The New Jersey Sierra Club led several groups on Monday in a Morristown rally to protest what they described as Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen’s (R-11th Dist.) “Columbus Day Sale” of vital health and environmental protections to special interests.
“You name it, he’s been on the wrong side,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the state Sierra Club chapter.
He said the Harding congressman, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, “has sold out the people of this district to every corporate polluter and special interest.”
Tittel was joined at Morristown town hall by about two dozen members of BlueWave New Jersey, Environment New Jersey, Clean Water Action and NJ 11th for Change.
Among other things, the groups blasted Frelinghuysen for supporting President Trump’s cuts to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and rollback of Waters of the United States regulations, and for opposing EPA regulations of greenhouse gases.
They also accused him of failing to support funding to clean up federal Superfund sites in New Jersey, of refusing to support universal background checks for gun purchases and of not holding any town hall meetings since 2013.
They also noted the 12-term representative was one of only two New Jersey congressmen to support the first Obamacare repeal, which they contended would have enriched the wealthy while stripping millions of health coverage.
Frelinghuysen campaign spokesman Mike DuHaime dismissed the charges as “just a laundry list of gripes from the professional left from outside the district that get paid to protest public servants.”
“And what’s worse, but not surprising, is they’re wrong again,” DuHaime said. “Rodney Frelinghuysen restored EPA funding and restored funding to clean up Superfund sites. And Rodney has protected Medicare and Medicaid for New Jersey residents during his entire time in Congress. These attacks on Rodney would be laughable if they weren’t so offensively off base.”
“It’s scary times we live in,” Mayor Tim Dougherty told the protesters, who moved out of the rain into the town hall lobby for the noontime rally.
“We can’t effect change unless people like you are committed…It takes a large group effort to make change.”
Remember this: Mike DuHaime, as a chief strategist for Chris Christie, was responsible for inflicting him on the State of New Jersey.
If there is anyone who is “wrong again,” it’s Mike DuHaime.
Wow. Mike DuHaime is really out of touch. People from the district have been trying to get Congressman Frelinghuysen to pay attention to the issues in Pompton Lakes for years. People from the district have been trying to get Congressman Frelinghuysen to agree to hold a town hall for months. The only responses we get are vapid letters which say nothing–or, in one case, a letter to an employer which forced a bank employee out of a job (because she had the temerity to ask for a town hall).
If Mike DuHaime doesn’t understand that people in the district are concerned about Congressman Frelinghuysen’s record on the environment, he’s not paying attention either.
Big turnout. I count about 15 people including 4 speakers. Rodney must be quaking in his boots.
PS NONE OF US are PAID!!! Nor are we ‘professional’ protesters
Correction: Pictured with Marcia Marley is Laura Fortgang, NOT Elizabeth Juviler.
Comment: DuHaime is correct about Frelinghuysen’s voting record BEFORE he became the chair of the Appropriations Committee, but that is no longer true. He has voted against his constituents’ interests since Trump took office consistently.
Last I checked, Denville where I live is inside this district, and the high paid spokesman DuHaime is from outside. Also, the Freedom Caucus, Paul Ryan and Trump – whom Frelinghuysen consistently votes with- are also from outside the district.
The house budget that Frelinghuysen voted YES for
Turns Medicare into a voucher program for future retirees: $1 trillion cut over 10 years
Cuts $1.3 trillion from other health programs, mostly Medicaid, subsidies that support ACA
Cuts $150 billion from anti-hUnder programs, and cuts over $90 billion from student loan programs.
These are actually concerns of people INSIDE this district
I protest every Friday at Frelinghuysens office and many other times. I do not receive a penny. Anyone with half a brain would protest this entire Administration and all the Republicans for enabling it.
The irony is obviously lost on Frelinghuysen’s paid spokesman and campaign strategist when he called concerned constituents “professional left who get paid to protest.” I thought they dropped that old rotten chestnut. Talk about “offensively off base.” The people of the 11th distict have serious concerns, about the environment, the safety of health care, our taxes and the resulting effect on our economy. We just wish our representive would take the concerns seriously, to address us directly, to represent our interests instead of voting to protect his own political gain. It’s the baseline of democracy and he is failing. (And a correction, the articulate woman in the white shirt with Marcia Marley is Laura Fortgang)