On the call I emphasized the following:

· I support a responsible end to the war in Iraq so that we can invest in America’s urgent domestic priorities like renewable energy, and break our addiction to foreign oil as well as lower gas and electricity costs. 

· Chris Smith and John McCain have supported George Bush every step of the way on Iraq, from believing faulty intelligence, to believing we would be greeted as liberators, to believing the war will pay for itself with Iraqi oil.

· Each month, the United States spends $10 billion a month in Iraq – money which could be used to address domestic priorities like ensuring affordable health care, rebuilding our infrastructure or hiring more teachers or public safety officers.

· Incredibly, Iraq is right now holding onto $79 billion in excess oil revenues. We’re spending $10 billion a month to rebuild Iraq instead of using that money to create jobs here in America.

· The citizens of the 4th Congressional district have paid $2.2 billion for the war effort. That money could have been used to provide every home in the 4th Congressional District with Renewable Electricity, with enough money left over to help provide affordable health coverage for our residents.

That $2.2 billion could:

· Provide 203,137 People with Health Care for One Year

· Power 3,096,562 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year

· Hire 37,775 Public Safety Officers for One Year

· Provide 724,756 Children with Health Care for One Year

· Provide 28,856 Port Container Inspectors for One Year

· We can’t keep doing what we’re doing. We need change at all levels of government. 

· Chris Smith and John McCain have no plan to bring our troops home. 

· We need to elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress to bring our troops home and invest in our country’s future.

But before Democrats agree to the bailout package, they should demand sweeping conditions.   Tomorrow, George Bush will be in my central NJ district to raise money for Republican House candidates. In honor of the President’s visit, I’m participating in a press conference at Trenton, where I’ll suggest that the following conditions be tacked onto the bailout package.  These are just starting points.

1.  Any firm that accepts a bailout has become a ward of the state.  Congress should therefore cap executive compensation, including both salaried compensation and stock payouts.

2.  Bankruptcy judges should be empowered to adjust the terms of mortgages for families facing foreclosure of their primary residences. 

3.  Firms that accept the bailout should be required to unionize their clerical and support staff within twelve months.  They should be required to sign agreements binding them to use union workers for any future construction or expansion projects.  If AIG builds a new office, that office should be built by union workers.

4.  Commercial banks that accept the bailout should be required to bring their call centers back to the U.S. and to employ union workers.

5.  Commercial banks that accept the bailout should be compelled to accept tough new restrictions on credit card and banking fees, credit card interest rates, and predatory credit practices.

6.  Executives of any firm that accepts the bailout should be required to attend credit counseling classes.  It’s no more than we require of working families who file for bankruptcy when they fall on hard times or face catastrophic health care costs.

These are starting points.  I’d enjoy hearing from people about their thoughts and suggestions.  If you can get them to me today, I’ll incorporate them into tomorrow’s press statement.  And I’ll be sure to report back tomorrow with reflections on George Bush’s visit to New Jersey.

Chris Smith has introduced legislation to criminalize the common, everyday birth control pill and IUD on twenty-two separate occasions. He wants to put millions of American women in jail for using the pill. We have to say no to this kind of extremism.

My campaign has produced a video outlining Smith’s attempt to criminalize birth control, and you can view it below.

I believe that access to basic birth control and family planning services is a fundamental right. By refusing to provide contraception and age appropriate sex education, Chris Smith’s policies increase the number of unintended pregnancies.

By providing women with a full range of information and health care options, we can help them make informed decisions about their lives and bodies. Together we can continue to provide women the right to choose.

I know how important reproductive rights are to all of you, and I want to thank you for taking time to learn more about this crucial Congressional race.

Sincerely,

Josh Zeitz

A cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama smiling out from the porch told me I’d come to the right place. (I’m yet to be honored with a life-size replica, but I see these ones of our presidential candidate springing up all over the 4th District.) We each began by introducing ourselves, and explaining what drove our interest and activism in politics. It was frustration with the current state of affairs that drove Janice Mironov, mayor of East Windsor, to seek election. Hers was a feeling shared. It was both sad and heartening to hear what the young people of East Windsor had to say about current politics. Many have been inspired by Barack Obama’s historic candidacy. But coupled with that was a frustration with the current politicians in Washington.

