a little.

Here you can see a car (red circle) entering the highway from the on-ramp. There is a series of cars coming in the merge lane the driver has to pay attention to, and having children standing right next to the road makes for a dangerous distraction. Because of the dangerous merge, Scotch Plains refused to let the diner have an exit on to Route 22.

In this picture you can see the adults getting swept up in the excitement and pushing forward to the highway, and in the red circle a little girl with her feet in the highway. The adults are not watching her.

This isn't the kind of thing that should turn an election or really make a huge difference in anyone's mind. It's much more telling how Ferguson personally tells a mother her paralyzed son will never walk again, a 14 year old girl that he won't talk to her about voting for research to cure her juvenile diabetes, or a group of parents that he won't support child prescription safety legislation because it was sponsored by a Democrat.

But it is still stupid, and should be noted for the record.

Posted by admin at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

UPDATE: Ferguson's visit to Cranford was the same -- few people other than the staffers.  And we've got the Cranford pics!

Last week in NJ7 there was a debate between incumbent Mike Ferguson (R) and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D), and the crowd was manifestly pro-Stender by the end of the debate. Ferguson's people tried to play this off as Stender's campaign "coaching" the crowd, but the fact was that it was an open room and Stender got her supporters out. Mike didn't, and we suggested at the time that it was because he didn't have that many serious supporters to come out and back him.

Now we have more evidence. Earlier today we got ahold of Ferguson's weekend schedule for his "bus tour" and sent it out to our list and put it on Dump Mike, Daily Kos and Blue Jersey. We asked folks to go out to these "rallies" and get us photographic evidence of the incredible support Ferguson enjoys in the district.

Blue 7th member Steve J. went to what was billed as a "Rally in Roselle Park" at 11 a.m. this morning and got some great pics. They are after the jump, but essentially they show that all of four Ferguson supporters were waiting to greet his bus, and about a dozen staff from the campaign rolled off the bus. The paid employees of the campaign far outnumbers the grassroots supporters for Ferguson. Anyway, here are the pics, which you can click to see the larger images in all their glory.

Here is the crowd of four supporters waiting for Mike Ferguson's bus to arrive. Steve J. wrote, "I had a hard time hiding in the huge crowd."

This looks like an OK crowd, but it is made up of four supporters and the rest are people who got off Ferguson's bus. The campaign is ferrying around a crowd off staffers for their "bus tour" around the district in case disasters – like this four person rally – occur.

Three terms in Congress, and when you add Mike Ferguson's supports and paid staff you can barely fill a bandbox. That's really kind of sad. For him. For Linda Stender it's good news!

Please contribute $25 or more for Linda today to keep Linda's ads on the air through election day and to fund the GOTV effort.

If you can't afford to give, please volunteer for this weekend and for election day. It's not hard, and there are things to do in every county and every town of the 7th district. Just call 908-322-1996 and ask how you can help.

Cranford's Blow-Out Ferguson Rally Pic

These pics were taken after the bus arrived, so it seems that there were even fewer supporters in Cranford than in Roselle Park.

Posted by admin at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After six years of hiding and jiving, Mike Ferguson is finally sending out a public schedule of where he's going to be.  AND YOU CAN BE THERE TOO!

We have his bus schedule for through election day, and it is extensive since he is afraid he might lose his seat.  But you can show him -- just like in this video from the debate! -- that the voters are just not with him.

PLEASE GET PICTURES OF THE RALLIES.  Especially the ones with sparse attendance.  Send them to nathanrudy@gmail.com and we'll post the best ones.  Cell phone pictures are fine.  Video of his talks is good, too, especially when he is lying. 

The full schedule is after the jump. When we can find them, we've provided links to Google Maps.  Sometimes the maps aren't perfectly accurate and you'll have to drive up and down the street to find the "rally".

Saturday, November 4, 2006:

11 a.m.     Roselle Park
Gazebo Park on Chestnut Street
[map to Chestnut, look for Gazebo Park]

12:15 p.m. Westfield
The Torah Center - 418 Central Ave.
(Upstairs from Here We Grow)

1 p.m.      Garwood
VFW Rally -- 221 South Ave.

2 p.m.      Cranford
Downtown/Diner Tours
Cranford Family and the Rustic Mill
(Between North and Alden Street)

3 p.m.      Fanwood
Train Station/Downtown Tour
South Ave

4 p.m.      Scotch Plains
Scotchwood Diner and Downtown Tour
1934 Route 22 and Park Ave in Scotch Plains
[P.S. This is right by Linda's Office!  ]

Sunday, November 5, 2006:

12:30 p.m. Bedminster
 Meet volunteers at Kings - 450 US Highway 206

2 p.m.      Hillsborough
Hillsborough Mall - 315 US Highway 206

3 p.m.      Montgomery
Friendly's Diner 206 at Route 518 in Skillman

7 p.m.      Kenilworth
VFW Hall - Union County GOP Rally
***Special Guest: Senator Tom Kean, Jr. ***
33 South 21st Street (right off Kenilworth Boulevard)

 

Monday, November 6, 2006:

10 a.m.     Woodbridge               
Wegmans - 15 Woodbridge Drive

11:30 a.m. Edison
Edison Family Diner - Oak Tree Road

12:30 p.m. South Plainfield
Oak Tree Mall PARKING LOT

1:30 p.m. Manville
Midtown Deli - 115 Main St.

