The Bernardsville News is the first paper to give an endorsement in the NJ7 Congressional race between Mike Ferguson and Linda Stender. The nod went to Linda Stender. The paper is not too big and a weekly, but it is in extremely red territory and hopefully this kind of thing can make a difference there.
Vote for Linda Stender for Congress from the Seventh District.
She is articulate and bright. She has had local, county and state government experiences. Most importantly, she represents an end to the status quo acceptance of the failed policies of the Bush Administration, so unquestionably accepted by her opponent, Republican incumbent Michael Ferguson.
His response to the surprisingly strong Stender campaign is to blast Stender as a tax and spend Democrat.
Yet Stender, as a state Assemblywoman, voted against the Corzine budget and increased sales tax. Meanwhile, Ferguson, as member of the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, has presided over a federal budget that has gone from a surplus position to a massive deficit.
It is ironic he complains about doings as the state level, yet he has never served in any state or locally elected office in his career. In fact, he only moved to the Seventh Congressional district so he could run for Congress after he lost his bid for a Sixth District Congressional seat in Monmouth County in 1998.
Nearly 60 percent of the district considers themselves Independent and we think Stender will more accurately reflect their philosophies than Ferguson.
We support Stender’s call for a re-examination of how we are conducting the war in Iraq, a position also called for by many retired Army generals and the majority of the nation. Ferguson is unquestioning of the Bush Administration’s handling of the war.
We support Stender’s call for embryonic stem cell research, so those whose loved ones are suffering from anything from Parkinson’s to Alzheimer’s to diabetes to paralysis may have hope for a cure. Ferguson staunchly opposes embryonic stem cell research and as such has earned the disfavor of Tricia Riccio, a crusader from Warren Township whose son Carl Riccio was paralyzed in a Watchung Hills Regional High School wrestling match in 2003.
Stender favors a woman’s right to choose on abortion, developing alternative energy supplies, and protecting the environment.
None of those issues carry much weight with Ferguson. He is anti-choice to the point of wanting to amend the Constitution to make abortion a crime even in the cases of rape and incest.
He garnered a pitiful 17 percent approval rating from the League of Conservation Voters, the political voice of the national environmental movement whose ratings reflect Ferguson’s voting record on key environmental and public health votes. Ferguson’s environmental rating is the lowest of the 13 members of the New Jersey congressional delegation, Democrats and Republicans alike.
Environmental issues are part of the core values of Somerset and Hunterdon county residents and those values should be represented in the halls of Congress by the person they elect to represent them.
Indeed, poll after poll shows Stender’s positions on the core issues this district thinks are important, from the Bush Administration’s handling of the war in Iraq, to stem cell research, to the environment, are more reflective of the majority of voters in this district than Mr. Ferguson’s. People in the 7th Congressional District should vote for the candidate who best reflects their values on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and that is Linda Stender.
Vote for Stender for Congress from the 7th District.
