Scott Garrett

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Scott Garrett
Scott Garrett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 3, 2003
Preceded by Marge Roukema
Born July 9, 1959 (1959-07-09) (age 48)
Englewood, New Jersey
Political party Republican
Spouse Mary Ellen Garrett
Religion Non-denominational

E. Scott Garrett (born July 9, 1959 in Englewood, New Jersey) is a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a Republican and has represented New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District seat since January 2003 (map). Garrett serves as a member of both the House Budget Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.

Contents

[edit] Political career and background

Prior to being elected to the House, Garrett served in the New Jersey General Assembly (the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature) from 1990 to 2002 representing the 24th legislative district, which covers all of Sussex County and several municipalities in Morris and Hunterdon counties.

Garrett earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Montclair State University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Rutgers School of Law - Camden in 1984.

Garrett unsuccessfully ran for Congress against incumbent Congresswoman Marge Roukema in the 1998 and 2000 Republican primaries, falling short both times with 48% of the vote.[1] He received support from several groups who had long felt chagrin at Roukema's moderate voting record; Garrett had by this time established himself as one of the most conservative members of the General Assembly.

In 2002, Roukema did not seek reelection and Garrett won a contested five-way primary with 45% of the vote over State Assemblyman David C. Russo (26%) and State Senator Gerald Cardinale (25%), who had received Roukema's endorsement.[2][3]

In the 2002 general election, Garrett faced Democrat Anne Sumers, a former Republican, in the general election. Roukema didn't endorse Garrett in the general election. This was very unusual for an incumbent of the same party, even though Garrett and Roukema had faced each other in bruising primaries in past years. However, she didn't endorse Sumers either, even though part of Sumers' strategy was to portray herself as a "Roukema Republican" and win support in Roukema's old Bergen County base (Bergen County is the biggest county in the 5th district). Sumers' chances decreased significantly after she made several ill-advised comments about the U.S.-Taliban conflict on an Internet message board.[4] The race essentially ended at that point, and Garrett won in a rout, 60% to 38%--even winning Roukema's former base in Bergen County.[5])

Garrett was reelected in 2004 with 58% of the vote. He declined to debate his opponent Anne Wolfe, several times, claiming to have conflicts with his schedule in Washington D.C. Eventually he debated her twice. In 2006, Garrett defeated his Republican primary rival, Michael J. Cino of Bergen County. In the November 2006 election, Garrett defeated Paul Aronsohn (a former employee of the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration) and Independent R. Matthew Fretz to win a third term. However, in this election, he only won 55% of the vote--the lowest percentage for a Republican in the district since it assumed its current configuration in 1983.

[edit] Committee Assignments

  • Budget Committee
  • Financial Services Committee
    • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
    • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
    • Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
  • Republican Policy Committee

[edit] Political positions and statements

Garrett has a very conservative voting record, which is unusual for Republicans from New Jersey, a longstanding bastion of moderate Republicanism. He has received perfect 100 ratings from the American Conservative Union throughout his career. In 2005, only 38 members of Congress nationwide and only two other members from Northeastern states — Bill Shuster and Joe Pitts, both from Pennsylvania — scored perfect 100s.[6] New Jersey's five other Republican Congressmembers have ACU rankings ranging from 60 to 76.[7]

In July of 2007, Congressman Garrett proposed an amendment to strike money in a spending bill for native Alaskan and Hawaiian educational programs.[8] Congressman Don Young of Alaska defended the funds on the floor of the House, saying, "You want my money, my money."[8] Young went on to suggest that conservative Republicans such as Garrett lost the Republicans their majority in the 2006 election by challenging spending earmarks, and made several critical remarks about the state of New Jersey.[8] While Garrett did not ask for an official reprimand, other conservative Republicans took exception to Young's remarks that the funds in question represented his money. Members of the Republican Study Committee gave Garrett a standing ovation later in the day during the group's weekly meeting.[8]

Garrett led a drive to demand the immediate resignation of Governor Jim McGreevey after he admitted to an extramarital affair with a male state employee. McGreevey announced that he would stay in office until November 15, 2004. Had McGreevey resigned before September 8, 2004, there would have been a special election at the same time as that year's presidential election. Garrett started a petition on his campaign web site demanding a special election. According to his campaign manager, it received 10,000 responses, but it is unknown how many signatures were actually from New Jersey.[citation needed]

Although Garrett promotes himself as a "mainstream tax-cutter that President Bush needs in Congress,"[9] he has broken with the Bush Administration several times. For example, he was one of several House conservatives who joined Democrats in opposing the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003. Garrett was the only congressman from New Jersey to vote against the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act for purposes of states' rights.[10]. Furthermore, he led nineteen US lawmakers to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives backing UN membership for Taiwan, a stance that was previously discouraged by the Bush administration[11].

