Our current state Assembly election offers some key choices for voters.
On one end of the spectrum we have Q Rim, an evangelical Christian social conservative, and on the other end, we have progressive incumbents Mila Jasey and John McKeon.
Q is a stealth candidate who carefully hides his social views and history of conservative advocacy. Many in our area will be unaware of his “A” rating from the NRA, his advocacy training sessions for the Morristown Tea Party, and his years as a staffer with the NJ Family Policy Council as they fought against marriage equality and other progressive issues in the state legislature.
Voters may also be unaware that Q has been spending heavily, and canvassing heavily, to get out the vote in the recently added conservative western towns within our district, knowing that this is an “off-year” election with reliably low turnout, and that getting voters motivated to show up and vote is the key to winning the election. In this low turnout election in a newly competitive district, every vote counts!
For these reasons, it is more important than ever for Maplewood and South Orange voters to vote on Tuesday. I strongly support our progressive incumbents, Democrats Mila Jasey and John McKeon, who have stood up for the environment, for women, for LGBT citizens, for reasonable gun regulations, and for capping property tax hikes at 2%.
Steve Mershon
Maplewood