The host of the party, Mark, has particular reasons to desire a change in Washington. Embryonic stem-cell research, science that has huge potential to improve - and save - the lives of millions of people, has been repeatedly blocked by the Bush administration. And Chris Smith has opposed every bill that could create life-saving techniques through this technology. Sitting in the Brett’s living-room and hearing the testimony of someone who is such a strong proponent of this technology really brings it home to you just how strong the imperative for change now is. Only the week before I was at house party in Freehold where the plight of diabetes sufferers was raised. We need change to ensure that these Americans have access to the basic quality of life that most of us take for granted, made possible through the science that has always been a great strength of our nation.

And it’s not just the young who would benefit from embryonic stem-cell research. As anyone who has cared for an elderly relative will be aware, or who has visited grandma or grandpa in a care home, we have a high number of Alzheimer’s suffers in our district, not least because of central New Jersey’s proud industrial history. Alzheimer’s is a disease for which there is no cure, but for which there is hope in the very research Chris Smith opposes.

As I go to these house parties all over the district, it’s regular voters who bring home to me most strongly the arguments for change. We’ve all heard the high rhetorical calls for change. But it’s on the doorsteps and in the living rooms of our neighborhoods that that argument is made most compelling.

The United States’ costly and disastrously planned intervention in Iraq, our dependence on foreign oil, and America’s reputation abroad were high on everyone’s list of change priorities. Many of them were college kids home for the vacation, but who were brought up and vote in New Jersey. That they chose to spend their Friday night talking politics with a history teacher and the parents of a friend, says a lot, I think, about the imperative facing us at this election.

House parties are a great way to engage in the political process in a year which has already been transformative in modern American history. If you’d like to engage with your friends and neighbours, we can help you set up a party. Call our campaign headquarters in Hamilton at 609 888 1925, or in Brick, at 732 477 0156, and we can help you make it happen.

Folks enjoying the party!

Originally uploaded by Josh Zeitz

Last Monday we consolidated our voter out-reach in the district, opening our second campaign office in Brick. The new Brick office complements the steady work we’ve been doing at our Hamilton HQ over the last three months. This was a very exciting occasion for the campaign, as it will ensure we can reach all voters with our message: that change is needed in Washington to support middle class folks in New Jersey.

At the Brick office we’re phone-banking and sending out canvassers to pound the pavement, making voters aware of the the alternative to an outdated conservative Republican.

Wyatt Earp was there with former Democratic Congressional candidate, Carol Gay, as well as Larry Jones, who’s running for Ocean County Surrogate, to help me welcome my supporters. The opening party drew a good crowd, as you can see from the photos!

The price of gas, the war in Iraq, and the rising cost of living were all on people’s minds. It was a great opportunity for me to kick-start the conversation with voters in this part of our district, all of whom share a desire for change.

The new offices are perfect for our purposes and I’m really pleased with my team’s efforts to get them up and running. There was a great atmosphere at the party that has translated into a good initial progress. Here’s to the team in Brick! Thanks to everyone for their efforts.

If you’d like to volunteer, please get in touch with our Brick campaign manager, Josh Hedli, at 732 477 0156. The offices are located at The 254 Brick Blvd. Go in and take a look!

Job losses are one problem, and inflation is another. During the past twelve months, wages have risen by 2.8%. While that sounds good, inflation has jumped 4%, which means that the average person who has actually had a job has had his or her salary cut by more than 1% over the past year. It’s worth mentioning that the average American family’s annual household income is actually lower now by about $1000 compared to when George Bush took office seven years ago, while health insurance premiums have doubled (from $6000 to $12,000 per year) and, as we all know, the price of a gallon of gas has tripled. American families are losing ground. We need to do something, and we need to do it now.

President Bush and his allies in Congress blocked an attempt by progressives to extend unemployment benefits, on a temporary basis during this difficult time, by an additional twenty six weeks. All they would allow is thirteen more weeks. When breadwinners lose their jobs, families lose more than money, they can lose health insurance, they can fall behind on mortgage payments, they can lose a sense of security and well-being. That’s why I opposed George W. Bush, and support extending unemployment benefits by an additional twenty-six weeks.

One of the other key problems hurting families and hurting the broader economy is the housing and mortgage crisis. Homeowners, too many of whom were sold mortgages by brokers using deceptive practices, can’t make their payments because they lose their jobs or because of rising costs of living (or both). This leads to more foreclosures, which then hurts the value of everyone else’s homes, leaving many of us with negative equity. We have a vicious cycle that has to be broken.

It didn’t have to be this way. George Bush and his supporters in Congress, like Chris Smith, turned a blind eye to the excesses in the housing and mortgage market. Smith voted to deregulate the financial services industry in 1999, opening the door for the Wild West lending practices of the Bush years that helped bring about the subprime mortgage crisis [S. 900, Vote #570, 11/4/99] Smith, Christopher (NJ/R) Y. It’s par for the course when dealing with Republican mismanagement.