 

Tuesday, November 7, Election Day:

12 p.m.     Flemington
Walk Main Street (Meet  @ Democratic Office)

12:30 p.m. Flemington
Country Griddle Restaurant
289 Route 202/31

1:30 p.m.   Clinton Town
Wal-Mart Shopping Center - Route 513 - I 78

2 p.m.      Clinton
Walk Main Street - Historic Clinton

Please contribute $25 or more for Linda today to keep Linda's ads on the air through election day and to fund the GOTV effort.

If you can't afford to give, please volunteer for this weekend and for election day.  It's not hard, and there are things to do in every county and every town of the 7th district.  Just call 908-322-1996 and ask how you can help.

Posted by admin at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Michael J. Fox endorsed Linda Stender yesterday, and called her a visionary for her long-time support of all forms of stem cell research. According to Fox he sought out Stender, not the other way around, for her strong efforts on behalf of finding cures.

Michael J. Fox endorsed the candidacy of District 7 Congressional candidate Linda Stender, D-Fanwood, citing her full support for research on both adult and embryonic stem cells.

"She's made it central to her campaign; she's very outspoken and very clear and wholehearted in her support," Fox said. "She's a real visionary, and we really are happy to have her on our side."

Stender thanked him and said she admires him as "an American hero."

"You, in the face of personal adversity and challenging circumstances, have been fighting for the greater good, and for offering hope for a cure, and for moving us forward," she told Fox in the conference call.

Fox, who runs The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, does not always endorse Democrats -- he endorsed Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., in 2004 -- but he approached Stender because of her record and was not paid for his endorsement in any way, he said.

"What I was looking for was races where it was real clear-cut, where you had a pro-embryonic-stem-cell candidate, and in the case of Linda, you couldn't get a better definition of one," Fox said.

Fox also essentially called Ferguson a liar for his regular comment that scientists think embryonic stem cell research is not going to amount to anything, and that adult stem cells are the only ones with promise.

Ferguson also has said that scientists tell him adult stem cells have more potential than embryonic stem cells to cure diseases.

Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1991, said few scientists would take that position.

"They're doing more work on them (adult stem cells) right now, because they're freer to do the work," he said. "We support that work and we love that that work is being done, and will continue being done, on adult stem cells, but it's kind of like, 'We're for seat belts, but we still think there should be airbags.' There's more out there."

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent -- meaning they can grow into many different cell types in the human body -- but adult stem cells are already differentiated and are far less flexible, he said.

"They're cranky cells," Fox said. "They know what they are; they don't want to be anything else. They don't want to be found, and when they are found, they're cranky about being asked to do anything other than what they do or to get them to keep doing that."

Posted by admin at 06:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Courier News today endorsed Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D) in New Jersey's 7th District over incumbent Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ7). If it seemed that the NY Times endorsement of Stender was harsh – calling Ferguson a "back bencher" – then the Courier release can be called nothing but brutal.

Ferguson is called a whole collection of disparaging terms including "ultra-conservative on certain social issues," "a Bush administration apologist on .. the Iraq war," "not the representative we need," "shameless," and "extremist." His campaign is "grossly oversimplified" and "uses questionable data."

Stender meanwhile "has an impressive background … far more impressive than Ferguson's" when he ran in 2000. Her support for withdrawal from Iraq within 12 months is "an improvement over Ferguson's stay-the-course parroting of Bush."

Here's the final endorsement from a long editorial:

But control of Congress is on the line. Years of ineptitude and failure in Iraq policy have cost thousands of lives (both U.S. and Iraqi), hurt the U.S. in the eyes of the world and further destabilized the Mideast. Even the rights of U.S. citizens are less secure.

The need to send representatives to Washington to help counteract the mistakes and abuses of the Bush Administration sways our final recommendation.

Linda Stender's long history of public service qualifies her for the job, and she wins our endorsement in the 7th Congressional District.

Linda now has endorsements from the NY Times, the Star Ledger and the Courier News. The only daily paper left that covers the district is the Home News Tribune from New Brunswick. She also has the endorsements of weeklies The Hunterdon County Democrat, The Princeton Packet, The Bernardsville News, The Echoes-Sentinel, and the Hunterdon Review.

Ferguson has no newspaper endorsements.

Stender our pick in 7th District

The 7th Congressional District race is widely viewed as the most competitive -- and perhaps the only competitive -- House race in New Jersey this year.

Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson this year faces a genuine challenger: Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender, who has proven an effective vote-getter on the local, county and state levels.

Ferguson presents an unusual mixed bag of positions and philosophies. He is ultra-conservative on certain social issues such as abortion, and is a Bush administration apologist on many issues, particularly the Iraq war.

But Ferguson has displayed a quiet independence from Republican leadership in some areas, particularly the environment, and has shown himself to be an active and productive congressman for his home district. He has, for instance, helped wage successful annual fights to keep funds flowing for the Green Brook Flood Control Project. And he has been front and center in the long battle to remove mercury supplies in Hillsborough -- a battle apparently won, although the mercury has not yet been shipped out.

