By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
This is the first official weekend of summer, Save Jerseyans. It’s also an opportunity for the challengers in this year’s arguably most-competitive legislative contest to meet their prospective Jersey Shore constituents most impacted by Trenton idiocy.
Senate GOP challenger Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt and her running mates, Assembly GOP challengers Sam Fiocchi and Kristine Gabor, will do just that on Sunday when they launch a “Small Business Roundtable Tour” at Britton’s Gourmet Bakery in Wildwood Crest at 12:00 p.m.
“As a small business owner myself, I know how frustrating it can be to watch some of the policies affecting small businesses coming out of the legislature in Trenton and feel like you don’t have a voice,” said Adelizzi-Schmidt. “We want to make sure the local business owners in our district know they are being heard; that they have a voice advocating for them in Trenton. These roundtables are a first step in that direction..”
Small businesses in LD1 have plenty to complain about. Their district encompassing all of Cape May County and parts of Cumberland and Atlantic boasts the highest unemployment rate in the entire state of New Jersey.
Even with the tremendous challenges facing this district, it’s always difficult for challengers to win earned media in the hazy, hot and humid summer vacation months; that’s particularly true in a gubernatorial cycle complicated by a special U.S. Senate election. Meanwhile, the incumbent Jeff Van Drew is ducking debates like it’s his job. The LD1 appears unfazed and continues to work hard. That ground work will really count for something if Chris Christie can pull even in Cumberland (which he lost about a little over 3,000 votes in ’09) and break 60% in Cape May (which shouldn’t be hard… he almost hit 55% last time around) this upcoming November when temperatures cool but political passions reach the boiling point.
