Thursday, March 24, 2011

Blue America Welcomes Jeff Gardner (D-NJ)

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When a mutual friend at DFA called me to tell me about a candidate for state Senate in New Jersey, who's running in a Paterson-based district not far from where I once lived, I was very impressed with his credentials and with the significance of the race beyond just the borders of his north New Jersey district. But I decided to check him out further by calling an old friend of Blue America's, 2010-- and hopefully 2012-- congressional candidate Ed Potosnak. I asked Ed if he'd ever met Jeff Gardner. His enthusiasm was positively explosive and I asked him to write a few lines for us today:
"I am extremely pleased Jeff Gardner is running for NJ State Senate. Jeff is a progressive Democrat, which is sorely needed in our state Legislature, and a strong voice in support of equality and opportunity for all, not just a select few. His opponent, a 30+ year Trenton incumbent, has lost touch with the needs of his constituents, and has failed to deliver for his district. In addition to being a strong advocate for all residents, Jeff is down to earth, able, approachable, and will fight to create jobs and to realign our State's out of control spending to attract and retain business and stimulate innovation. As a fellow New Jerseyan who cares deeply about our America's economic recovery, reestablishing trust in government, and ensuring equality, I hope you will join me, and Blue America, in supporting Jeff. When elected he will change how NJ works."

As we explained a couple of days ago, it takes a really exceptional candidate for Blue America to go beyond our mission of electing progressives to the U.S. House. Jeff is just such a worthy exception. And his opponent, John Girgenti, New Jersey Majority Whip, is drowning in a sewer scandal and made a name for himself by loudly and spitefully crossing the aisle in Trenton to vote with the GOP against marriage equality, helping to kill that legislation... for now.

Please join Jeff in the comments section at Crooks and Liars and if you like what you hear and can handle it, please consider making a $5 or $10 contribution to his grassroots campaign through our Blue America ActBlue page.

Jeff is eager to rid the Democratic Party of a bigoted and corrupt fossil like Girgenti and then to move forward and deal with an even worse problem: Chris Christie. “We need leaders in Trenton," he told me, "who are looking out for our families, not the politically-connected and the powerful. We can’t balance our budgets on the backs of working families. Our cities and our middle-class have sacrificed enough. I promise to protect vital government services and make sure multi-millionaires and faceless corporations pay their fair share.”

And in case you're discouraged that the power of well-funded corrupt political hacks like Girgenti is too much to overcome, keep in mind that Jeff already beat him once! "He used to be the Democratic municipal chairman in my hometown of Hawthorne. After years of increasingly bad results for Democrats at the local level, I mounted a challenge and won. Against an entrenched incumbent whose support is built on little more than patronage and graft, it seems that hard work and the promise of real representation is quite effective.

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