State Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-25th Dist) calls her a “stealth Democrat.”
Labels aside, there has been nothing stealthy about Independent challenger Rebecca Feldman on the campaign trail.
For five months, the Morristown councilwoman has been criss-crossing Morris County in her fire-engine red van, on her bicycle, and on foot, in hopes of dislodging the nine-term incumbent on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013.
“This is my – and the van’s — fourth independent campaign in eight years and I guess in many ways the van is emblematic of what I believe it means to be a public servant. Hard-working, practical and open to everyone. As an independent candidate, I am always looking for ways to connect with new people regardless of party labels,” Rebecca says.
She has portrayed the incumbent as an ultra-conservative whose extreme views are out of touch with an electorate that clamors for public officials willing to meet somewhere in the middle.
Noting that Rebecca voted in the Democratic primary during the 2008 presidential race, Michael counters: “Most of her petition signatures came from registered Democrats. Most of her declared campaign contributors are notable for massive donations to Obama, Clinton, Kerry, and Corzine.”
Electing Rebecca would hinder efforts to cut taxes and reduce the size of state government, contends the Morris Township resident.
“New Jersey requires fundamental reform. We need to cut taxes (and make it very hard to raise them), kick the courts out of policy (Abbott and Mt. Laurel), and make New Jersey an easier place to do business. We need to distribute school aid equally — which would cut property taxes by half or more in this district — and provide greater opportunities for parents to direct their children’s education,” Michael Carroll says.
He is running for re-election with fellow Republican Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco and his father, state Sen. Anthony Bucco.
The Buccos are no strangers to Morristown, appearing frequently at local events even though the town is a Democratic enclave in the heart of Republican Morris County.
No Democrats entered the legislative race.
But Rebecca Feldman is not the only Independent in the hunt. Jack Curtis, a former Dover alderman who lives in Mendham, also is running for assembly in the 25th District. Maureen Castriotta of Roxbury is challenging the senior Bucco for state Senate.
Separately, Rebecca and Jack Curtis have focused on picking off Michael Carroll.
“My independent approach stands in marked contrast to the tactics of our extreme incumbent who has relied on swing factions in his low-turnout partisan primary to remain in office for nearly two decades — even though many local elected officials of his own party have told me they are frustrated by his lack of responsiveness and alarmed by his extreme views,” says Rebecca, a 50-year-old industrial designer and mother of two teenagers.
During her council tenure, she says, she has saved Morristown taxpayers millions by helping shrink the workforce, tightening union contracts and outsourcing and sharing some municipal services. The town’s debt has been pared by one-third, and $23 million has been repaid without harming key services, she says.
She also successfully pushed to eliminate health care benefits for part-time elected officials, and advocated for a local pay-to-play law. Responding to the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, CT, Rebecca co-founded a Morris County organization demanding gun law reforms.
Rebecca defended her primary voting, saying unaffiliated voters always should make their voices heard in competitive primaries. Her opponent’s criticism on that issue amounts to “empty rhetoric” that makes people hate politics while doing nothing to create jobs or lower New Jersey’s cost of living, she asserts.
Michael, 55, says it’s no coincidence, however, that no Democrats are running “in the same year that three ‘independents’ run.”
The attorney, a father of six, says he is proud of banding with conservatives to stop a “massive gas tax hike which, to date, has saved New Jersey residents tens of billions. I secured passage of substantial tax cuts, never voted to raise a tax, and routinely oppose profligate spending bills. I also led the fight against those annoying HOV lanes.”
In addition, Michael says, he voted with the Democratic majority to pass medical marijuana legislation and curtail ‘palimony’ actions. His vote has been crucial “to overcome ferocious, special interest opposition and to support the Governor to effect health and benefit reform, property tax relief, tenure reform, and to prevent the Democrats from saddling the state — especially Morris, Somerset, and the northwest — with ruinous tax hikes,” he says.
If re-elected with a GOP majority, the Assemblyman says he will strive for “fundamental constitutional reform” to enable massive property tax cuts, redirection of school funding and elimination of Mount Laurel requirements and “death taxes.” And if the Democratic majority holds, he vows to work for modest reforms while “limiting the damage [Democrats] can do.”
The 25th District encompasses the Morris County municipalities of Boonton, Boonton Township, Chester Borough, Chester Township, Denville, Dover, Mendham Township, Mine Hill , Morris Township, Morristown , Mount Arlington, Mountain Lakes , Randolph, Rockaway Borough, Roxbury Township, Victory Gardens, Washington Township and Wharton, and the Somerset County borough of Bernardsville.