He also serves on the Liberty Caucus (sometimes called the Liberty Committee), a group of libertarian-minded congressmen.[12] Other members include Ron Paul of Texas, Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee, Virgil Goode of Virginia, Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, Zach Wamp of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona.[13]

Garrett was the only member of the New Jersey delegation to vote for oil and gas drilling off the shore of New Jersey.[14] Garrett was also the only member to vote against restrictions on "price gouging" by oil companies,[15] to vote against child safety locks on handguns, and to vote against emergency funding for Hurricane Katrina victims.[16] He was the only New Jersey member to vote against federal aid for household pets in case of a disaster.[17] He was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to vote against an extension of unemployment benefits.[18]

Garrett also wants public schools to teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution.[19]

[edit] Notable stances

According to the non-partisan vote-tracking website Issues 2000:[20]

Garrett was endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.[citation needed]

[edit] Electoral history

New Jersey's 5th congressional district: Results 2002–2006[21]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2002 Anne Sumers 76,504 38% Scott Garrett 118,881 59% Michael J. Cino Lower Tax Independent 4,466 2%
2004 Dorothea A. Wolfe 122,259 41% Scott Garrett 171,220 58% Victor Kaplan Libertarian 1,857 1% Thomas Phelan NJ Conservative 1,515 1% *
2006 Paul Aronsohn 89,503 44% Scott Garrett 112,142 55% R. Matthew Fretz An Independent Voice 2,597 1%
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2000, Helen Hamilton received 481 votes. In 2004, Socialist Party USA candidate Gregory Pason received 574 votes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Roukema retires, County News Online, November 26, 2001
  2. ^ Kocieniewski, David. "Forrester to Represent G.O.P. in Race to Unseat Torricelli", The New York Times, June 5, 2002. Accessed March 30, 2008. "In the Republican primary to replace Representative Marge Roukema, who is retiring from her Fifth Congressional District seat, State Assemblyman E. Scott Garrett, defeated State Senator Gerald Cardinale, whom Mrs. Roukema had endorsed. With all precincts reporting, Mr. Garrett had 46 percent, to 25 percent for Mr. Cardinale and 26 percent for Assemblyman David C. Russo."
  3. ^ Barnes Pleads Guilty, Primaries, & Georgia Scott; 38th Column dated July 5, 2002
  4. ^ Patriotism becomes nasty campaign issue | csmonitor.com
  5. ^ In Jersey, Conservative and Moderate Republicans Vie for Control of Party, accessed July 31, 2006
  6. ^ U.S. House of Representatives Standouts: 2005 — Best and Brightest, accessed July 9, 2006
  7. ^ ACU Rankings by State Delegation, accessed July 9, 2006
  8. ^ a b c d North to Alaska, The Politico dated July 17, 2007.
  9. ^ Archive of Garrett's campaign site at http://web.archxive.org/web/20030425222436/http://garrettforcongress.com
  10. ^ The unending struggle for voting rights, The Record (Bergen County), July 18, 2006
  11. ^ US introduces bill backing UN membership for Taiwan, The Times of India, November 10, 2007
  12. ^ The Liberty Committee. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
  13. ^ Caldwell, Christopher. "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-Medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul", 'The New York Times Magazine', 2007-07-22. Retrieved on 2007-07-21. 
  14. ^ House votes to lift drilling ban for offshore natural gas and oil, Star-Ledger, June 30, 2006
  15. ^ Garrett hit for vote against gas price-gouging ban, The Record (Bergen County), May 6, 2006
  16. ^ Roll Call: Further Emergency Supplemental Appropriations, Hurricane Katrina, 2005, September 8, 2005
  17. ^ Roll Call: Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, May 22, 2006
  18. ^ Bush Signs Extension of Federal Unemployment Benefits, KOMO-TV, January 8, 2003
  19. ^ Garrett backs lessons on intelligent design, The Record (Bergen County), September 30, 2005
  20. ^ On the Issues: Scott Garrett, accessed July 20, 2006
  21. ^ Election Statistics. Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Marge Roukema		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 5th congressional district
2003–Present		 Succeeded by
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