The Case for Dick Zimmer for Senate

Now that the NJ Primary has ended, I will be supporting the Republican nominee Dick Zimmer for United States Senate - here is an editorial explaining why, which was sent to Murray Sabrin's entire mailing list.
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Former Congressman Dick Zimmer, who will head the New Jersey Republican ticket this November as the U.S. Senate nominee, absolutely deserves the support of all party members, as well as conservative independents voters, in his quest to oust Frank Lautenberg. The stakes are too high, both statewide and nationally, to allow Lautenberg's bad votes to further jeopardize our liberty and prosperity.

The reasoning is straightforward – Lautenberg never has, and never will, pass up an opportunity to expand the size and scope of government. His ideas have their roots in collectivism and the belief that bureaucrats in Washington can better determine what will make us more free, prosperous, healthy, and happy than we can determine for ourselves and our families. Lautenberg represents a continuation of the failed experiment in central planning and his votes in the Senate will further the United States along the path to Socialism. He must be stopped.

By contrast, Congressman Zimmer refers to himself as the “un-Lautenberg”, contrasting the 84-year-old’s consistent support of bigger, more intrusive, and less efficient government with his own solid record of standing up for taxpayers. As he often notes, prominent taxpayer advocacy groups like Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers’ Union lauded the legislation he sponsored during his 3 terms in the House of Representatives, naming him a "Taxpayer Superhero".

On the campaign trail, Zimmer often proffers his "pork buster before it was cool" credentials. Though the uber-fashionable “earmark reform” represent only 1 cent on the dollar (hardly the most egregious violation of the Constitution enacted in the last century), Zimmer confidently asserts that the elimination of earmarks is the lowest hanging fruit for Congress to regain the confidence of the American people.

I support Congressman Zimmer because, ultimately, the Republican Senate caucus needs courage to advance an aggressive agenda of budget cuts and reduced spending on Capitol Hill. The champions of fiscal conservatism in the GOP minority like Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint will have a ready, willing, and able ally when Dick Zimmer takes his seat. That is reason enough for all Republicans to give him our full backing.

If we elect not to do so, we Garden State residents will continue to be represented by the ultra-liberal and ineffective Frank Lautenberg. One only needed to have tuned in to the incumbent’s debates with Rob Andrews in recent weeks to see that Frank is out of his league – inarticulate, unimaginative, and simply out-of-touch. I wish him no ill, but I’d much rather be represented for the next 6 years in Washington by Dick Zimmer, resigning Frank Lautenberg to enjoy retirement at one of his “recreational properties”.

This endorsement does not mean that I agree with all of his positions, but the choice between supporting Congressman Zimmer and handing the election to Frank Lautenberg hardly represents a dilemma. Even the issues on which conservatives part company with Zimmer, his positions cannot be compared with those of the ultra-liberal Lautenberg, who supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand without restrictions, radical curtailment of our constitutional right to bear arms, and amnesty for those who have entered this country illegally.

Of course, I feel that Congressman Zimmer would surely cruise to victory if he opposed a continued occupation of Iraq more vigorously. He should also articulate the mismanagement of our economy by the financial and political elites, most especially the Federal Reserve, whose manipulation facilitates bail-outs to Wall Street billionaires while Main Street small business owners suffer with unaffordable mortgage debt. Furthermore, seniors investing in no-risk CDs cannot even meet inflation with the artificially low interest rates available. I advise Congressman Zimmer to embrace these issues, which drive at the heart of New Jersey voters’ concerns.

Finally, I applaud Zimmer for advocating an aggressive and early debate schedule like that of the 2006 Senate race. Let New Jersey voters compare a highly intelligent, experienced, down-to-earth Republican with "the most anti-business businessman ever to serve in the Congress of the United States." The right choice is more than clear.

All Republicans should support Dick Zimmer so that he can mount an aggressive campaign to unseat Frank Lautenberg, and of course provide coattails to our congressional candidates in Districts 3 and 7, to keep those seats in the GOP column.

Congressman Dick Zimmer has my full support.

George Ajjan
Clifton, NJ
The author served as the Communications Director for the Murray Sabrin U.S. Senate campaign.