Scott Garrett is part of the problem in DC

Congressman Scott Garrett likes to position himself as a fiscal conservative. Has he been successful in saving taxpayer dollars during his six terms in Washington? Unfortunately the reality does not match the image that he likes to project. Early in his term, he voted for the largest Medicare benefits increase since the LBJ administration, an additional half-trillion dollars added to our federal deficit. When our financial system was on the brink of collapse in 2008, instead of supporting the crisis leadership of our Republican president and treasury secretary, he voted against a financial rescue program. The result was a 700-point stock market plunge, and almost another Great Depression. Unfortunately, hundreds of millions of dollars in pork spending needed to be added to the program in order for it to pass on a second vote, and avert financial disaster. And of course, last year Garrett supported the government shutdown, which accomplished nothing, but cost our struggling economy 24 billion dollars in lost economic activity.

Garrett’s no compromise approach to governing looks good on paper, but doesn’t cut it in the real world. Anyone who’s been married knows that you have to compromise to move forward. It’s no different in government. He’s so caught up in his hard-right wing orthodoxy that he refuses to work with other house members for the greater good. His reluctance to step up to support his fellow citizens of New Jersey and Gov. Christie after Hurricane Sandy is another example of him coming up small in a big moment.

As a resident of Sussex County and a former Republican mayor, it should be a source of pride to have a U.S. congressman from the local area. However, when that local congressman represents the extreme partisanship at the root of Washington’s dysfunction, then it’s time to elect someone else.

John Logan
Former mayor of Vernon Township