We have had differing opinions on Ferguson ourselves over the years, endorsing his opponents in 2000 and 2004 but supporting his first re-election in 2002. We find Ferguson to be an acceptable representative in Congress. But given the current state of the nation, we're not persuaded that he is the representative we need today.

Stender has an impressive background in local government in the past two decades, serving as a Fanwood borough councilwoman and mayor, on the Union County Board of Freeholders and in the state Assembly. It's a far more impressive record than Ferguson's when he was elected to Congress.

Ferguson's campaign has focused almost solely on the "Stender is a spender" theme. The phrase is catchy -- and grossly oversimplified, using questionable data in some cases dating back to the 1980s.

That phrase also is shameless, coming from a sitting Congressman who has consistently supported budgets that have driven the federal debt to levels Republicans would once have considered unthinkable.

Stender's views starkly contrast to Ferguson's on women's rights, and she is part of the growing Democratic chorus calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq within a year. That timeline can be debated, but it's still an improvement over Ferguson's stay-the-course parroting of Bush.

Ferguson's extremist abortion views make him seem more archly conservative in some eyes than he really is. Stender and Ferguson actually find more areas of agreement than disagreement on, for instance, the environment and gun controls.

One concern about Stender is a minimal record of accomplishment as an Assembly member, despite serving in the majority party. In fact, Ferguson has arguably been more effective in Washington for his constituency than Stender has been in Trenton.

This endorsement is a close call. If only issues specific to New Jersey were involved, we would probably support Ferguson on the basis of what he has achieved.

But control of Congress is on the line. Years of ineptitude and failure in Iraq policy have cost thousands of lives (both U.S. and Iraqi), hurt the U.S. in the eyes of the world and further destabilized the Mideast. Even the rights of U.S. citizens are less secure.

The need to send representatives to Washington to help counteract the mistakes and abuses of the Bush Administration sways our final recommendation.

Linda Stender's long history of public service qualifies her for the job, and she wins our endorsement in the 7th Congressional District.

The 7th Congressional District consists of municipalities in four counties -- Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union -- including Alexandria, Bethlehem, Bloomsbury, Califon, Clinton Town, Clinton Township, Flemington, Glen Gardner, Hampton, High Bridge, Holland, Lebanon, Lebanon Township, Milford, Raritan, Readington, Tewksbury and Union in Hunterdon County; South Plainfield and part of Edison in Middlesex; Bedminster, Bernardsville, Bound Brook, Branchburg, Far Hills, Green Brook, Hillsborough, Manville, Millstone, Montgomery, North Plainfield, Peapack-Gladstone, Rocky Hill, South Bound Brook, Warren, Watchung, and part of Bridgewater in Somerset; and Fanwood, Scotch Plains and Westfield in Union.

Posted by admin at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On October 9, 2006 we discovered that Mike Ferguson has not only taken from corrupt politicians, but also from one whose morality is seriously questionable. Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) who cheated on his wife, and then settled a $5 million lawsuit that he had beaten and choked his mistress repeatedly, and gave Ferguson $2,000 for his campaign coffers.

Today we learn that Ferguson has taken $7,000 from Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) whose wife called the police on him after he choked her.

[NY State Trooper Scott W.] Gunsel wrote in a blotter entry that he found the couple separated and calm when he arrived at the home that night. Under common police practice, the document lists Gaia Sweeney as a "victim'' and Sweeney as a "suspect.''

"Complainant stated that she and husband got into verbal argument that turned a little physical by her being grabbed by the neck and pushed around the house,'' Gunsel wrote in the narrative portion of the blotter entry, according to the document. "Suspect had scratches on face. Both parties refused medical attention. Complainant removed to friend's house for the evening ... refused any type of prosicution (sic) arrest.''

If Ferguson is unwilling to keep money from child molesters like Mark Foley and corrupt lobbyists like Jack Abramoff, why is he willing to keep money from men who beat women?

That sounds harsh, but it is -- according to court and police records -- absolutely true. Reps. Sweeney and Sherwood beat their mistress and wife respectively, and Mike Ferguson is keeping their money for his campaign.

This is the same man who runs ads with his wife and children, talks about them all the time at campaign events, and portrays himself as a protector of "family values."

This is also the same man who told Tricia Riccio that her son Carl would never walk again soon after repeatedly voting against the medical research that could heal his broken spinal cord.

This is also the same man who refused to talk with 14 year old juvenile diabetes patient Lyndsey Rosenthal because she wanted to discuss embryonic stem cell research, which many scientists believe could cure her disease.

This is also the same man who told a group of mothers whose children had become suicide and self-abusive due to bad reactions to prescriptions that he refused to sponsor a bill to protect other children from the same fate -- because the bill was sponsored by a Democrat.

Mike Ferguson is not the family values candidate. He is willing to take campaign money from abusers of women, and unwilling to provide the support needed to cure sick and injured children.

Wrong choices, wrong Congressman.

Posted by admin at 06:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)