Bergen Dispatch - Gottheimer And Elected Officials Say Scott Garrett's Ideology A Tax On District Families

News Article

By Paul Nichols

Josh Gottheimer, candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 5th District, was joined in Paramus on Thursday by a bipartisan group of elected local officials to highlight how incumbent Congressman Scott Garrett's record is impacting taxpayers in the district.

Gottheimer, along with Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera, Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet, Oradell Mayor Dianne Didio, Emerson Mayor Lou Lamatina and Norwood Councilman Allen Rapaport said Scott Garrett has consistently refused to support requests for local public safety grants and has a record of voting against federally funded programs for police, firefighters and public safety.

According to the local officials, Scott Garrett's office recently told towns, including Oradell, seeking a letter of support for Federal firefighter grants, that it was the congressman's policy not to write such letters.

In his 13 years in Congress, Scott Garrett has voted 12 times against funding for COPS grants and, in 2009, Garrett was the only New Jersey representative to vote against reauthorization of the program. A program, which, in 2014 provided New Jersey police departments with over $12.2 million in federal funds including $623,592 to Paramus for the hiring of five new Police officers.

According to Gottheimer, under Garrett's tenure New Jersey's 5th District has not been receiving its fair share of money back from Washington D.C. New Jersey's 5th District ranks in the top three percent of taxes paid but among the lowest in federal support.

"For every dollar we send to Washington, we are getting back about $0.33 cents in federal spending -- one of the worst returns on investment in the nation," Gottheimer said.

Gottheimer called the gap between what the district sends to Washington and the funding it gets back the "Garrett Tax', which Gottheimer estimated to cost district taxpayer $10 billion dollars per year.

Gottheimer blames Garrett's ideology for the shortfall.

"The Garrett Tax exists, in part, because our Congressman, Scott Garrett, is a rigid Tea Party ideologue who refuses to fight for our families' priorities and our District's share of federal tax dollars. He's more interested in pushing his national Tea Party agenda than in working to get a return on investment for all of us," Gottheimer said.

"it's the same story when Garrett fails to fight for us and votes against funding to fix our crumbling roads and bridges or for health care for first-responders, for veterans, or for public education."

"One third of our roads and bridges in New Jersey are considered unsafe for travel. Yet in December, Scott Garrett was the only member of the New Jersey delegation to vote against a bill that funds transportation needs through 2020. Can you imagine that? Voting no when our roads and bridges are literally crumbling -- the roads that take us to school and work and are critical to a successful economy. And he certainly isn't out there fighting for infrastructure projects within the District. He came out against the ARC Tunnel and the $3.3 billion dollars in funding that was headed to NJ. The Garrett Tax."

"He refused to support relief funds for Hurricane Sandy, until he was publically guilted into it."

"He voted against Homeland Security funding that helps bring dollars back to local law enforcement to protect us from lone wolf terrorists."

"Garrett has said he believes federal funding of public education is unconstitutional and has voted for budgets that slash aid to NJ schools, instead of pushing for federal dollars, our taxpayer dollars that we already paid to Washington, to help save thousands of teaching jobs in the District. These are critical dollars that could be going to our schools for Title I and special education programs -- dollars that would likely help offset our property tax dollars paying for these expenses."

"He also voted no to the Clean Water Act and the EPA, which puts critical health and safety officials on the ground to make sure our water is safe for our families and children to drink. We are experiencing now what happens when you cut those programs short."

"The ironic thing is that while Garrett objects to investing a single dollar for police officers that keep us safe, for safeguards for clean water, or for fixing our crumbling roads and bridges, he has had no problem spending $1.8 million since being in office -- number one in our state -- of your hard-earned tax dollars on glossy campaign-style mailers to keep his job."

"He won't support a police officer or a veteran, but he will blow $1.8 million on taxpayer-funded mail for his re-election campaign. It's hypocritical and fiscally irresponsible."

"His extreme national Tea Party agenda isn't just an affront to the New Jersey values we hold dear, but it hits us right in our wallets, too. On Scott Garrett's watch, we've been getting the short end of the stick -- and I plan to fix that," Gottheimer concluded.

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