| As Congress prepares to take a series of votes that will decide the fate of President Biden’s signature domestic priorities, more than 35 local elected officials have sent a letter to Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wycoff), calling on him to support the president’s full $3.5 trillion budget plan.
The Democratic committee members and members of local governing bodies from Gottheimer’s North Jersey district highlighted important aspects of the president’s Build Back Better program, pointing to ways in which the plan would benefit the congressman’s own constituents.
“As tensions in Washington rise, it’s important that Rep. Gottheimer realize that President Biden’s plan will deliver concrete benefits for the residents of North Jersey,” said Glen Rock Councilmember Teresa Gilbreath. “We need bold action to tackle the challenge of climate change, fight child poverty, build an economy that works for working families, and create a path for young adults to build stable futures.”
The local elected officials also pointed to proposed investments in mass transit, electric vehicles, clean energy and flood mitigation projects as key to North Jersey’s future. In addition, they touted a number of other provisions in the president’s plan, from cutting child poverty in half through expanding the child tax credit.
“Communities across North Jersey are suffering from the continued impacts of COVID-19 on our local businesses and families. More recently, Hurricane Ida demonstrated once again the growing threat of climate change to our region, as neighbors and shop owners experienced severe flooding, forced evacuation, devastating property damage, and even loss of life, ” the letter stated. “President Biden’s full Build Back Better plan tackles both problems at once. It includes an aggressive jobs package that will put millions of people to work in well-paying union jobs, creating true prosperity for the working families who are the backbone of your district”
Gottheimer threatened to derail the president’s agenda last month, when he led a group of nine moderate Democrats who threatened to vote no on a key procedural step to begin consideration of the budget process.
As negotiations over this agenda come down to the wire in Congress, these elected officials are asking Gottheimer to put his full-throated support behind the president’s full $3.5 trillion agenda to maximize this once in a generation opportunity to invest in local communities and build the middle class.
You can read a copy of the full letter here. |
Little misleading to say 35 elected officials, when only 7 are actually municipal electeds, the rest are county committee members. Which are technically elected, but I have never heard them referred to as “elected officials”, thats usually reserved for those in public office, not those in party positions.
I see what you are saying about a difference between municipal elected officials and party elected officials, but you might have considered stopping before describing being elected during a Primary Election as “technically elected”.
I agree, maybe not the best choice of words, but it is generous to describe the elections of county committee members as being on the same level of public officials. The vast majority are uncontested every single cycle, are elected with a few dozen votes, and are ultimately party positions. The fact that most had their terms extened unilaterally by County Chairs during the pandemic (something that public officeholders might dream of but would be impossible) illustrates their existance as a creature of political party structures. They are elected political party officeholders. In the jargon of contemporary politics, elected official is reserved for public office, not party office. It woudl raise eyebrows if a candidate for Congress claimed the endorsement of 500 elected officials, when they really were endorsed by 500 country committee members from their party.
So to make a long-winded response short; while they are elected, and are partyofficials, I believe it is disingenuous to call them as elected officials, for the reasons mentioned above.
P.S. – I have nothing against county committee members, just strong opinions about what to call them.