Meet the Candidates Series Continues for Week of October 27, 2013
By Nicole Sanders | The Save Jersey Blog
As part of my ongoing effort to introduce candidates to the voting public, Save Jerseyans, I started a weekly column called Meet the Candidates. In essence, it is a past day stump speech updated for the virtual world.
With Election Day fast approaching, we are continuing to introduce you to the candidates from the most watched races of the year. Only at Save Jersey will you get to hear from a diverse slate of candidates from across the state. In continuation of our efforts to keep the voting public informed, this week I would like to introduce you to Assembly Candidate Lisa Goldhamer of New Jersey’s 18th District.
Our bloggers have been all over LD18 this cycle. It broke earlier today that this district will get special attention from the Christie folks down the stretch since it’s a top pick-up opportunity for Republicans. We previously interviewed Lisa and her running mates, Mayor Stahl and Rob Bengivenga, back in March during the primary. We also spoke with Candidates Stahl and Bengivenga one-on-one earlier in October.
Now it’s her turn for the Save Jersey treatment. By way of background, Lisa Goldhamer received her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from St. John’s University and went on to get her MBA in Finance from Pace University. After college Lisa has since built her career in financial services which focused on private wealth management.
My interview with the Lisa Goldhamer is below the fold:
Sanders: What makes you a better option for LD18 voters in comparison to your challenger?
Goldhamer: Career politician Pat Diegnan doesn’t understand how his votes for 115 taxes hurt middle-class families and cost them jobs. While Diegnan was making $2.3 million from nine taxpayer funded jobs, I lost mine. After 25 years building a career in finance, I am working in retail to help support my family and put my kids through school. The only thing that has proven to be recession proof are the ever increasing taxes that working families are forced to pay. Diegnan has created the mess in Trenton and has blocked Governor Christie’s efforts to clean it up. Now he is blocking a bi-partisan proposal to lower property taxes by 10%.
I understand that middle-class property tax relief should not be held hostage by a few partisan politicians like Pat Diegnan who are standing in the way. Pat Diegnan might be able to afford the tax increases he has imposed on New Jersey, but middle-class families like mine can’t.
Sanders: What are your greatest legislative or personal accomplishments thus far?
Goldhamer: Beyond being a proud mother, I miss the opportunity to help families, small businesses and seniors save for the future and achieve their goals. Through my years in wealth management, I helped people who worked hard throughout their life to retire early and worked with families to help save for their children’s education.
Sanders: How do you propose to end the partisan gridlock in Trenton? Are you willing to work across the aisle to get things done even if it includes raising taxes?
Goldhamer: The first step to ending gridlock is to remove the financial incentives for politicians to ingratiate themselves with their respective political parties. Politics should not be a lucrative business and I will work to ban politicians from seeking government contracts and politically appointed jobs. I will also end retirement and healthcare benefits for all elected officials. To ensure that fresh ideas and new perspectives are heard on a regular basis in Trenton, I will support term limits for state legislators.
In all of our jobs, we are required to work with people we disagree with to get things done. Taking the oath of office makes that principle much more serious. The problems New Jersey faces are much bigger than two parties and require that both Democrats and Republicans work together to create jobs and make the state more affordable. However, if there is one lesson we can derive from the last ten years of failed tax and spend policies in Trenton, it’s that our state residents pay way too much in taxes. Pat Diegnan and Nancy Pinkin take the easy way out of making tough decisions by imposing greater burdens on the middle-class families they represent. I will make the tough decisions necessary to ensure taxpayers get the relief they have waiting much too long for from Trenton.
Sanders: If your constituents wanted to reach out to you and ask you questions about your positions or how to volunteer, to whom can they reach out?
Goldhamer: They could visit us on the web at www.bipartisanreformers.com, visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BipartisanReformers, or e-mail us at team@bipartisanreformers.com.
Sanders: In a short statement,please advise why your constituents should vote for you and what do you want accomplish if you are elected to the Assembly on November 5th?
Goldhamer: I hope that residents vote for me to send a message to career politicians that their failures on jobs and taxes will no longer be tolerated. I promise to end politics as usual and restructure the priorities in Trenton to make sure the middle-class comes first. Our families have been forced to make a lot of tough decisions to get by over the past decade. It’s time that we have a government that abides by the same principle. I am committed to ensuring that all of our children will never have to go through the tough times we have and that they are provided the opportunities they deserve and a state they can afford to live in.
If you are a candidate or with a campaign and you’re interested in being featured in my weekly Meet the Candidates article, Save Jerseyans, then email me at nikisands3@hotmail.com. Don’t dawdle! We’re running out of weeks…
