Letter to the Editor: ‘Betrayed’ by Rodney Frelinghuysen

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) and President Donald Trump
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) and President Donald Trump
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Editor’s note: The authors asked to share this letter. The opinions are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.

Hon. Rodney Frelinghuysen
U.S. Congress, 11th District, New Jersey

May 5, 2017

Congressman,

Over the past many weeks, a growing number of citizens across the nation have been awakened by the actions of Donald Trump, the leader of your party.

His disgraceful behavior, reliance on lies and denial of fact, unqualified political appointments, disdain for the fundamental institutions of government, abuse of allies and fawning over authoritarian rulers is deplorable.

His systematic dismantling of the social contract while extending favor to the wealthy and influential is abhorrent to Americans who play by the rules.

It has become clear that the majority party in our Congress, rather than acknowledging the danger to our country, has chosen to join this administration in lawless behavior by changing the filibuster rules to push through Trump’s candidate for the Supreme Court, and serving as a rubber stamp for removing measures intended to protect environmental, regulatory and human rights.

Yesterday, after six years and scores of failed attempts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, the Party of Lincoln has taken a fatal legislative step by making health insurance unobtainable for millions of Americans, driven by the notion that, no matter what folly would ensue, Obama Care would not stand.

The constituents of the 11th Congressional District of New Jersey have made every effort to engage you as our representative, asking you to acknowledge the nightmare unfolding in Washington, especially our opposition to withholding healthcare from the poor, the infirm and elderly. Your public statement rejecting an earlier version of this repeal and replace legislation implied your agreement.

“With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

These words are evidently meaningless to you and your colleagues. Yesterday, you betrayed the trust we’d placed in your judgment when you chose to vote with the majority.

Today, the efforts of your constituents are newly energized, and we will concentrate our efforts in replacing our representative in Washington.

Sincerely,

Richard Kushnier and Yvonne Kushnier
Wayne, NJ
11th Congressional District,

18 COMMENTS

  1. What year did Obamacare kick in? What did people do prior? Where were all the windbags with all the answers then, being PROACTIVE with fiscal solitions and projections? Or just want to sit back amd blow gas on topics from solely an entitled position where adult tantrums or yelling comments like ” racist” are the response to any opposition to the give me what I want now 4 year old mindset. There is an adult standard in which difference of opinion doesnt mean personal attacks and slander.

  2. I was on a town hall phone call meeting several months ago and he stated he would vote his conscience on issues including health care. The high majority of questions and comments were from constituents many old and or sick who were concerned about the health care issues. He told us all he would not support any bill that did not include full coverage of prexisting conditions. Based on what I heard at the town hall meeting that day and his actions in supporting the bill, I conclude he is a liar with a very weak moral conscience which is unfortunate for him and for all of us constituents as well.

  3. Since we haven’t yet gotten around to blaming the Russians for his win, apathy and complacency seem as good of an excuse as any for his ten plus years in office. Somehow though, I would expect that if the Dems had a candidate that could compete or had any sort of message that resonated with the voters, they would have run him or her in the previous elections.
    Republicans could have just taken a hands off approach to healthcare and let Obamacare die on its own. But let’s not forget who uttered these two statements: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, period” and “If you like your insurance plan, you can keep your insurance plan, period.”

  4. I think JT misses the point. There was a lot of complacency before the election – I doubt the authors of this letter would contest that. No one thinks that was good, and we have heard the wake up call. But we must deal with the reality of the current situation. One would have thought our formerly moderate, decent representative would have shared our alarm at this administration and would have been our bulwark against the harm it could do. Instead he has chosen to add his rubber stamp to the administration’s actions. Frelinghuysen’s votes are not representative of a district as evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans , and as traditionally moderate, as the 11th.

    If your point, JT, is “get informed and get active” unlike the decade before, I think most of us wanting a change in representation in the 11th could not agree with you more!

  5. Frelinghuysen did betray his constituents! Why would the editor put that in quotes? He betrayed us because after being inundated by letters, phone calls and in-person appeals, he promised he would not support a bill that had the kind of provisions this one has. He is on video record saying so. He is the only NJ Republican representative who voted for this disastrous bill, presumably because the others understood what damage it would do to NJ and how much the vast majority of us did not want it. So whose interests was Frelinghuysen representing this time? And no, I am not simply bashing him. I was asleep at the wheel before November 8th. Now I’m not.

  6. Yeah, wtf Rodney. I learned who you are because of this vote, and I’m sure others now have.

  7. Agree! If the democrats can’t put someone on the ticket to oppose him, I’ll run, myself. Rodney’s complete disregard for his constituents is deplorable. He needs to take a step back from politics and go to a nursing home.

  8. If this is what it took to make people understand that his only concern is to get reelected, then so be it. Finally!

  9. Amen. I will be a tireless soldier in the battle to unseat RF and in the war to deny DT a majority in Congress. The disgusting, amoral, hypocritical, cowardly, mean spirited, unpatriotic, self serving supporters of Trump have got to go. And RF has made himself Target #1 for thousands and thousands of residents of NJ 11.

  10. “Just more bashing”? Frelinghuysen’s constituents have made every effort to engage him in discourse AND to remind him of his obligation of representing them. But he chose to ignore that. And so these people let him know that that not representing them is not acceptable. How exactly is that “just more bashing”?

  11. Wonderful, succinct and to the point. We are losing our country to a man that has no understanding of the Constitution of these United States – his complete disregard and the fact that the majority does not hold him in check is most disheartening. They took a pledge to put people over party and protect the Constitution NOT the President. I am newly motivated to campaign against Rodney but I do this with a heavy heart
    as I know if this legislature goes through the Senate many of our elderly or those with pre-existing conditions will essentially be abondonec by their representative.

  12. A fantastic letter. Thank you for representing in words the way the 11th congressional district feels.

  13. You are right JT. I had grown to think the ineffective representative of the 11th district was so meaningless, unsuccessful, unproductive, fruitless, purposeless, useless, worthless, ineffectual, inefficient, inefficacious, and inadequate that I didn’t have to worry about him. I was wrong. But I won’t be wrong again. And I will do everything I can to make sure this self serving, entitled man will not be my representative the next time around.

    This letter certainly reflects my feelings. Thank you to the Kushniers for submitting it.

  14. Good for Rodney. We need to get the government out of healthcare altogether; it hasn’t improved anything so far. Since when is it the government’s role to try to manage everything by taking money from people who earned it and redistributing it to people who didn’t?

    Like it or not, repeal is pretty much what the people voted for; the Republicans, almost all promising to repeal Obamacare, won the House, collectively, by a couple of million vores, and now people are shocked that they actually did what they promised to do?

    Let’s see how the repeal works before we bash it; Obamacare, sold on the basis of the famous lie “if you like your health plan you can keep it” certainly didn’t reduce premiums as promised (ask any employer or other person who actually pays the premiums).

  15. What a great letter. Says it all about how so many people in the district are feeling.

  16. “….we will concentrate our efforts in replacing our representative in Washington.” Where were these efforts in the days, weeks, months, years and decade leading up to Nov 8, 2016? Just more bashing.

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