The Freshmen: What About Jefferson Van Drew? Part II

I keep getting complaints that our early June episode of The Freshmen on New Jersey Blue Dog Jefferson Van Drew, didn't do him justice and was far from complete. He is, after all, the worst Democrat in Congress and deserves a more thorough look. I'm up for it.

Back in June, we noted that he was among the half dozen Blue Dogs-- the others being Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Anthony Brindisi (NY), Joe Cunningham (SC), Kendra Horn (OK) and Ben McAdams (UT)-- voting most frequently against anything that smacks of progressivism and that his ProgressivePunch crucial vote score was a shockingly dreadful 37.5%. A lot has changed in the last month. Van Drew is now tied with just two Blue Dogs-- Brindisi and Cunningham-- as the worst Democrats in Congress. His 37,5% crucial vote score has continued to deteriorate and is now 20.0%, worse than ex-Republican/Independent Justin Amash's 32.72% and worse than the scores of Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick (29.35%), Thomas Massie (28.75) and John Katko (21.36).

Unexpectedly, he's turned into a virtual Pelosi puppet. Last week, she wanted a strong vote against impeachment and Van Drew-- who has been whining that all investigations into Trump should stop-- was there for her. For someone who campaigned as an anti-Pelosi Democrat, he rarely votes against her wishes. And when he does-- it always seems to be to please Trump and the GOP House leadership, as he did this week when he voted against holding William Barr and Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress. That resolution passed 230 to 198 with just 4 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with the Republicans against it: Anthony Brindisi (NY), Jared Golden (ME), Conor Lamb (PA), and Jefferson Van Drew (NJ).

Also last week, when nearly every Democrat in the House was rushing to defend Ilhan Omar, AOC, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley from Trump's ugly racist comments, Van Drew alone decided ti use NRCC talking points instructing members how to use "both sides" terminology. 7 days ago Van Drew wrote that "Elected officials on both sides need to stop with the name calling and hateful statements. Instead of focusing on real issues, we have heard all manner of appalling remarks from those who would rather distract from them. It is time to grow up. This behavior is shameful and disgusting." A staffer told him that "both sides" evoctes Trump's statement about the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville and, eventually Van Drew allowed those words to be removed from his Facebook page.

One of the recurring complaints I got about past coverage of Van Drew is that I didn't include David Hogg's criticism and that of other anti-NRA activists. Last year, the Philadelphia Inquirer warned voters in south Jersey towns where the paper is a big news source that Van Drew is a long-time NRA shill.

South Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Jeff Van Drew felt the wrath of a local teen when Emily McGrath of Egg Harbor Township confronted him with evidence that he had accepted donations from the NRA at a forum in February, a week after the mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Fla.

Over the weekend, Van Drew, a state senator from Cape May County, felt the glare from another teen, this one with a national following: David Hogg, the student activist who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

"Remember both Democrats and Republicans take #NRABloodMoney," Hogg tweeted to his 778,000 followers. "Just look up New Jersey state senator @JeffVanDrew, he's a Democrat with an A rating from the NRA."

...Van Drew has said publicly that he would support expanded background checks and regulations of silencers. But he has said in interviews that he generally opposes the additional gun law regulations now being considered in New Jersey. Those bills will not reach the state Senate, where Van Drew would cast his votes, until two days after the primary.

His campaign acknowledged that he received $1,000 from the NRA in 2008, plus $2,700 in 2007 and 2008 from a lesser-known gun lobby, the Newtown Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation Inc. But Van Drew has said he has not taken any NRA donations since then, and would refuse any donations.

Kate Aronoff, reporting earlier for The Intercept went a little deeper into the contretemps between McGrath and Van Drew. She was a 17 year old senior at Egg Harbor Township High School in his district who didn't beat around the bush: "'Senator, you lied,' McGrath said after a debate for Democratic candidates in Northfield, New Jersey, citing evidence that Jeff Van Drew had accepted donations from the NRA in previous election cycles. The video was posted to Twitter by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Amy S. Rosenberg. Earlier in the evening, McGrath noted on camera, Van Drew had said he had 'never' accepted funds from the NRA when he spoke to her AP government class the day before. Another local woman, Donna Challender, told Van Drew that, 'I don’t have any faith that you will ever vote for universal checks … you’re 100 percent NRA.'"

In 2017 Van Drew was given a 100% rating from the NRA, very rare for a Democrat. He had consistently voted against gun control measures as a member of the state Assembly, including two pushed for by the state’s Democrats in the wake of the shooting at Sandy Hook. Worse yet-- in 2010 he introduced a bill to loosen restrictions on handgun permits. There was so much controversy generated by the bill that Van Drew eventually withdrew it and it was never voted on.

Aronof noted at the time that "Van Drew’s voting record is conservative on fronts besides gun control, as well. He was one of two Democrats in the state senate to vote against gay marriage in 2012. Van Drew has also supported restrictions on abortion, and vocally opposed the idea of making New Jersey a sanctuary city-- a proposal embraced by newly elected Democratic governor Phil Murphy."

Years earlier, the chairman of the Ocean City Democratic Club, Sam Lavner resigned rather than help Van Drew trick Democratic voters into turning out for him, citing Van Drew’s vote in favor of pension and benefits reform as the culmination of his disgust over the senator’s voting record, which includes support for some of Gov. Chris Christie’s key initiatives. Van Drew told associates he didn't care because Lavner was "just a [hateful explitive for gay person] pissed off that I voted against gay marriage..." Publicly he said "He is very much focused-- and his main concern with me-- was over transgender and gay and lesbian concerns with my position on that issue... People are eager to have people who stand up for what is right."

A willing yes vote on Christie’s budget, and health and pension reform, a proponent of getting New Jersey out of the regional greenhouse gas initiative and backer of the governor’s red tape reform committee, Van Drew said he mostly agrees with Christie’s pro business approach.

 “He’s on target-- we cannot tax, toll and regulate this state to death,” the senator said. We have to incentivize business and create jobs.”  

Just a rumor-- you heard it here first

I asked Michael McAdams, an NRCC spokesperson and he told me that "Van Drew is a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and has failed to stand up to the radical policies of the socialist Democrats," which is an interesting perspective, kind of the opposite of our critique of Van Drew. The GOP attack on socialism is an attack on Social Security and Medicare and everything conservatives have fought for the last century-- like in the picture up top, which puts Van Drew in the same category as the Republicans-- the conservative category, just they were red coats and he wears a blue jumper. But if it were the 1770s, they'd all have joined with the British to kill Patriots, except Michael, a swell guy.

Since the DCCC got him into Congress, he-- along with Cunningham and Brindisi, both, unlike Van Drew, from heavily red districts-- has voted against progressive roll calls 80% of the time. So far this cycle there is no announced primary opponent, though a motley crew of clueless Republicans calling him a socialist are running. Let's look at three progressive policies that Van Drew opposes and will fight tooth and nail to stop. These charts were published by the New York Times yesterday. You'll have to click on each chart to read them-- a wealth tax on the super-rich, Medicare-for-All and free public colleges: