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Congressional candidates grasp fiscal future
(by Tanya Drobness - October 16, 2008)
Every month, breast cancer survivor Sally Sarah Maynard pays about $200 out of her own pocket for a bottle of pills that can help prevent a recurrence.
Medicare, the federal social insurance program that provides healthcare coverage to people aged 65 and up, chips in about $85 of the total cost, said Maynard, 71, of Orange.
“Pills can wipe you right out of your money,” Maynard said after attending a candidates’ forum this past Monday, hosted by the American Association of Retired Persons West Essex Chapter 131 in Montclair.
“Our health care system is unjust,” she said.
The two-hour forum, attended by nearly 120 people and several candidates and surrogates, provided the venue for the second public bout during this election year between Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th) and Republican challenger Roland Straten.
Before the meeting began, Straten worked the room to make introductions. Pascrell - who has been representing the congressional district for the past 12 years - waved “hellos” to familiar faces while chatting with his constituents, even blowing a kiss to an acquaintance in the crowd.
“I am so proud to be here today, being a senior citizen myself,” Pascrell, 71, said during his opening remarks.
The congressman, who noted that he serves on the House Ways and Means Committee that handles legislation dealing with funding for senior citizens, vowed, “I will never, never, ever vote to privatize Social Security, ever.”
“Can you imagine if we had invested part of our money in Wall Street, what would have happened to our Social Security, [to the] 50 percent of Americans … that depend on their Social Security check as a main source of income?”
“We need to keep the government’s hands off of Medicare,” Pascrell said before departing for a rally in Paterson.
It wasn’t until nearly an hour after Pascrell spoke that Straten had his turn.
Straten stressed the need for a “balanced Social Security budget,” and was quick to rebut his opponent.
“[Pascrell] was pretty loud telling you everything he did in Congress … and blaming George Bush. He didn’t tell you he’s been there for 12 years, and Bush has only been there for eight years,” Straten told the crowd.
As he unrolled his resume, which includes being chairman of the board of Paterson-based Associated Fire Protection Co. and a former U.S. Navy officer during the Vietnam War, Straten recalled receiving his $200 G.I. Bill when he returned home from service. “I didn’t feel I got much, and I want the vets, when they get home [from the Iraq War], to get their share.”
Straten said he would control government spending and make tax cuts permanent. He also promised to work on a “bipartisan basis to come up with a plan” that would make health insurance programs tax-deductible.
Jason Scheurer of Princeton, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Republican candidate Dick Zimmer, blamed all levels of government for failures in the Social Security system and for the falling value of the American dollar.
“It’s not that the price of milk is going up, it’s the fact that the money in your pocket is worth less,” Scheurer told the crowd.
Scheurer, a money manager, said that a universal healthcare program “can’t work” because of “corrupt” government intervention.
“Why can’t you pick and choose?” he asked.
Republican Andrew M. Bloschak, of Belleville, who is running for the Essex County Board of Freeholders in the 5th District, told audience members that senior citizens should not have to pay school taxes.
“You’ve worked all your life. You’ve contributed, and it’s about time you get a break,” said Bloschak, a laid-off General Motors worker. “There is no such thing as a Social Security trust fund … everything I make goes into the national treasury.”
During what was perhaps the most animated part of the forum, Herbert Glenn, a member of the Concerned Black Republicans of New Jersey who is running for the Essex County Board of Freeholders in the 2nd District, said he switched from his Democratic Party status because “I don’t believe that all Republicans are racist.”
Glenn’s remark caused several people in the audience to gasp, throwing their hands over their mouths and shaking their heads.
“A lot of times senior citizens are taken for granted, and they are the ones who vote the most,” said Glenn, of Newark.
“Someone said John McCain is too old to run for president,” he began, though some members of crowd intruded on his new point and responded, “Because he is.”
Glenn continued, “I’m voting for John McCain and no one can tell me I’m wrong if I have the right to do that …. I hope I will be a catalyst for change.”
A voter in the crowd asked Glenn why he failed to mention what he would do as a freeholder during his introduction. Glenn responded, “Why don’t you tell me what you want? I want to hear what you want me to do.”
He said that he would “build a bridge” between Republicans and Democrats and ensure that Social Security is maintained.
State Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin (D-34th) attended the meeting to speak on behalf of Lautenberg. Giblin touched on the senator’s “commitment to working with [Democratic presidential candidate Barack] Obama and [vice presidential candidate Joseph] Biden for change in this country.”
“Nearly 50 million people do not have health care, and unfortunately that number is not going down,” Giblin said.
U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th) assured worried senior citizens that their Social Security and Medicare plans are not tanking - yet.
“It’s going to be there … but your children and grandchildren may have to bite the bullet,” Payne said.
The writer is a staff writer at The Montclair Times.
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