More broadly, we need to have an economy that grows, and whose growth does not only benefit those who are already wealthy. I know that working people’s energy and productivity drive economic growth, and I’ll fight to make economic growth work for all families. That’s why I’m running for Congress.

On this 4th of July, I’ve also been thinking about another kind of independence, namely energy independence. We are a strong country with our best days yet ahead of us. Right now, however, we face tremendous problems because we are deeply dependent on foreign oil.  And we’re not just importing oil from friendly democracies like Canada, but from places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, countries who have very different values and interests from our own.

We’ve seen the price of oil go through the roof since George Bush, supported by Chris Smith, invaded Iraq and destabilized the Gulf region. Energy independence is vital because too many families can’t afford to fill up their gas tanks or heat their homes, and also because too much of what we spend on energy ends up with regimes or terrorist groups that want to hurt us here at home and attack our brave servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the summer of 1776 our Founding Fathers literally put their lives on the line to declare our independence from King George III. We need to honor their bravery, and to defend our country’s independence for the sake of our children by taking serious measures starting this summer.

We must increase fuel economy standards for vehicles and invest in more renewable energy. We also need to increase the Hybrid-Vehicle tax credit so all working families can afford a new, fuel efficient vehicle for the cost of their current car payment. Greater fuel efficiency means we import less oil and help families pay the bills. Think about it. If your car got twice as many miles to the gallon, it would be like cutting the price of gas in half because each gallon would get you twice as far.

George Bush and Chris Smith’s answer to our energy problems is to ask the Saudi King to increase oil production, which will do nothing more than send more American dollars into Saudi coffers.

The time has come to decide whether we are going to elect leaders who fight for energy independence or whether we will continue to send politicians back to Washington, DC who won’t push for change because their party is in in the pocket of multinational oil companies. That’s why we need a change, why we need new leadership. That’s why I’m running for Congress.

As we’ve all seen on the news recently, out of control energy speculation on stock markets is one reason that oil and gas prices are so high. The impact is crippling our entire economy and hurting middle-class families.

In 2000, the Enron Loophole became law when Enron lobbyists were able to get Phil Gramm, then-Senator from Texas and John McCain’s chief economic advisor, to slip it into a piece of legislation in the dead of night. The Enron loophole prevented the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from overseeing certain kinds of energy futures trading, and many experts believe that the loophole helped create the energy crisis in California because it allowed companies like Enron to manipulate prices in trading markets that the CFTC could not regulate. My opponent, Chris Smith voted for this legislation.

The recent farm bill, which Chris Smith voted against, helped curb some of the problems created by the Enron loophole, but there is much more that needs to be done. In order to fully close the Enron loophole, we need to make sure that the trading of energy futures is governed by rules that have some teeth. We need strict criminal penalties for breaking the law and constant oversight to ensure rules are not being broken. We should also make sure than US energy futures cannot be traded in overseas markets where anti-speculation rules do not exist or are not enforced. I also support the thorough investigation of the oil markets by both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

Speculation isn’t the only reason gas is $4 a gallon. We all know that. We need to use energy more efficiently and give our citizens real incentives to do so. We need to encourage private industry to develop alternative sources of energy, and give them incentives to do so. We also need to help people who are hurting right now because of the skyrocketing cost of gas and its effects on the cost of other basic necessities. But speculation is a piece of the puzzle, and it is one piece we can do something about right now.

You know, this past weekend I walked through two precincts in Bordentown Township and attended the really amazing Florence Occasion in the Park. People told me they were fed up with the high cost of gas, and one specifically brought up how many gas stations were cited for cheating drivers at the pump.

Like most of you, I am outraged at these violations, which Attorney General Anne Milgram said are in all likelihood intentional attempts to deceive consumers. I’m glad that these inspections took place and that drivers can now be more confident that they are at least getting what they are paying four dollars a gallon for. I would suggest they mandate more frequent inspections.

It’s for reasons like this that I support strict criminal penalties for price gouging. The law has to protect drivers not only from gas station owners but also from the Big Oil companies who are making record profits and still receiving outrageous subsidies from our governments in Washington. We need measures that investigate price fixing by Oil Cartels like OPEC as well as unfair and ridiculous prices set by the biggest oil producers in the United States.

You can read more about where I stand on gas prices in my last post, available at: http://blog.joshzeitz.com/index.php/2008/6/18/Fifth-Graders:-Gas-Prices-Are-a-Crisis/