My run for Congress (NJ-11)

Written by: Tom Wyka on Nov 14, 2006 11:50 PM EST

 

Two hundred and ninety days ago, I decided that I couldn't stand by any longer and watch the America I knew continue to be dismantled before my eyes.   I decided to stop shaking my head at the nightly news and I stepped up to challenge my well-entrenched GOP incumbent Congressman.

 
I was a David taking on a Goliath. I am not the scion of a political dynasty reaching back to the 18th century, whose name is all over the local landscape. Instead, I come from a long line of recent Polish immigrants. I don’t have a personal fortune valued in the millions of dollars as so many in Congress do. In fact, I have had to continue to work at a regular job throughout this campaign, what some might call "uniquely American." Perhaps most important, I would be running in a district that had traditionally been so “safe” for my opponent’s party that my own party had never run a serious challenge. This also meant that I would get exactly zero support from outside the district. So we all knew that we were facing nearly impossible odds. But that’s not what’s important.
 

What the volunteers on my campaign and I have been doing is building a movement here in Morris County. It is a movement based on a dream, what was once called the American Dream. It’s a belief in hard work, and what hard work should lead to. We believe that hard work should provide a decent living, and a secure retirement. We need an accountable government that supports a society that is safe, healthy, and smart. Safe means a sensible and decent foreign policy, adherence to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, greater protection for the environment, and a major, concerted effort to free us from dependence on foreign oil. Healthy means universal health care, which is considered a birthright in all other industrialized nations and which is far more cost-effective than the system we currently have. Smart means better funding for education, from Head Start through college.
 
We believe that our government is one of the people, by the people, and for the people—not for corporations at the expense of the people. For this reason, I challenged the incumbent to a $50,000 spending limit. He ignored this challenge and raised over $900,000 for this campaign cycle, much of it from industry PACs. As in previous years, his own campaign expenses were much less that this, so he was able to make significant donations to the campaigns of other Republicans, many of whom are antiabortion zealots or have appalling environmental records. Thus, the money donated to the “moderate” of Morris County went to support the campaigns of extremists in “red” states. Incidentally, my campaign was far more "cost-effective" than his: we spent approximately 24 cents for every vote we earned, as opposed to the incumbent's $6.50 per vote.
 
We have accomplished several important things in this election cycle. First, we have started to build a movement. People are coming together and learning important new skills. Second, we have won a higher percentage of votes than any previous first-time candidate or Democratic candidate in the history of the 11th District (37%). One can only speculate how much higher the percentage would have been if my opponent had allowed our debate to be televised. Third, we have established a new set of benchmarks for how a candidate’s performance should be judged. From now on, the congressional representative of district 11 will be judged by his voting record, not by his family tree or how personable he seems to be. No longer will our Congressman be able to go to the veterans’ hospitals and press the flesh without being asked why he and his colleagues have a poor voting record on disabled veterans’ issues. No longer will he be able to have a photo-op at a Superfund site without someone asking why he got only 33% on the League of Conservation Voters’ scorecard. No longer will it be possible to praise a congressman for getting a few million dollars for the Highlands Preservation when he helped the federal government squander hundreds of billions of dollars on a completely unnecessary war-without-end in Iraq. We want accountable government, and accountability begins in district 11.
 
The volunteers who worked on my campaign, including a core set of DFA faithful, were working for something larger than me. They were working for their own dream of what America can be. They’re still game, and I’m still game. 2008 starts today.

 www.TomWyka.com

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