By Kevin Coughlin
More than 350 people packed the Jam-E-Masjid Islamic Center in Boonton on Tuesday, and most of them seemed to agree on two things.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) is a pretty nice guy.
And he should have been there.
“What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like. The only person missing is our congressman… He’s missing a fun party on a Tuesday evening!” said Farah Jan, who moderated more than two hours of discussion by Frelinghuysen’s constituents at a town hall meeting organized by NJ 11th for Change.
It was the second of four such grassroots gatherings scheduled this week, while Congress is on recess. Another is set for Little Falls on Wednesday, and the last, on Thursday in Livingston.
A cardboard caricature stood in for the congressman, who declined to attend despite a petition and weekly demonstrations at his Morristown office by constituents asking him to host his first town hall meeting since 2013.
The 12-term lawmaker issued a statement saying he prefers to visit the 54 towns of his district, and to continue “civil discourse” via “telephone town halls” with constituents who forward their phone numbers to his office.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin
People filled two floors of the Boonton mosque to share concerns about Frelinghuysen’s journey from a moderate Republican to a conservative with rising ratings from the National Rifle Association.
He has voted with the GOP majority since President Trump’s inauguration, supporting measures to make it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns, to allow coal companies to dump mining waste into streams, and to cut funding for Planned Parenthood–an organization he formerly endorsed.
NO MORE MR. NICE GUY
Stacy Gregg of Rockaway Township described Trump as a sexual predator, and said she was disturbed that Frelinghuysen had not spoken out against him. She was “shocked” by his absence in Boonton.
“I’ve met Rodney quite a few times over the years, and he’s a likable guy,” said Gregg, echoing sentiments voiced by several others.
Scott Pendergrast of Chatham wasn’t buying it.
“I don’t know Rodney, and I don’t care if he’s nice,” he said, to applause. “We need a strong gal or a guy to oppose Trump. So nice doesn’t work.”
The GOP’s proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act and Frelinghuysen’s vote to weaken gun controls were on the minds of many who spoke.
“How is he going to face people in his district, his constituents, who are going to lose their health care and may very well die because of it?” Boonton resident Joanne Cronin said of an ACA repeal.
Another audience member cited a deranged gunman’s massacre of 26 children and staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
Nearly 1,500 kids under age 18 die annually from shootings across the U.S., Fern Wolkin of Hanover said.
“With so many deaths of children every year by guns, why does Congressman Frelinghuysen not support common sense gun control measures? Is protecting the Second Amendment … more important than protecting our children’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” Wolkin asked.
Questions were fielded by panelists John McKeon, a Democratic Assemblyman from the 27th District; Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective; Diane Du Brule, interim director of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; Bill Cole of the Education Association of Morris; Rutgers public policy Professor Joel Cantor; and Morristown-based immigration lawyer Brian O’Neill.
Assemblyman John Wisniweski (D-19th Dist.), who is running for governor, also spoke.
‘A VAST SWATH OF MISERY’
Kevin Lee, a counseling intern at Morristown High School, asked what he should tell immigrant students fearful of deportation under the Trump administration.
This week the Department of Homeland Security instructed agents to deport every undocumented person they find; under the Obama administration, immigration agents had focused on those who committed serious crimes.
O’Neill, the attorney, said those students owe it themselves to meet with a lawyer “to plot a strategy [for staying]. It’s possible to do.”
Yet he predicted new enforcement actions will result in “breaking up multiple families, leaving many American citizen children destitute, and creating a vast swath of human misery through our society.”
An audience member asked O’Neill what to do if immigration officers show up at the door.
“Don’t open it,” the lawyer said.
Everyday we have new executive order, each one is ment to try to remove some of the acheavments that took 8 years for President Obama to achieve against all Odds; from ACA, Supreme Court, immigration, transgender laws, refugees, etc. Trump needs to be investigated on all fronts. Why should he get away from multiple offenced!?
If President Clinton was called to be impeached on sexual/lies that did not affect our lives, what kind of hipocratic government do we live now. Time for re-election!